Spiral progress …

love, Love, LOVE!

The top of my spiral quilt is finished, I’m still in love.  I need to get a backing together, then I’m sending it out to a long-arm quilter, this is just too big for my little machine.

And, I’m working on a version of this quilt as a pattern – my first.

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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.

 

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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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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.

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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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Off the shelves

I made this quilt months ago, then liked it so much I couldn’t decide whether to put it in the shop, so it sat on a shelf in my studio, which is no place for a quilt.

I finally came back to it, and listed it. (Though, if it didn’t sell, I wouldn’t be too terribly upset to keep it)

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