Cyndi is a member of my local guild whose work I really like. She has a similar color sense to me.
I saw her starting this quilt a few months ago and was excited by the color scheme. The finished piece turned out better than I could have imagined. It really looks like a quilt that could be used and cuddled on the couch. It is a pattern called ‘A’s Strips’ by Amy Cowan and Opal Cocke of Here2There Designs. Amy also produces the Creative Mom podcast.
Cyndi’s MassDrop donation quilt
At last year’s Retreat, we got a nice donation of top quality fabric from MassDrop. Some of the fabric was difficult to use because of the designs,but people powered through and made donation quilts. Cyndi recently finished another one using a great design.
I came home from my trip on Sunday evening. It was actually the second trip in a week, but I was only home for about 12 hours between trips and much of that was spent sleeping, so I hadn’t done any sewing for over 10 days except some EPP in the car.
MetroScape Top – complete
Monday was a holiday and DH was home. I had to do some work, but I pretended for most of the day that it was Sunday. I chatted with my mom on the phone while I ironed a ton of fabric. I also worked on some donation blocks and put the MetroScape top together.
Yep. All those blocks are now a top! I am really pleased with the way it looks. I am just trying to decide about a border. I like I like it as is, but we will see.
I am back from 4 trips in 4 weeks. I am hoping I can can get to know my husband again, get back on schedule and get life back to normal. I have finished the last Metroscape block and am ready to start making a quilt top.
Actually, I am ready to do a whole bunch of sewing.
This block is my least favorite. The blue and red, especially the blue don’t see to go with the other blocks. I had 12 different dots and I didn’t want to repeat any, so I used it. We will see how I like it when I put all the blocks on the design wall together.
I finished another MetroScape block. This is the second to last one and I should be able to get a start on putting the quilt together soon.
I didn’t cut my regular Hunting and Gathering pieces, because I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough fabric for the blocks. I am pleased that I have plenty and will be cutting the pieces I need for various other projects soon.
I finished another MetroScape block the other day. I am closing in on finishing the blocks and think I am ready to put the quilt together and be done with it.
I am still pleased with the way these pieces are coming out. I am just ready to move on Who Am I? is on my big design wall and it is starting to call to me again.
I finished another block over the weekend. I like the foreground fabric. That light green (sage or light aqua??) is really nice and unusual.
I have 8 of these now and cut the rest of the foregrounds, so I could spread out the colors. I have enough of the dots so that each foreground will be unique unless I decide to make extra blocks. We’ll see how large I want this quilt to be.
As mentioned, I spent a lot of time Saturday afternoon and evening working on the Ends n.6 donation top and back. Before I got to work on that project. I finished the MetroScape block n.5.
I had done most of the work last week, but hadn’t quite has the time to finish.
I am pleased with the way it came out and am liking the look of the Quick Curve Ruler pieces more and more.
It might seem unbelievably boring to see each of these blocks as I put them together. However, they make me so happy that I can’t help sharing.
I am particularly happy with this block. I started out with a cool center, which I love. Adding the dot fabric, which I thought would be warm, fits perfectly. It takes on a warm cast, I think.
I also counted up the dots I have and found 11. That is one short of those needed for the number of blocks in the pattern. I don’t mind repeating one, but I may make more blocks, which means I will have to repeat others. Stay tuned.
I should have started a new project sooner then I wouldn’t have felt so bad. I started on the next block and I really like it.
I’m still sticking to dots in the outer section of the block. I haven’t decided if I will try the stripes. The thought of matching stripes makes me a bit crazy.
MetroScape block 2 in process
I worked on this block at the retreat, too, and made good progress. Having a nice piecing project to work on is awesome.
MetroScape Block n.2
I did finish the block yesterday and am pleased with the way it came out.
I wondered about whether I would enjoy making this block after finding the ruler and the pattern the other day.
It has a lot of curves, which can be problematic in general. I also had to use a special ruler. Sometime special rulers create great effects and sometimes they are a disaster.
I started out easy with 4 blocks that create the center. All of the center blocks will be dots and stripes. Sewing four squares together was easy.
MetroScape curves
I dove in and started cutting curves. I had some issues but it was mostly operator error. Cutting the first block took me a long time as I attempted to navigate the pattern and fabric choices.
I am planning on using dots on the outer part of the block, but I don’t know if I will have enough dots to differentiate the blocks enough. I am scared of trying to line up the stripes, but I might try one block with stripes to see how it looks.
I did realize that the pattern is called MetroSCOPE not MetroScape. Well, I am going with MetroScape regardless. I don’t have a better name and it kind of reminds me of landscape.
I felt like I needed a piecing project. I have finished (or prepared for quilting) quite a few projects this year. I decided I could start something new. The project I started was on my Dream/Future projects list.
I looked at a couple of the projects on my various lists, but the Quick Curve Ruler project floated to the top. I looked at the Goodnight Irene project. This is a project from Missouri Star, though it has been around in other places as well. I have a lot of 2.5 inch squares already cut, so I could have started pretty quickly. There was something about it that didn’t grab me.
I also looked at the Thirty Something project. I have been cutting 1.5 inch squares for the center blocks and have enough to make a start. The problem was that there is a lot of other cutting required. I don’t mind doing some cutting, but I didn’t want to have to spend a whole weekend cutting before I could actually sew. I need to add some different pieces to my cutting list so I can make some progress on this project. I have to say that the 1930s fabrics** used in the project in the magazine are not appealing to me. The fabrics might have been a bit off putting. I don’t know.
I looked in my book and saw the Quick Curve Ruler project. I didn’t have a specific pattern in mind, but wanted to try the ruler. The YM bought it for me a few years ago and it was time to get around to trying it out.
MetroScape pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful
Even though I don’t use patterns much, I have a few for this ruler and thought it would be a good idea to follow one. I chose MetroScape after looking at the two I could find easily.
Stay tuned for some progress.
**Nota bene: I don’t dislike 1930s fabrics; they just aren’t a favorite and this 30 Something project is overwhelmingly 1930s fabrics. The overall look was too….something.
Gerre brought her blocks to the meeting last month and laid them out. I talked about this process earlier in the week (better late than never!). During that process, I realized that my shard was not among the ones she brought. I looked up all the Color My Quilt posts and don’t think I ever made her a piece. I was really sad about that, so I got busy.
This one isn’t as long as I thought it would be and is more buttoned up than the other shards, but I hope she will be able to use it.
Marty tried to torture me this month with her request.
Brown.
Yep. Brown.
I couldn’t believe it, but it was true. Fortunately, I didn’t have go to the indignity of beige or baby poop brown. I had a chocolate fabric with the most fabulous lime, turquoise and orange dots. Haha!
The shard is a little bit of an odd shape, but that is ok. Marty will just have to deal. I hope she likes it.
Color My Quilt: Marty – Brown made fabric
I had made some fabric using browns sometime ago. I can’t remember for what reason, so I just decided to toss that into the pile for Marty as well. Despite my best intentions, I am not going to make a journal cover from browns. I might have been thinking of making another Henry, but that can wait. I want to make a white one first.
Last month, Gerre brought her shards to we could all look at them. Gerre has left her handbag at home, so didn’t have her phone and couldn’t take photos. I volunteered and texted her photos as I took them. There are a lot of photos!
Gerre’s Shards
Gerre’s Shards detail
Gerre’s Shards
Gerre’s Shards
Gerre’s Shards
Gerre’s Shards
Gerre’s Shards
Gerre’s Shards
Gerre’s Shards
Gerre’s Shards
Gerre’s Shards
Gerre’s Shards
Gerre’s Shards
Being the opinionated ladies that we are, we all had opinions about placement. It was kind of fun to work with other people moving shards around. I think Gerre was kind of excited, too, as it gave her ideas about placement.
I had issues with the plum (see upper part of first photo, left). I thought the plum should be dispersed throughout the quilt.
We also tried to move the white around so it wasn’t all clustered in one place (see bottom two rows).
There was advice about putting the pieces together into chunks and cutting pieces up. I think it got people excited about layout.
