Back to the studio

There are some really beautiful sunrises from my sister's condo.  Since they shine directly into the room where I have been sleeping, I am up to get photos of them.  I returned to Bremerton on Wednesday night.  Yesterday, I played bridge with three wonderful women.  This is my sister's bridge group, and I am fortunate enough to be invited to play whenever I can get over here.  It is always great fun.
After bridge, I walked into town in search of the post office.  I wanted to mail my package of fabric to Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap.  She is my partner for the Hands 2 Help quilting project.  I sent her a small stack of batiks in cuts from fat eights to fat quarters.  We were supposed to send 2 yards total.  I hope she likes what I sent.  She posted a photo of the fabrics she is sending me.  They are reds, whites, and blues.  I will have fun designing a quilt to use these fun fabrics as soon as I get them.

After eating breakfast and watching some Fons and Porter on QNN, I went into my sister's studio to start sewing the units I need for the ribbon quilt.  My working name for this quilt is En Vino Veritas, which means "in wine there is truth" in Latin.  This came from the Zinfandel name of this Bali pop pack.  We will see if this name sticks.  Anyway, I am still amazed at how long things take in quilting.  I always go into the studio with grandiose ideas about how much I will accomplish.   Today, I imagined I would get at least half of the blocks finished.  Instead, I only got 96  A units completed.  I still have 96 B units to do before I can start making the blocks.  And this was with already cut and marked pieces.

It seems like such a small stack to have taken five hours.  I don't know what I am doing wrong.  I sewed 192 of the green half squares on with the flip and fold method, and chain piecing.  Of course, I had to sew two seams on each piece because I am too intimidated by sewing small triangles together and I don't want to waste.  I guess that means I actually got 192 2 1/2" block units and 192 HST units. I then paired and sewed these units to make 96 A units. Each of the A units is 4 1/2" square.  Of course, there was a lot of pressing.  I even saved the small HSTs for later. Tomorrow, I will try and get all the B units made.  On Sunday morning, I head back home and will start sewing the blocks together and putting them on the design wall. 
I am trying to keep track of all the time I spend on this quilt, as well as the money.  I am going to put up a display at our quilt show in July to show how much time and money it takes to make a twin sized quilt.  Hopefully, it will help those who have a hard time understanding why quilters charge what they do for their quilts.  If any of you have insights or ideas on what I might include in this display, please feel free to share.  I would also love to hear any of your stories about people gasping in disbelief at your quilt prices.  My display will be up for the full month of July in the front display case of our downtown library.  I would like it to be educational.
Thanks, everyone, for stopping by.  I would love to hear from you.
Joyful quilting, everyone.

A stone church and a French braid

Today, I worked more on Coming Home blocks.  I did the church in the upper left corner and the French braid that goes next to the star under the church.  The church is 18 x 18.  When I look at the design on the grid paper, I have a hard time realizing how big it is going to be.  It is a good sized church.
I went through my stash looking for something to use for the building and came up with this fabric that looks like stone.  I love old stone churches, so this was perfect.  I also found fabric that looks like stone tiles for the roof and a cool brown for the door.  I love the pink floral that looks like rose glass windows.  In the box of browns, I also found the tree bark for the tree trunks.  I think there is enough for all the trees in this quilt.  Once I had all the fabrics, including two blues, I started cutting based on the drawing, remembering to add seam allowances.  I was so proud of myself when I started sewing everything together and it all worked out.  The measurements were correct, and the seams all worked out.  It was very encouraging.

The French braid was not so easy.  I had the perfect fabric, a candy bar from Moda.  I think it is Luna Notte or something like that.  My friends told me this would be so easy to do.  I am sure it is much easier with a pattern.  I tried to create my own foundation, and this is what I got.  First of all, it was supposed to be two inches wider than it is.  I was thinking 6.5 but drew 4.5.  I was more than half-way done when I realized my mistake.  I decided to keep going and create a filler strip.  I really like these fabrics, so I am going to make it work.  One day, I will find a pattern and try this again.  I think I know where I went wrong.  It is very time consuming, but that is because I have my iron set up in the other room.  It is my exercise program.  Sew a seam.  Walk to the other room to iron.  Back to the studio.    Great plan, don't you think.
Here is the upper left area as it will go into the quilt.