I belong to a couple of guilds (Modern and Traditional) and I also a member of Stash Bee. I make a lot of blocks for these groups for block of the months and block lottos and I thought it would be nice to share some of the blocks I've been working on. Making a few blocks is a nice way to work some sewing in when there isn't a lot of time to spare.
Last week I shared a photo of a quilt top that my friends and I put together at our mini retreat. It was put together with block lotto blocks. While we were together we also worked on some blocks for our local guild's outreach program.
These majestic mountain blocks where the September block of the month blocks. They are really big blocks,
16 inches in width so it will only take a few to make a quilt top. My block is the orange one.
Little Tent Block are very popular in my area right now with blocks being made by both local guilds. Little Tent Blocks are improv blocks based on a quilt designed by Daisy of Ants to Sugar (now Warm Folk). You can see her original Little Tent Quilt here. It turns out that Daisy was inspired by Jennifer Johnston's triangle quilt and Jennifer is a member of the local Modern Guild. The blocks above are for the local Traditional Guild, Royal City Quilter's Guild and are the blocks for the November block lotto. The top left and bottom left are my blocks. I love making these blocks and I'm planning on making more with some interesting background fabric I picked up recently.
This here is my Stash Bee block for September. It was a fun little block to make, once I settled on the 6 fabrics. I managed to pull them all from the scrap bins! I'll be working on the October block this week. It's a simple block but the challenge again was finding the right red.
When I find some time, there have been some really nice honey pot bee blocks that I would like to add to my collection, so I'll be sure to update when I get those done. I'm heading over now to link up with the Let's Bee Social link up over at Lorna's blog Sew Fresh Quilts.
I've decided to pull an older quilt out of the mix for my OMG October goal. I'll be doing a little of this...
and a little of this...
as I finish the blocks and put together the top of my clam shell quilt. I love the warm and bright colours of this quilt and I'm looking forward to spending some more time with it.
I haven't done a lot of curved piecing and it's been a while, so I'm hoping it's like riding a bicycle. This pattern uses the quick curve ruler and some trimming, so it's a little easier than some drunkard paths. I'm linking up with the OMG linkup at Elm Street Quilts. I'm hoping it will keep me motivated and on track. I was supposed to be working on these blocks all this week but that didn't happen. Tomorrow is always another day.
This has been one busy year for me and the finishes are not coming fast and furious, but never being one to give up hope I'm compiling a list for this last quarter of the year.
I'll start with the Circle of Friends Quilt. It just needs to be quilted, and to add to that There is the Charm Pack Quilt which also just needs to be quilted.
Another quilt that just needs to be quilted is Preppy Pod. This one is likely to get done as it is for my grandson.
And I would like to finish this quilt which I started several years ago.
It's a pretty colourful group of quilts isn't it. It should be fun working this grouping closer to completion. I'll be linking up with the 4th Quarter FAL linkup at She Can Quilt and with the Let's Bee Social linkup at Sew Fresh Quilts.
This past weekend Wendy and Cyndy and I had our annual retreat. This time we went to Cyndy's sisters place close to Paris Ontario. It was a beautiful quiet place to get some quilting done and an awesome place for photo shoots.
We arrived on Friday before lunch and stayed till just after lunch on Sunday. Cyndy's sister and her husband were away visiting friends so they left their dogs Beau and Sam, to be our hosts. This is Beau.
And this is Sammy. Sammy is still a pup and never sits still.
It was great having the dogs with us. They made sure we got out for walks and kept us company.
We spent most of our time working on projects for the community outreach committee of our local guild but for today I'll just share the main one. These were blocks we received for our block lotto last fall. In a typical block lotto someone wins all the blocks but in this lotto we divided the blocks three ways. Two individuals won 1/3 of the blocks and the community outreach committee kept 1/3. We made a couple of blocks each to expand our flock and put them up on the design wall to figure out how to put the project together.
We originally thought we would use a white with black fabric for the sashing but we decided to use this vintage robins egg blue fabric which Wendy had brought along. Her parents recently downsized to a retirement complex and she needed to downsize her stash.
We put together the quilt top in vertical rows. We staggered the blocks in the vertical rows by putting a 2 1/2" sashing strip on opposite sides of each block. We then put a 2 12" strip between each block going down the row. Sorry I didn't think to take pictures of the process. We then spread out the rows a bit by putting a 1 1/2" strip between each row and on each of the vertical sides.
Of course we couldn't spend the weekend at a retreat without a visit to Quilt Junction in Waterford. We were half way there after all. Here is what I picked up there.
It's been a while since I visited my friend Beth at Cooking Up Quilts so I'm going to head over there right now and join the Main Crush Monday link up.
