My Turn to be Queen Bee in August

Posted on July 29, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

I belong to two online quilting bees, Stash Bee, and The Bee Hive, where each month the designated queen bee gets to choose what block she wants other hive members to sew and send to her by the end of the month. She needs to write a tutorial or provide a link to a tutorial and also provide information about her color preferences. Blocks for Stash Bee can be up to 16.5″ unfinished and should be able to be completed in 1.5 hours or less. Blocks for The Bee Hive need to be one of 25 block tutorials created by Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts or her guest designers. All of these blocks are 12.5″ unfinished. Lucky for me there are no rules against blocks being repeated or having different quilting bees sew the same block as I am the queen bee in August for both of my online quilting bees.

I’m asking my hive-mates in both Stash Bee and Bee Hive to sew the Quatrefoil block designed by Jennie of Clover & Violet. This will be second time my Bee Hive-mates have sewn this block this year. (And the third time for me. It is the first block I sewed for my Terra Australis quilt.) Guess it’s pretty obvious that I love this block!

It’s a fairly easy block to sew though it is really important to look carefully at Jennie’s diagrams to sew each of the corner block subunits correctly (Hint: Even though they look the same, two of the corner block subunits are the mirror image of the other two corner block subunits).

The colors I have chosen are teal, navy, lime green, and low volume fabric. I’ve sewn two example blocks to show color placement:

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Below is a pic of a fabric pull using my color choices:

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For inspiration, you might also want to check out Sarah Goer’s Swoon blocks. I love her fabric choices for her swoon blocks.

I would prefer tone-on-tone or small-scale modern prints or solids that have some pizazz like Grunge, Painter’s Canvas, and Cross-Hatch, and for the low-volume, I’d like grey or black on white (no cream or any other colors).

I’m really looking forward to getting some fun quilty mail next month and seeing what my hive-mates create.

I’m happy to have met my OMG July 2016 Goal with two whole days left in the month. Linking up to OMG July 2016 It’s Finished.

 

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Last Block Laid Out for Terra Australis Quilt

Posted on July 19, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

Since I’ve become so enamored of Half-Square Triangles (HSTs) in the last six months, I always look with interest at the blog posts from Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts for her Modern HST Sampler. Yesterday I saw that Jess of Elven Garden Quilts posted a tutorial for a block called Introspection. I found this block very striking and thought it would be perfect for the LAST block for my Terra Australis sampler quilt. As of last Friday (July 15th), I had 18 of my 25 blocks sewn. Well, I put it in high gear and have sewed my butt off (unfortunately you can’t really tell!) and finished six more squares.

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Rising Star block from AnneMarie Cheney’s Sister Sampler Quilts by Mary Ringer@quiltingisinmybloo.com

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Mosaic No. 5 block from AnneMarie Cheney’s Sister Sampler Quilts by Mary Ringer@QuiltingisinMyBlood.com

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One of the 60 example blocks in Jeni Baker’s Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle by Mary Ringer@QuiltingisinMyBlood.com

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Moonlight Star block designed by Gerri Robinson and pieced by Mary Ringer@QuiltingisinMyBlood.com

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Adaptation of Chelsea@PatchtheGiraffe.com Sunrise Stars block pieced by Mary Ringer@QuiltingisMyBlood.com

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Adaptation of Piecenquilt.blogspot.com Flower Star block pieced by Mary Ringer@QuiltingisinMyBlood.com

This morning I started to lay out the Introspection block for Block 25, the last block for my Terra Australis quilt. Below is the layout following Jess’ tutorial:

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I like how this block looks, but then I wondered how it would look flipping the outer corners:

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I think the last layout fits in well with all my other blocks. I’m not going to sew it until the morning because I make the most STUPID mistakes when I sew when I’m tired. I’m wondering which layout you prefer?

In case you want to take a look at my first 18 blocks, here’s a pic:

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Linking up to Celine at Espritpatch  guest blogger for Building Blocks Tuesday hosted by Jen at Quilter in the Closet. I’m also linking up to Sew Cute Tuesday.

 

 

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2016 Q3 Finish-Along Goals

Posted on July 16, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

I have four projects that I would like to finish the third quarter of 2016 if my shoulders cooperate (now my left shoulder is giving me grief!). The good news is that often sewing is an effective distraction.

The project that I really, really, really want to finish in the next three months is my Terra Australis sampler quilt that I am making for my full-size bed. I have sewn 18 of the 25 blocks. Below is a block I sewed last weekend. So many of the blocks in this quilt have a lot of “pop”, so this block was made to give the eye a place to rest.

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And here is a pic of all 18 blocks sewn so far:

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The next project is my Birthday Gifts Quilt that is a 30″ x 37″ wall-hanging. It just needs to be trimmed and have the binding sewn on.

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My third Q3 goal is a fairly large lap-size quilt that I am hoping to have completed for a friend’s birthday in October. I’ll be using Moda Bake Shop’s Midnight Stars Quilt pattern with some Sarah Watts Honeymoon fabric and a pretty light green Bella Solids background fabric.

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My last Q3 goal is to turn these Fancy Foxes into a narrow wall-hanging (all four in a row).

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Linking up to 2016 Finish-A-Long Q3 Goals.

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Terra Australis July ’16 WIP Update

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

I’m finally getting around to writing an updated WIP post for the Terra Australis sampler quilt I am making for my full-size bed. I have made eighteen 12 1/2″ unfinished blocks so far since the first of the year and plan to make seven more for a five-by-five layout. The blocks below are not in any particular order. All of the fabric used for this project except the Kona Shadow background is from Emma Jean Jansen’s Terra Australis and Terra Australis 2 collections. I’ve cited the tutorials I’ve used in posts tagged Terra Australis and/or in Instagram posts. I’ve done a little more making-it-up as I go along with last few blocks I’ve seen, often using Jeni Baker’s eight-at-a-time HST method. I absolutely love her book, Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle, and several of the blocks in my quilt are from Jeni’s book.

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I plan to use 2 1/2″ Grey Couture Grunge Sashing strips, which will make the quilt 72″ x 72″. I want this quilt to be a little longer than wider but don’t want to make another row of blocks so I am planning to add a 4″  square-in-a-square border for the top and bottom of the quilt.

I hope to get a couple more blocks done this weekend. The next two I plan to sew are Mosaic #5 and Rising Star from Anne Marie Cheney’s Sister Sampler Quilts book.

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict: Whoop Whoop Friday.

 

 

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OMG July 2016 Goal

Posted on July 7, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

My July 2016 One Monthly Goal should be fairly doable. I want to sew two example blocks for when I am the Queen Bee in August for both of my online quilting bees: The Bee Hive and Stash Bee. I have chosen to use The Bee Hive’s Quatrefoil block in teal, navy, lime, and low volume fabric.

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I also need to write a post in Blogger for Stash Bee linking the tutorial and showing photos of fabric and block examples. I will schedule this for August 1st but hope to have it available for my hive-mates for preview by July 30th, so people can get an early start if they want. And I will notify my swarm-mates in The Bee Hive through an email that links to a post on my Quilting is in My Blood blog. I also hope to have that post written by July 30th.

Linking up to Red Letter Quilts: July 2016 OMG Goalsetting .

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Building Blocks Tuesday–Quilting is in My Blood Guest Blogger

Posted on July 5, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

Welcome to Building Blocks Tuesday. I’m the guest blogger today while Jen at Quilter in the Closet enjoys a little summer break. I really like this linky party because it celebrates the quilt block. Sometimes it’s so nice to feel satisfaction in completing a quilt block and at least for a short time, not even focus on the block being part of a finished quilt.

Right now I have two quilt blocks on my design board, and I have to say I’m really enjoying looking at them. They are for my Terra Australis sampler quilt that I’m making for my full-size bed. I originally planned to have all 25 squares pieced by the end of June, but then life happened. I had 15 sewn by the end of April and squeezed in a little sewing time between projects to piece the two blocks below in mid-June after I got back from Glamp Stitchalot.

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A Modification of Minibarnquilts.com Dogwood Blossom

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Hunt Block from AcademicQuilter.com

I hope you link up blocks you’ve been sewing lately for quilts or bee blocks.

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Meditation Quilt Finished and Ready to be Gifted

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

 

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Meditation Quilt Front with Custom Longarm Quilter, Michael Siewert, at ThreadBear

I am thrilled that the Meditation Quilt for my brother, Bill’s 70th birthday is finished. This is the second of my 2016 Q2 Finish-Along Goals. The inspiration for this quilt is Bill’s passion for meditation. I took the quilt top and back to  ThreadBear on 6/20/16, talked to Michael Siewert vaguely about what I had in mind and gave him carte blanche to work his magic, and picked it up on 6/23/16. His wife, Ann, told me there was a very late night involved. I am SO grateful to have a local quilt store that takes such good care of me.

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Meditation Quilt Back with Custom Longarm Quilter, Michael Siewert, at ThreadBear

The quilt is 48″ square. I love how the back looks. I cut three yards of Alexander Henry Buddha fabric in half and sewed the two halves together, and even I can hardly tell unless I look closely. By the way, I bought this fabric after Michael showed it to me a couple months ago. He has fabulous instincts!

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Michael’s custom quilting is just phenomenal.

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I love how he made the chevrons pop!

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And the quilted lotus flowers in the corners are awesome! Michael also suggested the fabric for the binding, and I think it goes perfectly!

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I used a new quilt label technique that involves folding a square diagonally, machine sewing down the two sides that meet the binding, hand stitching the other side, and using a fabric pen to write on the label. I’m pretty sure I’ll be making more of these kind of quilt labels in the future.

Bill and my sister-in-law, Sharon, are on a cross-country motor home trip, and they will be stopping by my house for a visit, possibly as early as this Friday, July 1st. I can’t wait to give it to him!

Linking up to Cooking up Quilts: Main Crush Monday.

 

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Meditation Quilt–OMG June 2016 Finish

Posted on June 24, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

 

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I’m sure many other quilters can relate to having a deadline to meet with the majority of their quilting projects. Right now the only project I have going that isn’t deadline-driven is my Terra Australis sampler quilt, and that’s because it is for me! My current looming deadline is trying to get the Meditation Quilt done for my brother before his 70th birthday on July 5th. My June OMG was to get the quilt top finished.

Because I work full-time, I have to work on projects in small stretches of time–sometimes a half-hour before I go to work or 20 minutes during my lunch hour because I am lucky enough to live less than a mile from work. When I found out I had to go to a training in Albuquerque in mid-June necessitating staying overnight in a hotel, I brought HSTs to trim and press, so I could continue to make progress on this project. Just to be clear, the ironing board set up in my hotel room was not for my clothes!

I started working on the Meditation Quilt before I went to Glamp Stitchalot. Now that I am a half-square triangle (HST) convert using the eight-at-a-time technique, I decided that a chevron border made from HSTs would add some interest to the simple center panel that I am choosing to use in its entirety. I matched the colors to the Ganesha Om panel as best I could using a Kona Solids swatch card. I ended up choosing not to use two of the colors I ordered (Sunny and Surf) after a friend told me they looked like they belonged in a circus. That’s not exactly the vibe I want with a meditation quilt! I’m certainly no color theory expert, but it is amazing to me how much of a difference a slight shade variation can make. I chose a couple other colors, Papaya and Regatta, that I believe better complement my focus fabric.

Michael from my local quilt store, ThreadBear, custom quilted this Meditation Quilt in record time. I dropped it off at lunch on Monday and picked it up three days later! This weekend I will square it up and bind it. I should be able to meet my 2016 Second Quarter Finish-Along goal. I hope to write another post in the next few days that shows the finished quilt. Here’s a sneak peak of Michael’s beautiful quilting:

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Linking up to Red Letter Quilts: June 2016 OMG Finish.

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Glamp Stitchalot 2016 Report

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

I had a wonderful time at Glamp Stitchalot that was sponsored by Pink Castle Fabrics and held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 2-5, 2016. I met so many nice quilters/sewists. And I learned something from every class I took. I’m still a nervous novice when it comes to paper piecing, and three of the six classes involved paper piecing, so I had a chance to practice that skill. I was most happy with my mountain block which was designed by Penny Layman even though my edges ended up a little wonky and had to be trimmed. I’m going to redo the bottom piece and make it a little bigger. I only had solid background fabric and after seeing some examples of the mountain block made with different prints, I went to the Pink Castle Pop-Up shop and found a great fabric by April Rhodes (Survey in Heron in her Bound collection). It ended up being the perfect background, and I’m so glad I have almost a yard left of it.

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I can’t believe I am saying this given my paper piecing anxiety, but the pattern I most want to make at home is Carolyn Friedlander’s Glamp pattern. It is just gorgeous, and I know it will look amazing in a future quilt project, probably using some of my favorite Carolyn Friedlander fabric. Below is a pic of the example Carolyn sewed for the class.

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The funniest teacher, hands down, was Monica Solorio-Snow. I swear she could take her act on the road and sell out comedy clubs! And I will use the cheater flying geese technique we learned again using the Easy Star and Geese Triangle ruler.

I have been a big fan of Elizabeth Hartman since I first googled “modern quilting” and her Fancy Foxes and Hazel Hedgehogs showed up in the search results. Elizabeth loves fussy cutting, and I see more fussy cutting in my future after taking her class. I especially like her cats and the text in house windows below.

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I learned a lot about sewing curves from both Rashida Coleman-Hale and Violet Craft, though I didn’t feel ready to sew curves yet. I took some good notes and someday may take on this challenge. I loved the fabric Violet used in her example blocks below. It is from her new fabric line coming out, and I believe Pink Castle Fabrics will have it sometime mid-June.

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If anyone is thinking about signing up for a future Glamp Stitchalot, I highly recommend it. You’ll meet many friendly and talent fellow quilters/sewists and will have the opportunity to learn from some of the most talented modern quilting/sewing teachers around.

Glamp Stitchalot was not the only fun I had in Michigan recently. I flew into the Detroit Metro Airport on May 28th and was able to spend some with my family who live in Michigan. The highlight before going to Glamp was going to Mackinac Island for the first time and staying in the Grand Hotel. I love the pic below of the niece in front of the Grand Hotel in a horseshoe of flowers. And speaking of horses, those horse-drawn carriages were so awesome. I loved the name of the team that pulled our carriage–the Grubs!

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After Glamp, I finally was able to give the Breaking Bad Wall Hanging  to my great-nephew, John, who absolutely loved it. Such a great ending to a fabulous trip. Many thanks to my sister who made my visit extra special.

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Linking up to Cooking Up Quilts: Main Crush Monday and Blossom Heart Quilts: So Cute Tuesday.

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June 2016 OMG Goal–Meditation Quilt

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

For my June OMG goal, I want to get the quilt top done for another panel quilt. This quilt will be for my brother for his 70th birthday. Last month I used two panels for my Breaking Bad Wall Hanging. This month I’m using a 36″ square of fabric from Spoonflower. The name of the pattern is called Ganesha Om. The back will be made from an Alexander Henry Buddha print. My sister came up with the brilliant idea of calling this a meditation quilt.

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I will be sewing a 6″ border of coordinating Half-Square Triangles around the panel in a chevron design, and the corners will have elephants cut from a smaller scale Ganesha Om Spoonflower print.

I’m making finishing just the quilt top my goal for this month because June is yet another busy month. Right now I’m at Glamp Stitchalot in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In about two hours I start my first class with Rashida Coleman-Hale!

The finished quilt will be 48″ square. Its smallish size will fit nicely in the motor home owned by my brother and sister-in-law, or it could be thrown over the back of a chair in the room back at home where my brother meditates.

Because my shoulder is still giving me some grief, I’m going to have my local quilt store, ThreadBear, free motion quilt this project for me. I really have no idea how I want it to be quilted. I’m thinking that I want something subtle over the elephants and a different pattern over the chevrons. All suggestions are welcome.

Linking up to Red Letter Quilts: OMG June Goalsetting.

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