Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Making Some Progress

I haven't been quilting much lately, which is why I haven't been posting either. I really haven't made a lot of progress on my mom's quilt either.... So rather than study right now I am going to quilt at least two rows for my mom's "Yellow Brick Road" quilt. The quilt is going to be like the one mentioned in this post, using Wizard of Oz fabric, one of my mom's favorite movies. Here has been my method so far.

I start with my 4.5" by 7" block. Then I trim it down from there to make it wonky, or I leave it alone and cut it wonky later. I attach 1" strips to the sides, some only on a few of the sides (see below.)

Then I trim them down to 5" by 7.5" with the white boarder grout around them, this is where I make them really wonky.
Then I stitch them together to form a row of 8 or 9. The rows with only 8 I will go back and add on 1/2 a block to each side to make them the same length once I finish all the rows.

Now I tried a different method on my fourth row, to see if it saved time and fabric. I added white to only three sides, thinking I would make one side larger to make up for both sides of the grout not being added. (So I did the top and bottom and right side of each block, making the right side wider than 1"). It did not save any time, it actually took up more time because I wasn't able to make them wonky the easy way, way too much fussy cutting. And the blocks were smaller than 7.5" making this row shorter than I anticipated.
The row closest to the bottom is the experimental row.

So here is what I have done so far:
Not a whole lot! And I need 14 rows of 9 blocks each, pieced, basted, quilted and binded by Mother's Day! I am not sure if I want to leave the experimental row or add on fabric to all sides. I kind of like the idea of having an odd row in the quilt. I think I will leave it until I get the other 10 rows finished. Let's hope I can get a few rows done before studying for my final, and watching Glee. :)

Friday, April 22, 2011

Flickr Fun

I took the day off today as a mental health day, and to study and quilt for Mom's Day. As I have been lounging on the couch with my husband (whom gets pretty much every holiday off such as Winter Solstice), trying to will myself to study, I decided to browse Flickr (so addictive!). I came across this fun Flickr Group full of creativity: {BrainStorming} and a Quilt. It is dedicated to the brainstorming process of quilting. People post their ideas, fabrics etc. and then later share the finished quilt.
I think this is my favorite thing when it comes to checking out other people's blogs, seeing how their brains work. It is so fun to get an idea for a quilt, draw it out and find fabrics and then see, and share, as your plan unfolds into a piece of art that is so cuddly! I have a few quilt ideas floating around in my head that I will be sharing soon.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Square in a square in a square

I just finished my first set of blocks for my quilting bee: Bee There or Bee Squares.

Sandi choose Jenean Morrison’s California Dreamin' fabric, which is beautiful! This was a super easy block to make too, using Sandi's tutorial found here. My only problem was getting the finished block to be 9.5". For some reason my super great 1/4" inseam was not so super today. (I had to take apart my first block and redo it.) Maybe it is because I wanted to stay in bed and read all day on this gloomy and chilly day. I am reading my guilty pleasure: the Sookie Stackhouse novels because the newest one comes out May 3rd and I wanted to re-read the first 10 before I buy my copy. I am also really excited for the new season of True Blood this July. :)

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Just In: Freshly Squeezed Blocks




After getting back from class tonight I checked my mailbox...waiting for me was a package filled with 36 very ORANGE crazy nine patch blocks! I was so excited to open the envelope and see all the fabulous work done by the 29 other quilters in our block swap. Here they are:
My plan for the quilt is to make smaller crazy nine-patch blocks out of the fabric I used to make my blocks (because I went crazy and bought like 5 yards of orange fabric!) Then lay them out randomly on a white background.
I can either make one large quilt, a lap quilt using some of the blocks on the back or I could make more than one. I was thinking maybe make a lap quilt and then also a baby quilt to sell, we'll see.

In other quilting news, I have gotten 2 rows of my mom's quilt finished for Mother's Day in the last 2 weeks. Two rows out of 14, with only 3 1/2 weeks to go, at this rate I might have the quilt finished for Father's Day. :)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Mini Colors of Hope

Just got back from a Relay For Life meeting tonight and I found out this mini quilt:


...raised $45 for cancer research and services! I was also asked to make a lot more. Looks like I am going to be a bit busy making mini quilts in the next few months!

If you would like to help me reach my $1,000 goal and fight back against cancer (or for more information on the Relay For Life) visit this website.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

A Busy Week

It has been a very busy and long week at my house. This weekend my husband and I got some work done in the yard. I just wish the final frost would come so we could plant our garden, and that all the trees and plants would be pollinated so my allergies would stop.I had my final exam for my lab, Entomology. I have done surprisingly well in the class too. For the next month we will be collecting insects for our collections, I am pretty brave with insects (etc.) but the idea of catching, killing and then pinning these things...I really don't want to feel the resistance of a pin through their exoskeleton. I have a few more papers to write, two more exams and then a week break before my 3 week summer course. Here is the topic of my next paper:
The metamorphosis of a Tobacco Hornworm....aren't you jealous! My preschoolers are going to think I am an insect genius after this semester. :) I also found out if I try really hard to squeeze a few classes in, I can be finished with school December 2012.

As for quilting, I had a little time today to work on my mom's gift for Mother's Day. I cut the blocks for her "Road to Oz" quilt. I decided to cut them all to 4.5" x 7" and then trim a few to make them wonky starting from this size. I am sure that the "mortar" sashing is going to be a pain when I get to putting the rows together especially since it will be 1/2" finished, but it is going to look great with the wonky blocks. I cut a lot more of the yellow fabrics than any of the others to have more of a yellow brick road effect to the quilt.

I planned to work on piecing these blocks together a bit today but my dad came over to help move a light switch box in our basement and he brought my mom along. I had to fast hide all my blocks too. I did discover that my mom has been quilting and sewing again. In fact, I am the reason she got back into it, and she is actually asking me for advice! I really hope she likes this quilt and I'm excited to see what she has been working on.