Wonky house first try

I am crazy busy at work, and facing a work event tomorrow that starts at 7am and goes through dinner, which means I won't see the kids on either end. Thinking about it has me in a bad mood, so I've been stalking around the house restlessly trying to figure out what to do with myself. I don't seem to be hooked on much TV these days, and I'm too restless to settle down and read. And another tulip block seems boring. (I have only finished one so far, and I have many to go, so it's not a good sign that block two seems boring...) So, I decided to try Tonya's house tutorial. Somehow that seemed like just the thing. It is my first try at freehand piecing. I messed up the roof -- it's offset terribly. Looks pretty funny, but it was a good first try. There is a cat in the doorway, and a mouse in the window, in case you can't tell what those are. Hee hee hee! I have no idea what I will use this for if anything, but it was sure fun!

Tulip blocks coming together

In an earlier post I showed 1/4 of this block, and now I have one complete block done. I am using one of the quilts in "At Home with Patrick Lose" for inspiration, but I am kind of choosing fabrics as I go. I found a great green in my stash for the sashing inbetween the four segments of the flower. Now I have to decide what color to use for the sashing inbetween blocks. I am amazed to see the difference sashing makes. In this first photo, I took a picture of the block against a white fabric:
Next I laid down my inspiration fabric (planned for the wide border) and then a sheet of the same dark green I used inbetween. Wow does it jump out so much better!

And then just for kicks I laid it on top of a sheet of purple. The purple also coordinates with the border fabric, so this is another possibility. I can't decide which I like.


The center square, by the way, is cut from the border fabric. I thought it would look interesting if each square looked slightly different. I'm cutting the squares carefully so that I get mainly the pink/orange/red shades, not the greens.

By the way, I like this digital camera. Somehow seeing the pictures seems like it gives me a different perspective than looking at it live.

Well, my progress is painfully slow (remember I have a one year old and a three year old in the house!) but at least I am quilting again!

Dianne's Quilt Finished

I have finished the quilt for Dianne, the wife of Jeff's dying partner, Ken. I had the hardest time trying to decide what to do for her, and finally decided to go for this sampler quilt, inspired by Alex Anderson's beginning quilting book. I have actually never done a sampler before, and ordinarily wouldn't think to give one as a gift, but something about the variety appealed to me for this particular quilt. This sounds sappy, I suppose, but I feel like the variety is appropriate in a quilt that celebrates a life, and is intended as a comfort to someone who shared that life. I showed it to my mom and she pointed to the single Friendship Star block (middle of the 2nd row from the top) and said "that's Ken." Made me cry. Anyway, I hope Dianne likes it, and derives some comfort from it somehow.

I try to make sure that I try something new with every quilt I make, and while none of these blocks are difficult by any means, most of them were new to me. I am also particularly proud of the fact that I found quite a few fabrics in my stash to round out this quilt. As mentioned in a previous post, I purchased several fabrics just a few weeks ago in Big Bear, envisioning that the whole quilt would come from these fabrics. But it quickly became apparent that I needed more variety, and was thrilled to find that my gradually growing stash had some gems in it that matched with the overall tone of this quilt.

It's finished now except for the label on the back. I haven't labeled most of my quilts, because I don't have a very good system worked out for labeling yet. (Any suggestions?) But I feel like I should probably label this one. But other than that, it's done. Here it is:



As I mentioned in my last post, inspiration and momentum continue to strike, and I am beginning work on my next quilt. Here is a sample of one quarter of one block I am working on for baby Katie.

Quilting momentum continues

I finally figured out what to do with the fabrics I purchased for Dianne's quilt, and it came together so quickly, once I got started. It's all done now except for the last bit of hand stitching on the binding, and the label. I will post a picture shortly.

Meanwhile, I'm very excited about my next quilt, which is more than a year overdue. I purchased these fabrics before baby Katie was born, intending them to become a quilt gift to her mom, my neighbor Ann, at the baby shower. Needless to say, I missed the deadline (and then the next deadline, Katie's 1st birthday, too!) But inspiration has finally struck and I have a rough plan for this quilt, and these lovely fabrics. More to come soon.