Sunday, June 30, 2013

Lazy Sunday

     I admit it, I'm having a "tough" day. It should be a pretty easy, lazy Sunday since it is too rainy outside to work in the yard. I just can't get into doing anything. I tried to square up some HST blocks but even that's beyond me right now. It took me half an hour just to do five. Maybe I'll lay down a while to try to get some more rest! :-)
     I don't have anything really new to share, so I'll share pictures from the BOM's I'm involved in currently. The brightly colored blocks are from the Virtual Quilting Bee. Amy Smart over at Diary of a Quilter is hosting/organizing that one. There is a new block every two weeks. I have managed to keep up with the schedule! We just received instructions for block 9 (of 16) this past Friday. The other blocks with white in the background are from the Sisters 10 Modern BOM. In this one, we make two blocks from the same design each month. There are a total of ten designs so we will have twenty blocks. The resulting quilt is to have a few "blank" spaces in the finished design. AnneMarie of Gen X Quilters is our host. Both groups have Flickr pages - make sure to check them out!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Fussy cut Lemoyne star

I just finished this little quilt top. It was much more involved than I imagined and I get a Southwest feeling from it that was completely unintended. Of course, it doesn't help that I changed a couple blocks along the way! I had planned on giving this to the quilt club to sell at the show this fall, but now I think I want to keep it. I feel linked to the silly thing now that I took so long with it. There are supposed to be four points on the "corners" to square it off, but I like the current shape. What do you think?

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Still here

It's been another busy week and a half. I took a class last week and am taking another one this week. As a teacher, (like so many other professions), we have to complete continuing education classes or graduate classes to renew our licenses. After this week, I should be good for my next renewal!

I managed to finish my Round Robin obligation just in time - it is due tomorrow! I had such a difficult time deciding what to do. Due to people dropping out, I actually completed two borders on this block. The center flower basket is the original completed block and the black and green flying geese were the other participant's work. I did the rest; I liked completing the checked border.

I took my niece-in-law to her first ever shop hop. It was a small one at a central location, but she is now hooked! She especially loved the reproduction Civil War fabric.  She learned how to sew on her Grandmother's treadle machine so she couldn't get her new sewing machine to work properly. (That is, the one her hubby bought her for Christmas!) So, we spent time after the hop going over her machine set-up and use. The instructions were incomplete; no wonder she had trouble! Now, she is zipping along!

I have also been working on a fussy cut Lemoyne star - I'll get pictures up soon. Stay cool this summer! We are starting to warm up.


Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Shadow quilt finish

I hoped to finish this in May but it was not to be. I have been planning this shadow quilt for a long time. I still need to add some fusible interfacing to strengthen the white fabric. It is a little thinner and more fragile than I had realized. That will be a pain but I think it will be worth it. Now...I need to decide if I want another border or two. I think I do - I wanted this quilt top to be a bit larger. I am thinking of looking for a gray and white fabric; not too bright or busy - I don't want to take away from the shadow blocks. Any thoughts?