Flashback to Halloween

I realize that today is Veteran's Day here in the U.S. but I'm going to share a project I worked on just prior to Halloween this year.

My friend C~ purchased a set of Halloween blocks from a nearby guild's white elephant sale. She brought them to me and together we played around with possible layouts. This is the one we liked best:

Here's what one block looks like:

They are essentially a combination of six inch Nine Patch and Bow Tie blocks. Our guess is that this was a set of lottery blocks someone won and then didn't use. I suspect that the guidelines for the lottery were to use an orange print and a black print in specific placements within the 12 inch block. If you look closely, in the block below you'll see that the orange is actually a Christmas print!

It was pretty quick work to get the blocks sewn together. There was one spot in one block that had almost no seam allowance though, so I had DS put some Fray Chek on that area to protect it from raveling out. I added a three inch border all the way around...

And another top was ready to be quilted up for a child in Foster Care. :- )

There were some blocks that didn't make it into the quilt top, the block with the Christmas print being one of them! I took it upon myself to make a set of placemats for my DD and her brood out of the leftover blocks.

I took a couple of them apart and made a few new components to get what I wanted, then added side borders to make six 12" x 18" placemats.

Here's one up close so you can see the text print I used at the very edge. If you double click you should be able to get a nice big image for easier reading.

All it took was black to bind the edges and DD had a fun new set of mats to protect her dining table from the four little ghouls - I mean girls! - who keep her hopping! ;- )

Until next time, here's to those who have served, or are currently serving, on our behalf in various branches of the military. We appreciate your dedication and sacrifice.

Back in the Saddle Again?

Dear friends, I hope it won't be so long between posts from now on. I've had quite a string of migraines of late, interspersed with the usual reactions to toxins that are unavoidable. I'm one who withdraws when I'm not feeling up to par, and blogging is a social activity for me even though it's done in the solitude and privacy of my own home. I appreciate your patience and understanding - those who have not given up on me altogether!

I have been sewing but today I want to share the fruits of other labors. You may remember that my interest in needlepoint has been reawakened this year. To that end I have been buying little kits that are made by the Stitch & Zip company. Most of the ones I have made up have been purchased through Online Stitch Kits.

Here are a coin/credit card case and a reader (specs) case:

Another pair of coin or credit card cases:

Two more coin purses (I've actually stitched up two of the blackbird pattern now):

And one more coin purse, with the same birdhouse case from the previous picture:

This one is a cosmetic bag:

I've also made up a scissor case. I didn't think to get a picture of it for you!

Back in the day I rarely bought kits. I worked from charts or designed my own projects for needlepoint or latch hook or other embroidery techniques. Lately I haven't had the mental capacity to do my own designing. I'm finding the kits a nice brainless activity (for the most part; the stamping of the patterns doesn't always land squarely on the canvas and some compensating needs to be done at times). I am beginning to fear that there will soon be more coin purses in this house than I can ever give away! I'm slightly jealous of those of you who can knit or crochet because that looks like the sort of activity I've been needing lately. You know, the mindless creation of a dish cloth or scarf or what have you. I've never been able to master the sticks or hook however. I'm enjoying these little prefinished cases precisely because they are prefinished and they are small enough to fit comfortably in my small hands.

Hopefully in a day or two I will still feel well enough to share with you some of the other projects I've been working on these past few months. And maybe I can get around to catch up on what y'all have been up to!

School Daze

I'm still nibbling away at fabric I bought back in the beginning of my quilt making career. Some of it is nearly 20 years old. I still think they're fun prints though! The problem tends to be that back then I rarely bought more than quarter yard cuts, which makes it hard to do anything of any size. A lot of times I bought prints from which I could fussy cut images. I still like to do that but in an effort to update my stash I'm currently trying to use up the older stuff as quickly as possible. The Scrappy Trips process has become a go-to method for me of late.

Most recently I combined old and new prints to make a school themed quilt top:

Actually, as I'm looking at that photograph I realize that only two of the six prints are old. Both of them had to be replaced part way through the project though, and I was able to substitute other old prints.

When I had four blocks made I put them on the wall this way:

Then I tried them out this way:

My goal was 12 blocks, to be set three by four. By the eleventh block I'd run out of the Kaffe Fasset print of pencils. Of course! I tried to find a small piece amongst my friends but was out of luck. Eventually I found something in my stash that I thought would work. The blue is nearly the same as some of that in the pencil print and the value is the same. There has to be a party every once in a while during the school year!

When I finally had twelve blocks I did this:

And then this:

That wave layout is the one I chose to sew together. Oh, I should mention that I began with strips three inches wide so the blocks finish at 15" and the top will be 45 x 60 inches.

This panel became the foundation for the back of the quilt:

I had to add fabric to the top and bottom to make the necessary length. They are wide strips of red and blue and ivory plaids, also from back in the day. :- )

 All the layers have been pin basted together, just waiting to be quilted. I would be doing that now except that I've had some issues with Ruby Blue, my sewing machine with the wider throat. Once I get her sorted out I plan to quilt this one myself with simple straight line quilting. Then it will go to a child in the Foster Care system. In the meantime, I have a pile of scraps that need to be dealt with...

It's About Time!

That I showed you the final arrangement of the hexagon charm blocks I was working with back in August. This is where it was back then...

This is how it looks now:

I've passed it on to my son to see what quilting design he'll come up with using his long arm skills. In the meantime, I've made a second version of the quilt.

My goal this time was to use up some of the leftovers from the wedding quilt I made earlier this year. (You can see bits of that quilt here.) So I cut 5" squares from those prints and then went down to my LQS to see what there was to use for the alternate squares. Of course there wasn't anything in my stash that I liked with the greens or had enough of for this project!

Once again I began with this layout:

Now that I see it in the photo I like it better than I did when it was on the design wall. Still, it was pretty staid so I moved the values around a bit. I left the hexagons all pointing in the same direction this time though.

A simple two inch border all the way around finishes it off at 40" x 45". I may quilt this one myself. If I do, it will most likely be with simple straight lines going diagonally through the charm squares and the alternate squares - to create a hanging diamond effect. I find it interesting that I'm not, never have been, much of a doodler and now that I'm a quilt maker I also find it challenging to come up with quilting designs. Seems like the same skill set is involved and I still need to develop in that area!

Whoosh!

That's the sound of time flying by. ;- )

My surgery went smoothly, nothing ugly was discovered, and as far as that procedure is concerned all is well. There have been other events that have conspired to keep me from the computer and blogging. Nothing truly serious, just annoying and debilitating.

Meanwhile, the weather has turned up here in our corner of the world. The first sign was to be seen in our shrubs:

Not the greatest picture, I know, but those are spider webs decorating the hedges. Here's a closer look:

Puts me in mind of fairy clouds or something. :- )

My local quilt guild does a monthly block lottery. I don't always participate (in fact, in the past couple of years I have rarely participated) but this time around I couldn't help myself. The assignment was to make a 10 or 12 inch Halloween block. Yippeee!

For a couple of days I debated whether to just plug some Halloween prints into a pieced block pattern. Then the idea struck me to make a haunted house. hehehe. This is what I came up with:

This particular house block has been in my notebook ever since the early days of my quilt making. Some of the very first blocks I made were houses. I can't tell whether this was one I designed myself or something I drafted from a picture somewhere. At the time I didn't have the skills to make it without using templates so I don't think it ever got made. After this first effort I decided to try again...

I have the most fun finding things to put in the windows and doorways! The first house was turned in at the last guild meeting but the drawing won't be until the next meeting. I'm keeping the second house.

This morning I decided to make another block for the drawing. There's a block called Buzzard's Roost in my block bible (Maggie Malone's 1001 Patchwork Designs) that I've always wanted to try. Halloween seemed an appropriate theme for such a block. Here is what I created:

I'm very happy with it. The witch is from an Alexander Henry print. She's on a true red background though it looks a little off in the photo.

And just for grins I made this little star (6") out of scraps I had laying around.

Hopefully it won't be such a long time between posts from now on. And I have a lot of catching up to do among my Blog Land friends...