Tag: Piecing

Sewing Accomplishments

I did get some sewing and fabric work done over the weekend. Nothing fantastic, but it felt good just to be handling fabric.

I actually finished this block on the way back from our ski trip the first weekend in March. I didn’t get around to pressing it until this past weekend. I started this block years ago in an Elly Sienkiewicz class when I thought I might want to do a Baltimore Album Quilt. Two blocks taught me my lesson. All of you who do needle turn applique’ are goddesses. I will never be one. This block will go into the orphan block quilt that I plan to make when I am old.

I just stopped receiving the 4×4″ squares from Benartex. I decided not to renew my membership in the club as receiving the 4×4″s was starting to get on my nerves. I no longer wanted to find a place to stash them and have given up on making a 4×4″ square quilt. However, this group came and was on my sewing table on Friday when all of sudden I became desperate to sew. I just sat down and sewed them all together. They are definitely in the color scheme of Robyn Pandolph, a color scheme that I admire. I always think I might make something in this color scheme, but then always end up adding hot pink or lime green, which isn’t this scheme at all. This was a good way to get it out of my system with very little effort on my part. Now I have a big rectangle of squares on my design wall and am not sure what to do next. I could do nothing and just admire what I have when I am in a Robyn Pandolph sort of mood. I could make a table runner. I could make this the center medallion of a quilt. I am not sure yet. Still, it was fun and fun is definitely a good thing.

I also finished my block for the Sampler class. The technique was foundation piecing and the block is a simple New York Beauty. I am not happy with it at all. It is too simple. This block made me think that I could just keep these blocks as class samples and not make them into a quilt. This presumes that I will teach a sampler class again. There is something about the blocks together that makes me not want to make them into a quilt. I will have to figure out what.

I also made progress on SLB’s wedding shower quilt. I cut all the blocks and all of the strips that we picked out. I plan to start sewing the strips this weekend.

RE: More Thoughts on Dots — I also began cutting 6.5″ squares of dot fabrics with the thought of making a simple yet happy quilt with all of the dot fabrics that I have. So far I have four blocks. Immerhin.

Feelin’ Blue Layouts

Aja’s blocks for Feelin’ Blue arrived this week and they are gorgeous. I think she must have picked backgrounds, which truly inspired JZS and I to do our best. All of the blocks are gorgeous and together they have the right amount of color with right amount of blue. It is still monochromatic, but not boring. I read or took a class somewhere/sometime and recall the teacher/author saying that you had to add a little of the complementary color to a monochromatic quilt to make it interesting. I’ll have to look up from where I am remembering that comment.

Now my task is to layout the blocks.I have a couple of different ideas.

Feelin' Blue Layout 1
Feelin’ Blue Layout 1

The first one is nice, but unbalanced. Balance isn’t always what it is cracked up to be, but I do like balance.

Feelin' Blue Layout 2
Feelin’ Blue Layout 2

The second photo is my attempt at balance. I am leaning on going with this option. I still may play around with the layout some more just to see what I can come up with.

I am also still fiddling with the placement of the individual pieces. I stare at it in the morning for 45 minutes or so and move pieces around based on different subjective criteria. Two light blues in the middle piece are next to each other and thus make a big light blue blob. Too many oranges in one area. Etc.