My quilting buddy Sharon came down for a weekend visit. Sharon finished some of the quilting on her quilt. Then we were making little notebooks. Then I dug out this book by Anita Grossman Solomon. I've made blocks from the book before -- I especially like to use these directions when I am making blocks to give away as you can cut several blocks at the same time and there is no waste. I thought Sharon would get a kick out of trying one. So I grabbed some fabric from my wild purchase at the Nov. guild auction and cut them out. I showed Sharon how to cut the blocks out to make an X block.
Oops I made a mistake on this one. The cuts should be the same width horizontal and vertical. I cut the vertical one on the left too wide. Yikes. I didn't have much more of the light green fabric left but I was able to salvage some of these pieces. And, I had cut 6 blocks at a time so I lost two of them. Rats.
Then I plowed through some more fabric and I found some that will be great for a border. Hum, this could be a great baby quilt even if it isn't really baby colors or prints. I used 4 different fabrics in blues and greens. The stripe print adds a lot of interest but we didn't figure out to be careful how we placed the stripe until we'd made a few blocks. I wouldn't recommend a stripe if you want a fast quilt!
How do you like this for the border? Rats, you can't see it well in this picture but it is a green print with diagonal lighter green lines on it. Try clicking on it to see it a bit better.
Sharon also brought down a bunch of fabric to go with a flamingo challenge our Md guild is sponsoring. She hadn't been able to find any quilt that struck her as doable with the fabric. I saw something when I was hopping around the internet that she liked. I have a lot of children's prints so we combined fabric and she cut two quilts -- 1 for me and 1 for her. Might as well cut 2 squares for 25 fabrics as one. We both started ours as leader enders as we sewed the X blocks.
It's been quite a while since we were able to have a sewing weekend together. We had a wonderful time. Friday we went shopping -- two different quilt stores. And, lunch out -- which really hit the spot. Sat morning we attended my guild, Country Piecemakers. If you remember Sharon attended our retreat this past fall so folks were happy to say hi again. We had a wonderful program where members showed their antique quilts and told the stories that went with them. When the meeting was over we got some serious piecing done. Sunday morning we got a few more hours in before she had to head home. We really need to do this quarterly.
I didn't do so well on my goals this week... but I had a lot of distractions!
Week of February 6, 2012
Pick next 1800s bom and write directions√
Finish quilting & bind NY Day Mystery Quilt√ more rows quilted but not finished
Vacuum the house√
Back to working on the FCQ Equilter’s donation quilt 5 blocks needed
Make snowman blocks and FCQ’s bom√ but not the snowman blocks
Think about making blue and yellow pillow shams or cases
Decide on Carolina Christmas – make more blocks or leave as is? Not sure but have decided to put away for a bit….
Pick fabric for next Scrap Squad Quilt√
√√√√√Have a great time with Sharon
Week of February 13, 2012
Back to working on the FCQ Equilter’s donation quilt 5 blocks needed
Finish quilting & bind NY Day Mystery Quilt
Make snowman blocks
Begin cutting for next Scrap Squad Quilt
Take computer in for some clean up and check up
Finish the last x blocks and sew into rows
Work on the baby quilt Sharon made me start…lol Don't forget to look at design walls across the internet by going to Patchwork Times.
If you are looking for the February 1800s block of the month look here.
One more thing to share with you ---
I dropped my camera and I think it is gone, dead, done in, expired... I'll be using my iPhone for photos for a bit.
Happy Quilting All! 
It is FUN to sew (knit) with friends!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the book recommendation. I'll look for it.
Ooooh, that screen on your camera doesn't look too good. I hope it can be easily repaired.
DW is looking look -- that border was perfect for it! For your camera problem you *might* check out this blog entry: http://camerarepair.blogspot.com/2007/12/fixing-lens-error-on-digital-camera.html for seeing if you can self-fix your camera. I had to use this to fix mine (I got a blank screen with an error message after dropping my camera). That was a year and a half ago and I've not had a problem with it since!! :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like you found the perfect border fabric. This is a great looking quilt!
ReplyDeleteI just checked out the Rotary Cutting book from the library last week. I love the cross blocks!
ReplyDeleteI really like that x block. I'll have to get Sharon to show me how.
ReplyDeleteLove the x block quilt, and the border fabric which I can see when I click the picture up to a larger size. So nice to have fun with a quilting buddy. Somehow I don't do that near enough even now that I am retired. I need to make more effort to do this. It evidently lightened your spirits.
ReplyDeleteLove the "X" factor in the block. I really like two color quilts and that's a nice one. The little love note on your camera made me chuckle. Looks like the SW on that thing just gave up.
ReplyDeleteThe X-block quilt is gorgeous. Like that dark green you've proposed for the border.
ReplyDelete