Jaye – Page 55 – Artquiltmaker Blog

Additional Russian Rubix

Russian Rubix - Sept 2014 — Russian Rubix – Sept 2014

Another project I advanced was the Russian Rubix project. I made the six blocks you see on the left, but I also made parts for other blocks.

In the course of making the parts, I got an idea to make the quilt more than just a bunch of blocks. As soon as I get the FOTY 2013 top off the wall, I will try it out and take a photo.

The above is just a Photoshopped version of what I am talking about, but I think that adding in a couple of rows like the above, perhaps spaced with a thin piece of background in the middle of the blocks will make the quilt a lot more interesting. We’ll have to see.

Book Review: Quilt Colour Workshop

Quilt Color Workshop by Fat Quarterly

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I started this book I loved it. The color theory section is well illustrated and explains color theory well.

When I got past the academic part of the color theory I was disappointed.

Then I looked carefully at the color sections and liked the book again.

Thus, this is a solid ‘3’ in the 1-5 scale.

There are four pages of color theory in this book, which I thought was great as I went through those pages. Then, l I realized that four pages was all there was on color theory. A cursory look told me that there was only block and quilt patterns after the 4 pages of color theory and I was disappointed. The book was basically a pattern book. Still I soldiered on and found that the authors had cleverly tied the color theory pages to the patterns and that made the entire book into more of a workbook than a 4 page color theory pamphlet with block patterns.

In the color theory sections all of the types of color combinations are explained using quilt blocks and semi-real fabric designs. This technique makes color theory more relevant for quiltmakers, because most of the use involves patterned fabric, in different scales. To that end the authors write “Value is a measure of how light or dark a colour is. Saturation is the level of black, grey or white in a color, ranging for pastel to a full-intensity colour right with pigment. With a patterned fabric you can have the same colour, but the amount of white present will affect how light or dark the fabric ‘reads.’ ” This is relevant for quiltmakers, because many, many fabrics are made up from more than one color. Often white is included in the fabric to create a design.

The authors also say “One of the problems for quilters is that colour theory is mainly used for describing the relationship of solid colours, or the mixing of them. The huge variety of patterned fabrics with multiple colours creates some interesting problems.” The Fat Quarterly and the authors have hit the nail on the head with this statement. You can see from my Fabric of the Year quilts that creating gradation is not that easy with quilt fabrics. the first problem is that you can’t physically mix them, but secondarily, because you cannot guarantee that they will be solid. Quiltmakers, notoriously, love brightly and colored fabric.

The book explains the color relationships in multicolored fabrics and how to create a quilt using one of the color schemes described in the color theory section and the color wheel. Examples of current fabrics (pg.11) are included.

The short section on color theory is followed by a Color Wheel Quilt pattern, then by various pattern sections organized by color. Each section has a series of blocks colored in different ways and labeled with the type of color scheme it is. Larger projects and home decor projects are also included. I like this idea for a few reasons.
1. the reader can see what blocks look like when colored in different ways.
2. the coloration of the blocks supports the section on color theory (pg.7-11) in a very graphic and overt way.
3. the made up examples of blocks using different fabrics added to the support of the color theory and difference in how the blocks look.

After the blocks in each section are a few patterns, some of quilts, some of studio and home decor patterns. The format follows for all the of the colors: blocks first, then quilts or home decor projects. The projects and blocks are based on classical patterns, but venture off in their own direction. The blocks are interesting and the quilts are a bit off the beaten path. there are a wide variety of projects that would appeal to all different kinds of people.

The last section is a few pages on techniques. One or two paragraphs describe a multitude of different techniques used to make a quilt. Photos from the various projects illustrated the section providing continuity. There is a conversion chart from English and metric systems to inches in this section. I can imagine that this would come in handy in the future.

There is a pattern section in the back with full sized patterns. You will have to put pieces together that are too large for an 8 1/2 x 11 page.

View all my reviews

Donation Quilt Progress

Another thing I did during the Labor Day Sew-in, using leaders and enders, was to make donation blocks. As I said, I had to put a leader or ender between each piece of the FOTY 2013 pieces. That meant that a lot of other projects progressed, including the donation blocks.

I only made three blocks, which doesn’t buy me anything in terms of another row on the quilt, but I am three blocks closer to another row, which is closer to an entire quilt and that is nothing to be sneezed at.

FOTY 2013 Top

One of my goals for Labor Day was to finish the Fabric of the Year 2013 top. This was a daunting goal, because each piece has to be sewn to another one in a certain order.

That meant that I started in one corner (see below), sewed two pieces together, put a leader/ender in the machine right after the two FOTY pieces, sewed those, took the FOTY pieces out of the machine, pressed them and put them back on the wall before taking the next two pieces. Repeat. There are 306 pieces in this quilt, so I made progress on ~306 pieces from other projects as well.

This project is extremely taxing in terms of piecing. I was pretty much done with the project when I finished top, so I did try to piece the back with large pieces of fabric. I used two pieces of different Philip Jacobs fabric. They go together well enough and I enjoy the large lettuces. They make me laugh. I hope I’ll still laugh when I am liking the project much better.

Normally, I would have put a quilting border on it, but I emailed Colleen and she said just to stitch 1/8″ away from the edge and that would keep the quilt from getting out of shape when it is quilted. I hope it works, because I want the shape of the quilt today to be the shape of the quilt forever. If it works, I’ll have to remember this trick for the future. I do like using ugly fabric as a quilting border, though.

Below are some photos of the project in process.

LDSI Report

I wasn’t a very good participant in the Labor Day Sew-in. I only made a half-hearted attempt at participating via social but I did sew like a demon. I had a goal of piecing the top to FOTY 2013 and making blocks for the donation top.

I accomplished my goals and made a bonus journal cover – not the whole cover, just the front, but I did it as leaders and enders while I put the rest of the quilt top together.

I have to get some new journals before I get to use this cover. I am going to try to just use ShapeFlex on both insides of this one. If I decide to use flannel, I will measure this time. 😉

September To Do

Nos. 15-18 were added and crossed off as I wasn’t feeling terribly productive and I needed a little pick-me-up. Some of the items below have been on the list for a very long time and are getting somewhat depressing. That push a month or so ago to work on things and cross them off the list was good and I may need to do that again soon.

I found the templates for the tiny 8 pointed star and just did that one day when I was feeling a little stressed. That is off the list. Yay!

To Do List:

~~Cut background for black wavy line 8 pointed star~~
~~Sew white on black wavy line 8 pointed star~~
Quilt Christmas table runner
~~Quilt/stitch fish postcard – finished~~
Wash fabric AKA The Great Unwashed (I am guessing this will never be off the list, but a girl can dream) – I washed and pressed a some flannels for receiving blankets
Make stiff bucket or box for TP in main bath
Make stiff bucket or box for TP in second bath
Dragon Box (gift)
Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote (gift-due Holiday 2013- oops) – found the pattern, which is a good start.
Make 3 notepad covers (gifts)
Day in the Park backpack variation
~~Cut lining fabric for Church Ladies apron~~
Sew Bon Appetit apron
Sew Church Ladies apron
~~Make receiving blankets~~
~~Sew BAMQG label to donation quilt for Band Mom~~
~~Sew BAMQG label to green donation quilt back~~
~~BAMQG label to Flower Sugar donation quilt back~~
Make donation blocks
~~Sew sleeve on See~~
~~Sew facing down on See~~
Binding on Wonky 9 Patch

To see the 26 Projects Lists, which list quilt WIPS, visit the August Current Projects update. Last month’s to Do List is about the same.

Completed small items since November 4, 2013 (prior to this month’s list)

Sew on sleeve for Original Bullseye
Kelly’s Brown Round Robin
Pillow from cake tea towel
Try plain square for center of Russian Rubix blocks
Hand sew bottom opening in Shopping bag for BAMQG
Finish binding on T-Shirt quilt
Secret Santa gift for BAMQG
Kathleen’s Round Robin
Make sleeve for Original Bullseye
Finish sewing triangles for Scrapitude
Take apart Ribbon Star and resew
Color Group donation quilt
Binding for Color Group donation quilt
Make shopping bag for BAMQG
Sew coffee patch to red bag
Sew coffee patch to bathrobe
Sew green and red striped 8 pointed star (probably should include an item called “find background template for 8 pointed star!)
Scrap Lab backpack
Make binding for Disappearing Pinwheel
Petrillo bag #2
Bright apron as a gift
Paris apron as a gift
Finish tote for Mom‘s auction (new 6/2014)
Layer, baste Christmas table runner

Pink Rose Journal Cover

As you know I like to make journal covers for my journals. I have been using the Yellow Flower Journal journal cover on my most recent journal. Since I have been off a lot I am carrying my journal around more and spending more time with it. That means I have to look at the cover more often.

I don’t like it.

I like the fabric, but the cover itself is boring. So, I decided to make another one. I probably have at least two months of life left in this journal and I didn’t want to look at a boring cover.

Don’t worry, I don’t hate this journal cover. The Yellow Flower Journal Cover isn’t going waste. I will put it on one of the older journals that has not yet been covered.

I had a piece of Mosaic Piecing to which I had been adding bits of pink and I decided that was a good start. I made sure to add pieces on all different sides and to sew various pieces together before I sewed them to the main piece that would become the journal cover.

The Good

First, there is a lot of piecing, including some of the yellow rose fabric from the Yellow Flower Journal Cover. The piecing is not just all strips added on to the ends of the piecing which makes it a little more interesting. I was even able to add a few diagonal lines, which adds interest in terms of piecing.

Next, there are bits of pink that I really like. Some from Joel Dewberry’s Notting Hill line, various Philip Jacobs, a few batiks and some random pieces that make me happy.

Third, though I had some trouble with the interfacing and flannel, the feel of the journal cover isn’t too puffy, which I like.

Last, it is PINK! Pink makes me happy.

The Bad

I was lazy with the flannel and just eyeballed the size instead of measuring. This caused other problems later.

I had some trouble with the stitching as a result of my laziness with the flannel. If you remember, you have to stitch very close to the edge to make the journal cover fit really snugly and not floop around. By not measuring the flannel, it was too small, so I had to sew it to the seam allowance when I put the back and front together. That means that a bit of the flannel was in the seam allowance where I had to sew when I was sewing the final step. That made it really thick and hard to sew on the corners.

The Unknown

I am not sure if this is the Good, Bad or Ugly.

There was so much piecing that it was kind of a waste to try and put ShapeFlex on to the pieced side of the cover. That means that only the inside has interfacing on it. As I said, above, the cover feels ok, so I guess it is fine.

The other factor was that there were a lot of seam allowances, because of all the piecing. That made the whole piece a bit thicker, including in the seam allowances.

Finally…

Clearly, this project offers continuous learning for me. I guess I haven’t perfected the process yet and will just keep trying.

Various & Sundry #9 – Late August 2014

Knitting Request
If you are willing to knit or crochet a hat for a man going through chemotherapy, contact me privately. Hats for work especially needed. Thanks.

Projects
I am so lucky that people share their work with me.

Gretchen's BOM Block — Gretchen’s BOM Block

Gretchen shared a block from Fat Quarter Shop BOM. I love this block design and think I will make a block like this. It has a lot of pieces so I am not sure it would work for a donation quilt, but in the Star Sampler (or a similar type of project) it would have shone!

I have never done a BOM and am not sure I will, though I never thought I would do a mystery quilt and look at Scrapitude! I love the dots in this block, of course, but am not so fond of the overall look of the fabric. I wonder if you can just buy the block patterns and make the quilt in your own fabric.

Gretchen says that this is block 2, so I assume it is a 2014 BOM, but I can’t see which one it is on the Fat Quarter Shop BOM page. Try them all! 😉

I like the style of this eReader cover. The fact that it has some style is awesome! Yes, part of the style is the fabric, but there is also that curve on the foldover cover. Very nice. [The nagging back part of my mind wonders if that curved pointy part would get caught on other stuff when you stuffed it into a bag?] There are some tips on the Whistlepig blog, but you can buy the pattern from Whistlepig Creek Productions. I saw it first on Pinterest.

Mrs. K"s Quilt Back — Mrs. K”s Quilt Back

Mrs. K has also been hard at work on her project, which I wrote about in a previous post. She shared a picture of her back with me and I love the back as much as the front. I feel so fortunate to have friends who will share their projects with me.

Fabric and Thread

Have you seen Leah Duncan’s fabric? It reminds me of Marrimeko. I like the colors of her Aurifil thread as well.

I am just amazed at the variety of thread boxes that Auriful is putting out lately.

Media

I saw this site posted on FB. If you need a bit of eye candy, take a look at Quilt Inspiration.

Here is a sensible 12 Step Program for quiltmakers.

I happened across the blog post on La Vie en Rose. I love reading about why people make, what they make and how they make. No matter how much we love the rooms in House Beautiful and Elle Decor, I think we all feel compelled to put our own stamp on our surroundings as well as to leave a legacy.

As you might remember, I linked up to Design Wall Monday on the Patchwork Times last week. It was a whim. I don’t know if I’ll do it again. I probably won’t do it every week. I decided to go back and look at some of the other design walls. I was actually kind of disappointed, because the first several I clicked on were beautiful finished projects not design wall. I felt like the one person who showed up to the party wearing a costume only to find that nobody else wore costumes. I really put myself out there and others didn’t seem to. In all fairness, I may not understand the rules.

The Rosie’s Quilt Cupboard blog got questions from the The Quilting Life and answered them in a recent blog post. The writer is funny, though the jokes are subtle. I especially liked her cave drawing comment. 😉 I also liked her comment about not annoying women with sharp pointy things. I’ll have to use that line sometime. It is amusing to read her answers to the questions and think about my own. I followed along with Weeks Ringle on her Modern Quilt Studio Homework that . These questions are a good opportunity to get the brain working again. I am considering answering these questions as well, but we will see. Thanks to Sandy for tweeting it.

You know I love leaders and enders. Great news for those of you who don’t know what to do with those leaders and enders you have made into blocks: Bonnie Hunter’s new book, More Adventures with Leaders and Enders is out. Take a look at her blog for more details. I like the cover.

I like the tips in this TextileArtist.org post on keeping an art blog. You might have wondered why my posts don’t have a lot of different topics in one post. This post explains it very well.

Tutorials, Tips and Tricks

I found a post that details caring for your scissors.

Want to make a coffee cozy? Here is a Fat Quarter shop Tutorial via I’m A Ginger Monkey. I know there are thousands of coffee cozy tutorials out there. Perhaps this one will work for you?

Around and About in QuiltLandia

Want to enter a contest? This one is about animals.

I heard there is a Bainbridge Quilt Festival! Go visit Bainbridge Island Saturday Sept 13th.

I found a great post from Weeks Ringle about their participation in the Million Pillowcase Challenge. I liked it that she was able to find out about the recipients and make some pillowcases that might go with their decor. She has some good tips about making them to fit into a decor about which you don’t know much.

Something Completely Different

This was a ‘cheap date’ ad on Google. Yes! Isn’t this a great line? Isn’t it true?

More on Field Day

I really don’t know why the Field Day prints appeal to me so much, but they do. They really aren’t my colors and more than one person has said that they aren’t my colors. I needed to be careful not to use a background that would make the top/piecing too depressing for me to work on.

I found that the backgrounds I posted before were too … too…. too something. Too wrong? Too boring? Too expected. They weren’t right.

I took some of the rectangles, as I said in the Thursday post, with me to Beverly’s to pick out a different background. Maureen met me there and helped.

Kelly suggested some kind of bright turquoise. I went to the store fully intending to buy some kind of turquoise. They didn’t have the new Jamaica colorway, which I thought would be perfect. I wasn’t excited about some of the other turquoises that were available. So, I started looking at other colors. I picked up Sangria and really liked it.

Maureen pulled some other colors and we looked at them as well. I bought more than one background color, because I still haven’t decided. I may make more than one just to use the different backgrounds and see the difference in the look of the quilts.

Creative Prompt #273: Cage

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Nicholas Cage

birdcage

John Cage

La Cage Aux Folles

1989 movie

Rapper Cage

App for simple, online design collaboration

Cage the Elephant

Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE)

Bicycle waterbottle cages

Democracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage. – H.L. Mencken.

Faraday cages shield their contents from static electric fields.

Cassie Cage is a new fighter that will be introduced in the upcoming Mortal Kombat X.

The Cage is Anchorages premier baseball training facility, offering eight cages with slow pitch softball through very fast pitch baseball.

Definition: “Cage (enclosure), a structure made of mesh, bars or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something. Examples include:

- Batting cage, an enclosure for baseball players to practice batting
- Bottle cage, a bicycle accessory used to affix a water bottle to a bike
- Casino cage, the location where chips are exchanged to or from cash in a casino
- Faraday cage, an enclosure formed by conducting material
- Human rib cage, a part of the human skeleton within the thoracic area
- Mine cage, similar to an elevator, used to transport miners and their equipment to/from the working face of a shaft mine
- Roll cage, a specially constructed frame built in or around the cab of a vehicle to protect the occupants from injury
- Shark proof cage, used by scuba divers to examine sharks with better safety
Cage (bearing), a component of a rolling-element bearing

Abstract concepts

Cage (graph theory), a regular graph in graph theory with the fewest vertices for a given girth and degree
Iron cage, a concept introduced by Max Weber

Acronyms

CAGE questionnaire, a screening tool for determining alcoholism
Cap Analysis of Gene Expression, a molecular biology technique
CAGE, Commercial and Government Entity

People

“Christian Cage”, a former ring name of Jason Reso, a Canadian-American professional wrestler
David Cage (born 1969), founder of videogame development studio Quantic Dream
John Cage (1912–1992), experimental composer
Michael Cage (born 1962), former NBA basketball player
Nicolas Cage (born 1964), American actor
Steven Cage, member of the Conservative Party of Canada
Stuart Cage (born 1973), English golfer
William Cage (1666–1738), English politician, MP for Rochester

Places

Cage, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Cage, Croatia

Music and dance
Artists

Cage (band), an American heavy metal band
Cage (rapper) (born 1973), Chris Palko, an American hip hop artist
Byron Cage (born 1962), African-American gospel recording artist
John Cage (1912–1992), American composer

Ballet

The Cage (ballet), Jerome Robbins, 1951

Songs

“Cage” (song), a 1999 single the Japanese rock band Dir en grey
“La Cage” (song), the 1969 début single by Jean-Michel Jarre
“Cages”, a song by Deas Vail from the album Birds and Cages

Fiction

Cage (film), a 1989 action film and its 1994 sequel, Cage II, both starring Reb Brown and Lou Ferrigno
“Cage” (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
John Cage (character), a fictional character in the television show Ally McBeal
Johnny Cage, a fictional character from the Mortal Kombat series of video games
Luke Cage, a fictional character portrayed in Marvel Comics
Xander Cage, the protagonist in the film xXx, starring Vin Diesel
Cage Midwell, the protagonist of the video game Zone of the Enders: The Fist of Mars

(all of the above, after ‘Definition’, from:Wikipedia)

hamster cage

Luke Cage (Marvel Comics)

The Cage Athletic and Recreation Center is a focal point of student activity on Berry’s 27,000-acre campus.

King of the Cage is the finest in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competition

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.

FOTY 2014 – Late August

I needed to take some of the Field Day prints to the store to pick out a good background. I am still working on pressing the reds and snuck Field Day into the wash, so I had even more fabric to press.

I am torn between sewing and pressing. Right now sewing is winning.

Wonky 9 Patch

Remember this quilt? I haven’t worked on it in a while, thought it has been on the list for awhile. Working on it what I did on the weekend when I wasn’t at the races (wearing a big hat like I was at Ascot or something), doing laundry or answering one of the 1000 questions I get asked when I am at home.

I also don’t think I wrote much about it. The first time I wrote about the piece, it seems like it was in a very embryonic stage. The last time I wrote about that piece, the top was done. Hhhmm. Talk about quick projects.

The project has been on my mind. I got a bug in my ear to quilt it myself and that was sitting in the back of my mind taunting me. I wasn’t sure how long it would take me. I wanted to get it done during these two weeks (last week and this week), because I was off work and I could devote some serious time to quilting.

Wonky 9 Patch - quilting — Wonky 9 Patch – quilting

Because this quilt didn’t have a border and I didn’t think the design called for one, I put on what I call a ‘quilting border’. A quilting border gives me something to cut off when I am squaring up the quilt and don’t want to chop of points or parts of the design for a piece that didn’t end up quite square. I learned to do this after chopping off points and designs on the Punk Rock Quilt. the only tricky part is to make sure you cut off enough so that the edge will be completely covered by the binding.

First, I quilted straight-ish lines in all of the orange wonky 9 patches. I used Aurifil #2145 for the orange blocks. I didn’t intentionally follow any lines or do any in the ditch quilting, except when I was trying to get from one part of the block to another. I did try and keep the three lines in each block about the same distance away from each other. However, sometimes I veered off track a little to make sure that there was a relatively even amount of quilting in each area. I also wanted the quilt to drape so that was another reason not to quilt too densely. That went pretty well and I didn’t see any puckers on the back. I quilted all of the orange blocks in a few hours on one afternoon.

After the orange blocks, came the hard part. Shockingly, I had an idea for the plain block quilting as well. I found a vaguely Celtic design that would work for my idea. I wanted it to be round, but all of the round designs I found were too complicated. I used Paint to enlarge the design.

I also didn’t want the design to scream out at viewers, so I used a companion color to the blue fabric (FYI: Aurifil #2740). I also used a walking foot on all of the quilting. I don’t usually do that, but it worked pretty well in keeping the puckers down.

I used Saral paper and a Sewline pencil to transfer the design. I really use the Saral paper. I don’t think there is much of the yellow left. I used the Sewline to fill in when the Saral rubbed off and I wasn’t finished quilting.

I quilted a couple of the plain blocks and figured out how to stop and start only once, assuming all went well. Not all of the blocks are perfect but, as Frances says, the Muggles won’t know. I think the overall impact is pretty striking.

One thing I wish I had done was use orange in the bobbin on the plain blocks. As it stands the blue quilting really stands out on the back.

Current Projects – August 2014

Finished 2014 Quilt Projects

Disappearing Pinwheel: Finished 5/30/2014
Fabric of the Year 2012: Finished 4/24/2014
Flower Sugar Hexagon: Finished 7/1/2014
Fresh Fruit: Finished May 3/3/2014
Infinity Quilt: Finished 3/3/2014
Scrapitude Carnivale: Finished 6/3/2014
See: Finished 8/11/2014
Spiderweb: Finished 2/22/2014 WHEW!
Star Sampler: Finished 7/3/2014

Finished 2014 non-Quilt Projects

Amanda Jane Cafe Aprons – finished 6/14-15/2014
Christmas List Pillowcases – finished week of 6/1/2014
Henry the Owl – finished 4/13/2014
Native Sons Pillows (4) – finished 5/17/2014
Native Sons Pillows (3) – finished 7/3/2014
Orphan Block Lanyard – finished 7/13/2014
Paris Pillowcases – finished 5/30/2014
Scissor Sheath – finished 7/13/2014
Scrap Lab Backpack – finished 3/16/2014
Smokin’ Hot Pillowcase – finished 5/8/2014
Tea Towel pillow – finished 1/1/2014

Still WIPs

Aqua-Red Sampler – Frances and I are back at it regularly and I give Frances full credit as I have been letting her “drive the bus.” I did work on the hexagon tutorial as promised. It is ready to post, but I could have taken a few more photos and might still do that. If you look at it and think there are a paltry number of photos, check back.
The Tarts Come to Tea: I still haven’t worked on this since April 2011, though, periodically, I think about working on it.
Pointillist Palette #4: Fourth is a series of 6 quilts; needs tiny square patches sewn together. I still haven’t worked on this, though, I did find a bunch of squares already made. That makes me hopeful.
Self Portrait: started in 2006 at a class at Quilting Adventures in Richmond, Virginia. My career counselor breathed new life into this project for me. She asked a simple question and the end result was inspiration for this piece. I am working on printing images on fabric and looking at the shoulder fabric. I am still trying to decide about a mouth and I need to find some monsters. 😉
Under the Sea: class project; like the design, but not the colors much. Possibility for abandonment. I have to face reality.

Ready for Quilting

Wow! Everything on this list is new.

New:* Wonky 9 Patch: Basted; started quilting on 8/21. All orange blocks done and working on plain blue blocks, needs binding. (Not on original list)
New:* Super Secret Project #4: at the quilter
Table runner: Basted; needs quilting and binding. I am planning on free motion quilting this myself for practice, which may be a challenge when my main machine is not working. (Not on original list)

In the Finishing Process

Nothing at this time, which is kind of odd.

In Process
I decided that I had better put in an ‘In Process’ category. The difference, at least in my mind, between ‘In Process’ and ‘UFO’ is that I am actively working on a project that is “In Process.”

Russian Rubix
FOTY 2013
City Sampler/ Tale of Two Cities blocks
Black/grey donation quilt

Hunting and Gathering

Blue Gradation Quilt: cutting 2.5″x4.5″ blue rectangles
Blue Lemonade: cutting blue, green, purple 2″ squares
FOTY 2014: cutting out 3″x5″ rectangles.
Pink Gradation Quilt: cutting 2.5″x4.5″ pink rectangles
Spin Wheel: really not started, but supplies gathered. I probably have enough fabrics and just need to decide to start.
Stepping Stones #2 using 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.
Stepping Stones #3 using the Macaron pre-cuts from Hoffman. I just remembered this project. It isn’t started, but I have all the pre-cuts and should think about actually using them.
Windmill quilt: Still hunting and gathering. 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

Abandoned

Nothing so far for 2014

You can find the last update for the Current Projects list provides a good comparison to this month.

I thought you might want to take a look at the first list I made, the one with the 26 Projects. I started the list in October 2011. I have made REALLY GOOD progress. Up until last month, I was still planning to stop this post when I had no more projects from the original list to write about, but now, that the end is in sight, I am not so sure. It is so useful to keep track of all of my projects. Since I still have some pretty old projects on the list, I don’t have to decide right now.

*New – Project started after I started working on the 26 Projects list

Making Progress Again on the Russian Rubix

These blocks had been sewing into quarters and placed on my design wall, where they stayed like that for weeks. I think I had some sort of grand illusions of adding in different colors or something. Last weekend, I just sewed them together, photographed them and put them in the pile with the other blocks.

There will be other opportunities for messing with color on this project and I was sick of looking at these blocks. I also wanted to make progress on shuffling around the stuff on my design wall.

I sewed a lot of triangles to octagons, but many of them are not finished. For the ones that were finished, I started to put them together into quarter blocks and hang them on the design wall. I thought I might be able to sew a few more blocks, but the quarters were just about all I could manage.

As you could see from my Design Wall post last week, I worked a lot with cool colors, which meant that the quarters had a lot of cool colors. I tried to keep the cool colors in each block to a minimum, but still have some arranging to do.

I am still wondering about the ratios of colors in blocks. I have a lot more warm colors to work with. Intuitively that seems to mean that I should put more warm fabrics in each block. Practically, I don’t know.