Color challenge, and a winner

This is the dusty blue color challenge piece for a few weeks ago on 15 Minutes Play.  As you can see, I am a little behind in the colors.  I still have rust and tomato red to catch up on.  I hope to get them done before the new color comes out on Wednesday.  I was not surprised to find very little dusty blue in my stash.  I am low in blues in general, unless they are aqua or turquoise.  Since I rarely use red, white, and blue together, I decided to go with that this time.  I call this piece Miss American Pie.  It is destined to become an AAQI quilt.

And now, Congratulations! to Ann Skelton from Renegade Quilter on winning the 16 fat quarter bundle of Flea Market Fancy.  Ann participated in Sarah Craig's (Confessions of a Fabric Addict) H2H charity drive this year by making two great quilts.  I will be mailing her the bundle later today. There were many generous quilters who participated in this charity quilt drive this year.  Congratulations to them all.

And now, back to the doll clothes.  Joyful quilting, everyone.

A couple of minis

Orange is the latest color for the weekly color challenge at 15 Minutes Play.  I had some leftover Sassy charm squares on my cutting table, so decided to make some fabric with them.  I really like the turquoise and olive with the orange.  I grabbed some orange batik for the flange and some Kona solid for the border.  This measures 8" x 12" and will be quilted and sent in to AAQI for my May quilt donation.  This little mini reflected how I felt yesterday in the beautiful sunny Pacific Northwest.

I was going to work on the improvirobin piece, but I was stumped as to what to add next.  So, I pulled some fabrics for a mini medallion quilt.  This is what I have so far.  It will eventually be 20" x 22".  For the next round, I am going to figure out how to make good quarter square triangle units.  So far, my efforts in that realm have been less than successful.  They say practice makes perfect, so I think I am in for a lot of practice.  First, I need to unsew the bottom border and turn it.  It is backwards and I think it will make me crazy if I leave it that way.  Wish I had seen it earlier.  Better late than never, right?

This morning, I have a meeting, then back to the studio.  What a beautiful day!  Joyful quilting, everyone.

A little of this, a little of that

I am still playing with the "ugly" fabric challenge.  I have the sashing on each piece, and I think I have the arrangement I want.  Now, I just have to make it all fit.  A little trimming here, a little adding there.  I plan on playing with the quilting by following the patterns on the focus pieces.  I need to get this sewn together soon because I have other work that needs to go on the design wall.

Bright yellow is the color of the week at the 15 Minute Play color challenge.  This is not my favorite color, so I don't have much.  A while back, I asked for some scraps for another project, and I still had little bits, so I cobbled together some fabric, grabbed some blue scraps, and came up with this.  It is a 7.5" square.  Willa asked me to take a photo of all the blocks I have created so far for the color challenges, so here it is.

They are all very different.  Sometimes, I wish I would have made a plan to make them more alike so I could create a quilt when the challenges are over.  On the other hand, I have been having great fun just enjoying the process of playing with the colors.  Sometimes, that is the most important thing.

Tomorrow, I have a training all day so I won't be in the studio.  I will be back on Sunday, then I have all week to play.  Bella will be with her other grandparents.  I am looking forward to hours of creative time.  Until Sunday, joyful quilting, everyone.

Working on a new challenge

The first thing I did today was to finish my part on this round of the Improvirobin.  I really wanted to bring back more of the orange and dark blue, so I found this wonderful border fabric in Willa's scrap stash and created a piece of blue coral to applique on top.  This will go on to Willa for the last round before it gets returned to the original designer.  If you want to see the progress of all five of the pieces in this robin, go to our flickr page.

In March, we were given another piece of "ugly" fabric at Rebels for another challenge.  Of course, I thought the fabric was quite wonderful.  I thought I posted a photo of it in the blog, but I can't find it, and of course I have cut it up now.  In the photo, it is the fabric with the gray background and the colorful flowers and birds.

When I was in Virginia, I took it with me to quilt shops to see what I could find to go with it.  I knew I wanted to cut it into blocks showing off the different motifs.  At the Jinny Beyer Studio, I found the wonderful red paisley-like fabric that I thought was perfect with it.  In the Old Country Store, I found three colors of Kona solids that I knew I wanted to use.  I decided not to use any purple solid because I thought there was enough in the print.  This is what I have so far.  The long gold and red pieces are just there for audition sake.  I wanted to make sure the colors worked as well as I thought they would.  I still have some layout decisions to make, but I think this is the general direction I am headed with this piece.  Each of the blocks will be bordered with the gold, the red, or the green.  I haven't done a quilt like this before, so I am enjoying the challenge.  Maybe I will even get this one finished by the last week in May when the challenge is due.  That would sure surprise everyone, including me.

Did I tell you all that Tom has decided we are going to go into raising chickens so we can have fresh eggs?  We have purchased four Americana (?) chicks that are being raised by someone who knows how to take care of teeny tiny chicks and today we are going to meet them.  I will try and post photos tomorrow.

Until then, joyful quilting everyone.

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.

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.



Another great day in the studio

I got quite a bit done on my long list of things I need to accomplish in the studio this month.  Tomorrow, I have guild meeting and I am to bring the BOM pattern for the next month.  This meant I had to make a sample to show.  There are these Granny Squares all over the blogosphere these days.  I thought they would be fun and easy as a BOM.  Quite a few of the members of this guild make American Hero quilts (similar to Quilts of Valor, only local), so I decided to go for the Red, White, and Blue.  I hope the lucky winner gets enough of these blocks to create a good size quilt.  I also had to prepare the Presentation Block for the meeting.  That was a much easier proposition because I already had samples.  I just had to write up the directions.

I also created this block for the Ochre challenge at 15 Minutes Play.  I posted the fabric on Saturday, but got to build the piece today.  To read more about it, please stop by my post at 15 Minutes Play.  I like this block quite a bit and am going to use it as my center in the International Robin that is just starting.  You can see what others in the group are doing at our Flickr page.

In addition to these, I quilted the lilies quilt, added the binding, and am now ready to add embellishments.  I know it is kind of backwards, but this will work best for me at this point.  I also put all the units together, and photographed each step, for the mystery quilt I am doing for the guild.  I have to put them into the direction sheets I am creating for each step.  If I could ever figure out how to embed a PDF into my blog, I would post them for you to follow along, if you were so inclined.   Sometimes, technology gets me.

On a completely different subject, I want to share that I have now released 40 pounds!  It is pretty funny to put on my good pants and have them fall down around my ankles once they are buttoned and zipped.  Twenty more pounds, and I am getting new pants - and shirts, and a dress or two.  Just thought I would share.

Tomorrow, I start my three days with Bella, so I won't be back again until Friday.  Until then, joyful quilting everyone.

Traditional small quilt, Ochre color challenge fabrics

I can't show all of this doll quilt, but these are the some of the yellows, greens, and purples I have used.  I have used two very traditional blocks in this quilt.  Can you guess what they are?  If anyone tries to tell you that making minis takes much less time than bigger quilts, it is safe to assume they are pulling your leg.  There is just as much cutting, although the cuts are shorter.  There is just as much sewing, although the seams are shorter.  There are just as many corners to match and points not to lose.  This top has been great fun.  I am thinking of quilting it with Bishop's Fans, but have to learn how to do that first.  My initial sketch did not look very good. Back to the drawing board.

This weeks color challenge at 15 Minutes Play is Ochre.  I happen to love this color.  There is such a great variety in ochre from the deep reddish browns to the golden tans.  I dug through my scraps, and found a couple of deconstructed shirts as my base and pulled the other colors to go with it.  I may get time to build the block tomorrow, but it may have to wait until Monday.  If I have time after my tasting event, I may get to it. 

If not, until Monday, joyful quilting, everyone.

  

Victoria's Color Challenges on 15 Minutes Play

If you are interested in taking a challenge to work with colors that may be outside your regular color choices, be sure and stop by 15 Minutes Play where Victoria has come up with a fun new color challenge.  Each Wednesday, she will post a new color to play with.  Our first color is

Mauve!

There seems to be quite a bit of difference of opinion about just what color mauve is.  I happen to like the color, but it turns out not to be a favorite of most quilters who are playing along.  Fortunately, my Sister-In-Law had a piece in her stash, and I brought my favorite scraps, so I was ready to play.

The mauve borders are 3" wide, so that should give you some idea about the size of the block I created.  This is the block style I intend to create for each color.  I hope I like the rest of the colors in the challenge, 12 in all, as much as I like this one.  At least I hope I can create something interesting that I can live with.  I am sure Victoria will throw in a brown at some point, and I will just have to cope.  After all, it is a challenge.