Design Wall Monday 4-4-11

Are you thinking of doing some quilting for the Japanese?  I wanted to but I didn't want to make a whole quilt.  I was thrilled when I found Tanya's web site Matryoshkamom.  Tanya and I emailed back and forth a little bit regarding her efforts.  I made the three red and white blocks above to help with her plan to make a few quilts for the people who have lost so much in the earthquake and tsunami.  Here's my call to you to help her out with a few blocks for her quilts.  Check her web site and see if you don't have a bit of red and a bit of white you can make into a 12" finished block.  I enjoy doing these type of blocks.  First, I'm doing something to aid in a worthy cause.  Second, I try to make a block that is new to me or challenges me.  And, third, I count every piece as used fabric!  That's a triple win situation for me. 

The block on the left is from one of Quiltmakers 100 Block magazines.  Cool but lots and lots of pieces.  Pinwheels Askew was simple and fast.  And for the last one I tried a technique in a book I've owned for years but had never done anything with it. I'm not enamored of the technique as it was hard to get an accurate block. The technique was to produce 4 of the  triangle sections (3 red, 1 white triangle.)  I think I'll keep looking for an easy way to produce that unit. 

All the blocks are done for the double bow tie quilt.  On to sewing it together and the borders. 

The above sisters choice blocks are for my equilters group.  I am going to continue to make some of these over the next few days and then mail them out.  They will be used in quilts for children. (more fabric out of my stash...) 

This is UFO is up next for finishing.  I've got 3 of the 4 sides of the first border on it.  Once done with the 4th side I'll need to decide if I want to do another  border using the blue fabric.  It is around 64" square now.  Should I add another border or stop at the gray? I think I need to put this on a design wall and see what it really looks like. The blue fabric has little bumble bees on it so I think of it as my bumble bee quilt.  I plan on quilting bumble bees in the blue octagons so I need to design or buy a bee stencil. 

Last week’s goals 3/28/11.

• Finish Super Duper Easy √ 

• Quilt and finish Valentine Quilt √

• Finish all blocks for double bow tie blocks, sew together √ well, except the sew together part.

• Figure out the design for chunky churn dash blocks and make whatever number of blocks needed – Thought about it but didn’t draw anything up.

• Get the gray border on the Bumble Bee Quilt UFO -- 3 of 4 sides put on.

• Organize recipe 3 ring binder and make divider pages. Didn’t get to this one although I did write down categories…

This Week’s Goals 4/4/11

• Make 3 blocks for Guild Opportunity Quilt.

• Print labels for guild members.. (I volunteered to do this…)

• Finish quilting baby quilt on Ruthie.

• Sew double bow tie blocks together and start borders.

• Decide if more borders are needed on bumble bee quilt and do them.  Or get fabric organized for backing.

• Easter blocks – start design and make any extra blocks needed. These are from 1993 so it's definitely time to do something with them! 

• Do something with chunky churn dashes.

• Organize recipe 3 ring binder and make divider pages. Let’s try this one again folks. 

Time for me to visit Patchwork Times and go visit some other blogs to see what is on design walls across the country.  And then I'll be heading to the studio to get some sewing done.  

My Vote Is In

I voted this afternoon around 4:30.  It only took about 15 minutes which surprised me considering our township offices had a line out the door.  Evidently it was a much longer line earlier in the day -- taking an hour or so.  

I can honestly say I am so happy this election is over.  I am tired of political ads -- can't candidates say what is good about them instead of tearing down their opponent? 

On the sewing front I am almost finished cutting out a quilt. I volunteered to be a mystery quilt tester and that is what I have been cutting out. I'm calling it the bumblebee quilt because my fabric has cute little bees on it. If you want to participate in this mystery sign up for Fabricholics Annonymous on Yahoo Groups. The mystery will be presented on New Years Eve day.  

Along with the cutting, I pre-sewed a bunch of half square triangles last night by triangles-on-a-roll and then took the papers off.  I still have more to sew for the above mentioned quilt.  Do you use triangles-on-a-roll?  Shortly after they came out I bought one of each roll.  And, I still have one of each roll of both half square triangles and quarter square triangles.  I think I had to make 150+ of them so continuous paper was much faster from the sewing end. Unfortunately, I also sew them a bit big so I can trim them to the correct size.  I hear you all saying but the point of the papers is to make accurate patches with less work. Well, I'm weird. Early on I realized I could just as easily make the darn things the wrong size if I sewed too far left or right of the stitching line.  After making too many the wrong size I started sewing a smidge inside the sewing line and then trimming.  I sure get accurate blocks that way!  

So, what's your favorite half square triangle method?  I love my new QIAD triangle ruler -- it is great for squaring up when making scrap triangles. I like the triangles-on-roll papers and I even like Thangles. What I don't like is cutting triangles and then sewing them together! 

I'm back to cutting the last few squares for the bumblebee quilt. Have a great evening.  Tomorrow will be an amazing day in American history no matter who is elected.  If nothing more we Americans are turning out to the polls in record numbers.  

Happy Quilting.  Bonnie