Design Wall Monday

There has not been a whole lot of sewing this week. The furnace is not working properly, so it is very cold in most of the house, including my sewing/dining room. Fortunately we have a gas fireplace in the den/kitchen, so we are staying warm. (Not that it is cold, for we have balmy temps in the 50's, and the house is holding a temp of 61-63 degrees without the furnace.)

I sewed with a church group on Sunday afternoon, and I was able to get ten stars done for the week. Here are four Laurel Burch stars. I do like her artistic style but have limited myself to Christmas prints only.

That makes 40 stars made, 32 more to go. Hope we get a new furnace soon so I can keep progressing!

And a fabric purchase: Two fat quarters in pink and grey, purchased to go with other pink and grey fabric that I won two years ago. Total cost $2.13.

Linking up with Judy at http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/01/26/design-wall-january-26-2015/

 

 

 

 

Design Wall Monday

More Christmas Stars!

 

I made another nine blocks this week to make a total of 31 so far.

 

I have enough fabric cut for another 41 stars; I need 72 to complete the quilt I have planned.

This is the layout of my original idea. The stars are 8" finished, alternating with a plain white block. I have not thought about borders yet.

 

Then I arranged the stars without the plain block, just to see how it would look.

Of course, this would drastically reduce the size of the quilt, and each star seems to lose its personality! Still, there is much less white space to quilt this way.

Linking up with http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/01/19/design-wall-january-19-2015/

A Flimsy Finish

The sampler blocks I made from the 2013 Virtual Quilting Bee:

 

I surrounded 12 of the blocks with a dotted stripe: 

 

 

I had two possible fabrics for the sashing:

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though I liked the first one best, I felt it was a little too harsh on the eyes, especially since this quilt will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House. I went with the second option.

 

Here is the finished top!

Yes, I do believe I made the right choice.
 
I used three extra blocks on the backing:

I worked hard to try keep the vertical lines lined up!



There is one lonely leftover block that will find a home someday...

 

Linking up with http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.ca/

Design Wall Monday

In 2013 I participated in the Virtual Quilting Bee (http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/p/the-virtual-quilting-bee.html); sixteen quilt bloggers designed the blocks. I decided to join so that I could use my solid fabrics, playing with color combinations that were unusual to me. Here are my finished blocks.

 

 

It took a long time to decide what to do with them. I first sashed some with gray, but that was very dull. I finally decided to go to extremes--to keep up with the unusual theme-- and this week I surrounded each block with some polka dot stripes!

 

So far so good great! I am loving how the black and white make the colors pop even better than before! Next up will be sashing. I have the fabric picked for that as well; I just hope it adds and does not detract.

And on the Christmas Stars front, I was able to make another nine blocks this week!

 

I am linking up with http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/01/12/design-wall-january-12-2015/, where many other quilters are linking up their design walls as well!

 

Resolutions for the New Year



I'm not a big resolution maker, for I know that I have not been good at keeping up with them. But this year I resolved to not purchase fabric. 

 

On the second of January, daughter wanted to go to Goodwill. I dropped her off and went to the store next door. I did have to go back to get her, so I planned to just step foot in the door and not go to the remnants section near the back. Of course the Christmas items were right inside the door, and there was a really nice piece of red fabric, just over two yards for .75 cents. 

 

Yes, it did come home with me.

I am so pathetic.

And weak.

And unable to keep a resolution.

 

So now my resolution is to post every single piece of quilt fabric I bring in to the house this year. Maybe that will help me with accountability.

 

Today I purchased more fabric. But this time it is not for me, nor for my stash. I have an idea for a Lenten banner for church, and I am anxious to get started. But I needed the right fabrics.

Fortunately the batiks were on sale and I had a coupon! Batik is still expensive, but it will be worth it when the banner is finished.

One more resolution I have is to quit wasting time playing mindless computer games. So I gave myself some reminders; can you see the notes on my computer?

NO GAMES           NO GAMES     

Just Say NO      NO computer games!

I have not yet broken this resolution! The result? I'm sewing again, cooking again, going to bed on time, reading a book, and I am even blogging again! So far, so good!

Design Wall Monday

 

Happy New Year 2015!

 

I have been out of the quilting mojo for six months, just not terribly interested. I really enjoyed making the costumes; it was a new outlet for creativity. Perhaps I am getting bored with quilting. Perhaps it is time to look beyond traditional quilts and think about art quilts. I do know I want to make more church banners this year. 

 

I do, however, have many projects started that I would like finish. I pulled out Christmas Stars, thinking I could make a star a day. All the fabrics are cut and piled; this is as far as I got.

No, it won't be assembled like a Christmas tree, but over the holidays it looked kind of festive on the design wall!

I am going to try to make progress and post it every Monday, linking up with Judy over at Patchwork Times. To see what others are making, check it out! http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/01/05/design-wall-january-5-2015/

My quilting buddy made me a beautiful batik bag for Christmas! I have to show it off.

Side one

Side two

The inside with lots of pockets!

She said I must use it when we go on quilt retreats. I certainly will!