November update

Well, it's been a while since I've made my last post so I thought it was time for an update.  These are the blocks I made for the October block lotto.  I posted them just one day before the deadline.  I originally started working on a Sunbonnet Sue block, and I packed it up to work on in the car on our trip down to Nashville but it never made it into the car and I couldn't find it at home so I made these blocks as a last minute entry.

 I'm glad I did because I finally won!  I now am the happy owner of 49 different 8" sampler blocks which I plan to turn into a quilt for the guest bed in the basement once I finish a few other projects.

These are my block lotto entries for November.  It's not exactly my style, but it would still be nice to win again.

There is no block lotto for December.  The coordinator is in the middle of changing jobs and recovering from some severe allergy problems so she called a break for the month.   I won't mind taking a month off since I have 3 other quilts in the plans for this month.

If I can find the time to take pictures, I will upload some photos of the crib quilt I finished for DH's nephew due around Christmas and of the progress I have made on our bed quilt.  

I've been avoiding the bed quilt because I couldn't figure out how to trim up the blocks so that they would make a nice, non-poofy star center.  I finally decided to bite the bullet and sew the eight sections into pairs and then trim the pairs to a 90 degree angle since triming the 8 sections to a symetrical 45 degree angle was too hard to figure out.  Now all 8 sections are sewn together, but I have to figure out how to eliminate some wavy edges on the star before I add the background fabric.

I've also got the pieces cut for two more crib quilts but haven't started sewing them yet.

Layout choices

I finished the star points on the queen sized medallion quilt I am making for our bed!  The pattern (Sarah's Wedding Quilt from Fabric Trends magazine) calls for a layout like this first picture.

 But I'm also thinking of making the layout like this picture:

DH and I like a larger quilt with plenty of overhang so the second layout would be a way to make the center of the quilt bigger.  On the other hand, the top point of the star might get tucked under the pillows with this layout and I think that would look a little strange.  I'd also have to make more blocks for the pieced border and I'm low on scraps for this quilt, but I think I could manage it.

I really need to try it out on the bed but DH is working hard to get some AC into our bedroom and that means lots of drywall dust and stuff everywhere in our room - not a great place to try out quilt layouts.

WIP (Work in Progress)

Well, no pictures yet, but I have been practicing my free motion quilting by quilting a different design in each 4-patch block of the blue/tan/white quilt.  I have 6 blocks left and then I hope to sew the binding on before Saturday.   We might be going to my SIL's house on Saturday and last week she was asking me some questions about how to quilt and bind a wallhanging kit she wasnts to make.  If I can get the quilting done, I'll take it with me to her house so she can see how the whole thing goes together.

After that quilt is finished, I plan to work on our bed quilt again.  It seems to take a lot more time to piece because I have to square up each block after each piece is added (the center is a large medallion star made up of eight diamond log cabin blocks - the diamond shape means I have to square things up to keep the correct angle for the next row.)  I've decided to start a crib quilt and use those pieces as my leaders-enders while working on our bed quilt.

Hopefully I'll have a few pictures of a finished lap quilt to show next post.

Progress

So, after several weeks and 748 seams, 816 triangles became 272 squares...

...which became 136 rectangles...

...which became 68 5.5" blocks.

These 68 blocks will become the border for the Queen sized quilt I'm working on.     Now if I could just get the center of the quilt done...

March update

I just realized it been nearly a month since I wrote anything on here so I thought it was about time for an update.  After all, what good is an online journal if you don't write in it?

Here are the blocks I made for the March Block Lotto.   I like how the pattern comes together and the block is really easy to do.  I am keeping this one in mind for a quilt to go on the guest bed, even if I don't win the block lottery.

In other news, well, there hasn't been much progress on the sewing front this month.   I did finally finish quilting and binding a small Advent Calendar wall hanging that I plan to use next Christmas.  Before it can be put away however, I need to decide on a way to hang it up.

I started work on the queen sized quilt I'm making.  I ordered the fabrics online last month, but after seeing them in person, I decided some of the tans were the wrong tone and I decided to use medium to dark blues instead of the light blues which I ordered.  I think I will put a lot more thought into my fabric choices next time I order online.

Once I got new fabric purchased and all the fabric was washed, I started to cut into it while watching TV in the evenings.  I figured it would be much easier to assemble the quilt if all the pieces were cut ahead of time.  Unfortunately, I really was not in the mood to cut that much fabric, (it took me 4 nights to cut it all) and I didn't pay attention to the pattern and I ended up cutting nearly all the blue pieces wrong.  Some of the pieces were salvageable, but once again, my impatience ended up costing me time and money to get additional yardage for all the blue fabrics.  

I still haven't dared to cut into the new blue fabrics.  I haven't really felt up to much sewing at all.   DH and I are expecting a new little one at the beginning of November and that has seemed to really drain my energy the last few weeks, not to mention the stomach virus going around our house.

Oh, I have started another project though.  All the scraps created from my cutting mistakes on the blue fabrics inspired me to start a long-term scrappy quilt.  I decided to use 2" hexagons and any pieces too small to be a whole hexagon will be cut into either 1/2, 1/3, or 1/6 of a hexagon and pieced together.   Right now I am just cutting out the pieces and haven't tried to sew anything together.  This will be a hand project  so that I can have something to take with me on road trips to visit the in-laws, and also someting to do while the sewing room/office is undergoing some construction.  My machine is setup in the basement and waiting to be used, I just forget that it is down there so that might be part of the reason I haven't done much sewing lately.

I think I forgot to mention the Quilt Outreach quilt-a-thon I went to back in February.   I was really kind of fun, even though I was only there for a few hours.  I think I counted 39 sewing machines (including Grandma's) in use and there were several other people helping to press tops and make sandwiches (including Mom, my little sister, and my cousin, Allison).   Maybe I can help out again sometime.