Weekend finish(es)

One project, three matching pillows

A commission, so much as I love this design, they’ll be heading for a new home soon.

Spiral Love

I have a stack of other projects demanding my attention, but I’m busily sewing spiral blocks instead.  I’ve got a good stack now, and even though the (full size)  quilt will be far bigger than my design wall, I’ve stuck some of the the blocks up there, pretty much just so that I can admire them.

I just love this quilt.

 

Commissions

Just a quick sneak peak of a pair of commissions:

A set of three pillows, in one of my favorite blocks. I’ve made pillows just like this before, and used the blocks in (lots of) other projects – including the quilt in my header, and I’m still always happy to see them come together from a humble stack of strips and straightforward construction.

And next up, a half square triangle quilt. Another favorite.

This is one of those designs that I keep coming back to (blue/green, pink/orange, aqua and there’s a red one, too, that didn’t make it to the blog)

 

What are the patterns, colors or techniques that you find yourself going back to time and again? ( Or are you always onto something new?)

Bee Block – Pt. 2

I posted my sunny Dresden plate bee-block a while ago, but as I was looking at the pile of scraps and getting ready to send them back, I decided I wasn’t done with them.  I’m just a little behind in posting pictures of the 2nd one.

After the precise, traditional piecing of the Dresden, I wanted something modern and improvised. So I went totally different and cut strips and a fussy cut, and made a scrappy-looking little snowball block.

Spiral Process

I don’t usually go through quite this much “process” before I start sewing, but since I did, I thought I’d share the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat… or something less melodramatic.

I had an idea, the other day – you can make spirals more or less the same way as a log cabin block.  And, I think “spiral” is my favorite shape. So I started sketching, and then (unusual for me – but useful in this instance) moved to the drawing program on my computer, and I got this far (there ae a bunch of un-colored in spirals that are hard to see):

And I looked at it, and I loved it, and I wanted it, and I started imagining it on my bed. I even have a stack of fabric that’s been sitting, waiting for just the right project. Love!

And then I looked at it again, and cursed. Quilters, notice how nicely my curlicue’s fit together in a lovely organic, non-linear arrangement then, notice how my beloved design contains about a million and two inset seams, and no clear way to assemble the blocks. Drat!

*sigh* back to the drawing board, err, program. A snow-day later, and much adjusting of block placement and sewing line drawing , I’ve got a design that I can actually sew, if not the neatest mock-up:

Not sew in a neat grid, mind you, but I did figure out a way to split it into manageable sections with reasonable seams. (the blue boxes) Victory!

And started cutting:

 

(please ignore the somewhat strange lighting: winter light + red room = weird photos)

I’ll show you more once I have some actual blocks to share: I can’t wait to see them myself.

New potholders

These new potholders have been gracing my kitchen for the last week or so. I won’t show you the potholders these replaced: suffice it to say they were commercial potholders that were merely good-enough when they were new, and they were far from new.

I first pulled this stack of fabric back in early December when I was playing around without a clear goal.

But, coincidentally, the blue is a perfect match for my kitchen, so I started cutting and sewing strips, and quilting lots of diagonal lines.

The combination kind of looks like a cold rain to me, but I like it anyways.

Oops!

I’ve been participating in Angela’s Fabric Diet – and all January, I was really good, and stuck to my diet.

 

Then I went away last weekend, and there was an LQS (well, sort of, it was only 20-30 minutes out of my way), and I try to support support local shops. So I stopped in to look around,  and well, they had some Kaffe shot cottons I’d been wanting to play with, and I’m always looking for good yellows (I have ayellow bedroom, a growing appreciation of the color, and a heck of a time finding good yellow fabric), and the dots coordinate perfectly with the blue-grays I’ve been working with.  Really, it was totally justified. *nods seriously*

 

 

Besides, I was on vacation – and diets don’t go on vacation, right?  Too bad that justification doesn’t hold for the stack of fabric I ordered online afterwards.   Oops!

How are you doing with your own fabric goals?

 

Bee Block: Sunny Dresden

Sunny yellow dresden for this month’s bee: perfect contrast to a cold, snow-y month. (The local TV station just announced we’d set a new snow-fall record for January. The meteorologist sounded a little too happy/excited about that, especially since we’re starting February with another foot of snow. Ok, weather-whine done, moving on)

 

The request this month was for something circle-ish, and since I’ve just decided that I really like making Dresden Plates, I knew just what to do. Well, actually, I thought about coming up with something new and different, but I’d been wanting to make a yellow Dresden anyways, so those thoughts didn’t last long.  Instead I made a little yellow plate (it’s 6-ish inches across) and set it off center on my square of linen.

 

My view, this weekend

Not my usual view, I took a short trip for a bit of a mental health break. This is the view from a little B&B over cross-country trails.

Faster, higher, stronger has never been my motto, but a sport whose highest aspiration is gliding through the woods might be one I can appreciate, maybe it’ll even redeem all this snow. Once I get over the sore muscles from my first try at it anyways. :)

 

I’ll be back to sewing and regular life soon. Until then, I hope you’ve all had wonderful weekends.

Starry, starry night…

I’m toying with ideas for my month in my bee, and I — of course — have too many ideas. One of them involves stars, so I went trolling through flickr. I’m not sure why I thought this would help me narrow down my choices – but, at least I decided to share some of the beautiful stars I found with all of you:

1. DQS #9 – Front, 2. Curly Boy’s Roundabout – 4 blocks, 3. dqs7 received, 4. Purple Passion Star quilt, 5. Kitty stars baby quilt, 6. Mini Lone Star, 7. mini three: ice star, 8. Fab 12 Stars, 9. Eight Pointed Star Quilt, 10. Amy’s Wonky Star Block, 11. Friendship Star – PTS4, 12. 60 BoS {15.60}