Thursday, March 21, 2013

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. 
 
 
 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

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.





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I'm a grandmother, a lawyer, a quilter, a cook and the human companion of Boo, the labradoodle. I am also a collector/hoarder and ultimate consumer of fabric. Can't resist touching and/or buying it! I also love sharing every day with my doodle. Please look at my work and let me know what you think. I plan to share my thoughts and experiences with you and hope you will do the same. Boo sends his tail wagging greetings to all. If you meet him, you will know exactly what I mean!