Dresden Plate

This is the first time I've made a Dresden Plate block!

Dresden Plate

It's block 6 from the Quick as a Fox sew-along. I'm really pleased with the way this came out. I now predict many more Dresden plates in my future

The points aren't stitched down; I'm not sure if I'll do that in the quilting phase or just leave them loose. Each wedge has been ditch stitched - don't look too close, the stitches are visible! - but at least they all stayed on the right side of the ditch. The inner circle was needleturn appliqued down. The background I had to piece; I only had a small amount of the pale orange print, and it was in a strip, so... yeah, I pieced it. And I will confess to being a Fabric Miser, because I realised that about half this block is covering the background, and why should I waste my precious fabric on a part that isn't seen? Like I said, I don't have much of this print, and I've got 13* more blocks to do with this selection of fabric. So I used some calico scraps for underneath the plate...

a frugal background

* 3 blocks to go in the Quick as a Fox quilt, plus 10 blocks to go in the Quilt Doodle quilt; both made with the same fabric palette, because... well, just because I want more blocks for a bigger quilt.

7 hexagons in 1 square

Today's block finish is from the Quick as a Fox sew-along:

Hexagon Applique

Becky shows us a super easy way of appliqueing (raw edge) hexagons for a quilt block. And, there's a link to a great tutorial on how to draft your own hexagonal template, any size you want!

In case you're wondering, this block will be 12" finished size. My hexagons are 2" along each edge. Do I call it a 2" hexagon in that case?

And another in-case-you're-wondering: the scraggly line things around the edge of the block are blades of grass. I took this pic outside in the sun, and yes, the lawn is overdue for mowing. I'm just waiting for the perfect weather to do it - not too hot, but not cold/wet/windy either, and with nothing better to do in the sewing room.

I think the grass will be growing a bit longer.

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What I learnt today:

I figured out how to stitch around the hexies in one continuous line, finishing up where I started from. I did have to backtrack six times (i.e. six lines were stitched on twice), but the six lines in question together make a symmetrical pattern, making my whole stitching line consistent.

Can you figure out how to do it?



Hint: I began and ended at the red dot.

Skill Builder, at last...

I finished these two blocks today:

The Sound Wave

Magnum

They are the first two blocks of the Skill Builder BOM at Pile O' Fabric, which I first mentioned a couple of days ago. Both are based on improv piecing, which lets you relax a bit and not be so nitpicky.

I am so in love with the colours and fabrics I've chosen for this quilt. But I must remember to take photos during the day in natural sunlight next time! Flourescent light just isn't the same, *sigh*.

This is going to be a Quilt As You Go project. I haven't chosen any backing fabrics yet, but when I do, I'll be Free Motion Quilting every block as I go along, as time permits.

One more Quick Fox block...

Block 4 from the Quick as a Fox sewalong is pieced onto a paper foundation, in four segments (well actually eight, as I cut each segment in half to make it even easier for myself). I had fun trying out different layouts before I stitched the pieces together into another 12" block...

This block came out better than I expected. I really like the finished product. The background fabric is loud, but I'm getting used to that.

A pinwheel in the garden

February's block for the Quilt Doodle BOM mystery quilt:

This one's called Garden Pinwheel. There's a tiny bit of hand stitching involved, on the applique flower. There's supposed to be a yo-yo/suffolk puff attached to the flower's centre as well, but I was unsure if it needed it. Maybe it does, but not in the colour I chose - my palest shade of turquoise. Perhaps something more dramatic, i.e. darker instead of lighter.

This quilt won't be getting put together until late in the year, so there's plenty of time for me to make up my mind about that. And change it (several times!).

And Sew On...

The second block in the And Sew On BOM is called You Little Ripper! Which is a very apt title for this foundation pieced block.*

I love all three of the fabrics used in this "block". I may just have to use them in a real block some time!


*It seems most people call this method Paper Piecing, but when I think of paper piecing I automatically picture English Paper Piecing with the little paper templates you stitch together; so I will refer to the block above (and all others like it) as being Foundation Pieced.

Red in reverse

The latest block I've completed in the Something New sampler quilt is all about reverse applique.

The applique shapes are stitched on from the back, which means that the bobbin thread is what shows on the right side. So bobbin tension must be set to perfect, and it's not a good idea to have threads poking through where they shouldn't. I'm not too worried about that though, because I'm sure it'll fix itself during the quilting phase.

It looks more complicated to do than it actually is. I kept putting off sewing this one for a long time. And then I read through the tutorial instructions, and thought, "Oh that's not tricky at all. It's easy. I can do that..."

And so I did it. And it was easy. Not tricky at all.

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What I've learnt/learned today:

Iron projects before photographing them!

one green block

Today: one more block which I've completed from the Something New Sampler. I've got five more blocks to complete before I'm all caught up with this particular quilt-along.

This one is called Scrap Attack. Basically, it's small rectangles of scraps sewn together and sashed with white background fabric, to measure 7" by 14". I chose to make my block green, so I subdivided my green scraps into various shades of green. The lighting in the above pic is shocking, but there's lime green, sage green, green green (grass green?), olive green.

Ode to Susannah

(or, A Lesson in The Importance of Perspective)

I chose fabrics for the blocks
I cut fabric for the blocks
I pieced the blocks
I matched the points
I pressed the blocks
I photographed the blocks
I put the blocks in my "completed blocks for BOMs and QALs of 2013" pile

I uploaded the photos
I edited the photos
I took another look at the cropped photos
Hey, they don't look alike -
What went wrong?

   










I retrieved the block
I unpicked the block
I restitched the block
I repressed the block
I rephotographed the block

I uploaded the photos
I sighed

Susannah is February's block for the Sisters' Ten BOM. Two blocks are made from the same pattern for each month. For more, check out the Flickr group.

3D quilt block

Block 3 in the Quick as a Fox sewalong is a 3D Block:

Where is this 3rd dimension, you ask? See those lime green triangles? They're actually folded over squares, sewn over top of another square, thus forming a pocket of sorts.

Pretty cool, huh?

I liked seeing this block come to life, but I'm glad it's a sampler quilt and I don't have to make another - so many seams, so much pressing!

It's still pretty cool though.

Quick as a fox!

The Sew Along I'm introducing today is by Becky from Patchwork Posse, and it's being hosted by Heather over at The Sewing Loft. Quick as a Fox is a 9-block sampler quilt, with some interesting blocks and great hints and tips along the way.

This is the selection of fabric I've chosen:

If it looks familiar, that's because it is. I'm using the same fabric for two quilts; the other I showed you three days ago, the Quilt Doodle BOM Sampler. There's 12 blocks in that quilt, 9 in this one, all 12 inches square, so I'll have enough for a larger-than-lap quilt (sadly, I have no need of lap quilts). Hopefully. If I keep the momentum up, and don't relegate either or both projects to the UFO pile, then I might even make a few extra blocks to go with them.

Block 1 - Log Cabin... Instead of light/dark, I went turquoise/orange

Block 2 - Flying Geese

Quick as a Fox runs from 8 January to 26 March, with a new block every week. As I write, I'm only two blocks behind; block 3 is cut, ready to sew, and block 4 only came out today, so I don't actually feel I'm behind.

Not on this one, anyway!

Another Mystery

My third 2013 BOM is by Cindy of Quilt Doodle Designs: the Quilt Doodle Mystery BOM. There's a new block on the first of the month, 12 blocks total, with some fancy sashing to bring it all together.

Here's my fabric selection:

 

Can you guess which one's the focus fabric?!

It's an interesting print which I bought only because it was discounted, and was the best out of what was left. I've always wondered what I'd use it for. I really like it with these other prints and plains.

This is the first 12" block, Monkey Wrench:

 

I've always loved this design.

Some things to do for the year

So, I’ve joined up to do a whole lot of BOMs and QALs etc for 2013. I will introduce one at a time. Starting with...

And Sew On... a paper-pieced BOM at the Quiet Play blog. Nine paper-pieced blocks, relating to the sewing room. It began on January 1. I’ve done the first block:

It's called "Measure twice". (Which is good advice for all, not just quilters!)

I've just realised it's now February, so I'm off to find the next block in this series. Yay!

Holiday Ribbon and a few new projects

I know I haven't checked in for a while, so here's another block from the Celebrate Christmas Quilt-along (which, incidentally, is over now, being waaay past xmas, but my quilt top is far from finished, so as far as I'm concerned, this is an ongoing project!)

It may not look very xmassy at first glance, but imagine a row of these blocks, and you'll get the picture. Especially if you use xmassy fabric, which I did not!

It's called Holiday Ribbon, designed by Ryan from Ryan Walsh Quilts. It was a nice, fast block to piece.

I'll be showing more of these on a hopefully regular basis, in between all the projects I'm signing up for this month:
The Block of the Month over at Craftsy
Project Quilting, over at Kim's Crafty Apple
The latest Round Robin over at Patchwork Posse
The Free Motion Quilt Challenge at SewCalGal
New Beginnings Mini Quilt Swap over at Quilting Gallery - you have to register for this by 1st February, so get in quick if you're interested!

I think that list is complete. If it isn't, I may just be taking on too much. There is after all only so much spare time a person can have!

... and here's Block Three...

This Little Light of Mine, designed by Melissa Stramel, is Block #3 in the Celebrate Christmas Quilt-Along.

Here's mine...

The central blue fabric is hand-dyed calico.

 And a closer look at the embroidery...

When I first saw this block design, I immediately thought of The Little Match Girl.

Another block tomorrow. Yes, I really do mean it this time. I'm taking part in National Blog Posting Month - NaBloPoMo for short (see the box over on the right-hand side). I'm the 683rd person to sign up for it. I will endeavour to post every day for a month.
Starting... yesterday!

Mittens, not exactly Santa-coloured

My version of block 2 of the Celebrate Christmas Quilt-Along:

Mitten quarters were foundation pieced. The quarter-square-triangles were supposed to be as well, but I nutted out how to rotary piece them instead.

It's called Santa's Mittens, and designed by Jennifer Rodriguez.

The original block had red and white where my blue and yellow are. Yellow is the closest I could get to white in my chosen palette. You might think it's unusual to make a xmas quilt and not have any white (snow! lovely snow!), but it's summer at that time of year here, hence the flowers instead. Besides, I hardly ever use white.

So far, 23 blocks have been published, of which I have completed 16.

Celebrate Christmas Quilt-along

Have you heard about the xmas QAL over at Quilting Gallery? Basically, it's 36 designers, contributing a block design each, stretched over 12 weeks (so we get 3 per week to do). With a xmas theme. Oh, and there's some "super deals for quilters" too, like 40% off certain fabric lines at certain stores, that sort of thing. Doesn't really apply to me 'cos it's all overseas, so any savings made would be negated by the killer shipping costs. :(

The three focus fabrics

I'm taking part, despite not having a giant stash of xmas fabrics. At first I thought I'll just use some reds and greens, and a bit of cream thrown in for contrast. But then I found in amongst my greens, some olivey flowery prints which I bought last year mainly because of the price and not because they were lovely fabrics. But there's enough (I hope!) to use as the background/focus fabric. All the accompanying prints and plains match -- I used the coloured spots on the selvedge to match them up. Close enough, anyway!

The fabric palette

The first block was designed by Pat Sloan, called Pat's Red and White. My version is sewn in slightly different colours...

Pat's Red and White --- Raw-edge applique for the basket in the centre, blanket stitched by hand (only because I feel I have more control over my hands than I do my machine).

At the time I write this, I am stitching Block 12. Fifteen blocks to date have been published. I'll show block 2 tomorrow.