November Cottage Quilting Bee

Here are my blocks for Tacha of Hanies Quilts. She requested squares and log cabins. The fabrics were a nice selection of yellows, reds, creams, and brown. Sometimes it is so hard to cut into pretty fabrics and there were a few that I really loved.

First Block:



Second Block:



I have really enjoyed being part of a virtual quilting bee. It has been fun have such focused assignments and being able to spend time on just one or two blocks. There is some talk about the Cottage Quilting Bee going a second year. We'll see what happens!

Cottage Quilting Bee: The Modern Take on Quarter-Square Triangles

Ever since I signed on with the Cottage Quilting Bee, I have been coming up with ideas for my month and let me tell you, it's changed a number of times. That's not the only thing that changed... life has changed a lot as well. My husband and I bought our first house and moved in at the end of August. We also found out that we will be welcoming our first child in February 2010. So many changes, so many opportunities to have my talented comrades in the quilting bee contribute to something new and special for our home. I finally decided to go big... I have never tackled a queen-sized quilt and we are need of more bedding now that we have a guest room. Would you guys like to help me out?

The idea I ended up being most drawn to are triangles. I have loved looking at the flying geese and star quilts and came close to choosing one of those for a quilt bee project. However, I really wanted to find a traditional pattern that I could offer a modern take on. In reviewing the book, "The Art of Classic Quiltmaking," by Harriet Hargrove and Sharyn Craig, I found a pattern for Quarter-Square Triangles and a vision started to come together. Brace yourself, I am going to try to explain the step-by-step details of getting this done.

The fabric: This has already been a learning experience. Something was wrong with my math initially, hence trip number 2 to the fabric store. For the background color in this quilt, I'm using a soft gray color. I am going for a monochromatic look with each block, so there will be white blocks, orange blocks, green blocks, and pink blocks. You'll recognize fabrics by Amy Butler, Heather Ross, Erin McMorris, Tula Pink and some others.

There are four fabrics that will be sent out in each color. You are welcome to take from your stash as long as you keep with the same color. My nitpicky request is that you do not include white background fabrics unless you have a white block.


The block:
The size of the block will be 16.5 by 16.5. Inside each block there are four 8.5 by 8.5 inch blocks. Here are directions to make each 8.5 inch mini-block.

1. First, you will need lots of triangles. You will need 8 gray triangles and 8 colored triangles. We are going for 4 inch quarter-square triangles, meaning the long edge of the triangle will be 4 inches when finished.

2. A method: no templates. To cut without templates, add 1 1/4 inches to the finished long edge of the triangle. For us, that's 5 1/4. The fabric I've sent out should cut easily into 5 1/4 by 5 1/4 squares. Cut both colored and gray fabric into 5 1/4 by 5/1/4 squares. The fabrics I sent out should be easily cut to these measurements (I pre-measured it all).




Then cut from corner to corner twice to get four triangles.





3. Sew the triangles into little squares.






4. Sew the little squares into each miniblock.




Tip: Set up your next block next to your completed one so that the colors coordinate. I did it wrong the first time and when I put the two blocks next to eachother, the gray/color flow was disrupted. Here is what I did to make sure the colors matched up.



5. Sew 4 miniblocks together to make the 16.5 by 16.5 inch block.





DONE!

Please let me know if my directions are not clear, this is my first time sharing sewing directions.

Thanks so much for helping me with this quilt!

July Cottage Quilting Bee

Why yes, it is August and I just got my July blocks out in the mail. I hate to be late. I'll skip the excuses. My high school cross country coach used to say, "Excuses are like noses. Everybody has one."

Tina, who is the fearless leader of the Cottage Quilting Bee and blogger over at Little Blue Cottage sent out some yellows with red and gray accents. She requested blocks reminiscent of Gee's Bend. I was fortunate enough to see the Gee's Bend exhibit when visiting Auburn University a few years ago with my husband. It was very inspirational and the quilts were beautiful.




Adina sent out pretty oranges and greens and requested two triangles of stripes. I am looking forward to seeing this one all together. I have a feeling the effect will be pretty neat.



I promise to get my blocks done on time this month. Promise.

Another Baby Shower

Hello there. The summer is flying by- here it is August already. Amongst the busy-ness of multiple trips out of town and buying a house, I found some time to crochet a baby gift for a friend. It's been awhile since I have done any crochet, but I found some good directions online to make these cute baby beanies and baby socks. The yarn I used was probably too thick because the socks are meant to be newborn sized. However, they ended up looking more like toddler size. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the shower because I was out of town, but I'm hopeful that these little treats will keep a precious baby girl warm this winter and maybe next!

June Cottage Quilt Bee and a Baby Shower

Again, it's been awhile but I've been busy. We are closing on our first home at the end of this month so much of my time and energy over the past month or two has been devoted to anything and everything related to houses. It's exciting though.

Here is my block for the Cottage Quilting Bee. John of Quilt Dad sent some lovely fabrics with instructions to do uncomplicated blocks with squares and rectangles. I really enjoyed working with these fabrics- I got nice browns, greens, and whites- and I am happy with the end result.

Here it is:


And from another angle:


A friend and coworker is about to have her first baby, probably sometime this week. We had a little baby shower for her and I came up with a soft blanket. It turned out well, but I had trouble with the red layer, which kept stretching on me. Then I followed a pattern for the cat found in the recent issue of Stitch. Hopefully my friend's daughter will enjoy these cuddly gifts.




So there's a quick update. More sewing to come!

More catch-up

What a nice day... a nice weekend for that matter. Beautiful weather. Good company. Good food. Lots of sewing. A nice run and cycling class. We took the dog, Blanco, on his first trip to the dog park, which was so much fun. It was a very large park and at one point, he had us both chasing him through a small wooded area (chasing is relative, since he is a retired racing greyhound). That was before he played in the water. Jim and I also took at a look at some open houses both Saturday and Sunday... added a few new favorites to the list. It is looking hopeful for us to buy in the next few months, so this is all very exciting. With all the excitement of saving for a house, work trips, etc., there will probably be no racing for me this summer. My head's not in race mode anyway. I am happy to run and cycle for fun. Maybe even swim a few laps.

Here are my two blocks for May's Cottage Quilting Bee.



This was a definite departure from anything I've ever sewn before. Carolyn of Laughing Duck sent out directions for little houses and trees for a neighbourhood. I was happy to see that the directions were easy to follow and had nice little diagrams.




This one is for Ashley Ann at Hot Butter. Her theme was a rainbow quilt. I'm very happy with how this turned out. And I love the fabric combination that Ashley Ann sent out- it seems to be the right balance of warm oranges, yellows, and reds along with cooler blues, greens, and purples.

I have been noticing all the blog buzz about the Buttercup Bag, a pattern offered by Made By Rae. I grabbed two fat quarters during a quick run through at Joann Fabrics to give it a shot...



It is so fun! This is a great pattern for a fresh summer bag. I saw that the pattern has been expanded to make a larger bag as well.



My favorite part was putting in the button hole, which was a modification of the original pattern that calls for a magnetised closure. It was the first time I put in a button hole :).

Now that I've made two posts in one day, I am going to enjoy the cool Memorial Day breeze.

Catch-Up

I need to play catch up... which will likely consist of several posts about recent sewing projects. I'll start by posting about my blocks from last month's Cottage Qulting Bee. There were two different designers last month.



Katy from I'm a Ginger Monkey selected these pretty fabrics. That solid light blue colored fabric is silk. I wanted to appliqué hence the two pieces that form sort of an "L" shape. Beyond the applique, I had trouble deciding how to design this block. One reason is that when there is a larger pattern, like the colorful bird pattern in the center of the block, I don't want to cut it up into smaller pieces. My fellow bee-mates had some very nice ideas.



Katie from Metrosupial Designs commissioned these blocks. We received different color themes and my batch of fabrics were pretty blues. Katie has such pretty fabrics and I enjoyed working with them. It was kind of therapeutic to cut each small square, make each row, and bring it all together. I cannot wait to see this quilt finished.

Back with more later!