Choose Your Own Block Update.

      I read about the Choose Your Own Block link up at Leanne's blog   She can Quilt. a few weeks ago .  She made a reference to the Tula Pink Modern City Sampler .   I started making these blocks several months ago but in my usual fashion I bounced onto something else.  I'm hoping the link up can help keep me on track with this quilt.   Here's were I got to several months ago.

     My approach to making the blocks is to flip through the books and my fabric until something seems to work between the two.  Clock Wise from the top left they are block 10 (my favourite), block 33, block 16 and block 71.  Block 71 is a little wonky but not as bad as it looks in the picture.

     My latest two blocks are pictured below.

       It's interesting how colour affects our perception.  These blocks are the same size but the darker one looks so much bigger.  The block on the left is block 73 and must be the easiest block in the book.  The block on the right is an exact replica of block 99.  All my fabrics aren't Tula Pinks  but the fabrics in these two blocks are.  Except for the solids of course.  This is going to be one popping quilt!

     I'm also working on the Alphabet Blocks sew along over at the Temecula Quilt Co.   They are being presented 2 blocks at a time.   Here are my blocks for that grouping.

     I'm linking up one day late to the Choose Your Own Block Along at Live a Colourful Life.

  

Sewing Kit Progress

Here's my start on sewing the rows together for my e.p.p. sewing kit.   I decided to sew the rows together more or less moving from dark to light.

     So I have 4 of my 8 rows sewn together .   I'm linking up to the Monday Morning Star Count and checking out how everybody else is coming along at the link up at Life Under Quilts.

Modern Blocks Table Runner Finished.

     Well here it is the beginning of October and I'm celebrating my 2nd finish in the third quarter finish along.  This is the second time I've participated and the second time I've managed two finishes.   I think I get to count this one as it's done before October 6th.

     Here's my version of the Modern Blocks Table Runner.  It's made with a fat eighth pack of Oakshott Cottons "Rubies".  The pattern is Modern Blocks Table Runner by Lynne Goldsworthy from Lily's Quilts.  This was a good pattern to test the waters with improv quilting as the improv is done within defined limits.  The Oakshotts are beautiful and the improv process is fun.

     I backed the runner with a trio of  (I think ) Indian fabrics that I've had in my stash for a long time.  I was really happy to find a use for them.  Like Lynne I quilted with straight lines every inch but just for fun I threw in an extra quilting line every once in a while.
I really love this runner and I can't decide if I should keep it or give it to my sister.  I think it looks great on my table but I tend to live the kind of life where the table is covered with quilting mats and books.  Hmm,  I'll have to give this decision some thought. 

      I'm linking up to TGIFF  which Laura is hosting at Quokka Quilts because every finish deserves a celebration, to finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts and to  the  3rd Quarter finish along party  hosted by Katy Cameron of the Littlest Thistle.  My original 3rd Quarter List can be found here .

English Paper Piecing.

     Here is a quick update on my progress with my hexagons. I've worked on hexy projects before but never finished them, so I decided to keep this one simple and small.  I decided to make a  EPP travel sewing kit that I found in the book, "Quiltopedia" by Laura Jane Taylor which I took out of my local library.

     The sewing kit is 10" by 13".  As my hexies were a different size than hers I lined them up on the cutting mat to see if I had enough.  I'm pleased to say I do.  Now I get to figure out how I'd like them arranged  (this is definitely not it )and I can start sewing them together.  Linking up to the Monday Morning Star Count at Life Under Quilts

Where did September Go?

     Hello everyone.  I have been missing in blog land for a while.  It's been an interesting month but not one for getting a lot of quilting done.  At the beginning of the month I got sick.  Nothing serious just a combination of allergies and a lingering virus that have zapped my energy.  By the time I get through the work day I don't have a lot of energy left....but the energy is coming back, along with the beautiful fall weather we have been having.  This truly is my favourite time of year.  Even with ragweed!
   
     The weekends have been pretty busy as well.  Last weekend was my birthday and I had lots of fun family time....a walk in Elora, a visit to a local quilt shop to use my 20% off birthday card and dinner with my husband, our daughter and our son and his  wife in the town that they live in.
     We have been looking for a large table for the sewing room that we could work on dropping the sewing machine down into.  Dwight found one at the local St. Vincent de Paul store for $35.
It's deeper than my old table so I had to refigure the furniture and move the bookshelf that holds the stash.  This of course meant taking everything out of it and resorting the stash.   It takes hours but it is so satisfying.  Since this picture was taken we've added a little home audio system.  I can listen to my C.D.s or the radio when I'm sewing.  You can also hook up a phone, an ipod or an ipad to this gizmo but I've not caught up to the current era and don't own these things.   Yet!!!

     I did manage to start and catch up with the letters sew along at the Temecula Quilt Company.  Thanks Tanya for sharing this.  It's  a fun little project to fit into the day.

     I also finished my Mod Blocks Runner.  Just like the pattern I used straight line quilting an inch apart,  I threw in the odd extra line at a half inch.  My nod to originality.   I backed it with some Indian? African? fabric I've had in the stash for about 10years.  I'm really happy to have used it and I think it complements the front quite well. It's three different fabrics pieced together.   The binding fabric had been in the stash for ever as well.  Today for Slow Stitching Sunday I'll be hand stitching the binding to the back.

     And if I get lonely I'm sure a certain somebody will be on hand to keep me company.

     Later today we are going in to the big city to join friends for dinner and before hand I'm checking out the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild's monthly meeting. It should be an interesting afternoon.

     

A Little Focus Needed

     I am one of those quilters who works on a whole bunch of projects at once.  For the most part I'm fine with this but sometimes the amount of unfinished work feels overwhelming.  This is the last month for the 3rd quarter finish along and my attention has gone all over the place but not rested much on my goals.  So on the weekend I decided I better focus on at least one of my goals.   I  chose to focus on the Mod Blocks table runner ( Pattern by Lynne Goldsworthy from lilysquilts.blogspot.com  ) and I gave myself the goal of finishing all the blocks and squaring them up.

So this is the amount I had done before this weekend 

 which  became this

which then became this

So all that's left of this project is to quilt it and add the binding.  I think I can get it done. Yay!  I'm linking up to Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Qults and at WIP Wednesdays at The Needle and Thread Network.  and because so many people were asking , it's a fat eights pack of Oakshott cottons.

Some FMQ Practice

     I haven't had a lot of time to quilt over the last two weeks but what little time I had I spent doodling around with free motion quilting.  Last week Chantal asked me to share pictures of the FMQ so here they are.

      In the spring I picked up the book "First Steps to Free-Motion Quilting "by Christina Cameli.  What I like about this book is that she has simple projects that you can start practicing on.  One of the beginner projects is a bowl that you start by tracing an outline of a circle and then fmq a spiral starting in the middle. Although it is listed as a beginner project I had my doubts that a free motion spiral would be easy, although to her credit she says you can use any pattern you are comfortable with.    Here is a picture of one of the two spirals I worked on.  It started out o.k. in the middle but definitely got more difficult as the spiral got larger.

     Although I wasn't totally satisfied with this spiral I was having a lot of fun so pulled out a practice sandwich and started playing around.  Here is a sampling of the results.

    My practicing seemed to be going pretty well.  My comfort level has gone up quite a bit.  I'm very happy with the pebbles.   Christina includes a pattern for a pillow using a pebble design so I will most likely work on that in future .  There are quite a few projects in her book that I think would be great little projects to practice on.

      I moved on to something functional but simple.  I work in a store and we often put out samples for customers on wooden t.v. trays.  Over time the trays have gotten scratched so I decided to make mats to cover the scratches.  My boss asked for a food theme and I happened to have some apple fabric  in the stash bought for a project I never got around to. Here's a close up of the quilting on one of them.  It's a simple edge to edge pattern included in the book.

    These were not the most exciting projects but definitely   low investment so good for practice.  I just might get to  putting the binding on these little mats today in which case I will be hand stitching some binding, or I may hand baste a few more hexies. Here are the latest additions to my growing hexie pile.

     These bring the count up to 25.  Once again linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathysquilts and the Monday Morning Star Count at Life Under Quilts