I am not a joiner...but..

Happy Halloween everyone !!

I was  just discussing with some blogging friends that I am not really a "joiner". I have never joined a swap, or a bee, and although I have joined the quilt guild, I tend to keep pretty quiet there.

But....our local quilt shop has a Block of the Month thing going on...Saturday Surprise Sampler. Now I have never joined one of these either, and am usually not fond of the sampler type of quilts, but this one looked interesting. It is all black and white blocks, each with a flash of colour. You can see the first 3 blocks on Michelle's blog.

So...I am in! I am going to try this!!
I tackled the first blocks already..

And this has actually reinforced why I don't join these bee block kinds of things...I suck at this !!

Really!!

OK, I know it is my own fault...I am terrible at reading the directions carefully before I charge right ahead!!    then rip the whole thing apart again!
OH!!!  YOU MEANT THE YELLOW SQUARE????

(Michelle, I think you should have included a free seam ripper with my package LOL)

Anyway, after re-reading the directions (I think I see a repeating theme here!!)  I got the first block finished..and it is perfect!!

So..I got brave and went for the other 3 as well...
A couple of them were a bit more complicated..

And a really amazing trick for making a whole lot of HST at once...the "grid method"..

In the end, they actually went together very quickly.

Aren't these just the coolest!!  The store will mail out the blocks, if anybody is interested in joining in the fun. Just contact  Michelle at Periwinkle. 

 .....four down...16 more to go!! :)
Wish me luck. ( I am getting better at following directions, though!!)

So that is my WIP this week!!
Linking up to the Needle and Thread Network..

and WIP Wed...

HST Question..

I have learned so much over the past couple of years about quilting...a lot of it from reading blogs, and asking questions.

I have been getting braver....now that I tried HST.....and have made a couple of things that are more than just jelly roll strips! (Although I have to say I still love Jelly Roll strips!!)

So now I have a few more questions!

I am working on a quilt pattern that calls for 164 HST..that is quite a pile... (and I am sure with a bigger quilt, the pile could get very big !!)

I am using the method where you draw a line on the diagonal, then cut 1/4 " on each side of the line. I have been cutting each one individually. There seems like very little room for error here, and I was afraid that they would shift if I tried to stack 2 or more together. What do you do? Cut each one,or stack and cut a few together??

And do you cut of those little dog ears???

I did...but then I think I am a obsessive.....yes, I have all the dollar bills in my wallet facing the same direction....doesn't everyone????

And trimming!!!  These squares started at  5" , so finished at 4 1/2 " . And mine were all pretty close to exact. Then I read that I had to cut them all down to 4"!!  All 164 of them !!!

Because I have the attention span of a mosquito, I used tape on my ruler as a guide...

That seemed to work well..

But...that was a lot of trimming!

Is that usual to trim them down to size, or could I have stated with a smaller square and finished at the size I wanted in the first place?. I guess that doesn't leave any room for error,  but 164 blocks??

So that is what I have been wondering about! Looking forward to hearing what you think.

Note to Self..

Have you ever had one of those moments when you are cutting...when you think...

mmm...this looks a little narrower than usual???

Note to Self...when you think that...STOP cutting right then and there!!

Or like me..you will be going back to the quilt store and admitting that you are an idiot!
(thank you Michelle for being so kind as to give me a little strip to try again!!)

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Salt Air

I must have been sleeping..I almost missed the Blogger's Quilt Festival! 


It is organized over at Amy's Creative Side, and is a great place to see lots and lots of great quilts!!
Thank you so much, Amy, for doing this!

Of course, I spend way too much time browsing around at all the inspiration there!!

So my entry for this year is one of my favourites...my Salt Air quilt...

It is a simple brick quilt, but I think really features the beautiful colours and pattens of this line. It finished at about 75"x 85".

The backing was from my stash..Urban Cosmos by Prima Style.

I quilted it on my home machine..( yup...all 90" of it LOL !|)...  just a large loopy flower pattern all over..

For the binding, I used one of the fun prints..

.....ready made scrappy..love it!!

This was the first time that I tried washable wool for the batting. It was easy to work with, and turned out soft and warm! It is a bit more expensive, but I wanted a warmer quilt, so it was perfect.

Overall I am really happy with this one, hope you like it too!

Finished size: 75" x 85"
Best Category: Favourite Home Machine Quilted
                     Favourite Bed quilt
                     Favourite Scrap quilt

Friday finish....and will I learn a lesson from this?

I do have a finish this week, so will link up to TGIFF over at What a Hoot .

And also going to join Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts!

And I am trying hard to resist calling my Ugly Quilt!!  But I am disappointed with how it turned out.

The problem is that there was not enough contrast between the strips and the background fabric. The fabric is Cabbages and Roses, Northcott Range. I thought it had more colour, but realized that a lot of the strips are quite neutral. And some of them had stripes, which look pretty choppy in these blocks :(

I added a bright border and binding...which helps. I love the little red dots!

The backing is something from my stash..I wasn't really loving it either...so I though it was perfect for this quilt    LOL  !!

The quilting was just a quick and loopy echoing teardrop. I made a a bit larger, so the quilt is quite soft now.

And it is finished...and my daughter mentioned that she didn't think it was ugly..so guess where this one is going?? Downstairs on her bed. She doesn't actually live here any more  so will only be home now and again for holidays etc.

But what perfect timing...there is a whole lot of lessons about colour value...There are several bloggers involved staring over at  Blue Elephant Stitches.   And yes, I am going to be taking notes!!

plaid?

Is it just me....or when you stare at these little polka dots for awhile

do they start to look like tiny little red and white plaid???

Ok..maybe I need to get out more :)


Linking up to Really Random Thursday over at Live a Colorful Life

Work in Progress.. Briar Rose

I am not finished this yet...but I am loving it!!

It is a free downloadable patten over at England Street Quilts! I used a Strawberry Fields jelly roll for this one. My last of this fabric, which I love..it is so pretty.

There are only 3 different  blocks..

I was a bit nervous about the triangle bits, but tried to be very careful. For the most part they match up well...

....then there are a few rogue points...

Oh well...I guess that gives it a personal touch..right???

Even given the few mismatches, the top went together easily! I am always so happy, and I must admit, somewhat amazed when it all works out in the end!!

Now just going to add some borders...and then add it to my pile of ready to quilt!! (better get going on those soon !)

I am linking up to the Needle and Thread Network..

and Lee's WIP over at Freshly Pieced...

fabric fort

I was babysitting our grand daughter on the weekend. She is 3 1/2, and of course as cute and smart as they come !! No bias here LOL

I didn't think I had a lot of scraps, but it looks like quite a pile when she got playing with them!

And she kept saying.."this is beautiful!"  and "I love this one!"  I think I have a little quilter in the making here !

And then grandpa got involved...and they built a fort...

with a river!!

Amazing..kept her busy for hours! 

I won something!

I won something!....well actually I seem to be on a little streak!

I told you last week that I won a couple of fat quarters as the door prize at quilt guild.....Well.... today I got an email that I won a giveaway from Martha over at Bits and Pieces. (She has a great blog...and is going to Houston..so should have lots of interesting things to report back to us who aren't going to be there!)

So this is what I won:

Turning Twenty Slapplique by Tricia Cribbs.

 

I have been trying out some appliqué, but this looks like a really fun way to use it! Cant wait to try this out!  Martha is so kind, she is also sending along some fabric to try out one of the projects!! Wow! Isn't that great!!

So I thought if this a winning streak....maybe it would carry over to the lottery????  I now have a ticket for the $50 million lottery draw!! Just think how many fat quarters that would buy!! 

 

nothing finished for Friday :(

Well, I have not been very productive this week...somehow the time just seems to fly by with other things, and I haven't gotten much sewing done.

I did go to quilt guild though...and won 2 fat quarters!! Lucky me!! I  never win anything, so that was a nice treat!

And I did start working on something new...a Briar Rose quilt. I just fell in love with this when I saw it over at England Street Quilts. And she has a free pattern and tutorial on the blog..thank you Shontelle!

Anyway, I am using the last of my Strawberry Fields fabric...love that stuff!! This will look like the one in the tutorial..because that is what I fell in love with..so wanted mine to look the same. (I know, I have no imagination!!)

Now I remember why I am scared of triangles!!  I am being very careful, so I am hoping that all my points will  match up.

 I am using my Hera marker to score the stitching line of the little squares...it seems to be working great!

I will let you know how this turns out!

On a different note...I was visiting my daughter in Calgary last week, and as it is getting colder here she got this cute little coat for Zoe, her puppy.. I think she likes it too!!

left-overs

I had some left over jelly roll strips, and was just playing with them. I wanted to try out the "Summer in the Park" idea from Missouri Star Quilt Co.

If you have never seen the video you should check it out..They have the coolest video's for easy quilt blocks.  I think they have several different ones, but this one was fun and easy!

Basically, for this one,  you sew sets of 3 strips together, lay 2 of these strip sets right sides facing, and sew down both outside edges.
Then you cut them into triangles...see the tutorial video for complete instructions....open them and sew the pieces together and end up with a block like this...

Fast, easy, and great use of left over jellyroll strips.

This is all I had left over of this fabric..and I am not sure what part of me was thinking that I would like something made out of the leftovers of something else that I really didn't like ???
...but will probably make a nice little quilt for some unsuspecting baby! shhhh...don't tell that it was just some left over scraps that I didn't like to begin with!! LOL

Of course, the original quilt from this fabric, which I wasn't really happy with,  is still sitting, basted...ready to quilt...but not getting done!!
Maybe next week??

That is my playtime this week..so linking up to the Needle & Thread Network.

and Lee's WIP Wed...

A sharp idea!

I don't know about you....but I HATE throwing away all those rotary cutter blades! I keep mine as long as possible.....sometimes too long!

But I read in Pinterest that you can sharpen them using tin foil!!

I tried this. You scrunch up some household tin foil,

then flatten in down, and cut through it with the rotary cutter..several times. You are supposed to check it on some fabric to know when it is sharp enough.

I actually think it did help some...not  a great job though.
I did get  through that cutting job with out having to change the blade, so probably a good short term trick.

Have you heard of this?? Tried it out?? What did you think?