A few minutes to make a block

I only had a few minutes to play in the studio today, so I decided to work with the peach challenge at 15 Minutes Play this week.  I thought I had plenty of peach fabric, so I went to the shelves and started digging.  I was surprised to find I really didn't have much.  These are the fabrics I found.

I loved that the cotton linen piece had peaches on it.  I started with that in the center.  I decided to stick with just the peach fabrics this time, and not bring in other colors.  Each of the fabrics come with their own extra colors.  After building the rounds with this interesting group of fabrics, I decided to square it up to 12 1/2". 

My sweet little peach square.  A taste of summer.  The light colored shapes in the middle round are birds.  Such fun.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Friday in the studio

Blue painters tape is my friend.  I have debated several different ways to quilt this little doll quilt, and finally decided on cross hatching.  I am not the queen of straight lines, so I dug out my trustee painter's tape and created a grid.  I could have used a fabric marking system, but have not had success finding something that I like.  I thought the magic blue pen that goes away with water that is all the rage would be the thing, but I get so frustrated trying to get it to really go away.  Usually, it takes three times with water before it stays gone.  Anyway, the tape works great for straight lines.  I used the fantastic, fabulous, wonderful walking foot that my fantastic, fabulous, wonderful sister gave me for my birthday, and the quilting was done in no time flat.  Just quilt one way, remove the tape, lay the tape in the other direction, then finish the quilting.  I have the binding on and ready to sew down this evening.  This little fun piece will head for parts east this weekend.

This is the other thing I finished today.  It is for the Stash Bee.  It is supposed to have perspective, but my husband thinks the rows of pink flowers going off into the distance are just confusing.  I had great fun creating this windmill house.  The blocks are all different kinds of houses.  I think this will be a fun quilt.

I have two more things I have to get in the mail by Monday.  One is done, and the other is almost done.  Then I can work on my April challenge from Modern 8 Create, this weeks Peach color challenge at 15 Minutes Play, and the piece for the International Robin.  Of course, there are May bee blocks, the May doll quilt, and my H2H quilt to finish by the end of next month.  I am also taking three days of workshops with Gwen Marston in the middle of May.  Another fun month to look forward to.  As long as I keep working on these small pieces, I don't add to my growing pile of quilts that need quilting.  I really need to get that stack done.  I also need to clean the studio!  So much to do, and so little time.  What's a quilter to do?

Joyful quilting, everyone.

The Avocado Challenge

I am really enjoying the weekly color challenges over at 15 Minutes Play.  It is fun to play with a color just for the sheer fun of seeing how it works with others without having to think of a big project.  I love seeing what everyone is doing with these colors.  Some people are making the same block each week with the intention of putting them all together at the end of the 12 weeks of challenges.  Some, like me, are doing something different each week.  This week, the color is avocado.

I originally started to make the small log cabin block in the upper right. As I was building it, I decided to make two of them, thus the one in the lower left. Then, I decided I wanted to join the two somehow, and thought the avocado marbled fabric would work. It needed something to break it up, so I cut and sewed some diagonals here and there. Then, I remembered some avocado linen table napkins I purchased at a garage sale to add to another small quilt I was working on. Where were they? After looking through a few project boxes, I found them. (Note to self: Label project boxes) I liked where it was heading, but didn't like the shape, so I used more of the napkin fabric to create top and bottom borders. Too solid. In came the strip made of scraps from the diagonal pieces. As it is now, it is about 18" square. I think it will be come a mini quilt with hand quilting and bead embellishments and some embroidery on the solid strips, for sure. At the rate I keep making these challenges bigger, by the end, I should be making bed quilts. Who, me?  The queen of nothing bigger than a lap quilt?  Hey, it could happen.

I am spending the afternoon, on this very rare sunny day in the Pacific Northwest, doing some hand work to finish up some projects.  Later, we are planting peas and a tree with Bella to celebrate Earth Day.  I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday.  Joyful quilting, everyone.