Setting for Swap Blocks

I've been trying to develop a setting for the blocks I received through the craftster block swap I participated in at the beginning of the year. I've had a basic idea, but was not sure which of the many possible variations I wanted to do. Any of the versions would require more blocks so I started this past weekend by working on more blocks:







By the time I finished these blocks I had landed on a setting idea that I thought I was happiest with, so that's what I worked on the rest of this weekend. None of this is sewn together yet except those strip set borders:



To guide your viewing, let me just say that it is "upside down" in this picture, but I did not rotate it because then the angle looks funky. Also, I can already see that in the center section I will switch the top middle and the right middle blocks (according to where they are in this picture) to balance the colors more. Also, sorry it's dark - it was late evening by the time I got around to this. Keeping those things in mind...

Actually I'm finding I like it more today than I did yesterday, but I'm still going back and forth between liking it and fearing it might be too busy/funky/weird/? I mean it certainly is busy, and the borders and lack of sashing do nothing to calm it down. It does have a certain charm to it, though.

Now wait, I am anticipating that someone somewhere will want to know what it would look like with the strips sets flipped around so the white is on the outside, so I laid that out, too. Try to cleanse your palate before you look at it, though...

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Ok, here it is (and the good news is, this picture is right side up and all the blocks have been moved around):



Hmm...personally I definitely like the first one better. I will continue to mull it over. I have one more block and lots of scraps that will go on the back.

Me at Sisters!

This is too fun not to share - turns out I made a small tiny contribution to the Sisters quilt show! Dionne, one of the people I swapped quilt blocks with for this swap finished her blocks into a quilt and the quilt hung in the show! You can check it out here - it looks so great!

My block is on the far left side, third down from the top. Looks like this:



Thanks Dionne!

Collaborations

Here it is! I did go with the yellow, which was perhaps a slightly more popular option. It really took me forever to decide, though, even with everyone's advice. I'm happy with it. I am thinking about making another, and possibly a larger older child version. In the meantime this one will be getting in the mail to Debra.



(If you are fascinated there are a million pictures of this on flickr. Let's just say that I am fascinated, probably too much so.)

Also, I have received nine of the eleven blocks I will get from the lap quilt swap on craftster. I need to make one for myself for a total of twelve. Here's what I've got so far:



I think they have a lot of potential! I have a million ideas for possible settings, so it will take some thought and some trial and error to decide how to put them together. Of course I can't really make any decisions about that until I have them all in hand. If you would be interested in participating in a future round of this swap, I suggest you join craftster ASAP, because there is a requirement that you must have been a member for thirty days (and post a certain number of times) before you can participate in a swap. Not sure when the next round will start, but if you join now I think you will probably be in time.

Life got very busy the last two weeks, or at least very busy compared to what it had been immediately before. My interview went smoothly. I haven't heard back about it, but I also at this point feel like the job would not be a very good fit. I also took another trip to Chicago just to visit and hang out with friends, and continued and finished up my two weeks of subbing for the ESL teacher. This weekend my Grandma and Aunt will be in town, and next week I start an eight day sub job in the bilingual k/1st room. Today, at least, I can stay in my PJs for a while.

Three More

I have finished my last three blocks to send out for the craftster block swap:

Bachelor's Puzzle


Basket


Butterflies


I have six packets to pack up and put in the mail, then I can sit back and wait for my blocks to roll in. I technically still have one more block to make, for my own quilt, but I'm going to wait until I see more of the blocks I will be receiving so that I can makes something that "fits" or "balances" or whatever is needed.

I haven't done any embroidery for a long while, and doing the butterflies for that last block reminded me how much I enjoy it. Plus, it is so cute! It makes me want to start an embroidery centered project...we'll see what becomes of that :)

My mind is really whirring with ideas right now and I'm really not sure what I want to work on.

Little Bits of Progress

Here are the three latest blocks that I have made for the block swap. I have done six now, which means I have five to go. There are three groups of twelve people participating in the swap and some people are in all three groups meaning that they will make 33 blocks and receive 33. One group is just the right commitment level for me. I feel like I can give each group of fabrics individualized attention and choose a block that is well suited to them, rather than doing a more assembly line process (which is totally fine if that works for you, but is not my preferred way to work). I have made the bears paw variation twice and will make it at least once more, because I'm finding it's a good block for a lot of fabrics (most people sent at least 5) and allows me to highlight certain prints.







As hoped, I did some pretty basic stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on the rail fence and got it bound, wrapped up, and in the mail by Friday. The postman assured me that there is at least a chance that it will get to the recipient by Christmas. I have to admit that, backed with super soft flannel and quilted enough but no more than enough, it was soft and cuddly enough to win me over. It just goes to show that sometimes it actually is worth it to un-sew a queen size quilt top...



Because of the minimal quilting this picture does not look much different than the finished top. I really like the finished texture of a quilt that is minimally quilted and therefore not too stiff, especially for a throw quilt that is meant to be cuddled under. I do always quilt at least to the specifications of the batting, although in all honesty I might fudge it a little sometimes. I realize that a less densely quilted quilt will not have as long of a life as one that is quilted 1" apart (that is what I took away from hearing Harriet Hargrave speak, that and also that if you don't quilt your own tops you are a topper and not a quilter) but for a quilt like this I'm fine with that. If my friend enjoys it for 5-10 years I will be happy.

More machine quilting in progress...

LQS4 on craftster

So here's what's been taking up a lot of my sewing time lately: I joined a block swap. I have this thing about group projects. They always look pretty fun whenever other people are doing them. Some don't inspire me, but others honestly make me want to get involved. However, there are always sooooo many reasons not to get involved. For me the biggest one is having so many of my own projects to work on - both those I have started and the zillion and one ideas that are so far just in my head. And time is always limited, so do I want to use that time for my own projects or a group project?

After much internal debate I finally decided to join the lap quilt swap on craftster. I made 11 packets of my fabrics and sent them out to the 11 other people in my group. They will make me a block with those fabrics and send it back to me. I can add one I make myself for a 12 block set to make a lap quilt (or whatever I decide to do with them). My part is that 11 people will send me little packets of fabric and I will make a block and send it back.

I convinced myself to join by considering that I could use one of those "collections of fabric that I am always setting off to the side because they are great together but that I don't necessarily know what to do with". I was excited to finally get something made out of one of those piles. This is what I chose to use, black, white, and grey with bits of color:



The commitment is really pretty minimal; making 11 blocks in three months is pretty doable even if I'm working on other stuff, too. Plus it's a good opportunity to meet some other people on craftster. I know not everyone is a craftster person, but personally I really enjoy it. The quilting board is an inspirational place. Although there are many quilts from more conventional quilters that are lovely and often very creative, there are also lots of quilts made by hobby sewists who have never quilted before, and/or random people who just thought it would be fun to make a quilt. The result is quilting with no filter, so to speak - quilts by people who don't know the "rules", haven't conceived of the quilt police, and haven't spent tons of time looking at what other people are doing. When I first discovered it I clicked around the board for hours.

The most trying part for me, as a person who usually has a complete unconcern for accuracy, is being meticulous in my cutting, sewing, and pressing in order to make sure the blocks are exactly 12.5". I spend twice as long on this blocks as I would on blocks for myself. It's probably good for me; it definitely makes me realize (or remember) why my accuracy is usually off - I don't make my 1/4 inches very (or consistently) scant, I don't measure and trim throughout the process, I just gooooo for it. So while I doubt I will ever be this careful when sewing for myself, it may help me develop better habits.

Here are the blocks I've made so far....

More Stars

Three recent receives in the Stars Around the World block exchange. This is partly to test different photo hosting sites as I'm trying to find one that looks just as good on PCs as on my mac. More to come soon......!

Flamingos and Such

Here is my flamingo quilt that I finished - more than a month or two ago - and for some reason didn't take a picture of till last night. I have a lot of my recent finished items that I don't have really good pictures of and I keep thinking I will take them outside on a sunny day with some helpful people and get some really decent pics. So I think I was waiting for that day, but I decided I at least needed some kind of picture of this in the mean time.



Before you compliment me, those flamingos are NOT appliqued - it's a fabric panel I bought years ago. One day when I was just overflowing with creativity (which in my case rarely happens) I really wanted to start something new and work on it all day, and I decided to take the flamingos as my inspiration - this was the result. So all the fabric I had on hand and I did get it all pieced in a day. That is NOTHING like my usual way of working, but I love the result.

Just because I love to share them, here are my recent "Stars Around the World" blocks - www.friendshipquilters.com if you'd like to get in on the fun. (Not my favorite site because almost all of the activities are actually not quilt related. Still haven't figured that one out...?)

From Karin in CO:


Going to Mary Lou in TN:


Last but not least...I was about ready to declare this layout the "winner" for the Random Stripes quilt - this was last night.



I would have sewn them up last night but somehow laying the blocks out on the floor so I could audition the border COMPLETELY exhausted me. So I did not sew them up, and now I'm undecided again. Hilarious. I'm going back to the doctor on Friday - this tiredness thing has got to go.

Stars

That's my latest receive (blue on blue from Annette) and send (night sky to Karin) in the Stars Around the World swap. I feel rather egotistical, but I LOVE the block I made for Karin. I wanted to keep it! But obviously that's silly because I can just make one for myself since I still have lots of fabric. Those planets just kill me. Too cute.

I Love Jesus Swap

I am participating in my first swap on Craftster. At many times throughout this experience I have found myself thinking...why did I think I wanted to do this? I enjoy craftster, even if I'm not the devotee that some people are. My main thought behind doing this swap was that I think theoretically that I would like to organize my own swaps (quilt block swap, craftster style!) and in order to do that I have to participate in two swaps first. So I figured I might as well jump in. So I am in the I Love Jesus swap (yea Jesus!) and I finished my stuff today (send-outs are Tuesday). My second swap will definitely be more along the lines of "fill a matchbox" or something equally painless - 5 items was a lot! And I copped out and purchased two of my items!! But now that's it's all done I'm realy excited about it. I think it's a quality package that I would not be afraid to send to Mary Magdalen herself. Anyway, since I don't have a link to this blog posted on craftster, I will go ahead a post pictures here.

Group shot:


Throw pillow w/ close up:



(I think the dimensionality of the pillow really solves the problems that this had as a flat block.)

"The Creative Call" book - I wanna keep this!


Charm bracelet:


Patch (this was a no-brainer):


And a few shots of the treasure box... The idea behind the treasure box is to fill a box with bible verses that are uplifting/encouraging/helpful, so that you can pull one out on a rainy day.






On another topic - to any other people out there who use the blogger/flickr combination: any idea how I can post "medium" size photos w/o the edges being cut off??? Maybe many of you just thought all my pictures are super off center and I always cut off the edge of my subject, but not so! I never used to have this problem on the old blogger...?

Tired!

Geez I'm tired. So tired. Like the kind of tired you go see the doctor for. But the doctor is stumped so far, so I'm still just tired. Bleh. I seriously feel like I could sleep all day and I don't want to do ANYTHING else. Like I don't want to sew or craft and half the time when it's bed time I don't even want to brush my teeth or anything - just get me to bed!

So any and all sewing/quilting/crafty project is slowed to a near halt.

But I did manage to sew the binding onto the batik cats quilt, which I finished quilting a while ago and sewed the binding on awhile ago but didn't get around to hand sewing it down on the back until this past week. But it is done and being soaked to remove marks as we speak. Here's a not-very-good picture:



It's about 48" x 58". And has no home. Here's a close up of the quilting. It's just diagonal lines that change direction here and there.



It was done with pearl cotton - why does that seem like SUCH a better way to hand quilt?? I don't know, but it does.

Here's the latest batch of Stars Around the World blocks. First the block I received from Gill in Cyprus and second the one that I've got going out to Annette in Utah:

Friendship Star Exchange

So I'm participating in the "Friends Around the World" friendship star block exchange with the International Friendship Quilters (http://www.friendshipquilters.com). The blocks are easy to make, and I like the idea of having a quilt made of blocks from all of over the world. I forgot to take a picture of the first one I sent, but here is my second send (pink & green) and the first that I received (the blue). The blue block came to me from Rena in Australia - it's lovely, ¿verdad que si?



I guess there is some funny comic book page making program on our new I-book and my dad made this page b/c those were the only pictures on the computer. It's hi-larious...



I'm plugging away on the quilting of the Batik Cats - I got at least 2/3 of it done in Phoenix, and maybe 3/4. And since getting home I'm almost done - yeah!