Month: November 2015

Donation Block Extravaganza

November Donation Blocks
November Donation Blocks

Yes. More donation blocks. They were part of my sewing work over the past two weekends. I am now out of cut background squares so I will need to cut more. I have some blue dottish on white fabric scraps leftover from the Star Sampler, which I might use. Since they are scraps, they won’t go far and will be a stopgap.

These are on the dull side. I cut up a bunch of foreground fabrics some time ago. I didn’t feel like I wanted to use those fabrics in a quilt and am working my way through them for donation blocks. Someone will like them, right?

I am not doing that again. I decided that if I have fabric I don’t want to use, I’ll just donate it rather than using it like this. It isn’t enjoyable and I want to infuse these donation blocks good energy so that is my plan.

Carpenter’s Wheel #3

I really tried to recapture the sewing mojo I talked about last week. I didn’t quite feel that adrenaline rush of excitement this past weekend, but I did get a lot done.

Carpenter's Wheel #3
Carpenter’s Wheel #3

I finished the Carpenter’s Wheel block that was named #2.5, but is really #3. I called it 2.5 last week to denote its unfinished state.

I was really lackadaisical at the beginning of the day about working on it. I think I didn’t want to get confused by leaving pieces and parts in the machine by using this block as leaders and enders. I worked hard at placing the fabrics, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t get get confused about where each patch belonged. Towards the end of the day, I set a goal to finish that block and did.

The cherry on the sundae was that I also laid out the last variation I imagined.

I might make a four block quilt, but I don’t know. I don’t want to commit to a full quilt with these blocks, but I may get inspired. I am loving the low volume background. It really adds interest to the blocks without making the background too busy.

Low Volume Journal Cover

I have been working with a lot of grey lately for the Carpenter’s Wheel experiments and for the Flying Geese exchange, so I have bits and bobs of scraps around. After making Henry IV, I thought I should make a snowy owl version. That led to me starting to piece leftover bits of grey and white together.

LV Journal Cover in progress
LV Journal Cover in progress

Somehow making a snowy owl was put on the back burner and I decided to make a journal cover instead. I have made some headway, but am not finished. I like the calm look of what I have, but also think it might need a bit of color.

I have to make the piece long enough, but I am thinking of making a strip of 1.5″ squares alternating a grey and a color and inserting it into the journal cover somewhere.

As I have mentioned before, the greys are very different in the way they look. Those Bonnie and Camille strips look positively beige next to some of the other greys. The Paris writing fabric looks dirty, or something. I still like this piece so far and these observations are just noting thoughts of interest.

Flying Geese Inspiration

Moda Flying Geese Blocks
Moda Flying Geese Blocks

TFQ recently sent me a link to block that I really like made from Flying Geese. It was on the Moda Instagram feed and I can’t tell if it is a historic block or if the maker added another FG to a Dutchman’s Puzzle block.

We have been doing the Flying Geese Exchange, which I highly recommend, BTW, and I have started to look around for interesting design in which to use the Flying Geese. I have begun to start thinking about something interesting to do with the blocks. TFQ is clearly on the same page.

The blocks above are from the Moda Instagram feed. I have always liked the Dutchman’s Puzzle block and actually made one for my first Sampler quilt. This block puts a little twist on the idea, but it might be just enough to keep me interested.

Mary Fons posted a link to a block she made, which I originally thought would be great for our Flying Geese. After looking at it again, I don’t think it will work. I still like it, but there is an extra color that exaggerates the motion in the block. Our Flying Geese do not have that extra color. Of course, we could still put the block together, but  we would miss out on the motion.

Love of Patchwork and Quilting had a block made from Flying Geese (Issue 24, Darling Dorothy) that is mildly appealing. I don’t think it will work for me for a whole quilt.

So you can see where my head is with these Flying Geese. Any ideas? Any interesting ideas?