Floral Applique

It seems like I've had this book forever.  I've had it so long that there's now a new and improved version available, although I prefer the cover of my older version.  I'm in love with everything about the quilt on the cover - the color choices, the curvy design, the use of many reds for the background, and the folk art style.

So, why haven't I made it yet, you ask?  And on a related note, hubby keeps wondering why I'm making all these cool blocks and sending them away.

I've known for a long time that I'm much more productive when there are deadlines.  When I make something for myself there are no deadlines, which results in lots of UFO's.  Being a part of the Long Distance Quilting Bee (LDQB) has given me deadlines.

So, one of the gals from the LDQB requested a block with flowers.  I seized the opportunity and finally made a block from this quilt.  It was difficult to part with when it was done, but I'm now inspired to make the quilt for myself.

I modified it a bit because I didn't want to hand applique all those little berries, leaves seemed a lot easier.  I'm happy to say that I stuck with my goal to use fabrics I already owned.  The flowers and leaves were made with Kaffe Fassett fabrics, leftovers from a quilt that I made for me - that I actually finished long ago!  It probably would've been better to use a different stem color but I ran out of greenish Kaffe fabrics.  Anyway, I love how it turned out and am excited to get started on mine!

Outer Space Quilt

Last year I made this paper-pieced rocket quilt block for Joy.  I was so excited to design the pattern myself.

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Joy received all kinds of fun space blocks from the Long Distance Quilting Bee and made this quilt for her nephew.  My favorite block is the one directly below mine - so unique and very modern!  Zoom in and check out the cute quilting in orange thread.  I wonder if she did it herself?

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Here's a closer look before it was quilted.  So, this reminds me that I have two years of blocks to put together.  I better get started!

Elefante

Lately I'm a paper piecing maniac.  I got this elephant pattern from A Quilter's Ark by Margaret Rolfe.  One of the gals in the Long Distance Quilting Bee wanted 'anything baby'.  The pattern calls for embroidered details, like an eye and stuff.  But I kind of liked it without all the details.  I think a checked body and a plaid ear is detail enough.  What do you think?

Paper-pieced Pitcher

That title is a tongue twister.  Just see if you can say it five times fast.  This is one of the first blocks that I managed to make without changing my mind about the fabrics a gazillion times.  I wasn't sure I was going to like it - too girly for me.  But, I really love it.

The April challenge for the Long Distance Quilting Bee was to make something with blues and greens with a light background using our current favorite method.  I continue to be intrigued with paper-piecing so that's what I did.  Once again, I used a pattern from my favorite quilting book.  One of these days I'm going to design my own pattern again, like this one.

Quilted Jars

There are two challenges for March's Long Distance Quilting Bee - the garden one and the jar one.  Amy, the Bee coordinator, wanted the standard jar pattern without the bottom strip.  The first jar I made for her is filled with strawberries, the only fruit fabric that didn't make it into the fruit salad blocks that I made for her last year.  

My husband thought the other block was a sand art jar.  I wish I would've thought of a clever idea like that!  Look below to see what it really is.

 Broken Butterfly Wings

By the way, I started to wonder how people make those sand art jars.  It's pretty amazing.  Check it out.

Paper-pieced Butterfly

This has got to be one of the most complex quilt blocks I've ever made.  One of the challenges for March's Long Distance Quilting Bee block was to make something related to gardening.  I got the pattern from this book, the same book that the kimono and crane came from.  The pattern calls for this block to be 6" x 6".  That's just loco!  Fortunately Joy wanted bigger blocks.  Check out the amazing points you can get with paper-piecing.

Butterfly Guts

Leaves and a Star

I'm obsessed with the color green.  I want everything in my house to be green - the walls, the art, the furniture, the dishes, the linens, my clothes, etc.  My husband laughs at me because of my obsession with rusty metal, especially rusty GREEN metal.  Anyway, I got excited when Evelyn requested a quilt block with lots of green and leaves and stuff.  I've been wanting to try these paper-pieced leaves so it was the perfect excuse.

For December Pat requested some sort of yellow or gold star.  I used a pattern similar to this except the square in the middle is a nine patch.

Fruit Salad

Amy wanted a "fruit salad" block.  During the Long Distance Quilting Bee we're supposed to make just one block per theme/month, but I made three.  Here's the first one.  I loved the star and I loved the idea of the ants invading the fruit, but the combination of everything turned out a bit too busy.

 

 This block was toooo wild.

Here's the second one.  It didn't seem fun enough and I missed the oranges.

  This block was toooo boring.

Here's the third one, my personal favorite.  Which one do you like best?

 This block was juuuust right.

Sporty Quilt Block

Here's the block that I just sent off to Lisa in the Long Distance Quilting Bee.  She and her husband enjoy watching sports together.

 

Do you see the two basketballs, the football and the soccer ball?  The basketballs were supposed to be across from each other, diagonally.  That's how I had laid them out before sewing and can't (for the life of me) figure out how they ended up on the same side.  I also can't figure out why I didn't notice it before now, because that's all I can see now!  If this block were still in my possession, I'd be ripping it out right now and fixing it.  It's tough being me.

Ringed Star

Back in June I mentioned that I'm participating in a Long Distance Quilting Bee.  In August, Valerie (whom I've never met) requested a music-themed block and mentioned that she likes guitars and the color green.  This is what I came up with - a bit busy, but I like it.

I searched Marsha McCloskey's Block Party for inspiration.

On page 89 I found a pattern called Ringed Star, which sounded a lot like Ringo Starr.  Get it?  Ringo Starr...music...rock 'n' roll.  Anyway, I knew I had to use it, even if it did end up causing me grief.

It's not Marsha's fault that I had trouble.  Her directions and diagrams were really easy to follow.  Everything was progressing nicely until I got to the last seam - which was way off!  

It's really hard to make precise cuts when using templates.  And imprecise cuts lead to wonky blocks.  I have much more success making perfect blocks that are measured with a ruler and cut with a rotary cutter.

The other tricky bit about making this block was to get it the right size.  The diagram of Ringed Star in the book is 2.5" x 2.5" and the templates in the back of the book weren't quite the size that Valerie wanted.  I needed it to be 10" x 10" (including seam allowances), so I calculated for a 9.5" x 9.5" block.  I'm embarrassed to admit that my hubby (whose mantra is "math is power") had to help me with the math.  Here's my math problem for the day:

2.5 x n = 9.5

2.5       = 2.5

n = 3.8

I had to enlarge the small diagram by 380% to get the right size.

Hey, you can bring your math student (child) to this page the next time s/he whines and says, "Why do I have to take algebra!?  I'm never gonna use this stuff in real life!"