Block-a-Long #38: Square Top

Square Top #38
Square Top #38

Yes, squares on top. You can cut squares, I guarantee it. And, of course, more rectangles. I think rectangles are definitely underrated in Quiltlandia.

This blocks calls for 5 fabrics, but you could put the same fabric on the two outer bottom rectangles.

Rotary Cutting Directions for Square Top #38

If you have made blocks or a quilt from these patterns, please post a link in the comments section of the relevant block or on the AQ Block-a-Long Flickr group. I would love to see what you have made.

What will you make today?

January BAMQG Meeting

The BAMQG meeting was yesterday. I was lazy and didn’t blog as much for them over the holidays as I should have. I blame the cold I had. I am having a hard time getting back into the swing.

Thanks for your Service

2011 Officers with Gift Bags
2011 Officers with Gift Bags

The 2011 Officers did a great job. I kind of nudged people to get some gifts together. People really ran with the idea, which was great.

Kathleen's Gift Bag
Kathleen's Gift Bag
Sara's Gift Bag
Sara's Gift Bag

A few people made bags and everyone else added little bibs and bobs to create nice gift bags. It was nice not to make all the bags and I enjoyed seeing the different patterns and fabrics that the bag makers used.

I made the purple bag which ended up with Kathleen. The bits and pieces were nice to look at. Rhonda had put together the parts that we solicited from other members.

Some of the things in the bags were pins, fat quarters, needle cases, the Joen Wolfrom Design ratio tool, disappearing pen, grip dots, scarves, machine sewing needles, Invisigrip and many other fun things.

Ruth and Adrianne were really busy and I wasn’t able to get photos of their gift bags. Check the BAMQG blog and perhaps I will be able to post some photos there.

A-B-C Challenge

We have five participants who brought blocks for the A-B-C Challenge this time. Angela was too busy to make her Hawaiian versions, but I am sure she will bring some next time.  😉

Some people brought both G and H, others brought G, some of us brought all of our blocks. Kathleen and I have done a number of the same blocks and it is fun to see how different they look in the different sizes and fabrics.

January A-B-C Challenge Blocks
January A-B-C Challenge Blocks

 

Glacier Bay
Glacier Bay

This is my G block for the A-B-C Challenge. It is called Glacier Bay and is from Around the Block Again by Judy Hopkins (pg.68). It is also a 6″ block and I cut nearly every piece a little bigger and then trimmed. It still came out a bit wonky, but I like the general effect. I think it would make a really cool secondary pattern if I put many of them together.

I don’t remember ever seeing this block before. Lynette has the 501 Rotary Cutting Blocks version of Around the Block, which I thought had ALL the blocks from the three books, but Glacier Bay was not in it.

Hovering Hawks
Hovering Hawks

I am really like this challenge as it allows me to make one block rather than a whole something every month. Kathleen wants to speed the challenge up a bit, so we will be doing two letters each month for the rest of the year. Next month are I and J.

I am resolved to make the blocks sharpish rather than waiting. I have even thought of making the rest of the alphabet all at once and being done with it. I have a sashing idea that I got from Pam. I am thinking about starting adding the sashing as I go along so that I won’t have to do all the cutting at once. We’ll see.

Question of the Month

Rhonda creates the QotM and this month it was: “What are your quilt resolutions?” Most were normal resolutions about finishing and curbing buying, but some were really interesting. I wrote them out as people said. These aren’t my resolutions, necessarily.

  • use more than I buy
  • finish one project before starting another
  • buy less fabric
  • use scraps to make scrap quilts
  • finish virtual swaps and bees projects
  • teach
  • quilt one per month on the longarm
  • take sewing machine to be serviced
  • end year with 5 fewer UFOs than the year started with
  • improvise
  • organize so sewing does not take over house
  • make something from solids
  • stop fearing binding
  • make one charity quilt
  • bring something to show and tell
  • spend more time with real people than with sewing machine
  • trust the experience I am feeling
  • don’t buy fabric I don’t like
  • make husband a quilt
  • documenting quilts (labels and such)
  • be liberated and wonky
  • use orange and yellow
  • start a quilt/craft blog
  • make mom a quilt
  • try curved piecing
  • re-sort/organize fabric
  • finish husband’s quilt
  • plan less and do more

Charity Quilts

Art Gallery Fabrics offers a bag of scraps free for people who will be using the scraps to make charity/donation quilts. Contact Pat Bravo for details. I don’t have her email address, but Art Gallery has a page on FB so, perhaps, you can inquire there.

Deborah made a version of Elizabeth Hartman’s Mod Mosaic quilt with scraps (quite large scraps, actually) from Pat Bravo. What a nice idea.

Postage stamp-type block
Postage stamp-type block

Two quilts were finished. A very large number of the postage stamp kits from the December meeting were turned into blocks and returned. I only took one kit last time, but took several during this meeting.

Schnibbles for Cat Beds

Sadly, Amanda has too many scraps and will hold off taking any more until she has made more cat beds. She said that her garage is being overrun. She really needs help making the actual cat beds.

Angela and I were able to spend a few minutes chatting. I spent a lot of the sewing time chatting and looking at what other people were doing. I couldn’t be bothered putting up a table to work on my own projects, an action I will regret later.

First Finish

Young Man Pillowcases
Young Man Pillowcases

A la Crafty Garden Mom’s Thursday Thoughts, here is mine:

  1. I like to finish a project on New Year’s Day.
  2. I think it sets a good tone for the year.
  3. Of course, some years it is fruitless.
  4. Still, I do it.
  5. It has to be a small project.
  6. Last year it was a bag.
  7. Not the bag I thought it was, but a bag.
  8. We all know how that turned out. 🙁
  9. The photo above is probably one of the worst photos I have taken in the right conditions – well, my normal conditions.
  10. Not sure what happened.
  11. Still I post it.
  12. I would take another photo, but the recipient changed his sheets (shock, horror!) and they are no longer available for your pristine viewing pleasure.
  13. Have a great day! You don’t need to call the looney bin.

Creative Prompt #138: Sunrise

Sunrise on the Hills  by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [More Titles by Longfellow]

I stood upon the hills, when heaven’s wide arch
Was glorious with the sun’s returning march,
And woods were brightened, and soft gales
Went forth to kiss the sun-clad vales.
The clouds were far beneath me; bathed in light,
They gathered mid-way round the wooded height,
And, in their fading glory, shone
Like hosts in battle overthrown.
As many a pinnacle, with shifting glance.
Through the gray mist thrust up its shattered lance,
And rocking on the cliff was left
The dark pine blasted, bare, and cleft.
The veil of cloud was lifted, and below
Glowed the rich valley, and the river’s flow
Was darkened by the forest’s shade,
Or glistened in the white cascade;
Where upward, in the mellow blush of day,
The noisy bittern wheeled his spiral way.

I heard the distant waters dash,
I saw the current whirl and flash,
And richly, by the blue lake’s silver beach,
The woods were bending with a silent reach.
Then o’er the vale, with gentle swell,
The music of the village bell
Came sweetly to the echo-giving hills;
And the wild horn, whose voice the woodland fills,
Was ringing to the merry shout,
That faint and far the glen sent out,
Where, answering to the sudden shot, thin smoke,
Through thick-leaved branches, from the dingle broke.

If thou art worn and hard beset
With sorrows, that thou wouldst forget,
If thou wouldst read a lesson, that will keep
Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,
Go to the woods and hills! No tears
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.

Sunrise, Florida

Tequila Sunrise

Sunrise Township, Minnesota

Sunrise by Norah Jones

 

Definition: Sunrise is the instant at which the upper edge of the Sun appears above the horizon in the east. Sunrise should not be confused with dawn, which is the (variously defined) point at which the sky begins to lighten, some time before the sun itself appears, ending twilight. Because atmospheric refraction causes the sun to be seen while it is still below the horizon, both sunrise and sunset are, from one point of view, optical illusions. The sun also exhibits an optical illusion at sunrise similar to the moon illusion.

The apparent westward revolution of Sun around the earth after rising out of the horizon is due to Earth’s eastward rotation, a counter-clockwise revolution when viewed from above the North Pole. This illusion is so convincing that most cultures had mythologies and religions built around the geocentric model. This same effect can be seen with near-polar satellites as well.

Sunrise and sunset are calculated from the leading and trailing edges of the Sun, and not the center; this slightly increases the duration of “day” relative to “night“. The sunrise equation, however, is based on the center of the sun.

The timing of sunrise varies throughout the year and is also affected by the viewer’s longitude and latitude, altitude, and time zone. Small daily changes and noticeable semi-annual changes in the timing of sunrises are driven by the axial tilt of Earth, daily rotation of the earth, the planet’s movement in its annual elliptical orbit around the Sun, and the earth and moon’s paired revolutions around each other. In the springtime, the days get longer and sunrises occur earlier every day until the day of the earliest sunrise, which occurs before the summer solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere, the earliest sunrise does not fall on the summer solstice around June 21, but occurs earlier in June. The precise date of the earliest sunrise depends on the viewer’s latitude (connected with the slower Earth’s movement around the aphelion around July 4). Likewise, the latest sunrise does not occur on the winter solstice, but rather about two weeks later, again depending on the viewer’s latitude. In the Northern Hemisphere, the latest sunrise occurs in early January (influence from the Earth’s faster movement near the perihelion, which occurs around January 3). Likewise, the same phenomena exist in the Southern Hemisphere except with the respective dates reversed, with the latest sunrises occurring some time after June 21 in winter and earliest sunrises occurring some time before December 21 in summer, again depending on one’s southern latitude. For one or two weeks surrounding both solstices, both sunrise and sunset get slightly later or earlier each day. Even on the equator, sunrise and sunset shift several minutes back and forth through the year, along with solar noon. These effects are plotted by an analemma.[1][2]

Due to Earth’s axial tilt, whenever and wherever sunrise occurs, it is always in the northeast quadrant from the March equinox to the September equinox and in the southeast quadrant from the September equinox to the March equinox. Sunrises occur due east on the March and September equinoxes for all viewers on Earth.

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, and how your work relates to the other responses.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. Are you already a member? I created that spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses. Please join and look at all of the great artwork that people have posted.

Sketching #113

CPP Response #113: Stem
CPP Response #113: Stem

What else could I have drawn? I thought about putting something on the wall and making it look like the fruit was on a plate in the dining room, then I just didn’t.

Having a daunting number of responses to get through means I am not spending as much time as I should. Perhaps I should stop? Or cut my losses and start from where I am.

FOTY 2011 – Mid December

Mid-December Triangles
Mid-December Triangles

I am trying different arrangements of triangles for show. The previous arrangements have left so much design wall space in the photos. It took me awhile to cut enough triangles for this photo as I concentrated on the Stepping Stones top.

Many of the fabrics are from Camille Roskelley’s Ruby line. I have stacked them up as I search for suitable project for them. I have almost decided I will do another Stepping Stones quilt, though perhaps I will scale it down a bit as how many 100×80 quilts does a person need?

This may be the last batch of triangles as I have to start organizing them in preparation for sewing them at the CQFA retreat.

Block-a-Long #37: Big Stack & Square Line

Big Stack & Square Line #37
Big Stack & Square Line #37

Happy New Year! I hope one of your resolutions was to participate int he Block-a-Long!

This is the first block of the New Year! Another simple block with rectangles. Yes, I am definitely continuing my rectangle love.

It looks good with four fabrics and I encourage you to select your own fabrics and not try and match mine.

Rotary cutting directions for Big Stack & Square Line #37 are posted.

If you have made blocks or a quilt from these patterns, please post a link in the comments section of the relevant block or on the AQ Block-a-Long Flickr group. I would love to see what you have made.

Stepping Stones Well Underway

Stepping Stones Top
Stepping Stones Top

The Stepping Stones top is done. It is quite large and my quilt hanger was not able to hold it to its full width. I am pleased with how it came out, though I think I will add a quilting border to preserve the pattern.

I used the leftovers to make the back, which is even larger.

Stepping Stones Back
Stepping Stones Back

I don’t know when it will be quilted as I have not heard from my quilter and have not found anyone suitable to step in.

Stepping Stones Corner
Stepping Stones Corner

In the corner photo you can see the modifications I made to the pattern.I am pleased with how it came out and how the green in the center works with the green border blocks.

2011 WIP Report

Good-bye 2011!

Hello 2012!

I don’t care much about work except for the money it brings and the colleagues with whom I enjoy spending time. What matters to me is my sewing and quiltmaking. I have enjoyed 2011 and made some wonderful projects. Below is the 2011 inventory of the quilts, etc that I sewed or created in 2011. I am also took a look at where I am in the process of various projects as well as where I want and need to go. I feel like I have made progress since the previous roundup post of December 31, 2010, but let me know what you think. First, I want to tout my accomplishments. 😉

2011 started off a bit slowly. The piecing of FOTY 2010 took me longer than planned and that got me off schedule a bit. It came out really well, though, so I am glad I took the time.

I read 55 books this year. Of the 55 I read, 20 of them were quilt, bag or creativity related.

I had quilts in 3 shows this year, which was surprising and pleased me greatly:

  • Change of Seasons was at the San Francisco Public Library from March 2011-September 2011 as part of the CQFA’s Primal Green Show
  • Fabric of the Year 2010 was at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles from August 14-October 16, 2011. What a thrill to have a quilt in a museum show!
  • Zig Zaggy Quilt was part of the New Quilts of Northern California at PIQF, October 12-16, 2011

Completed Pieces in 2011

One of the great things about completing projects is that they roll off the ‘not done’ or WIP or “To Do” list and on to the completed list. Two birds with one stone and all of that. 😉

Completed means to me that they are now usable and can in no way be considered to have anything left to stitch.

2011 completed projects are:

Mostly Done, Needs Finishing

This category contains the projects that are past the UFO stage and nearly finished

  • Food Quilt: top and back finished, binding made, needs quilting and binding
  • Jelly Roll Race Quilt: top finished, needs borders, quilting and binding
  • Original Bullseye: decided, with help of my fabulous readers just to put a simple black border on and bind in black. Needs border, back and binding.
  • Stepping Stones – piecing the back
  • The Tarts Come to Tea: quilting in process. Needs quilting completed, embroidery and embellishment, binding and sleeve.

True UFOs

Here is my list of UFOs. You can see many of them over at Artquiltmaker.com or look at the links I have provided.As mentioned last year, this list in no way implies that I will discontinue starting new projects or finish any of these.

  • Flowering Snowballs/Cross Block quilt: I not worked on this quilt at all year and have finished the center blocks. The side and corner blocks are drawn out on EQ6. I worried on and off about how to keep the blocks from fraying after I square them up. Got some good ideas from fabulous readers after my December 20, 2008 post! No progress in 2010 or 2011.
  • Garden from Pamela Allen class: needs hand embroidery and embellishment. Worked on it in the 2009 Pamela Allen class and it is much improved. Needs quilting, embellishment and binding.
  • Laura Wasilowski Flower Garden: started in the Laura Wasilowski class CQFA held in July 2007: needs machine quilting, hand embroidery and embellishment. No progress in 2008.
  • He Tried to Make it Up to Her: needs back and to be quilted. This is probably a quilt I will want to quilt myself. TFQ has dug out a number of quilts, but I don’t know if this was one of them. No progress in 2008.
  • Her Eyes were Bigger than Her Stomach: needs a back and to be quilted. Very active quilt; probably not the best design, but a mile marker in the quiltmaking journey and an excellent learning experience. No progress in 2008
  • Moon & Stars: in the quilting process…by hand
  • Pointillist Palette 4: Night: This is the fourth (of six) in a series of Pointillist Palette fabric by Debra Lunn and Michael Mrowka that was popular a number of years ago. No progress in 2008
  • Quilt Sorbet: on hold.
  • See: started in a David Walker class. Needs fusing, satin stitching around fused pieces and quilting. No progress in 2009, but I did think about it a lot.
  • Self Portrait from Pamela Allen class: needs more piecing, hand embroidery and embellishment. No progress in 2009
  • Solid Star Friendship Quilt: I really need more friends so they can make stars for me in solids with black. Do you want to exchange a star block with me? No progress in 2009-2010
  • Spiderweb: foundation pieced project, still piecing. Pattern for the border blocks created, need to print on paper piecing paper and piece. I also think I may have made too many blocks and may make this into two quilts. Aside from collecting more strips, no progress 2008-2010.
  • Under the Sea:  brown piece from April 2009 Pamela Allen class with CQFA. Needs machine quilting, hand embellishment and finishing.
  • Women’s Work 2: In 2009,  I said that this quilt “needs focus.” Was inspired and have the design. No progress 2009-2010, except for finding my drawing and making a file.

On My Mind

Here are the quilts and projects I am thinking about. Some are on the list from last year. In some cases I have purchased fabric, but no sewing has been done, so they are not yet considered UFOs.

  • Bathroom ‘quilt’ out of heavy clear plastic. I want to make pockets that I can put interesting things in that won’t get waterlogged. I also think the stitching would be an interesting addition to the piece. I also saw a tallish tote bag with many pockets that is similar to what I have been thinking for this quilt, so perhaps I will do another tote instead.
  • Blue Rectangle Project-Blue monochromatic quilt with the 2.5″x4.5″ blue rectangles I have been cutting.
  • Colorblocks 4 with silks: I want to use this pattern (or something like it) from Sandy Bonsib; silk fab will use silk fabric with a luscious sheen instead of the regular cottons. Background will be black cotton sateen again. What’s been holding me up? Backing all the silk. I have the backing and just can’t bring myself to do it. Barsha told me to skip the backing and just make the quilt without it. Can’t decide if the project has new life or not. Definitely not on the top of the list.
  • Dot quilt with inset circles a la Ruth McDowell: more uses for dots and a good exercise in piecing. The Twinkle quilt shown in the January 2009 issue of Quilting Arts magazine is similar and renewed my interest in this design. Took a Dale Fleming class in April of 2010 and learned another way to make circles.
  • Feathered Star dot quilt from Summer 2007 issue of Quilts & More: more use for dots. I thought I would get to this after making the Pineapple, but the Pineapple is still not complete, so this this dot quilt has not been started.
  • Interlocking triangles #4: love the technique and have at least one, if not two, idea[s] for more quilts using this technique.
  • Garden Quilt: I have been collecting photos and patterns of interesting flowers for years and have always wanted to make some kind of garden or flower quilt. It will probably be something like The Tarts Come to Tea. Need to finish the Tarts first before starting the same kind of project. Now I can use the Soft Fuse for this quilt.
  • Jack’s Chain: I saw a quilt of this pattern years and years ago and have always wanted to make one. Probably at least a partial hand piecing project after the Flowering Snowball (Cross Blocks quilt). I am more confident seeing how Liz Porter and Marianne Fons handled equilateral triangles. I also have that new ruler to use. I could, additionally, decide on a size and start piecing nine patches. I saw a quilt at PIQF 2011 that used other pieced blocks instead of 9 patches, which was quite intriguing.
  • Liesl tote/backpack: have fabric and pattern and after hearing her interview with Jennifer at CraftSanity, I also have the confidence.
  • P&B Pop Parade quilt a la Serendipity Puzzle
  • Paper pieced Nativity scene: I downloaded this pattern when it was free years ago and have never gotten up the energy to be as organized as I need to be to make this, but I still want to make it. You can find the pattern, for purchase, at Paper Panache.com
  • Piece O’Cake Daisies & Dots project
  • Pink Rectangle project
  • Ruby & Bliss Stepping Stones project – still a bit unsure on the pattern
  • Queen Street fabric project
  • Quilted Fish Sugar & Spice Project
  • San Mateo County Fair Dot quilt
  • Some kind of pink quilt with all the pink fabric I have still been buying. I have begun cutting 2.5″x4.5″ rectangles of pink fabrics that cross my cutting table, so it will probably be some kind of rectangle quilt.

Abandoned Projects

This is also a new category. I decided to be upfront about the projects I got rid of.

  • Dot Pineapple quilt abandoned in 2011: I just can’t deal with the different sized blocks. I feel terrible about this one, but think that I will start it over and be better about tracking the size of each block.
  • QA Challenge Quilt: I needed to fuse the parts and rubber stamp the words, but I just wasn’t feeling the love. I have other things to do, so off it goes.

Happy New Year and Happy 2012 Sewing!

Stepping Stones Progress on BDSI

Monday was the Boxing Day Sew-in, which was organized by Sandy and contributed to by various other podcasters and quiltmakers. I have to say that I jollied myself along to get involved and am glad I did, because I had a great time watching the tweets scroll past AND making major progress on the Stepping Stones.

Somehow the Stepping Stones project was well on it’s way to becoming a chronic UFO. I don’t know why. Somehow it just became a chore. I think that starting it around Thanksgiving and then not having my usual sewing time to devote to it contributed to the feeling.

Spending time on it on Monday and getting cheers from others participating in BDSI was the shove I needed. The support felt great and the project is well on its way to completion.

Starting Point
Starting Point

This is where I started. Looking at it now I find that I had made good progress. My whole problem was my attitude. Perhaps I am a fickle creature and if I cannot work on a project intensely, I become angry at it and want to move on?

During the day, we were all tweeting our progress and I was using my cell phone to take pictures. I hope the pictures are acceptable quality.

Center Done
Center Done

By 10:30 or 11am, I had finished the center part of the quilt. I was able to start in on the border. As you may have seen in the previous post, I decided to modify the border so it looked more finished. As such, I needed 4 corner blocks that were slightly different from the side blocks and then 20 side blocks.

Corner labeled
Corner labeled

Again, I was able to finish the corner (4) blocks and 2 of the side blocks. This allowed me to take a look at the way the corner would look and if my design had the desired effect. The quilt top always looks different once sewn together, but I think it will suit me.

Yesterday, I sewed several big chunks together. this is another monster quilt, so it is taking me some time to get it sewn together. I would like to have the top and back done by the time I go back to work on the 2nd. I had really big sewing plans and the holidays got in the way.

Now back to listening to my audio book and getting this baby finished!

Creative Prompt #137: Baby

Baby, it’s cold outside

baby names

Rock a bye baby

Hush Little Baby

baby bunting

cry baby

baby pictures

Baby Einstein

Million Dollar Baby (movie)

Angel baby

cherub

baby doll

baby talk

new baby

baby shower

infant

baby clothes

you and me, baby

baby steps

American Baby Magazine

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, and how your work relates to the other responses.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. Are you already a member? I created that spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses. Please join and look at all of the great artwork that people have posted.

Finished! Kissy Fish

Kissy Fish framed
Kissy Fish framed

I got this back from the framer last Tuesday and am thrilled with the way it turned out.DH and I decided where to hang it and hung it up on Christmas Eve so it would be nice looking on Christmas when my parental units were over.

Now I can add another finished project to my list! My quilting best for a year used to be 9 quilts. With this quilt, I have completed 10 this year. YAY! A new JayeWorld Record!