Work Shop with Humble Quilts

Our local guild had the pleasure of Lori DeJ from Humble Quilts come spend the day for a workshop and a trunk show, Quilts thru the Seasons.  A lot of cutting for this project, but since I had lots of little blocks in a basket, it wasn't too much to get ready. 

I focused on the 16 patch fabrics, made a few blocks at home and then grabbed the cheddar for the corners and the blue for the zigzag.  Someone I didn't read the requirements, just grabbed what I thought looked good.  Then I ran out of blue.

True to her name, Lori just came over and started sewing the blue scraps that were left over and voilà, I had enough fabric for the last pieces that I needed. 

I used up all the extra strips I had from an earlier project and some of these little 1" finished squares are 'humble' blocks, funny, I just realized that I have 2 the same in the above and below block.  Must have been a strip left over and I got 2 blocks out of it! Plus I dug through Laurie, Linda, and Jane's piles of squares to add a bit more interest.  They had lots of prints I didn't have. ;-)

The center was made by making four patches and then using 4 - 4 patches to make the 16 patch.  Working this way gave me such pleasure as I could spin the seams on all the intersections and have really neat and flat blocks. I love when this happens!

Due to Lee at Two Thimbles finding the shops last remaining FQ's of this blue, I was able to added an extra row and I oriented the quilt so the zigzag is running across rather than up and down.  Now it's in the "hand quilting" pile.  However, I've seen a finished one already and I'm thinking a little machine stitching might just be the ticket to get this done.  Btw, I see a red/white/green one in my future, hopefully it will be done in time for Christmas.

Thanks Lori, for an excellent day of sewing and an evening filled with amazing quilts.  I was the quilt holder,  sorry, no pictures to share of the lecture.  If Lori is in your next of the woods, get your guild to book her, we had excellent feedback from her lecture. 

Hope you get some stitching in over this Memorial Day weekend,
Sharon

Lots of Little Pieces

I am 1/2 way through the second 6 month series of Kim Diehl Simple What Not's. This has been a lesson of perseverance for me.  I'm not a "small block" kind of quilter, I've been ready to turn a 16 block piece into a 4 block piece, but I have to say, these pieces are STINKIN' CUTE!

When I need 1/2 sq tri's that finish at 1", trimming down is the only way for me to work.  Lots of little shavings gives me lots of accurate blocks.

Here is the center of our June piece.  It still needs it's borders, and I should have rotated the photo.  This piece will finish at 5 x 7.  These certainly are not for everyone, but working in this manner has truly upped my attention to detail.  A definite skill builder.

The last piece in this series has a lot of cutting, and since I'm doing a store sample and then need a sample for my demo class, I've been cutting for two at the same time.  Goodness, a new blade in the cutter was a must.  It certainly makes the task much easier and it's definitely less stressful on my hand and wrist.  All these pieces and partial blocks will become..........

..........these.  1 done and 15 more to go.  This little sucker finishes at 3 3/4".  No, that isn't a typo,  right now it's 4 1/4".  It looks a little wonky in the center because it is!  I'm really working on making these as best as I can.  The good news is that once the piece is all together, the cuteness of the whole piece seems to melt away those tiny issues.

These projects are time consuming, but are definitely worth taking a crack at.  I do believe I've made some improvements in my piecing and they really are cute!

I hope you've had some time in your sewing room, I know the yard beckons us at this time of year.
Sharon

A Boring Blogger

Well, it's been a while since I've put up a post.  It's not that I haven't had needle and thread in my hand, it's just that, well, my days have just seemed to run away from me. 

In a nutshell, I got my guy moved and with Lori from Humble Quilts coming today, we got the spare room organized on Thursday/Friday.  Only 4 boxes got stacked up for later purging.  All photos, ugh. 

We managed to get one walk along the shore since he has moved in, but still haven't crossed the street to dip toes in the ocean.

Customer quilts got a little sidelined with the time spent moving and I have spent the last two weeks staying on task.  Today is a run to the post office with a car load of boxes.  Get your binding ready, ladies!

Flower beds have bags of soil and compost piled up, but that's for Thursday.

Lots of these circles have found a home.  All 72 of them.  A later reveal for this project.

Dad has come back from his winter home in AZ.  This means horse racing has started in Vancouver, BC and with 3 horses in his stable, the track will be my second home on the weekends.  Any day spent with my 80 year old Dad is a great day.  Here he is yesterday, wearing pink in honor of Mother's day.  This is notasimplegal  (Not A Simple Gal) but we call her Gabby!

 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
Sharon