January 28, 2013 Design Wall

One block on my Design Wall. I am joining in a block of the month at Jennings Community Church and this is the first month's block - a country church. I'm still debating on whether or not to put in the bells. The pattern gives the option of three bells in the steeple and the decision has not been made for my little church. IF bells are added, they might just slim down to only one :)

The Block of the Month is Be Merry  and we each chose our own fabrics, so this will be an interesting reveal when we finish them up!

I did get a bit more done on my Easy Street Mystery, as I used it for leaders and enders while working on my Project Quilting Challenge piece last week. I'm hoping to finish the field of the quilt this week in the midst of all of the busy-ness of our school week :)

I will be linking up with Patchwork Times to add to all of the Design Wall Monday goodness :)

Project Quilting - My Favorite Color Challenge

 Here is my entry for this week's Project Quilting Challenge. It is a 20" square using my favorite color - BLUE! I am going to incorporate it into a quilted bag (when I get the other side finished) for ME - that is why I put my name on it ;)

 

I appliqued the fancy letters on by machine. First I used a fusible web product (to hold the letters in place) and then I quilted the dickens out of them to hold them down. The back looks almost as nice as the front :)

 

In the blank squares I quilted a fleur d lise pattern (BTW, the color of the beige is pretty true in this picture, but the medium blue is better in the next one).

The Nine patch blocks in the corners received a cross-hatch quilted pattern. 

The quilt uses a beautiful blue leaf print, a very dark blue TOT and a beige leaf TOT.

I made two tops for this challenge, trying to decide which one was better. Princess Sunshine found a piece of fabric (she was helping me fold a large amount of fabric) and said "Mom! it's YOUR color!" So, I made a top with that fabric. It is the swirly purply-red fabric in this top:

I made four Dutchman's Puzzle blocks (one of my favorite blocks) and then designed a setting for them. The center needed a bit of punch, so I embroidered a J in the very center on a scrap of a favorite batik (I only had a very small scrap of it left). 

No decision has been made as to how I'm going to quilt this piece, it has remained silent :( That was another reason to finish up the blue quilt!

I'm thinking this will be the other side of my bag :) It'll be my split personality bag.

Progress on Easy Street Mystery

I have passed the half way point :) I'm almost done with Block B and half done with Block A, YAY!

This quilt will be set aside for a week as I work on whatever challenge Project Quilting throws out tomorrow.

I'm hoping that the recipient of this quilt will like it :) It isn't the pattern that she approved, but the colors are the ones she chose ...

I've linked up with other Design Walls on Patchwork Times :)

Design Wall (Floor?) Monday January 14

Not the greatest of pictures, but it is hard to stand on the futon to take pictures of the floor! My design wall is just too small for this quilt.

All of the corner and setting triangles are finished for my version of Easy Street and I have 4 of Block A finished :) I used the blocks as leaders and enders for each other. This way, I could just keep sewing. I broke the sewing up into only doing 4 blocks at a time. If I tried to do them all, I would end up not counting right and have to do a ton of ripping (I only had to rotate two units out of the first 4 Block As).

Note: I switched out the centers for the Blocks A and B and am really excited about the color change.

For more Design Wall inspiration for your Monday, check out Patchwork Times!

Project Quilting Challenge Season Four - Square in a Square

I am going to make the effort to keep up with Project Quilting this year :) Since the Army Guy is not being transferred this Spring, I might be able to hit all the challenges!

My first submission is All Squared Up a baby quilt that will be donated through my Quilt Guild Patchers At the LakeShore to one of the local charities.

This quilt measures 32" X 39"

My design process began when I saw the cute little kid print on the stack of fabrics at our guild meeting. The fabric just spoke to me (well, maybe it was singing, look at those faces!). The fabric was begging to be used and the challenge gave me an excuse to get it done quickly!

I just started making squares of various fabrics that coordinated with the little kid print ... and figured out the minimum number I needed and kept sewing the various types. I started with the traditional Square in a Square block (above) and then made a variation of it as well: 

Then it was time to go a bit more modern, so I made a modern Square in a Square block and a variation:

Followed up by some filler squares, some Four Patch blocks (they are squares!) in a square and a 25 Patch version as well:

I cut a few more squares to offset my squares (as they seemed to boring in a straight set) and put them in randomly:

And the quilt came together! Add in a swirling freehand quilting design, a binding (zig-zagged down for durability) and we have a finished quilt!

Design Wall Monday - the first of 2013!

I have been plugging away at Easy Street, a Mystery over on Quiltville by Bonnie Hunter (other Easy Street updates found here). I started late, so I was never able to play catch-up (all the  clues are posted) ... The nice thing is, because I am behind, I've been making some changes in color placement as I go along :)

Here are a lot of the units on my crowded ironing surface - instructions, toys, a dead light bulb ...and lots and lots of 3 1/2" units!

I just need to cut a bunch of squares and HSTs to finish up (and it looks like a unit is placed backward on my design wall - oops!)

For more design wall inspiration check out the links at Patchwork Times :)

I might be setting Easy Street aside for a couple of days as I want to be working on Project Quilting again this year. AND, since we aren't planning to move this year, I might be able to focus a bit more on the challenges!