Block #2 - Stashbuster's Ugly Sunshine BOM quilt

I guess I should tell you that my post may say block #2, however I do not know which order the blocks were in.  It has been a long time since I did this and it was all online.  Once I printing up the pattern and made the block, I discarded the paper.

This next block was fairly easy.  If you break it down it is actually the one block repeated four times.  When you decide your colour placement you have many choices.  I saw some use the main fabric in the dark sections and their yellow for the light, some others treated the four sections differently and I believe I even saw someone do hers completely scrappy with all different darks in the dark sections and all different lights in the light sections.  The variety was very nice.

Now it's your turn.  What do you want to do with this block.

For me, this is what I decided to do.  My additional rule for myself was to incorporate each fabric I had into each block.  You don't have to do this, but I just wanted to.

As I had four coloured fabrics outside of my main fabric and the yellow, I decided to break my large block into four sections.  One section designated for each colour.  I wasn't very creative on this block.  The only change I did was the lights down the centre of the block.  I turned it into dark in order to get my main fabric into the block.

I have to tell you though that even though I love scrappy quilts, during the time that I was making these BOM blocks back in 2009, I was still controlling my scrappy quilts.  My brain needed the organization of everything in order and it its place.  Since this time I have learned to ease up some.

I will leave you with that.  Hope you decide to join in and make your own quilt.

Block #1 - Stashbuster's Ugly Sunshine BOM quilt

This was my first block that I chose from the Stahbuster's Ugly Sunshine BOM challenge.  Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of both blocks that were offered each month.  For that you will need to become a member of the Yahoo Stashbuster's group.  They are quite a group. Very motivating.  Everyone rooting each other on.  Check them out and decide for yourself.

The draft of this block was pretty much what you got given, in grey and white shading.  That was good and bad.  Good because you were not persuaded by a specific layout.  You had to chose what colours you wanted to put where.  For some people it is difficult to see past the colours if they are provided to you.  Unfortunately, this can also a bad thing, because some people find it difficult to see the potential of a black and white drawing.

All I have to say to this is, use your imagination.  It is not a contest.  Your goal is to make a block, using the fabric that you have, that is pleasing to your own eyes.  I order for it to all coordinate in a whole quilt, I would suggest that you find a place to put each of your colours in each and every block.  Even if it only plays a small roll.  The placement and amount of any particular colour may vary from each block, but try and put each colour somewhere in each block.

The first thing you will want to do is take the drawing above and decide whether you want to do it with two fabrics plus your yellow or if you want to do it multi coloured.  If you plan to do it two fabrics the layout is pretty much set out for you, but you can still vary it up.  If instead you want to do it multi coloured, take away the shading and start from scratch.  Decide if the same shapes will have the same colours or not.  The choses are many.  This is where you can take your time and play.

This is how my block turned out.  Do you like it?

When I look at a draft, I try to think of what parts of the block that I would like to stand out.  For those spots I will either use a dark or a bright fabric, to draw the eye.  In this block what stands out the most for me is first the star in the middle that like more like a pinwheel, because the second fabric I chose blends I a little with the yellow background.  And secondly is the blue box that surrounds the star.

Your block my be different. Play around with it.  Place your colours in different spots and see what arrangement works best for you fabric.  The placement of light and dark fabrics has a huge impact on how you block will look.  Don't worry though, if you don't like the fist one, just make another.  You can always use the rejected block somewhere else.

Most of all, the thing to remember is to let go and have some fun.

Intro to the Stashbuster's Ugly Sunshine BOM mystery quilt

Work has been crazy these days and it doesn't look like it will be letting up any time soon.  I haven't been able to do much quilting and I hate not being able to post something for you my readers.  My apologies for stretching these posts out, but one has to do what one has to do.  I will try and make it interesting for you.

While I was racking my brain trying to figure out what I can post about, I remembered that I didn't show you the quilt tops that I have, that are just waiting their turn to be quilted.  For the most part they are still not quilted because they currently do not have a purpose or I haven't figured out yet how I want to quilt them.

I've decided to share this quilt with you, but beware, this quilt will be shown to you through numerous posts.  This quilt was a block of the month (BOM) type quilt.  I, as well as many Stashbuster's members, started this BOM challenge back in Feb/2009.  Yes, it was a long time ago, but after finishing the blocks, it took me some time to figure out the layout that I wanted to set the blocks in.  My top is now done.

The whole process was certainly something different than what I was used to, but I enjoyed the defined rules/parameters and the creative side that stretched my comfort zone and had me thinking outside the box. I really had fun doing it.

The name of the quilt is kind of misleading.  There was nothing "ugly" about any of the quilts that came out of this challenge.  The challenge was started by a moderator to do a few things.  One, was to use up you stash, hence the group name "Stashbusters".  Two, was to be creative in a group all across Canada with everyone doing the same thing, but different.  Three, was to make a charity quilt and spread some cheer to someone in need, hence the word "sunshine" in the title.  Four, was to challenge use to go outside the box, by using a piece of fabric that you may not have used, because you either think it is "ugly" or you find it difficult to use ii in an actual quilt.

For me it was using something that I found difficult to use in a quilt.  You needed to have approx. 1-2 meters and you needed to use it in each block. This was my fabric. It kind of looks like a stained glass panel with the black pains holding the stain glass together.

No matter how often I tried to put this fabric in a quilt, it just didn't fit.  Often it stood out too much comparison to the other fabrics.  It just didn't play nicely.

The second rule for the blocks was that you had to have yellow in each block.  Yellow represented the "sunshine" in the title. You could use different yellows in each block if you wished or one yellow throughout.  I chose this one yellow to go in all of my blocks.  It's a bit pale and helps to tone things down a little.

From there you were on your own to pick a couple of coordinating fabrics to go with your primary "ugly" fabric.  The third rule was that all the fabrics had to come from your stash.  You were not allowed to purchase any fabric to make these blocks.  Again, this was the purpose of the group called Stashbusters.

As this was to be a give away quilt, I decided to make it cheerful.  I pulled fabric from my stash that had the colours in the main fabric.  This first one I think was the last fabric I chose, just to file in the gap of the others.  It was a bit more of a medium fabric.  It was a deeper yellow with lots of orange and bits of pink.

In the main fabric it has the theme if rainbow colours.  There is orange, yellow, blue, green and purple, all with a black background.  I chose this next fabric because of it's purplish background that matches the purple in the main fabric and it has some of the orange and yellow with a bit of green.

I chose this blue.  It is difficult to see but this blue has shading that goes from light to darker all across the fabric.  You can notice it more in the individual blocks.

Lastly, I chose this green.  Another bright colour.  These fabrics by themselves do not stand out as being wow fabric, but they do end up going very well together.  So much so, that I was surprised to see the blocks come together.  I really got interested and looked forward to seeing the next block of the month.

The way that it went was that the moderator of this challenge would each month send out two blocks to choose from, one was sometimes easier than the other for different skill levels or sometimes she may have chosen an appliqué block for those that wanted to learn different things.  You had to chose one of the blocks and make it.  Each block had to have your theme fabric and yellow in it.  But what you did with the block was for you to use your imagination.

The blocks all measured 12".  In the end, by October you would have nine completed blocks.  That is where it ended.  From there, everyone had to put the blocks together, however they chose.  Let me tell you, that many beautiful quilts came out of this challenge and not any two were alike.

So.....stay tuned.  I will show you in the following days which blocks I chose to do and how I chose my colour placement.  I will even make a draft of each block, just in case you would like to do one of your own.  It won't be a block of the month, but you can still play with it and use your own fabrics.  Maybe even get others involve so that you can all have some fun.

FYI.  All of the blocks used are part of the public domain.  There are no copy writes being broken in the making of these posts.  Feel free to share with your friends any or all parts of the blocks.

Planning the borders of the 3D Pinwheel quilt

I was able to finish sewing together the blocks to the 3D Pinwheel quilt.  I am now trying out some borders.  My daughter thinks the right side is too dark and I think the left side is too washed out.  I think we are both right, so this Saturday when I go for my Tiny Town appliqué class, I will be checking out some other options.

Just an FYI.  The true colours of the pinwheels are a bit brighter.  I feel if I take the pictures without natural lighting my iPad pictures seems to not be as good. But you get the picture. No pun intended.

Busy weekend

Yesterday was Mother's Day.  Hope everyone spent the day as they wished and enjoyed every minute of it.  I know I did.  It was busy, even with the rain.

I woke up early and had my tea while doing my Tiny Town block that is due this coming Saturday.  I did this until 9:00 am, when I decided I it was late enough in the morning to make noise outside.  I thought I would finish the curbs I was working on, but when I got outside I realized that I had to plant my tree.  Do you like it?  It is difficult to really see it on the tag.  It's a Eastern Redbud.  The picture is showing the tree limbs covered in small pink blooms.  The blooms are usually a light bright pink.

Before I got this one in the ground though I had to move some large bushes.  The back right hand corner is getting filled in.  Another bush and a few more perennials and it will be done.  If you can enlarge the picture you can see the dark green bush (the Yew) that I moved from another part of the garden.  The bush is currently 5' tall and will get to about 8'-10' tall when done, with a spread of 4'-5' wide.

Where the yew was I had a dwarf burning bush.  I moved it about 4' out in front of the yew.  Currently there are two dwarf burning bushes.  I am going to add another late in the season, because where I am going to put it is where the bleeding heart is.  The bleeding heart is looking pretty right now, so I don't want to disturb it.

In front of all this I have my Japanese maple that I only planted last year.  Once this corner matures a bit, it will fill in nicely.  The rest of the surrounding area is still a work in progress.  I worked on this corner yesterday, because while I sat in my chair drinking my tea and doing some needle work, with the sliding door open enjoying the breeze, I was constantly drawn to look outside. The birds were coming and going, eating from the feeder or looking for worms in the grass.  It was so peaceful.  I would look around and tell myself that I had to work on the garden.  So I did.

Just before the rain really started and set in I managed to finish all the transplanting.  After taking a shower to clean up from all the dirt, I sat down in my chair to admire the work.  I am quite happy with it.  Needs a little more but the main bones of the corner are in.  Now we wait for time to do its thing and mature the trees and bushes.

I settled down to do some more appliqué.  This is what I have done now.  I have part of a house to do, a bird house and part of the heart topiary.  I'm getting there.

I had a very nice Mother's Day.  Between all the above, my daughter woke up at 6:00 am to give me happy wishes and her gift to me (she had to go to work for 7:00 am).  My son made me French toast for breakfast and gave me happy wishes and his gift to me.  I made a simple chicken soup for lunch and for afternoon snack my daughter came home from work with a maple pecan Danish, which she served with a tea.  What can be better than that.  I did all the things that I like to do while being treated like royalty.  Life is good!!!

Nothing quilty to post about

Nothing quilty to post about today.  I haven't had much time this past week.  I was sick a few days, so nothing got done.  While on my last day in bed I wasn't well but not able to sleep, so my mind was racing.  This time it was about gardening.

I drew out some plans for my left side garden path and for my right side walkway that leads into a garden and sitting area.  This is what I came up with for the left garden path.  This side is not needed for utilitarian use just another way around the house.  I thought for this side I would do the whole thing in garden and have large stepping stones with maybe moss or a ground hugging ground cover between them, and just pack the space with flowers.  Maybe make it a destination with an arbor at the end of the path leading into the back yard.  

I will be putting three tall but slim trees between the houses, a couple of bushes and the rest perennials.  I am still planning things out at this point.  The following few pictures are going to be my inspiration.  Between the houses I have more space than this next picture, but it goes to show you that you can have a beautiful space even with minimal space.

This path is more free flow.  Like the effect of the ground cover between the stones.  Obviously I don't have this much space between the houses, but I just like the overall effect.  The anticipation of where the path is going to lead you to.  I want to try and achieve this, at the point of going around the corner of the house and into the backyard.

This next picture kind of does the same thing with the curved pathway.  All of the pictures are beautiful in their own way.  I am hoping to get some bits and pieces of all of them, in my small space.

Today was such a beautiful day out, that I decided to start the walkway leading to the backyard on the right side of the house.  This path has to be at least four feet wide as it will be the only way to get large things in or out of the back yard.  Got off to a late start with running around for all the supplies I needed, but I did get started.

I dug out a trench along the property line along the fence to put some lime stone and lay down my curb stones.  The curb stones will be there to contain the crushed stone and interlocking bricks for my path.  I ran into a problem, so had to call it a night while I went to get another drill bit to make the holes for the rebar.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so I may want to take the day for me, but we will see.  It is taking shape already, so I may not want to stop.

Tiny Town progress on block two

Yesterday was another beautiful day.  The sun was out, but not too hot.  I did some clean up in the garden, while my niece and her husband came over to use the BBQ and their kids horses around with my son.  I took a bit of time to check out all the different plants sprouting and the tulips in bloom.  Even some of the trees are in flower.  At this house, I only really started playing in the garden last year, so this year I am seeing the changes take shape.  It's nice to watch.

Before I got out into the garden I had my morning tea while working on my hand appliqué.  Block number two is due by May 16th.  Two weeks have passed and I have completed a building per week as was required to keep on top of it.  I even assembled the top half of the block.  You will have to ignore the purple hexagons.  I have my block on the design wall right below the floret row.

These buildings are a house and a barn.  Do you like my daisies in the window box.  I do.

This one is the bottom half of block two.  I have two weeks less one weekend left to go before the meeting, so I have to work on one building and one side decoration per week.  

This block is going to be colourful.  I like this block with the topiary and the bird house.  I really like the background of this one too!  The background was designed to appear like salvages sewn together.  There are the dot colour lines and the words.  In this case the words are not the designer and name of the pattern.  In this case the words are quilting related, like quilting forever, sew happy, 100% cotton, I run with scissors, I'm creative...you can't expect me to be neat too, and make do and mend.  It's cute!