Round Robin and Charity Blocks

I completed my round on Chris' Round Robin and I rather like the effect of the geese radiating out at the corners.  Chris chose very strong colors (love it!).  I think this top will be a dazzler.   Here she is:

On to charity blocks:  Our guild had created an opportunity to break into small groups and participate in a color group challenge.  Our little group agreed to make blocks (8.5" unfinished) from "our" colors and using one unifying piece of fabric somewhere in each block.

We ended up with 12 blocks that were very different and rather challenging to put together into one single charity quilt top.  After pondering our choices for awhile, Jaye and I decided to divide and conquer the problem, making 2 quilt tops from the blocks we had.

Here are the blocks that I received set into a 48" x 60" quilt top.  One of the other group members will quilt it with a horizontal quilting pattern of their choosing and then some bright purple binding to round out the quilt.

It's rather difficult to see a primarily white quilt top on a white design wall (why didn't I think about that when photographing it?)  The top will have all of the blocks in this vertical row on the left of the quilt and the remainder of the top will be white with horizontal quilting.  It's hard to miss the blocks though!  Our colors were purple, hot pink and lime green - yeeha!  More to follow as we finish these quilts up for donation to a local women's shelter.

Now I'm moving on to my Secret Santa project for our December 14th meeting and exchange. I have to get busy, get started and get finished!  Can't say anything about it or I might ruin the surprise!

Guess I'm sewing again after all those months of nothing...

Aaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.  

A Time to Catch-up with my Mojo

My sewing Mojo has been on hiatus.  I decided to take a birding class that meets on Monday evenings and then has a field trip every Saturday for 8 weeks.  In hindsight I didn't realize that the field trips often required departing my house at 5:30 a.m. and not getting back until 6 or 7 p.m.  My error.
Add to that my frequent trips to my new house in Reno, and I pretty much eliminated my desire to sew.  Or my desire to do much of anything else.

Now I seem to be on the other side of the obstacles and I'm getting back to sewing. The first thing that I took on was a Round Robin group that I am in with the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild.  

There are only 4 of us in our little sub-group.  I received this start from Chris that Jaye had added to:

I first did this:

I should tell you that fabric was limited (especially the white background with the black circles)  and I really had to stretch the fabric to get to this point!

Then I started on what I really wanted to add:

I'm half way there!  Two more corners to add and I'll be ready to pass this on to the next member in our group to add yet another round.  

One of the things that I really love about participating in Round Robins with people you know is that you get such amazing results from such a simple start.  I can't wait until the next person adds their touch to this to see what spin she will put on this experiment.  

I hope you had a wonderful Halloween and I will touch base again in the near future.

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.    

I Found It! Follow Up to my Last Post

I knew I took a photo of the completed round of Kelly's round robin quilt top - I just couldn't find it.  For some reason my iCloud account didn't sync and it remained on my ipad. 

Here it is (taken at the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild meeting):

Whew - thought I was losing what was left of my mind!

Aaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household. 

My How Time Flies in the Summer!

What the heck happened?  It's barely still summer and I've been MIA since the end of July...

I have been trying to get my new house in Reno settled and set up and have been going back and forth from the Bay Area quite frequently.  Additionally, based on my new found forgetfulness, I have been leaving important things in Reno (like all the sewing I brought one time and then, most recently, I left my laptop there...) 

But I have been having fun also - my grandkids are a delight to be around.  Connor started kindergarten and Mason, the younger one, is going to pre-kindergarten at the same Montessori school.  Changing schools was a little frightening for them - mostly new kids that they didn't know.  Luckily a few crossovers from their former school also started with them and they saw a few familiar faces.

Sewing...let's see, what have I been doing?  I finished my round for Kelly's start on a round robin.  We are in a small group in our guild.  4 of us are participating in a round robin.  We traded bags of fabric and a center block of our choice.  I worked on Kelly's center rectangle block and here's a shot of my work in progress:

I did finish the entire round but failed to take a photo...I really like the effect of the geese wandering.  I got the idea from The Mariner's Compass Book by Judy Mathieson.  I decided to work in some of Kelly's varied stash of fabric so that the next person would have a jumping off point to integrate more of her fabric.  Can't wait to see what it looks like when finished. 

I haven't seen my project yet, as I missed the July and August guild meeting and then Kelly, who has my project, had to miss the September meeting. 

Also, I have been ever so slowly working on a Gee's Bend guilt taken directly from the book Gee's Bend The Architecture of the Quilt.  It's a work in progress, but here it is so far:

That's it.  No other sewing done.  Lot's of cooking and socializing, but very little sewing. 

Last but not least I'll mention the word tomato - what a banner year for tomatoes in the Bay Area.  I am making tomato sauce right and left.  Also, I have a lot of lemon cucumbers.  I never grew them before and they are also very prolific.  Just looked up a recipe for lemon cucumber pickles.  I'll have to let you know how they turn out. 

What's going on in your sewing room and garden?

Aaaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.

I Went A Little Crazy...

...in the fabric purchasing area.  First, I bought Etsuko Furuya cameras, glasses and scooters.  Some of every color.  I just couldn't resist.  And here they are:

 

 

Thank you Pink Chalk for carrying this wonderful fabric.  Now, what should I do with all this wonderfulness of half yards of this super cool fabric...any thoughts?

 

Next, a box arrived from Hawthorne Threads full of yummie fabrics that I want to use together in a new dramatic quilt.  Much of it is Johari (Alexander Henry), but I also used the Hawthorne Threads web site to find complimentary solids and prints.  Don't know that I will use all of them and I may add from my stash.  Here are my new goodies:  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right after the box from Hawthorne Threads arrived, I received a box from Julie at The Intrepid Thread.  A box full of Collage by Carrie Bloomston filled the box - yahoo!  Thank you Julie!

 

Here they are:

 

 

 

Sew, the subject of fabric hoarding comes to mind.  I consider myself not only a sewist but perhaps a "collector" of fabrics.  That is much better than worrying about whether I am really a fabric hoarder.  If I'm a fabric hoarder, I might show up on a reality TV show where someone films my sewing room with fabric all over the floor and falling out of the closet and cabinets.  Bags and piles of fabric escaping the room and moving down the hallway - eeek!  I have to stay organized:)  Organization must mean I'm not a hoarder. 

 

Note to self:  "I must stay organized.  I must stay organized."

 

On another note, how is your garden growing?  I believe this is a great tomato year here in the Bay Area.  Are you growing anything?

Canning anything this year?  I have a new batch of strawberry jam and a wee bit of blueberry jam.  I'm now moving to tomato sauce.

 

Hope your summer is going wonderfully.  Let me know what you're up to, whether sewing, growing or cooking.

 

Aaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.  

 



Left Overs

Have you ever gotten up one morning, walked into your sewing room/space and realized that you had no new projects to work on...and had a few bits and pieces sitting around that you had always planned to do something with, but never got to it? 

Well, I had exactly that this morning.  I have not been sewing alot recently with all the moving I have been doing, but I finally had a weekend here in the Bay Area without significant commitments and a real desire to get back into sewing.

So in I went and sat looking at my table wondering what I should work on.  The thought of an entirely new project seemed to be beyond my mental abilities, but I still wanted to sew.  So I pondered and puttered and cleaned up the clutter on my sewing table.  When I finished doing all of that, I had sitting in front of me the same 5 wonky star blocks that I have been staring at for the last 8 months or so, wondering what to do with them when they didn't fit into the improvisitational piece that they originaly were destined to be incorporated into.  But they were in shades of aqua and orange that I have moved away from...

I couldn't throw them away - they were way to cute.  As I sat at the table this morning, I decided I would challenge myself to make something great with these little blocks using only my stash and what I had in my closets (that included pillow forms).  That's where the idea of Left Overs came from.  Turns out I have/had 4 pillow forms to choose from.  Two rather standard 18"/20"; one circle and one rectangle.  I chose the rectangle and took 3 of the stars and began to create a pillow.  Not that I need another pillow, but I thought for a gift it might be something fun to do with the end of my project.

I also decided that I would practice with an invisible zipper so that I would be comfortable in the future with invisible zippers.  I have sewn many an invisible zipper in the past, but always in clothing, not a pillow.  I used the zipper I had (white) and put it into the pillow. 

Just a few short hours later, I completed this:

 







I may need to work on the pillow to polish it up.  It's a bit too pointy towards the corners.  I don't want to be able to see the zipper (although the white zipper makes it rather obvious as a teaching/practice experience - if it were an appropriate color it wouldn't be visible).  Over all, I am happy with it.

I did learn an important lesson - seam ripping when you are working with shot cotton is problematic!  I hate seam ripping in the first place but shot cotton is so fine and so difficult to deal with, it was a little more problematic when I got to seam ripping. 

It was a fun opportunity to utilize something that I had already made and incorporate it into things from my stash.

Have you had this experience?  Do you look at some of your "little" pieces and wonder what you are going to do with them and then work on it at some point?  If so, what have you done with your "little bits"?  Think about Left Overs and let me know if the concept works for you.

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household. 

Catching Up

Well, I thought I should catch you up on some of my projects.  As I mentioned, I decided to make myself a pillow a little like the one I made for my Pillow Talk Swap partner.  I showed you the work in progress and now, here is the pillow itself:

 



I kept the back rather simple since it was for me from me!  There's just something about that purple/citron color combination that I love.

 



I also wanted to show you my ABC quilt hanging at the San Mateo County Fair with other ABC quilts from our guild.  It was really fun to go to the fair and see my quilt hanging there. 





It took second place in our challenge category.  I think you can see the quilting a little better in this photo.  Dee Small (THE most wonderful long arm quilter) quilted it using letters of the alphabet.  

 

 

I think that officially catches me up on posts.  Now I just need to get to work and finish some other projects!

 

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.





Finally - I'm Back From Vacation and Sewing Again!

I thought I would get so much sewing done on my vacation - I took so many projects along with me to get started on and then...nothing!  I didn't even set up my machine. I also took my camera intent upon taking wonderful photos of my grandkids, birds, Boo, etc.  Never even touched it!

So here's what really happened:  I went to my new vacation home in Reno and gave myself a generous 10 full days to pull some organization out of the chaos of the boxes and get things set up.  I then proceeded to organize myself into paralysis.  I made lists and went to Home Depot.  I made lists and went to Costco.  I made lists and went to Lowe's.  I made lists and met with the gardener.  I made lists and met with the appliance repair guy.  I made lists and put up the bird feeders.  I made lists and met with the ScreenMobile guy.  I made lists and bought plants and then went back for trees.  Well, I think you get my point!  Why is it that each new project seems to require a trip to a store? 

I still don't know what is in some of the piles of boxes in the garage - will have to wait until the next trip when the new shelving units are put up and I can empty and put away the contents.   

I did take time for some fun.  Spent a lot of time with my grandkids.  It's amazing what fun a 3 and 5 year old can have with hot weather, a blow-up swimming pool and a sprinkler!  They never got tired of this activity.  Boo also enjoyed the splashing and cavorting around the yard.   

Now I'm back to work and the Bay Area.  (Gosh the weather is nice here!)  Time for me to get back to my sewing room and get to work. 

What are you working on?  Have you taken a vacation yet this summer?  Will you sew on your vacation or do what I did and bring it all along only to be ignored? 

Aaaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.

I Was Just Thinking About...

...how much I liked the PTS10 pillow swap pillow that I made for Kettleboiler (otherwise known as Moira of Nottingham, England).  It looks like this:

 

 

After getting the pillow and some goodies into the mail, my brain was still hovering over the idea of making one for myself.  So I did.

 

My favorite colors right now are purple, citrine, black and gray.  I thought you might like to see some of the steps of getting this quilt as you go top made. 

 

I decided on a 16" pillow for myself.  I cut the backing and the batting about 18.5" and chose my focus fabric.  This Echino owl just cried out to be IT.  This photo is after a few rounds of fabric had been added:









 

 

I was trying to preserve the rectangular frame of the owl resulting in longer strips of fabric on the longer side of the owl that created some visual design issues for me.

 

Here she is after all the fabric has been applied and quilted but before I squared her up and cut her down.



 

 

Lastly, here she is ready to be bound.  I've decided on a purple binding for this gal.  I learned alot from making this second pillow top.  Made fewer technical mistakes but have learned more about the design issues that come along with this technique.  For example, if I were to do this again, I would move the owl farther to the right and down a little, so that I could have more room for wonkiness and shorter strips.  Maybe I would plan the layout a little more rather than being surprised with the end result.  Maybe I wouldn't run out of black fabric leaving me with a section that has no black at all and no black binding...hmmmm, doesn't sound much like me.  I suppose that's an aspirational thought that has little chance of being actualized!

 

Other news in my little quilt world:  our guild challenge quilts are hanging at the San Mateo County Fair quilt show right now!  A few of us are going over tomorrow afternoon to check out the show, see the challenge quilts and also look at all the other quilts, mostly traditional, but some art quilts and some modern.  I'll take some photos for the next blog!

 

What's happening in your quilt world?

 

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.  

Here, There and Everywhere

I've been a little quiet in the blogging realm as there was much on my plate that had hard deadlines - as in I sold my vacation home that is in the foothills of the Sierras and had to move everything that wasn't going to be donated, gifted, or sent to the dump to my new vacation home in Reno, Nevada.  Everything had to be accomplished by May 22 at 5:00 p.m. - the magical hour when the new owners took possession. 

So my youngest brother came and took some furniture and other items.  My older brother came and took a few bits and pieces of things.  I gave stuff away to just about anyone I knew up there, and when that pool ran out, I got things ready for donation or the dump. 

Then the movers came and packed and packed and packed.   





They came back the next day and loaded the truck.  That was May 22nd.  I left at 3:30 p.m. to make the drive to Reno, which is about 4.5 hours.  The next morning they showed up in Reno with the "stuff" and unloaded it all into the new house. 

I have no pictures of the move-in because by that time I was pretty much exhausted and thinking only of being finished!  My son and DIL then helped me with the unpacking and setting up of the kitchen and other rooms. 

I am happy to report that my 2 grandsons are thrilled that I have a house so close to them (about 14 houses away) and have already had a sleep over at my house.  We stayed up until 10:00 p.m. and rose at the crack of dawn - 6:00 a.m. to begin the new day. 

Boo has already gotten out of the yard when the gate blew open and I thought he was gone for good.  I assumed that he would not be able to find his way home since we had only been there a few days.  I rushed out to look for him when I discovered the side gate open only to find him running up the block towards the house where he zipped into the backyard like he'd done it a million times!  Note to self:  get latch on gate fixed so it doesn't happen again. 

I returned to another deadline - the Pillow Talk Swap 10 pillow deadline is due June 3rd.  I think this is the 3rd time that I have participated in this swap.  I started the pillow top at the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild retreat (May 17-19).  I almost had it finished but then had to put it down to get the move accomplished. It is due today and it is finished (Yeah!!!!!)  Here it is:

 
It's a quilt-as-you go technique that I had never tried but now simply adore!  I saw a pillow made by Cori (www.letseatgrandpa.com) and went to her website to check out her tutorial for Blooming Quit As You Go.  Here is the link to the tutorial for this pillow top, should you want to try it yourself:  Here   

My PTS10 swap partner didn't give me much in the way of color preference, so I was able to choose a focus fabric (the Melody Miller clocks) and run with the colors as I put the pillow top together.  I really like it when my partner isn't restrictive about colors or fabrics.  I do worry, of course, that she might not like it, but hopeful that she does.

This little beauty is headed overseas.  Can't tell you where just yet as it will take about 2 weeks or so to get there and the recipient doesn't know she is receiving it.  Ssssssh - I've said too much already!

Speaking of finishes (or near finishes), my wonky log cabin is with my log arm quilter who is poised to put it on the rails.  Now I have to turn my attention to the quilting of my string quilt and making Steam Punk blocks.  What are you working on this week?

Aaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household. 

Steam Punking Along and the BAM Retreat

My steam punk blocks are not multiplying as quickly as I would like.  I have 2 more, but haven't managed to take any photos of them.  Soon, very soon I'll get that accomplished!

I think I have now identified where I am having trouble with the blocks - it's the outer curved corner piece. Someone in the Steam Punk Flickr group was also having a problem with this piece and suggested cutting that part of the block a little bit larger.  I will see what comes of that idea in my next block.

I hope to get several more blocks made at the BAM (Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild) retreat this weekend (technically not a UFO, but I consider this UFO prevention).  We are headed to The Presentation Center in Los Gatos.  I understand the site is absolutely gorgeous.  We can check-in at 2:00 on Friday and check out at noon on Sunday.  The focus of this retreat is UFOs - yeah, I've got them and I want to transform them into wonderfulness.

So what do I have planned to work on, you ask?

1.  Quilting and binding my String Block quilt top.
2.  Making a sleeve and attaching the quilt label for my "Black and White and Red All Over" ABC Challenge quilt (of course this means making the label first, which will contain the names of all the alphabet blocks that are in the quilt).

     I brought it to the meeting last weekend.  Here's a photo of it at show and tell:

3.  Completing the back for my Wonky Log Cabin quilt.
4.  Make my pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap.
5.  Make 2 blocks for the BAM mini-group that I should have brought to the last meeting with me but completely forgot to make!
5.  Make more Steam Punk blocks.

I think this is more than I can actually accomplish, but #2 and #4 must, I mean must happen, so that will be the first order of business.

I haven't really gotten organized yet, so I will need to do that tonight (I wrote this on Wednesday - now it's Friday and I'm still not organized!)  I need to make the quilt label at home because I need my computer to do that. (Oh, I got this done - yea!) 

I did,  however, purchase a new pair of pajamas!  Nothing like sewing in your pajamas to feel right at home. 

Aaaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.

Steam Punk - I Tried to Resist but Now I'm All In!

I told myself I was not going to join another online swap until I got my 2013 FAL projects done.  But then Pillow Talk Swap 10 popped up and I just couldn't resist participating again.  I have always had a good experience with this wonderful swap.

Then I ran across the Steam Punk quilt along and the Flickr group established to encourage participation.  You can find the Flickr group started by GoneAussieQuilting Here.  It's not a swap and there's no requirement to make any specific number of blocks.  And, did I mention that I love this block?  It gives me the opportunity to use some of my most favorite fabrics and also to try working with a less vibrant color palette.  I jumped in!

I purchased the pattern and then I purchased a set of templates and a 28mm rotary cutter to make my life a little easier.  I love this block - oh, I already said that...

  

 

I pulled out my Japanese fabrics and, of course, bought some additional Japanese fabrics just because.  I also sorted through my fabrics for soft grey, brown and neutral background fabric - hard to find in my stash! 

These little beauties arrived in the mail last week.

 





Here is my first block:

The center circle will be hand appliqued on later.  Right now, I'm just focusing on the machine portion of the blocks.

I woke up about 4 a.m. this morning and wandered into my sewing room just to have a little look-see at the next block (do you ever do that?)  I had made a choice of fabrics the night before but went to bed before I did any cutting.  I sat down and started cutting out the pieces. After an hour I decided I had better go back to bed or give up sleeping completely.  I opted for going back to bed!

I should be able to get block 2 completed tonight and perhaps block 3.  I'm getting faster at the cutting and sewing aspects and I've lined up 4-5 fabric combos for additional blocks.  Now it's about production!

Maybe you should jump into this quilt along and join in the fun.

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.

Wonky Log Cabin Top Is Done

I'm trying to move along with my Q2 FAL projects.  Putting these blocks together was super simple and then putting the top together was yet another super simple step.  So here we are:

 

I'm rather fond of this scrappy spring-y version of this pattern. 

 

As I have mentioned before, I find the quilting step to be a real impediment to my completion of my work.  I found it far more interesting to put this top together rather than to quilt a smaller, older project.  My justification:  I don't have the skill set to quilt this large a quilt, so I should get it ready to go to the long arm quilter for finishing.  Then...I'll...quilt...the...smaller...string quilt top...

 

Hmmmm.  Well, it's what I did, so I might as well get it off to Dee for quilting. 

 

And, fodder for my next blog:  a group of us are going to my house in the Sierra Foothills for a mini-retreat tomorrow.  This is the last mini-retreat I will have in this house because I sold it and it will close in the middle of May.  I live in the Bay Area and have had this vacation home since 2002.  With my family in Reno, it seemed natural to sell this house and focus my free time in Reno. (I recently purchased a home down the street from my kids and grandkids, so I will slowly get use to having a vacation home in Reno!)

 

Photos of the weekend will follow.

 

Good luck with all the pollen in the air.  Stay healthy!

 

Aaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.   



And The Winner Is...

The winner of my Give-Away (a copy of the fabulous Pillow Pop) is lucky number 21 - Leila.

Leila, please email me at cakath11 at gmail dot com and provide me with your mailing address and I will get the book in the mail to you.

With PTS 10 starting, you will have a wealth of great ideas to get you ready to make an amazing pillow.

I have been assigned my secret swap partner and I am also getting ready to make an amazing pillow!  The Pillow Talk Swap is one of my very favorite swaps - such a great group of creative participants and fabulous pillow eye candy!

Aaaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household!

A Give-away Seams In Order and Just In Time for Pillow Talk Swap 10

I have been trying to get around to getting this Give-away post completed for awhile.  Somehow it was left laying around gathering dust while I did other things.

But, now is the time to rectify that problem and get this give-away off the ground.  So, what do you think about getting a copy of this:

For those of you who participate in the Pillow Talk Swap (or just oooh and aaah over the wonderful pillows that come from that swap) a copy of Pillow Pop should help to get your creative juices flowing.  With PTS 10 getting started now (did you sign up?) you might want this book to help you decide how to make a masterpiece pillow for your partner.  Here's a link for PTS 10:  Pillow Talk Swap 10  so you too can sign up for the fun.

I early-ordered this book from Amazon and as I sometimes do, forgot I had placed the order and ordered it again.  So, my forgetfulness can turn into a nice gift for one of you. 

So, if you want in on this Give-away, please do the following:

      1.  Become a follower if you aren't already.

      2.  Leave me a comment telling me something about yourself (such as why you might like to win this book...but really anything about yourself is fine.)

      3.  Do this by 6:00 p.m. PST Monday, April 22 to be in the drawing.

Be sure to give me your email address so I can contact you.  Good luck!

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.

Time's Up - This Give Away is Closed!  Thanks for participating.  The winner will be announced tomorrow. 

2013 FAL - Q2: I'm In!

Always optimistic that external motivation will push me over the finish line, I have joined in the 2013 FAL - Q2.  Leanne at She Can Quilt  Here is the organizer of this FAL and I am now in for the finish!

I have many items that qualify to be included (the projects have to be started and in UFO status, not just floating around in my brain) but I will have to temper my enthusiasm by including those items that I can also finish by the end of the quarter, another one of the rules.  Here we go:

1.  Mod Mosaic Quilt - it only needs the binding put on it, so I should be able to check this one off the list rather quickly.  This is the last photo I took of it, before quilting:

2.  Wonky Log Cabin (in the stack and whack style).  The blocks are all made (in this photo I still had a few to go).  I'm ready to assemble and then quilt (likely by checkbook).  It's too large for my current skill set. 

3.  Scrappy String Block Quilt - it's assembled, backing has been assembled and I'm ready to move on to quilting it (it's small enough I think I can handle it myself).  I don't have a photo of it and I don't want to hold up this post to take one now, so I'll add it later.

4.  Improv Block Quilt - it's assembled and ready for quilting.  This is the last photo I have of it.  That was last summer and it's still sitting around unfinished!

Guess I'll stop at this point.  I do have a few other projects that could be considered for this Q2 finish, but they aren't far enough along for me to realistically believe that I will be able to complete them in time.

Hmmmm, I think I'm beginning to see the hold up in my quilting process as I look back at these projects.  The actual quilting seems to be the roadblock for me!  I love the creative process of design and enjoy getting the top completed.  I don't really enjoy quilting and have only recently started to work on a few of my projects in order to stretch myself.  What about you - do you have roadblocks in your quilting process?

Why not join the FAL and get some additional motivation to complete a project that otherwise might languish? It couldn't hurt!

 

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.

The Clock is Tick, Tick, Ticking!

Yikes - I have promised to have my ABC quilt ready to be part of our guild group challenge entry for the San Mateo County Fair.  Last year our guild had a group challenge involving Kona Solids.  It was great to see our modern quilts at the SMC Fair quilt show.  This year a group of us agreed to have our ABC quilts finished in time for entry into the group challenge.  Seemed so far away and do-able at the time.  Now, it's right around the corner and I'm still trying to finish the borders on the quilt top before it goes to my long arm quilting friend, Dee Small (I know that "modern" quilts do not have borders according to some modern quilters, but I disagree!)  I'm not going to show another photo of this unfinished top - I'll include a photo when all the borders are on.  

Dee has agreed to get it quilted and back to me before May 8, when we have to turn in our entry forms.  I have 2 of the 4 borders on - and the other 2 borders are pieced.  It's just the corner blocks that are a little tricky getting just right.  And I have been working on other projects, such as the Wonky Log Cabin blocks.

Got to get it to her this weekend in order to give her enough time to get it done.
Then I will have to get the sleeve on it, label it and have it ready to go. 

What about your deadlines - got any you want to share?

I did finish all of my Wonky Log Cabin blocks and will get them sewn together once the ABC top is done.  Easter got in the way of sewing.  My grandkids came to visit along with Mom and Dad for a long weekend.  We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Friday and the Exploratorium in San Francisco on Sunday.  We watched Wreck It Ralph several times, played with new and old toys, ate lots of good food, took walks, had a pizza picnic Saturday night while Mom and Dad went out to dinner and had an Easter Egg Hunt in my living room Sunday morning.  Sadly, they had to go home on Sunday.  Man was it quiet after they left.  Really, really quiet!  Sigh...

Here are a few photos of our weekend:

 

 

Hope you had a wonderful happy Easter.  

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household. 

Whoa Nellie! I'm Awash with Wonky Blocks

I have been steadily working on the Stack and Whack Wonky Log Cabin blocks that I wrote about recently.  I found the tutorial on Katie from the Blue Chair's blog Here.  Loved it the moment I saw it and decided to use up some of my stash to make a cheery, springy, easter"y" quilt. The fabric is not traditional Easter fabric and is much larger scale than the prints that Katie chose.  I gravitate towards strong colors and prints, so my stash does not have much in the way of pastels or smaller scale prints.  This top was a great way to use some of my stash.  No shortage of purples, oranges, or greens in my cabinets!

 

I ran out of room on my design wall and had to overlap the top row just so I could place the blocks. I need 2 more blocks to complete the top row, which I will make tonight. The top will be 60" by 72" if I stop now, which isn't really big enough for a bed. One more row would bring me to 60" by 84" which is more usable I suppose. What do you think? Should I make it a little bigger or stop where I am?

 

Curious minds want to know:  What's on your design wall this week?

 

Speaking of Spring, a little rain storm blew in and brought us a windy afternoon and 70 degree temperatures.  So, what did I do when I got home?  I arranged all of my blocks on the design wall.  Then I thought it was kind of warm, so I opened the window in my sewing room.  What the heck?  I looked like Lucille Ball in one of her classic crazy situations as first one block and then another and then a third, fourth, fifth blew off the design wall.  I tried to pick them up and put them back before I lost track of where they should be...still without closing the window.  Just before total disaster struck it occurred to me to close the window and stop the madness!  Whew - I'm not sure I got them all back in their original places, but they are now at least pinned and ready for a final sorting when I have all the blocks done. 

 

Other projects are on hold.  Still  haven't gotten the binding on the Mod Mosaic quilt - I will do it this weekend and have a finished quilt for my grandkids to use while they are here for Easter.  And I better get the border on my ABC quilt if it's going to get into the San Mateo County Fair group quilt exhibit.  About 5 of us from the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild made traditional blocks with modern fabric using the letters of the alphabet as a block of the month type project.  We have agreed that we are going to submit all of the quilts to the SMCF quilt show, if they will have us.  I'd better get a move on it!

 

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household. 

 

 

 

I'm At It Again!

Do you ever get bursts of mad creativity resulting in all kinds of sewing energy and there's nothing you can do but give into the flow and sew, sew, sew?  I'm having one of those bursts right now.  I put together a Mod Mosaic scrap quilt top and quilted it (yep, those of you who know me personally will gasp in awe and amazement that I ventured beyond quilting by checkbook for a second time!)  And I put together my string block quilt top and pieced a back for it and will also quilt that...

You want proof you say?  Here you go:  exhibit A on my kitchen floor.  Gotta love that spray baste stuff. 

And, I jumped into a new quilt top.  I was looking at my favorite blogs and saw this tutorial by Katie from the Blue Chair Wonky Log Cabin.  One minute I was thinking about how cute the Wonky Log Cabin quilt was and the next minute I had a pile of fabric on my work table, in the colors of Spring and Easter and all things scrappy.  The blocks are made in 4s (4 pieces of fabric cut up at a time and then the fabrics are mixed up within those 4 blocks.  I decided that I would not repeat fabric from one set of 4 blocks to the next, so my initial pull had to be followed by rooting and rummaging for more fabrics.  The blocks will be 12" finished and I will make 30 of them for a 5 x 6 layout or 42 if I want to go the next size up.  Not sure I can stick with the "no repeat of fabric" if I go to 42 blocks.  We'll see what happens!

I have to say it's really fun to root around in my stash and pull out fun fabrics.  No need to shop for fabrics.  I'm making a small dent in the stash and creating something fun and in the happiest of color combinations. 

Here are a few photos of my progress:

I hope you get a sense of the quilt that is being borne here - more to come as I complete the blocks and add even more colors to the spring mix.

Aaaaanyway, that's it from the Robertson household.