Never Ending List: Quilt Block Tutorials

I’ve wandered away from my plan of sharing the tutorials I bookmark and then have too many of to make. I’m trying to get back to that, with a few quilt-y ones:

 

Improvised patchwork tutorial from Completely Cauchy

Framed fussy-cut blocks from Kate Conklin Designs

Do. Good Stitches blocks from Texas Freckles

 

 

Previous attempts at sorting through my list of tutorials: Getting Organized, Napkins and Such, the original (read: random) post

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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.

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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.

 

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Blue Plate Special…

The short days, and now rain, are interfering with my photo-taking, s0 please forgive the lighting, I did want to post progress.

This is the trial block of cobalt blue dresden plates, destined for a tablerunner for a family member with a newly blue and white kitchen.

Dresden plates have been on my “to make” list for ages. I used this tutorial from Elizabeth Hartman (Oh, Franson) on Sew Mama Sew, which worked well, though I’ll buy a ruler, instead of the template, before I make another.  And I will make another, I’m thinking about a yellow sun for my own bedroom, next.

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Holiday sewing

Typically, I gave myself a too-long list of things to make for Christmas, but I’m making progress and thought I’d show you a bit.

This fall, I made this quilt as a birthday gift:

I saved an extra block to make the coordinating pillow for Christmas:

 

One more off my list: If you’re sewing for winter holidays – how’s your list going?

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No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth

Sorry! I won’t get into it, but life has completely taken over my, well, life and kept me completely away from blog, flickr, even my sewing machine.

I finally managed to get everything under control enough to get this month’s pinwheel bee-blocks sewn and mailed.

And love how they turned out – you know I love my white backgrounds, but these look great with the gray. I’ve been thinking about gray and blue, but the pink-orange-gray combination really caught my eye, and had me digging through my own stash..

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Blue Ribbon

Finally getting back to some sewing – no particular plan though, just a block.

I started this for a gift that I ended up taking in another direction, but decided to finish the block anyways (I’m trying to work through, instead of adding to, my WIP/UFO pile).  A pillow? a mini? Not sure, but that’s what a 3 day weekend is for.

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Leaders & Enders

There’s something so satisfying about these projects. Just sew a pair of squares together to keep from cutting the threads while you’re doing something else – suddenly you’ve got an apple green patchwork block.

 

A few of them, and you’ve got a table runner. (Magic!)

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Some sewing progress…

Finally got a few minutes to sew, and made some progress on my bee.

Here are the fabrics:

Quilt Happie gave us  lots of freedom with the blocks – rectangles that used all of the fabrics and blocks that had  “a modern Improv, scrappy kind of feel”

I decided to play with different sizes of slightly wonky log cabins:

(Which was lots of fun, by the way)

Here are some of the other blocks for this round:

1. Blocks for Jessica, 2. Blocks for Jessica, 3. Blocks for Jessica, 4. FMB2 Blocks for Jessica - September, 5. FMB2 Blocks for Jessica - September, 6. September block for Fresh Modern Bee II, 7. FMB II - September 2010, 8. FMB2 Blocks for Jessica - September, 9. can't stop, 10. Fresh Modern Bee 2 for QuiltHappie, 11. jessica - september, 12. Jessica's rainbow (fresh modern bee 2)

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Perpetual UFO’s

Anyone else have these projects?

I made the blocks months and months ago, periodically I take them out, think “I really should finish this”, look at them, arrange them indifferently on the design wall, but don’t get quite  inspired/ambitious enough to actually sew them together.

Design Wall with D9P mid-August 2010

Sometimes I audition sashings — a pretty light blue this time — or try different arrangements, but I just packed these blocks back up and tossed them into the basket where UFO’s live for another few months.

Maybe next time they’ll get assembled …

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