WIP Wednesday

Time for more house blocks.

I belong to two bees and over the past year have made house blocks three separate times. Seems quilting up a neighborhood of houses is popular. They certainly do make for a very fun quilt. Perhaps some day I'll dream up my own neighborhood now that I finally don't mind making them.

You might remember they weren't my favorite block to make. For my first house block I did a completely improv method with no planning and was not thrilled with the results. For my second house block I used a paper piecing method and was much happier. This time, I used a method from the book Collaborative Quilting by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston. If you aren't familiar with Freddy and Gwen's books I highly recommend them. I have both books and can tell you they are full of colorful, happy, scrappy quilts.

Now don't get me wrong, house blocks are not hard to make. It's just taken me three tries to get the hang of it. Third time's a charm right? Freddy and Gwen's method is basically improv but somehow it just came together easier than the first time.

These houses are for Wendy as part of our Boulder Modern Quilt Guild Bee. She gave us all a pile of scraps and the basic info from the book with an anything goes directive. When I opened up my fabric pile I saw lots of blue and aquas. The prints and colors had a very beachy feel so I threw in a little island floral print for a couple of them to add some punch.

With the little scraps left, I managed to squeeze out a third block too. For this last one, I just had to add some water. In retrospect a bit of beach between the house and water might have been good. With the flooding we had around here earlier late last year it just might be interpreted wrong. Maybe I'll still go back and try some sand. What do you think?

Here they are all together. Hope Wendy likes them. It will be fun to see everyone's houses in a couple of weeks when we have our next sew day with the Boulder Modern Quilt Guild. If you are anywhere near Boulder, CO we'd love to have you visit us. Check out the link above for more info.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Hop over and see what's going on in blogland.

WIP Wednesday

Thanks to our new Boulder Modern Quilt Guild and Denise, I've finally joined the scrappy trip around the world block craze.

I'm not usually one for doing too many quilt-alongs since I have way way too many of my own designs swimming around in my head and not enough time to get them done. That said, now I see what everyone is so excited about. This is such an easy block to piece thanks to Denise's great demo. Love the Elmers glue trick for matching seams.

I've been collecting fabrics in the aqua/blue/lemon/yellow range for awhile now ever since I saw this great eye catching display in one of my favorite Ft Collins shops, The White Balcony. The color didn't come out too great in the original photo but I still remember the impact it had on my creative ideas.

Now I think I'll be making more of these fun scrappy trip blocks. Even have ideas for other color schemes. Who knows  . . .

If you're like me and just never got around to making this one, it's never too late.
Here's the link to the original Scrappy Trip tutorial.

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday. Hop over and take a look.

WIP Wednesday

Time for another WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Yesterday was my turn on the Let's get Acquainted Blog Hop hosted by Beth at Plum and June and I admitted there that I have many many UFO's piled up. Sadly my family is so used to seeing quilt tops hanging up around the house that they don't even know what a quilted quilt looks like. But not any more! After whipping up a little table runner tutorial for the hop and quilting it and putting it to use already, it seemed time to finish the original table runners that sparked the tutorial.

Fat Quarter Table Runner made with this tutorial.

Original table runners not yet quilted. I'm working on it.

Plus I'd like to get my fall sunflower quilt actually finished. I'm embarrassed to admit that I made this quilt years ago and hang it up in the fall even though it's not yet quilted. And even though it's not so much my style anymore, I still like the fall feeling it brings to the room. So the time has come. The backing is ready. The batting is cut. Basting right now, quilting this afternoon. Fingers crossed.

This quilt is like standing in a field of sunflowers in Kansas. It's busy busy but makes me smile. Now if only I can manage to keep smiling while I quilt it.

WIP Wednesday

Wow! These WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced sure do come up fast. I've been wrapping up a couple of projects plus starting another small one. And I'm trying to set time aside to start working on a quilt to enter in the QuiltCon show. Hopefully more than one.

I finished up and shipped off my off my project for Stitch magazine. First time I've had a project published and it's pretty exciting. The spring issue seems so far off though. I'll be anxious to share it with you as soon as I can. It's made from these fabrics. Love the Amy Butler print!

This week has mostly been spent wrapping up the Tetris QAL quilt. Just about done with the quilting and then all that's left is binding. I'm pleased with how this one turned out and could be tempted to make another in a warm colorway. Stay tuned for the final quilted reveal in a few days. Hop over to Melissa's blog and see how everyone's quilts turned out. Some nice work happening.

Last thing this week will be a small project that I'll write up as a tutorial for my turn on the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop next week. I think it will feature these fabrics since there's a bit of fall in the air.  But then I've changed my mind several times already so don't count on it. Check back next Tuesday for the tutorial.

Another WIP Wednesday, Another Tetris Block

Week 3 for me and WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
Last week I posted about my Tradewinds quilt and runner getting finished and you can see more final results here. Love how both projects turned out although I'd like to get some better photos.

Also finished up my Stitch project and it's ready to ship. Wish I didn't have to wait till spring 2013 to see it in print and share it with you. I'm very excited.

Last but not least is the ongoing Tetris WIP. Week 6 of the Tetris QAL by Melissa over at Happy Quilting and this is the last block. Melissa has done a great job of mixing up the shapes and colors every week and this week was no exception. Staying true to playing by the rules of the game, I tried several arrangements before settling on this one.

With the other blocks already done, I was able to see which layout played nicely with the rest before I committed to sewing up the final block. At first I wasn't too happy with having 2 blue squares right on top of each other and tried several other block possibilities. There seemed to be just a little too much dark blue going on near the top half of the quilt. But after consideration, I realized these 2 blue squares provide a valuable resting spot for the eye amidst the randomness of all the other shapes. So stacked blue squares got the go ahead and it's just right. Now all I have to do is sew the blocks together.

Next week will be border considerations and after that quilting and finishing up. I already have  good idea of how I'd like to finish this up. Looking forward to my final quilt and seeing what everyone else does with theirs.

I've also got piles of fabric on my counter as I try to decide what to do for an upcoming tutorial for the Let's Get Acquainted blog hop by Plum and June.  This blog hop has been a great way to get to know more newbie bloggers like myself.

Keep quilting   : )

WIP Wednesday

My biggest WIP continues to be the Tetris QAL quilt. We're on to block 5 this week with just one more to go so the end is in sight. 

Tetris quilt in progress with 5 blocks done

My Tradewinds quilt and runner are finished up so one less WIP on my plate. Will be posting the finished photos as soon as I take them. 

Tradewinds quilt straight line quilting

My other WIP is now a high priority. I got a project accepted to Stitch magazine and need to get it done ASAP. This will be my first ever published project so very exciting. Won't be published until spring 2013 so have a while before I see it in print for real. Here's sneak peek of the fabrics.

I'm always amazed at just how many things the rest of your are working on and getting done. Very impressive to say the least. Hop on over to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and see what everyone else is working on. Keep on stitching . . . 

WIP Wednesday

This marks the second week for me of WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced. There are so many wonderful projects in the works by the looks of it. Hop on over and check out a few for yourself. You're bound to be inspired. I know I am when I see all the new WIP's each week. Please leave a comment or two when you visit. It really helps turn all these WIP's into finished projects. Gotta love that.   : )

My WIP for the week is my Tradewinds tablecloth and matching tablerunner. I used my Cascade pattern (see pattern here) for the main tablecloth and posted about the trouble I was having with the quilting. It was heavy and I had a lot of drag. Hhmmmm . . . do you suppose it had anything to do with my helper who wouldn't get off the quilt? Oh the things I put up with.

Originally I was going to make matching napkins with the bonus blocks that are created when the top is sewn. But I just didn't like any of the block arrangements. What I did like was this great zigzag layout. So instead of napkins, the extra blocks became this tablerunner. I added a border to the main quilt so might do the same with this. Can't decide. What do you think?

I finished the quilting on the main quilt today and will bind later this week. Hope to finish up this little runner too. Then maybe I'll make some napkins from extra yardage if I find more Tradewinds on sale. Love this line. Here's the main quilt before border. I used a layer cake plus a little extra yardage of the bamboo lattice print. This pic was before the border was added.

I've also been working on my Tetris QAL blocks. Still having lots of fun with it and looking forward to the finished quilt. You can see my blocks here. Stay tuned next week and I'll share the finished Tradewinds quilt. Some weeks are better than others at finishing and there are times when I think everyone but me is getting lots done. Hope you're getting lots done too.