WIP Wednesday: Caution--Curves Ahead

While the Weekender Bag and I are still maintaining our separate lives, I finally have a finished quilt top. After spending nearly three glorious days with my friends and my sewing machine, the Single Girl quilt top is completed. Do songs ever endlessly loop through your brain? The whole time I was sewing Single Girl, and including times during the night when I would wake up briefly, I could NOT get Beyonce's song, "All the Single Ladies," out of my head. Okay, Beyonce, I get it. The name of my quilt is "Put a Ring On It." I'm pretty happy with it. Um, both the name and the quilt top.

This was the view from my ironing station.

After all the curved piecing that SGQA entailed, I was kind of on a roll, and moved on to my 3x6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee, the same block done in six different color schemes. Of course each block will be in the hands of a different person, but even with all the variations in colors, isn't the secondary circle design cool?

It's a little hard to see with the bottom right block because it's quite busy, going into a quilt for little boys, but I sure had a good time making this block

I'm planning on doing a Sherbet Pips quilt using this block. I got the block information from Mary at Molly Flanders. It's called Flowering Snowball. Thanks, Mary!

By then it was late Saturday night and I was tired of curves. So I started working on Supernova. Yes, just a bit behind on the schedule. I had changed my mind so many times on which fabric to use. Then I was staring at Lee's blog button, with all the hot hot hot colors against the cool grey.

I haven't sewn with batiks in ages. In fact, most of them have been given away. But for some reason, I had saved all the colors Lee used in the button.

 So here is my first block. I adore the block and can't stop staring at it. Worth the wait, I think!

Don't forget to see what everyone else has been working on this week!

Color Therapy Thursday--Jumping on the Bandwagon

I have jumped on the bandwagon. The Denyse Schmidt/Joann's fabric bandwagon, that is.

That phrase kept going through my mind when I woke up in the middle of the night. Does that ever happen to you? Howexactly did that phrase originate?

Nothing earth shattering. It was coined in the U.S. in the mid 19th century as the name for the wagon that carried the circus band. Now it just means "a growing movement in support of someone or something, often in an opportunist way, when that movement is seen to have become successful."


Yep, that pretty much sums up my feelings about DS's new fabric line. Well, maybe not in the opportunist sense. Although I have seen fat quarters going on etsy for $4.99 each! I'll just be happy to get another yard or two with my 50% off coupon.

And did you know that there are colorways available in Australia only? I learned about that here, and it's gotta be true because Audrie heard about it from Denyse herself. That seems like a reliable source...

(Photo from blue is bleu)

It's been an odd week, kind of introspective. I've been reading a lot, but not blogs. And I've thought a lot about quilting, but haven't sewn a single stitch.
 
On the other hand, all the blocks from the first quarter of the 3x6 mini sampler block exchange have arrived. I'm participating all year, and requesting orange/grey/white each quarter. It should be a fabulous quilt. But before I show you the blocks, look at the return label on this envelope. When I flickr-mailed my exchange partner, she said she works for the studio head, Jeffrey Katzenberg! Whoa, another brush with fame!
 

Back to the blocks.

I love the combination of improv blocks, and the more traditional blocks done in modern fabrics.

Now I'm off to my sewing room for a little quilting therapy.

Color Therapy Thursday

First, a note of clarification is in order. This quilt, which is already pretty spectacular, is for Levi, my nearly 3-year-old grandson, and was primarily put together by my daughter-in-law, Christa. I was merely "outsourced labor" and helped with maybe a third of the sewing. It took a tremendous amount of time on her part to cut all those 1" strips and then organize them in the proper color/size order, as the quilt was assembled in long horizontal strips the width of the twin-sized quilt, which were then sewn together into strip sets of ten rather than traditional pieced blocks. I have never constructed a quilt in this way before, and Christa actually had to color the black and white pattern with colored pencils so we could figure the whole thing out. I'm not sure I would make another quilt this way because of the time element, but it IS going to be stunning.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to give me advice on quilting strategies. I see these things on my weekend horizon: basting spray, khaki thread, 3.5 stitch length, walking foot, and lots of patience.

Next up, my blocks for the 3x6 sampler quilt bee went out in the mail on Tuesday (the pink and brown block is on its way to The Netherlands!)

And finally, I'm pretty sure if you have been in the online quilting community for any length of time, you have been on the receiving end of someone's extreme generosity. My good bloggy friend, Crystal, and I are in the same quilt-along, Bottled Rainbows. And while I'm still in the planning stages, Crystal is knocking those blocks out like crazy. In fact, I'm almost certain she is done! One of the first blocks she posted was her pumpkin block, with the cutest fishy fabric.

(Photo from Sonnet of the Moon--check out all of Crystals'a amazing blocks!)

I commented on how fun it would be to have a little scrap in my own orange block and she immediately let me know some of it was on its way to me.

When the package arrived a couple of days later, not only did I have a very generous scrap of the adorable fishy fabric, there was also a stack of Katie Jump Rope! And some Neptune selvages!

This has happened to me before and I'm always awed and overwhelmed at the generosity of women I have never met, yet who are friends in the truest sense of the word, not just because they willingly share their fabric but because they open up and share their lives as well. Thanks, Crystal!

Bzzzz: Bee Blocks

These will be buzzing off in the mail today.

First, the [3x6] Sampler Quilt Mini Bee. This is such a fun block exchange. You pick one block style to make, and then make the same block in  the color combination requested by each person in the block swap.

 Tiffany (yellow, green and blue):

Nancy (rainbow--something for the kitchen table):

Kelly (blue, gray and yellow--something for a throw):

 Karie (blue, gray, green--for a quilt in her boys' play area):

Jane (green, orange and pink):

Donna (she wanted to be surprised, but added that she likes jewel tones):

And this is for Vicki in Block Swap 2 (these string blocks are really a great way to use lots of scraps!)