Color Play

I'm loving the way unexpected colors show up in the Dutch Treat blocks.  It's hard to know just exactly what is going to peak out of the cut away places.  This really feels "outside the box" for me.  Much more colorful than my usual choices. 

Four more blocks in the last 2 days

Apple Core





Bean Bags

Baby's Breath

Aztec

Yesterday I dug out the sections of my Dear Jane quilt and sewed them together. Previous pictures I've shown had the sections just laying next to each other.  So I've made a BIT of progress. LOL. 



Trying to Stay Cool

I used to really dislike air conditioning. Now I can't imagine how we'd survive without it during this heat spell.  For about a week running we are under a heat advisory as actual temps rose to 101º yesterday and the heat indices were predicted to be as high as 114º.  The high humidity makes it feel like walking into a sauna when you step outside.

We had a couple young girls from church over yesterday and they pulled some of the weeds/grass growing between patio stones and also helped carry some of the brush Tom was cutting out to the burn pile.  Even 11 and 12 years olds find this heat oppresive it seems as they only lasted about 1/2 hour at a time before running into the house for respite.  I sat down and pulled a few weeds with them but I didn't stay long either.  Today I've paying the price with lots of jigger bites still itching. 

I think I'll stay in the house today and get started quilting a few of the tops that have accumulated recently. 

I did finish piecing the Dear Jane top..at least as much of it as I want together before I start lap quilting it.  I think that will be a job for later this fall.  For now this is what it looks like.  The outer two rows are lying unattached.

One more Dutch Treat block done Sunday night

Lily

And three done last night.  When they are simple ones like this it's pretty easy to get two or three done in an evening.

Lizard

Logo

Lily

197 blocks done. That means only one more and I will have half the blocks finished on my second Dutch Treat!

Catching Up

I haven't taken time to post anything for a few days.  I've been busy with a couple of different things. 

First of all I've been setting my Dear Jane blocks together..sort of...  I saw a picture of a quilt set in a very different manner and have wanted to do my DJ like it ever since. I'm sorry I don't know whose quilt it was or exactly where I saw it.  I'm assuming it was in a posted group of DJ quilts from a gathering of Janiacs. 

Trying to switch from blocks set straight to blocks set on point presents some challenges and lots of math.  I do have EQ, but it is EQ5 and even if I was really good with it, which I'm not, I don't think it actually figures the width and length of borders needed in each round. If it does, I don't know how to do it.

Anyway, having probably confused you, this is what I'm talking about.

I pretty much had to piece the on point blocks and then figure forward and backwards to determine the width of sashing I needed to make the straight set blocks work.  See that empty space where the carpet shows through?  I still have to decide whether to piece strips of colored squares together or use a plain dark fabric for a border there.  The quilt I saw had the pieced squares.  I'm thinking a single fabric would look just as good and certainly be faster and easier. 

The other problem is that I think I want to try hand quilting this. And I can't quilt in a frame or in a hoop with my left hand fully under the quilt. I need my left thumb on top of the fabric.  Dumb, I know, but that is how I quilt.  So I need to do it in sections like I did my first Dutch treat.  So I'll leave this in sections and start quilting the center section, then add rounds as I go, working out to the edges.  Make sense?  Clear as mud?  Strange way to quilt??????

Whew.......that has taken some time.

But I did get a few more Dutch Treat blocks done in the evenings when I curl up in the recliner

Kaleidoscope

King Arthur

Kiwi

Lace

 

Lattice

This one is sort of funny.  Tom and I went down to the mall to sell tickets for our guild's donation quilt today.  I took along this block to work on.  Halfway through it I realized I should have brought two as it was really a simple one and it appeared it was only going to take me about 45 minutes to make it. We were scheduled to sell tickets for 2 hours. Just as I was ready to start sewing the outside edges I realized I had reversed the color placements. That would mean ending with dark edges instead of white and would really look odd among the other blocks.  I didn't want to throw away my work so I just added another round and salvaged it.  Filled up my time at the mall (and I still sold some tickets too!). 


This is what it should have looked like. See the difference?  This one is from my first Dutch Treat.

. 
 Speaking of donation quilts.  Don't forget you can email me for an address to send you dollars for a chance to win our guild's 2010 quilt.  It will be given away Labor Day weekend during our quilt show.

Isn't it pretty? It's a Judy Laquidara design.  Don't you want it to live at your house?

Mission Accomplished

I guess I just needed Tea to challenge me.  I finished the last two blocks of the center 169 in  my Dear Jane quilt yesterday.

I-12 Fred's Square Fair.  I simply rotary cut and machine pieced this block.

And appropriately named for the final block...
L-6 Maze of Madness (never even noticed the name all the months I was avoiding it).
I did use paper piecing for the center of this one, then added the outer two borders.

And here are all 169 if the blocks in a virtual layout.

They probably won't be arranged this way when I start piecing them, as I want to distribute the colors better.

For now..Hallelujah!  I finally finished these blocks!!!!!  Feels great!

Saturday Progress

Two more Dear Jane blocks yesterday.

C-4 Tic Tac Toe, machine pieced. 

F-8 Church Window paper and machine pieced

Just two more to go and I will have finished the 169 center blocks!  Finally!!


Last night I finished three Dutch Treat blocks while watching movies.

Impala

Inlay

Iris

I'm now at 186 of these little blocks completed.

Now to work on those final two Dear Jane blocks.


Happy Sunday

Three Down and Four To Go

I finished three Dear Jane blocks yesterday, which means I've made six this week and now only have FOUR left!  That's more progress than I've made in over a year. Just needed Tea to crack that whip over me I guess!

They aren't perfect of course, but they are close enough for me.

M-4 Stepping Stones  Paper and regular piecing.

H-3 Berry Baskets  Paper and regular piecing.

C-7 Megan's Mountain Laurel.  This puppy has 44 pieces and is one of the ones I have dreaded.  It actually wasn't so much hard as just tedious because of all the tiny pieces.  I used paper piecing for the center and reverse applique for the diamonds in the corners.  I think if I ever did another I might just go for reverse applique for all the diamonds and forget about paper piecing.

Also three more Dutch Treat blocks, 2 Thursday evening and one last night.


Heart

Highway

Hurricane

Happy Saturday to you all!

And Two More!

I'd already finished one more Dear Jane block this morning when my friend, Tea, cracked the whip and challenged  me to finish all of the remaining 9 blocks in a week.  Not making any promises but I did get a second one done this afternoon before calling it a day.

M-3 Fireweed Flower used some paper piecing and reverse applique.

L-12 Sally's Pride was rotary cut and machine pieced with the little triangles appliqued on.

I was working on my second Dutch Treat block for the evening when a tornado warning was issued for our area and I high-tailed it over to our neighbor's basement.  All is well now but I'll wait until tomorrow to scan the DT blocks for posting.

Hopefully the weather will behave now.

A Dear Jane...Finally!

After nearly a year of procrastinating yesterday afternoon I finally made one of my 10 remaining Dear Jane blocks.


This is F-10  Potholder.  Not perfect, but done.

And in the evening I made 3 more Dutch Treat blocks

Greeting Card

Harlequin

Head Dress

These little applique blocks are so quick for me to do in comparison to the Dear Jane blocks, at least the DJ blocks I have left for last.  While I don't mind paper piecing, using that technique for such little blocks is something I find really tedious.  Sort of like my feelings of baking bread vs. making cookies.  I'd much rather bake a dozen loves of bread than a dozen cookies.  Always have felt that way.  I'm not above eating a cookie now and then, but I'd much rather eat a slice of homemade bread and the process of baking it is so much easier than cookies! 

When my kids were young I'd spend an entire day with my grandmother baking dozens and dozens of cookies.  Then I'd store them in the freezer and vegetable drawer of the refrigerator, hoping they would last at least a month.  My thoughts were that if I had to do something I hated doing, I'd just immerse myself in it for a whole day and then not have to do it again for a long time.  Still feel that way. 

Maybe this is the approach I need to take to get those final pesky DJ blocks done...just make myself sit down and force myself to do the final 9 and not work on anything else until I do.  Any bets whether that will happen?

Spring?

Mother Nature got a little confused over the weekend. Friday we were near or above 70º. Saturday it snowed all day. This is what it looked like out our kitchen windows yesterday.

Pretty, but not what we expect on the first day of spring.

Today we are in the 50's and almost all of the snow is gone. Tomorrow we'll be back to near 70º again.

I've been working on the blocks for Lyn Brown's 2010 Baltimore Album BOM

I'm not necessarily doing them in order. Here's what I've finished so far. I'm using needleturn applique for mine.

Block Four...Quail and Oak Leaves. The quail is meant to be a silhouette so it's black (charcoal really) instead of brown.

Block Six...Pomegranates.

I finished appliqueing the woven basket on the way to Iowa last week, only to discover I had been looking at the wrong seam for centering the basket and it was way off to one side (the backgrounds are all pieced differently from multiple fabrics..this one happens to be a log cabin). Don't ask me how I could spend the hours I did working on it and not notice that until it was done. But I did and then I had to rip it all out and start over again! I made my basket a little more complex than the fused version Lyn shows, so it took some work to take it apart!

Block Three...Pat Nixon's Rose. These flowers are ruched...fun.

And surprise, surprise.....after a 7 month hiatus I actually made a Dear Jane block yesterday. This is D-11 Snowflake and I hand pieced it then used needleturn to applique the little diamond shapes. They are a tad wonky, but that adds charm, right?

Now I have 10 more to do.