Jaye – Page 54 – Artquiltmaker Blog

BAMQG Opportunity Block

I thought about posting this under “Doing Good”, but while I think I am doing good for the guild, it isn’t really service to the community. At least I don’t think it is. Hhmm. Philosophy so early in the morning. I am sure you appreciate that.

I wasn’t at the August meeting to get my block kit. Since I definitely wanted to contribute to the support of the guild, I asked for a block kit and Ruth was kind enough to send me one. Sadly she didn’t have any turquoise kits left so I ended up with mauve-y colors. That’s what I get for not being at the meeting.

I left the fabric laying around near me for a week or so. I kept meaning to do it before I went back to work, but didn’t so the weekend before the meeting, I decided it was time. I decided to make a test block for my Tale of Two Cities quilt using the Opportunity block as the tester.

Tester is the wrong word. I knew I could make the next blocks. It was more of kick in the rear end to get me back in ToTCi gear. Just what I needed.

The idea, as I understand it, is everyone makes what ever blocks they want in a 6.5″ size, heavy on the squares and rectangles, and then sews them together into a 12.5″ block. Ruth has a plan and will put them together.

She must be a master, because I had just enough fabric. The photo (left) shows how much fabric I had left. I should have put a quarter in with the shards so you could see how little was left.

I didn’t make a bunch of different blocks and put them together; I just made one and repeated it. Repeating the structure not the fabric, because I didn’t have enough to make all of the blocks the same.

This one block design makes up four blocks into a new combination. The block looks different made up from four blocks

Field Day. Hm.

After I took FOTY 2013 off the wall and before I put the Russian Rubix up on the wall, I put the very few Field Day blocks up to see what I had.

Well, it isn’t looking exactly as I expected or anticipated, though there are also not very many pieces yet.

The pattern calls for 5″x2.5″ strips sewn to 2.5″ squares. The top center (2d column) piece is that shape and the correct size. I thought I would make the piece more interesting and vary the sizes of the non-Sangria background and the Field Day fabric. The top left hand piece in the first column is what I came up with.

Hhmm. Clearly I had trouble with the math, even though I measured everything, took the seam allowance into consideration, etc. I am going to use those pieces, but I am not going to make any more of them. I am going to stick with the boring 5″x2.5″ strips sewn to 2.5″ squares.

I also think I will put the Goldenrod in between the columns. I think that would add interest.

This is definitely a dark piece and I wasn’t anticipating that. I’ll have to get it done soon, so that it isn’t on the design wall in the winter when it is dark and cold.

Creative Prompt #276: Egg

s/he’s a good egg

lay an egg

The Egg and I (1947 movie)

chocolate egg

Easter egg that the Easter Bunny brings

The Incredible Edible Egg

Definition: “Eggs are laid by female animals of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have been eaten by humans for thousands of years.^[1] Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen (egg white), and vitellus (egg yolk), contained within various thin membranes. Popular choices for egg consumption are chicken, duck, quail, roe, and caviar, but the egg most often consumed by humans is the chicken egg, by a wide margin.

Egg yolks and whole eggs store significant amounts of protein and choline,^[2]^[3] and are widely used in cookery. Due to their protein content, the United States Department of Agriculture categorizes eggs as Meats within the Food Guide Pyramid.^[2] Despite the nutritional value of eggs, there are some potential health issues arising from egg quality, storage, and individual allergies.

Chickens and other egg-laying creatures are widely kept throughout the world, and mass production of chicken eggs is a global industry. In 2009, an estimated 62.1 million metric tons of eggs were produced worldwide from a total laying flock of approximately 6.4 billion hens.^[4] There are issues of regional variation in demand and expectation, as well as current debates concerning methods of mass production. The European Union recently banned battery husbandry of chickens.” (Wikipedia)

egg white

Faberge’ eggs

Bacon and eggs

egg timer

The Air Quality Egg is a community-led air quality sensing network that gives people a way to participate in the conversation about air quality.

egg substitute

The Goose that lays the Golden Egg

egg allergy

Cadbury eggs

Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

Easter Egg Roll

Eggroll (Chinese food)

egg carton

Italian egg drop soup

over hard

The Exbury Egg is a temporary, energy efficient self-sustaining work space for artist Stephen Turner in the estuary of the River Beaulieu.

Egg Harbor, Door County, Wisconsin

soft boiled egg

egg cup

over easy

dyeing eggs

Minecraft: An Egg is an item laid by chickens every 5–10 minutes. They can only be stacked together in groups of up to 16, unlike most items.

eggbake

The Egg (short story) (read it-very profound and not too long)

EGG Online takes its visitors off the beaten path to focus on the excitement, diversity, and raw energy of the arts. (PBS)

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

EGG helmets are innovative, highly customizable, multi-sport helmets for kids between the ages of 4 and 12 with adult sizes soon to be introduced.

organic eggs

free range eggs

egg shaped

Easter egg in a video game

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog.

We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. I created this spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses.

Eggs have nothing to do with Super G, but today is her birthday and I just wanted to mention it.

Weekend Work

The weekend didn’t fly by as fast as I thought it would, but it was over too quickly. Who doesn’t say that? I got a lot done and not just quiltmaking. I made time for two workouts, lots of Eagle Project and College application haranguing and some TV watching.

City Sampler - 1st Group — City Sampler – 1st Group

Most of what I did was make City Sampler/Tale of Two Cities blocks. They have been on my mind and the last time I worked on them was around August 9. I know this because I make a note in the book each time I make a block. I do this so I know what I have made and it comes in handy for knowing when I last worked on them. My next block is block #31, which means I have made 30 blocks. I will bring 8 of them to the meeting on Saturday to share with the Tula Pink group.

In the first group of blocks, I like the lower right hand corner block best. I know it looks like Bargello, which is not at all fashionable now, but I like the suggestion of additional steps that we can’t see in, for example, the upper right hand corner of the block.

In the second group, I added some Philip Jacobs. i know the fabric introduces pinks into the piece, which was not in the original plan. I may redo them, but for now I will leave them.

I have to say that I like the symmetry of the left hand blocks. I really like the center of the block in the upper left hand corner. This motif is mirrored, though larger, in the bottom lefft hand block. I like it as well and wonder what a whole quilt would look like? More of the stair steps?

I had some trouble with the bottom right hand block. It seems easy enough, but just wouldn’t fit together. I finally figured out that I cut one of the pieces wrong. Once I had recut the piece, it worked fine. It would be interesting to see a whole quilt made from that block in black and whites with different reds in the center.

I am not a fan of some of the blocks and I have to admit that one though that ran across my mind was about some of the blocks not showing up before now for a reason. I decided to expand my mind and be open to all the blocks, which is why I am making all the blocks.

It took me forever to sew the 30 blocks. I wonder how long it will take me to sew the additional 70?

Previous Posts

Sunday August 10, 2014 – Tale of Two Cities – Even More Blocks
July 29, 2014 – Tale of Two Cities – More Blocks
June 5, 2014 – Various & Sundry #5 June 2014 (brief mention)
June 4, 2014 – Tale of Two Cities – Early June 2014
May 5, 2014 – Tale of Two Cities Blocks – Finally
April 7, 2014 – Pretties (brief mention)
April 3, 2014 – Tale of Two Cities Start

Disappearing Four Patch

I made some blocks for a Disappearing Four Patch quilt that Daisy made for Terje. Terje’s family is going through a really tough time and then Terje injured her foot. So unfair, but a very good opportunity for a quilt.

It is fun to make a few blocks, especially easy ones that I can use to play with color and fabric, then send them off to see what they become. I used the Flower Sugar fabric from Lecien. I still have a lot of it, not all, but enough, left and it is cheerful. I made three blocks. In the photo below, I can see one of them in the 2d row, 1st position on the left and another one in the bottom row in the second position on the left.

Terje's Disappearing Four Patch — Terje’s Disappearing Four Patch

I think there might also be one in the 4th row, last position, but it is hard to tell. Perhaps you can see them.

Regardless of where my blocks ended up, it is a cheerful quilt. I am always amazed at the choices people make when given a specific request. I don’t remember the request particularly, but it was definitely for cheerful fabric. It is fun to see the interpretations and wonder about their influences.

Various & Sundry #10 – Mid September

Tools, Supplies and Fabric

Do you have a Silhouette Cameo cutter? If so, you might want to read a post by Sarah Vedeler about cutting shapes successfully. Of course, YMMV.

Did you know Elizabeth Hartman has a Kona Designer Palette? No? Me either.

Projects

Timeless Treasures had a Sew-a-thon to make pillowcases for the Conn-Kerr Cancer Center and the Million Pillowcase challenge. Not only did they make pillowcases, but there are a lot of resources on the post for patterns and other resources.

There is (or was, maybe) an Aurifil Designer challenge. I happened to pop by Quilt Jane and see Pat Wys’s block. It is another great use of baby Friendship Stars. Remember the Friendship Star block, designed by Camille Roskelley, that I used for Kelly’s Round Robin? I really like that block and the work I did on Kelly’s Round Robin. I might have to make another one. 😉 BTW, if you make one Pat’s blocks (pattern on Auribuzz post) and post it to their Flickr group, you could win a prize.

Remember Scrapitude? Well, Charlotte is at it again with a new mystery quilt. Sandy announced it on her blog this week. The cutting directions are out now and there is no sewing until January. I have been thinking about making another Scrapitude quilt, mostly to tweak the colors that I used in Scrapitude Carnavale. I like that quilt a lot, but there are few things I would do differently. Perhaps this version would be a good design with which to to play with color and fabrics. Still ….mystery quilts. Hhmm. The BAMQG mystery quilt did not work out so well for me, so I am sort of off mystery quilts.Will you play this time?

Kati had some top finishes recently and showed them off. Great work. The Lucky Stars quilt is especially awesome.

Books

STC Craft has a new book, Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000, out by ROCK STAR quilt history person, Rod Kiracofe. He used to be involved with the Quilt Digest and has written other books. The awesome part of this book is the dates. It covers some of my own quilt life and that of my friends. Perhaps I’ll see one of my quilts in it. (HA!!) The book is mentioned on a recent blog post on the STC Craft blog. The book also has its own page on the Abrams site. Let’s all buy it and make it a success!

Media

This quilt caught my attention when it was posted to the guild’s group.

I bought a subscription to Quilt Now! I think I like Love of Patchwork and Quilting better, but they sent me a ruler and you know how I love rulers! You can subscribe to Quilt Now! through Pink Castle fabrics, if you live in the US. If you live in the UK, you can subscribe directly.

Melody Johnson has a new blog. You can read about why on her old blog, which will stay as is for the time being, but not be updated.

Color

I was going through the magazines stacked up next to my bed the other day and found a quote I wanted to share with you. In the January/February 2014 issue of Fons & Porter: Love of Quilting (pg.13), there is an article about two color quilts. In it the author writes “There is a tendency for white to dominate since it has a great degree of reflectivity than most other colors in the spectrum. The quilt designs that are the most successful are those that utilize the two colors in equal quantities.” Part of me wants to believe this, because it is Fons and Porter, after all, and they do their research, right? I haven’t done a test, but I do think that ratios are really important and that using a little less white, even a VERY little and a little more color might be a better way to go.

Thinking

I am a little hard pressed to figure out where to put this article about thinking like an entrepreneur. Now you are thinking “WTH, Jaye, why should I think like an entrepreneur?”. The article quickly morphs into a way to develop a vision for yourself as an artist and a vision for your work. It is interesting. Who wants to start?

Here is an article from Lifehacker that talks about 6 obstacles that hinder your creative projects. How many are relevant to you?

Book Review: Big City Bags

Big-City Bags: Sew Handbags with Style, Sass, and Sophistication by Sara Lawson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Sara’s Petrillo Bag pattern and have made two of my own. She also has a very sweet tone to her blog and I like reading it. I couldn’t resist this book in hopes that she would have more of the fun shapes and clever construction methods I found in the Petrillo Bag.

Several months ago, I picked the book up to read and review, made a bunch of notes and then put it down for a long time. Why? I don’t know. This is a great book and I should have reviewed it RIGHT away. If you only read through page 19 and never look at the projects, you will learn techniques that will be useful in other patterns and projects.

First, there is a whole section on interfacing. She explains the properties of and uses for various types of interfacing. This section also has a conversion chart from American brands to Vilene. This expands the usefulness of the book and patterns to our European friends. US readers can also use this chart when making European patterns that refer to Vilene in the materials list. I was considering making a needle case from a pattern where one of the supplies listed was Vilene. This chart would have been useful.

Throughout the book, Sara also gives hints. Such tidbits as what to use to reinforce magnetic snaps, along with other tips and tricks, are scattered in little boxes throughout the book.

After the chart, Ms. Lawson provides a narrative that includes more detail on each interfacing mentioned in the chart. She tells what she likes about each one and how she uses it. Sometimes a tip or trick on adhering the particular product to fabric is provided.

Next, there is a section called “Bag Making Techniques” (pg. 12). In this section, Sara gives detailed lessons on installing zippers. I have installed zippers, but, boy, am I glad I read the section of this book. In one part of this section she gives me the perfect way to deal with those stupid zipper ends. I don’t know why I didn’t think of her method before. Lawson also goes over making the same kind of pocket included in the Petrillo Bag pattern. By showing it separately, she gives readers the skills and provides space for the imagination so we can include it in projects of our own.

Magnetic straps, purse feet, O rings, D rings and lots of other hardware are also discussed, evaluated and defined with the same completeness as the zippers.

Sara also discusses leather handles, a topic I have never seen before. These are included in some of the projects, so tackling their peculiar requirements is prudent. I think these are an interesting addition to the patterns. I also think the manufacturers have not come out with enough colors. Many of the projects in this book, which use leather handles, have black handles rather than a color matching the fabric. It could be that Sara likes the black against some of the modern fabrics.

After explanations and diagrams concerning the the leather handles, the projects start. This book includes 12 projects: all bags of different sizes and shapes. The projects have wonderful names and are made from fabulous (modern) fabric. This section has some excellent attributes: there are at least two colorways shown for each bag. Also, the patterns, while not full-sized, are right after the directions, thus easy to find. I also like it that the finished size of the bag is included at the top of the pattern.

I would have liked to have read more about the inspiration for the bag with the pattern, but, perhaps, I am the only one who cares about such a thing.

There is no question in my mind that Sara is a genius when it comes to bag patterns. Her patterns are practical and fun. This book is beautiful to look at as well as useful. The strength of this book lies in the information before the patterns including installing zippers and how to use interfacing. As I read those pages (pg.8-19), my creative juices really started to flow.

I think you would appreciate this book. Go out and buy a copy!

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View all my reviews, including non-quilt book reviews

Dream Projects #2

When I wrote the first Dream Projects post, I really wasn’t sure this would be a regular feature. I still don’t know if it will be a regular feature. However, projects I have wanted to do for awhile keep springing into my head so I am doing another post. Also, I found some other patches for blocks and quilt tops for which I had already started cutting. So many projects are taking up space in some part of my head that I can’t fit them all. I thought I had better add them to this list so I wouldn’t forget about them again.

For now, I am not dating these posts, I will just number them. I like the idea of time not passing. It seems that if I make it too easy to see how long time has passed with these projects undone, I might get depressed and I want this post to be possibilities.

Like I said last time, some of these come from the Current Projects list (Hunting and Gathering section). I don’t know if I will keep them there or move them here. Lots to work out, so stay tuned.

Art Institute of Chicago Fusible Quilt

Pattern: Original
Fabric: Blue and red
Steps: need to fuse a bunch of turquoise to something

Basketweave Baby

Fabric: Scrappy
Pattern: Fons & Porter
Thoughts: I like the challenge of piecing this quilt

Blue Gradation Quilt (Hunting and Gathering)

Fabric: blue 2.5×4.5 rectangles
Pattern: similar to FOTY 2008
Thoughts:

Blue Lemonade (Hunting and Gathering)

Fabric: blue, purple and green scrappy
Pattern: inspiration from TFQ’s Pink Lemonade quilt
Thoughts:

Easy Street

Fabric: pinks
Pattern: Easy Street by Bonnie Hunter
Thoughts: I really liked Daisy‘s version of Easy Street, which she calls Cherry Bomb (she thinks of the best names for quilts) in terms of color and feel. I don’t want to copy her, but if I do this quilt, I’d like to have the same pinky-red feel to it. One challenge about a mostly monochromatic quilt is getting enough contrast. I look forward to that challenge.

Food quilt #2 (Hunting and Gathering)

Pattern: Disappearing something, probably 4 patch or 9 patch
Fabric: RJR Food prints. Will use a different color for the non-food print section than I did for the Young Man’s version.
Thoughts: Gift for son of good friends for graduation

Food quilt #3 (Hunting and Gathering)

Pattern: Disappearing something, probably 4 patch or 9 patch
Fabric: RJR Food prints. Will use a different color for the non-food print section than I did for the Young Man’s version.
Thoughts: Gift for nephew for graduation

Half Moon Modern Quilt

Pattern: I have some ideas, but nothing definite
Fabric: Half Moon Modern Fabrics. I have half yard cuts, I think, plus some odds and ends and I’d like to use them together with some additional fabrics, or, at least a background.
Thoughts: I do think it is difficult to start with fabrics rather than a pattern.

Music Quilt

pattern: Don’t know
Fabric: music prints and tone-on-tones
Thoughts: The Young Man has requested this quilt as his graduation quilt

Pineapple (Hunting and Gathering)

Fabric: dots. Have most of the strips cut. Will be much more selective about which strips I use.
Pattern: Pineapple log cabin
Thoughts: I haven’t given up on a Pineapple quilt despite my frustration with the previous attempt. I bought a different ruler: a Creative Grids Pineapple ruler in hopes that it will work better for me.

Pink Gradation Quilt (Hunting and Gathering)

Fabric: pink 2.5×4.5 rectangles
Pattern: similar to FOTY 2008
Thoughts:

Scrapitude #2

Fabric: scrappy again, but with NO browns or blacks or super darks that look like holes; also more blues and perhaps a different background, though I do like the dots on white.
Pattern: Scrapitude by Charlotte
Thoughts: I want to try and figure out how to make the edges NOT on the bias.

Silk Colorblock quilt

Fabrics: silk dupioni and cotton in brights (of course)
Pattern: Similar to Colorblocks 2
Thoughts: I have made a couple of, what I call, Colorblock quilts over the years. One was the Kona Challenge in 2011, another was my 1990 Colorblocks 2 and the first one, Colorblocks, also made in about 1990. I bought the fabrics at the Marin Needlearts show about a zillion years ago and they have languished waiting for me to learn to back them so I can use them.

Spin Wheel (Hunting and Gathering)

Pattern: Fons & Porter Spin Wheel
Fabric: Scrappy

Stepping Stones #2 (Hunting and Gathering)

Fabric: Bonnie & Camille fabrics Bliss, Ruby, Vintage Modern: made two test blocks, but still in the thinking stage while I decide on the background colors. I want the contrast to be good.
Pattern:

Stepping Stones #3

Fabric: Macaron pre-cuts from Hoffman. It isn’t started, but I have all the pre-cuts and think they would make a really fun version of this quilt.
Pattern:

Windmill (Hunting and Gathering)

Fabric: Scrappy. I will use a grey for the background, because if I use more of the cut fabric patches, the pattern will be lost. The pieces are too oddly shaped and I don’t want to lose the pattern in a mass of scraps.
Pattern: Come Quilt with Me Rotary templates

I don’t know if this will be a regular feature, but it might be.

BAMQG Sew Day – September

Right after CQFA, I hot-footed it, with Gerre, to the BAMQG Sew Day. It wasn’t packed, but we had to set up new tables when we arrived so we could work. It was a kind of a holiday prep day with demos on small gifts to make for the all-too-quick-approaching holiday season. I was there for the pencil case and grocery bag demos.

The pencil case is one that, using elastic, is slipped over the cover of a journal. It can also be used as a bookmark. I really liked the idea and Jolene’s way of making it.

Kelly did the demo for the grocery bags and they were like the shape of the plastic grocery bags. It has curvilinear shaped handles, which is a nice difference to some other bag patterns I have seen.

Gerre brought a piece to work on, but ended up thinking more about the quilting than anything else. It is a great piece and I can’t wait to see what she does with it.

Angela brought her opportunity quilt materials and Ruth provided input on making up the blocks. It was good to see what Angela was doing and hear what Ruth was saying about her vision of the quilt. I had a kit and the discussing inspired me to get busy on my block.

I sat, mostly, and finished up the binding on the Wonky 9 Patch.The binding seemed to take me a long time and I became determined to finish it.

Once I was finished, I worked a bit on the Serendipity Lady. I was only able to add a few pieces to that piece and have decided to approach it a little differently. Look for more on that in an upcoming post.

I put my two cents in when Diana was trying to figure out what to do with her piece.

She had a limited amount of fabric and was able to make the pennant banners in the picture. There wasn’t enough to make a whole quilt so she got the blue solid and was trying to figure out a layout for the pennants. We laid out the banners a little differently than one would first consider. That brought up assembly issues, so we talked about applique’ and other options that might allow her to put this quilt together.

It was a long day, but it was also great to see friends and engage in quiltmaking.

Creative Prompt #275: Dawn

It’s a new dawn.

dishwashing soap

Dawn (Japanese: ??? Hikari) is a ten-year-old Pokémon Coordinator and a former traveling companion of Ash and Brock.

Domestic Abuse Women’s Network

Dawn French was born on October 11, 1957 in Holyhead, Wales as Dawn Roma French. She is an actress and write

Currently in the late alpha stage of development, Dawn is set to revolutionize the way we think of and play computer games.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

A third Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War game from the now Sega-owned Relic Entertainment is a “strong possibility,” according to game director Quinn Duffy.

Dawn Summers was a member of the Scooby Gang, sister of Buffy Summers and daughter of Hank

Dawn of the Dragons is a free online social MMO RPG with lavish art, immersive story that offers many gameplay options, ideal for both casual and hardcore players.

Dawn of the Dragons.

nautical dawn

Dawn is breaking

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft

Definition: “Dawn (from an Old English verb dagian “to become day”) is the time that marks the beginning of the twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the presence of weak sunlight, while the Sun itself is still below the horizon. Dawn should not be confused with sunrise, which is the moment when the leading edge of the Sun itself appears above the horizon.

During dawn (and dusk) it is usually possible (provided that the sky is cloud-free) to see approximately in which direction the Sun lies, though it is below the horizon.” (Wikipedia)

Woman’s name

dawn til dusk

Norwegian Dawn

Dawn Capital

astronomical dawn

Tony Orlando and Dawn

civil dawn

Nataly Dawn is a singer/songwriter and one half of the band, Pomplamoose. Her debut album, “How I Knew Her” was released February 12, 2013

The darkest hour is just before the dawn.

Poems written upon awakening at dawn are called aubades.

Dawn of the Dead (2004 movie)

Red Dawn (2012 movie)

Genesis 19:15

Breaking Dawn

We are also talking about this on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CPP

CQFA September Meeting

As I mentioned, the CQFA Meeting was last Saturday. It was followed closely by the BAMQG Sew Day, which meant I didn’t get home until after 6 and dinner wasn’t on the table until 7:30. I thought a lot, afterwards, if I should have spent all day out of the house after working all week. I decided that, though I missed the Young Man, it was really good for me to see my quilt pals. Also, I got a lot done.

We have been having workshops first, but on that day the business meeting was held first as we had to wait for the sun to come out. It was pretty cloudy until after 10am or even 10:30.

During the business meeting, there was a lot of talk about the upcoming show. We are getting to crunch time as the opening day draws nearer. People when off to the other room at FabMo and got help recording their audio clips. The quilts for publicity have been selected (mine was not one of them). I recorded my audio files at home last weekend, so I didn’t have to do it during the meeting. I thought some readers might be interested in hearing what I said about the quilts so I will see about posting them to quilt page for each relevant quilt. I still have to make QR Codes for my quilts.

We had show and tell and there was so much great work. I love show and tell. Everyone was very complimentary about the Wonky 9 Patch. Angela, Ann B and Sonja took at SCVQA class on wonky piecing and two of them showed their quilts. Caroline did a landscape all in black and white and talked quite a bit about framing the piece.

Of course, we had the ATC swap. I got up at about 6:30 and made mine! I got an idea and even though I wasn’t going to, I realized that I would be really sad if I didn’t get to swap ATCs, so I made mine quickly. This is the shortest timeframe in which I have ever made ATCs. I hope not to go up against the deadline like this again.

They aren’t the best art ever, but people snapped them up, which made me really happy. I did use the charms I bought at Beverly’s when I was there with Maureen. I think the charms added interest. I definitely will try adding charms again. I also think that I will put together a bunch of backs, so I don’t have to do that when I am in crunch mode. Perhaps I can make 24 backs in advance and just have to worry about the fronts each month. I won’t be at the next meeting, so I have until January to make the backs and new ATCs. I will try and do them earlier!

The ATCs I selected are shown to the right. (From top left to bottom right, they are by Maureen, Sue, Angela and Nancy). Angela’s were on paper and she got the idea from a painting class she took recently. I thought about getting some paper blanks to use as a base, but haven’t done it yet. Sue used a technique that our former member Debbie did a lot of. It was a blast from the past seeing that chenille technique again.

When the sun finally showed its face, Rhonda and Angela taught us sunprinting. I didn’t participate; I sat and worked on the binding of the Wonky Nine Patch, watched and listened. I enjoyed watching everyone and talking to people while they worked. I also took a lot of photos for the CQFA Flickr group and Facebook page.

After the meeting I drove over the BAMQG Sew Day with Gerre. She is a new CQFA member, but I know her from BAMQG. She let me use her machine off and on at the last Sew Day where I forgot my machine’s foot pedal. We talked about art quilts and one thing I realized about CQFA is that people talk about their process. People are working through a process and they show the different quilts or surface design or bits and pieces of things on which they are working and they talk about it. The group is very process oriented, which I never realized until today and which I really appreciate.

Russian Rubix Potential Layout

You might think that I did a lot of amazing work between Monday and now, but really I made the blocks I showed Monday over the Labor Day weekend and the most recent work, which I will tell you about in this post, was done this past Sunday. It just so happens that I have a lot to say on the blog and haven’t been able to keep up. I could double up topics on posts, but it makes everything so messy in terms of tagging and categorizing and finding posts later. Some of my earlier posts include multiple topics and I don’t like linking to them as I don’t know if you, dear reader, will feel like wading through a long post to find a specific topic I meant you to find. It’s all about you, you know. 😉

So, I got an idea in my mind and as soon as I did the Hell Binding for the FOTY 2013, I put the Russian Rubix blocks up on the design wall to see what my idea would look like.

The idea is to break up one row of blocks and make them look a bit off from the other blocks so the quilt is not as boring. I would put some of the grey in between the full ring rows in order to highlight the difference.

I put the separated blocks off center from the full blocks. I don’t think there is much differentiation and the parts still look like blocks and the blocks still look like rings.

Seeing it all up on the wall like this makes me think that I should just put the whole thing together and be done with it. I have already done a lot of work on this project and I don’t want to ruin it. I am also ready to be done with it.

Alas, I have a ton of pieces and parts that which have not yet been made into blocks. What would I do? Make a second one? Cut squares out of all those octagons? Donate to charity?

Previous Posts:

Monday September 8, 2014: Additional Russian Rubix
Monday August 25, 2014: Making Progress Again on Russian Rubix
Thursday June 5, 2014: Russian Rubix – 6 More Blocks
Sunday May 25, 2014: A Few More Russian Rubix Blocks
Tuesday May 6, 2014: Russian Rubix Again
Susan: Wednesday April 16, 2014: Podcast episode #41
Saturday March 1, 2014: The Colors of the Russian Rubix
Saturday February 22, 2014: Russian Rubix Colors
Saturday December 7, 2013: Russian Rubix Center Square Test
Monday October 28, 2013: Russian Rubix Color Choices
Wednesday October 9, 2013: Russian Rubix Test Blocks
Tuesday October 8, 2013: More Background Drama
Saturday October 5, 2013: Russian Rubix Backgrounds
Saturday September 28, 2013: In a Clear Space You Can See Across the Room
Wednesday September 11, 2013: Chosen Colors
Thursday August 26, 2013: Russian Rubix Templates
Tuesday August 20, 2013: Continuing to Choose Colors
Susan: Tuesday August 20, 2013: History Quilter Podcast Episode 39
Monday July, 22, 2013: Russian Rubix

Nota bene: I was kind of shocked that there was a dearth of posts at hte beginning of August. I feel like I have been working on this project all the time. I realized that I had been making parts with leaders and enders and not really making discernible progress until I put a bunch of blocks together.

Finished: Wonky Nine Patch

The first thing I thought after I finished this quilt was to start counting the places in my life where I needed to make note. I stopped, because I got tired. Needless to say, the quilt is done, which means this one and the Disappearing Pinwheel can head off to nephew brothers at the same time and nobody will feel sad.

I showed it at CQFA, though the binding was only partially done. I finished, later that day, at the BAMQG Sew Day, but will probably wait to send it off so I can show it off at the BAMQG meeting. Kathleen will be there, which will make the display extra sweet, because her quilt is the one that inspired this quilt.

One of the reasons I brought it to show at CQFA was because I thought I would send it off before the next meeting, which is in November. It turns out I won’t be able to attend that meeting anyway. They are good eggs and don’t mind if the quilt isn’t finished. Everyone liked the colors and I am thinking of making another one just because this one turned out so well visually. Realistically, though, I have done what I wanted with this design and don’t really need to make another one. The oranges are just so striking that I almost can’t help myself. I have a lot of other projects on my plate (in process) and in my dream list, none of which are a second version of this quilt.

See more on the quilt page.