March is going out like a lamb today so I thought I'd take the blocks I've been working on outside for a photo shoot.
These are from the book Vintage Quilt Revival. You can get it here. They are (almost) all paper pieced so I learned something new - again! I used white for a background here.
Gray here. (I love the Sudoku puzzle in the middle!)
And no background here. Not sure which I like better. What do you think?
These I've been making with the Aurifil Block of the Month Club. They are ordered here January, March, and February. You post a picture of your block on their Flickr page each month and they randomly pick a winner. The prize is a box full of Aurifil thread which would be fantastic but I'm not holding my breath. This is the first BOM club I've joined. It's fun!
Look who came out with me...she had just retrieved the soccer ball 9 times and is finding a bit of shade!!!
HAPPY SPRING!!!
I recently bought a sweet fat quarter bundle that I think will make a perfect plus quilt. Before I cut it up I thought I'd play around with the color wheel and make a practice one first.
I did a Google search for plus quilt instructions and found some here. I used Kona solids in grass, chartreuse, jade, crocus, and purple. Choosing colors is so challenging for me. I pulled the color wheel out and followed the "rules" for blending. I'm so glad I did because I love how these all go together.
Joann's had their solid fleece on sale for 60% off and I found the perfect jade to match the front so I used it for the back. The fleece was so thick I decided to try this one with no batting. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Not too heavy or big. Perfect to be dragged around by a small child.
So this one is being donated to the local women's shelter. I hope it helps heal a broken heart.
And truthfully, I loved these colors so well I decided to use the scraps and play around with some blocks from my new favorite book Vintage Quilt Revival. These are foundation pieced so again, new for me. I have learned I LOVE paper piecing. More of this to come...
I was reading a blog about blogging the other day and it mentioned that all sewing blogs should have a tutorial. Since I just posted about how much I liked making flying geese - here's a tutorial on how I made them...in (mostly) pictures!
I'm using the large flying geese ruler from Quilt in a Day. You can get it here.
Start with 2 squares. The "goose" will be the dots in this sample and the purple will be the "wings". Cut a square for the goose 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches and one for the wings 11 x 11 inches. Each set of two squares will yield four 4 x 8 inch flying geese.
Center the smaller square on top of the larger one and draw a diagonal line from the top left corner to the bottom right.
Now sew a 1/4 inch seam from both sides of the line. (Wow, the old New Home sewing machine sure stitches a straight line!)
Use your ruler to cut between the two seams on the line you drew. Press the seams towards the larger square (which is now a triangle).
Now you have 2 large half-square triangles. Stack one on top of the other, right sides together, with opposite fabrics touching each other. The sewn seams will not line up.
Draw another diagonal line from the top left to the bottom right and sew a 1/4 inch seam on both sides just like before. And again cut on the drawn line. (I missed taking a picture of this. Sorry.)
This time, before pressing, cut a little notch in the seam allowance between the two seams that didn't line up.
Now you can press each half the opposite way matching your initial pressing - towards the originally larger square.
Now comes the really fun part! With your fabric right side facing up, line up the markings on the ruler with the seams in your fabric.
Cut all the way around the ruler. You'll have to turn at least once. Be careful to re-align the ruler after each turn.
Now cut a few more squares and repeat.
Soon you'll have enough geese to head to the design wall...
And start arranging a quilt!!!
