January. A new year. Resolutions. New Projects. NEW BOMs!
OK, so given the fact that I have so many ongoing BOM, it's crazy for me to think about starting any new ones, right? But there are soooo many gorgeous quilts out there just waiting to be created. I am powerless to resist.
At this point there are three BOMs that I have committed to. There may be more later, but right now there are three.
One of them I have already started on - it's The New Hexagon Millefiori Quilt Along hosted by Katja Marek of Katja's Quilt Shoppe in British Colombia, Canada. I had been drooling over several different millefiori type quilts on Pinterest and had even bought a book. Then as if by magic, the quilting spirits knowing I wanted to do one of these, a notice appeared on FB about the quilt along. So I ordered the book and precut paper pieces and picked up some Kaffe Fassett fabric. Within a few days I had my first hexagon pieced.
This quilt is meant to be hand pieced using the English Paper Piecing method. Each 3 inch hexagon is pieced in a different way. Katja's recommendation is to use a fabric glue stick to baste the fabric down around the shape. I've always thread basted in the past, but being the curious sort I am, I decided to try the glue stick. It is much faster and I really like it so far.
So, now I had this great center Hexie done and I'm having a lot of trouble choosing fabric for the first round that works well with the center. After hours of playing with swatches of fabric and my magic mirrors, I gave up on my first center and decided to start over. A trip to a LQS resulted in some Alexander Henry fabric I had been considering earlier as well as some cute coordinating bits.
Have you ever fussy cut pieces for EPP? I use a plastic template with registration marks drawn in so that I am sure I am cutting the exact same area of fabric. If you are curious about fussy cutting, this is a great tutorial. It's a bit time consuming in terms of prep work, but it gives you great results - not reflectional symmetry, but rotational symmetry.
New fabric is cut, paper pieces for all 38 hexies are basted, and center and round 1 are done for Rosette 1. If you're on FB, check out The New Hexagon - Millefiori Quilt-Along to see photos of everyone's rosettes. It's awesome!
While I'm on vacation in Arizona visiting my Mom, I'll be hand piecing the hexies together and I'll post a picture of the finished Rosette.
Happy Hexies!
OK, before I move on to the BOMs I want to do in the future (or the ones I plan on starting tomorrow LOL), there are 2 last "current" ones I should write about.
The first one is the Sedona Star, a Sarah Vedeler design I wrote about in my last posting. Sedona Star was The Quilt Show BOM for 2012. This quilt is built from the inside out. It is not a simple quilt. It requires precision cutting and piecing. The techniques featured are foundation paper piecing, applique, sewing set-in circles, and using the Accuquilt-GO! cutter to cut some of the applique shapes.
In January I started enthusiastically - I ordered the fabric for this classy, rich color-way of muted blues, tans, browns, and reds, started downloading the instructions, bought the special foundation piecing / stabilizer product - Ricky Tims' Stable Stuff Poly (a special product that you don't have to remove from the quilt - wash it and it turns into batting), and began working on the blocks.
The first few months went smoothly. The foundation piecing was right on. The Accuquilt-GO! worked perfectly cutting the 12 circles in the center medallion. The appliques star points were perfect. Then it came time to set in the center circle into the circle of star points. Uh-Oh. The diameter of the center section was 3/8 inch too small. I wasn't sure what to do. So I decided to sit on it for a bit - perfectly logical, right?
Unfortunately "a bit" turned into several months and by the time I figured out how I was going to fix my problem, the BOM for 2012 was finished and the instructions were no longer available for download. An email message from Sarah Vedeler indicated I could buy what was once a free pattern (to TQS members) for $60. So, I fixed my problem (resew some seams with a smaller seam allowance) and waited a bit more until Mea Bernina offered Sedona Star as a BOM.
So now I own the pattern and have a few partners in crime - a small group of ladies who are working on Sedona Star too. I have all the Month 3 foundation pieced stars completed and have done one of Month 4. I still have to set the stars into the background fabric, but I'll wait and do that after all 9 stars are done (end Month 5).
Whew! Sedona Star is not a piece of cake, but it sure will be gorgeous when I'm done!
The final "present" but not current BOM is another Quilt Show project - A to Z with Ewe and Me, designed by Janet Stone. I really like the whimsy of this quilt. It's obvious that Janet gets her inspiration for alphabet samplers from her cross stitch past. I hate to admit it but I only have "A" done. I've got lots to do on this one, but I'm really looking forward to it.
Well, that is all the past and present BOMs. 2015 is here, so there are surely some "future" BOMs coming soon.
Here's to a New Year, old and new BOMs, and long time (not old) and new stitching friends!
What is a typical sewing day for you? For me, last Sunday was a super productive sewing day and it happened to include multiple BOMs! I wish I could say it was typical in terms of productivity, but I don't usually get quite so much done. It was typical in one huge way - variety.
"Typical" usually means multiple projects going at once, often at very different phases (design, cutting, piecing, quilting, finishing), and in very different colors and fabric styles. One thing I have learned about myself is that I get bored easily if I have to do too much of the same thing - same blocks, same fabric, same whatever. So I like to keep it varied. Sunday was a really varied day!
As you know I've got several embroidery BOMs going, so yesterday I made 2 tiles for the last Month 10 block for feathered star. I'm only 1 tile away from finishing all the star blocks. Then I will only have border blocks left to do - talk about boring, all 48 of them are exactly the same block with just one piece of fabric changing from block to block. Oh well, at least its bright, bold, happy fabric.
While my Bernina 830 was busy embroidering the feathered star (I'm needed for thread changes and adding pieces of fabric now and then, but mostly the machine takes care of it), I was working on last year's JayBird Quilts' BOM Toes in the Sand. Each month there are 2 blocks using the same pattern but with different fabric. So I got 2 blocks (Month 7 checked off my checklist) done and started cutting the pieces for the Month 8 blocks.
Then in the afternoon I scooted down to the shop for some sewing on the Sedona Star (more details in a later post). My friend Peggy is teaching the Sedona Star at Mea and I join in when I can. Class was cancelled yesterday due to the holidays, but Peggy was working on the shop sample, so I joined her and worked on the Month 4 paper pieced stars. I got one of three done!
As you know, sewing is fun, but designing and thinking about quilting is almost as, if not more, fun. In January I'm going to start a new BOM (details available in a later post) so I've been perusing Pinterest and other sites for ideas about color choices for the new
BOM. I found a FQ bundle of PB&J on Etsy and ordered it so I could potentially use some for this new BOM. Craftsy was having a year end sale, so I also ordered a few FQ bundles from them too.
Overall it was a productive day and I got lots of creative itches scratched (I'm sure there is a better metaphor than that but I used up all my creativity!).
Happy Productive Creativity to You!
This next series of BOMs Current aren't quite as current as they should be, however, I foresee some completion this coming year.
First up is an internet mystery quilt by Linda Hahn. This was the first mystery quilt I have ever done. I saw it advertised in an AQS newsletter back in the beginning of 2013 so I figured I'd give it a try. I really like the idea of mystery quilts, but I haven't quite gotten used to not having control over the elements of the design. How do you know which fabrics to chose if you don't know where they are going to be used? So this time I went with the designer's fabric choices - besides, what's not to love about bright pink, blue, turquoise, lime green and purple batiks?
I still have a ton of blocks to make. This is the kind of project that I could easily get bored with - making 20 of the same block - so I usually only do a few blocks at a time. This project will get moved up on the action list once my EH Modern Sampler is done and will hopefully be done in 2015 (don't hold me to it though).
Next up is a JayBird Quilts BOM that was offered through a lot of shops last year. I ended up doing it through Fons and Porter, though now I don't remember why F&P and not another shop. Toes in the Sand appealed to me for several reasons:
1. I love the PB&J fabric that Julie Herman used for her sample and wanted to use that same fabric line (in fact I just found a FQ of each fabric in the line on Etsy and ordered the whole bundle for another quilt).
2. I like the idea of blocks being something other than 4-sided. Each triangular block is made up of several different shapes, but relies heavily on triangles.
3. She used a unique ruler that she designed - the Hex N More Ruler - to make the blocks. She has gone on to design other quilts with this ruler. In fact I'm teaching one next year at Mea Bernina called Park Bench.
4. I met Julie at the Sisters Oregon Quilters' Affair workshops in 2013 and I really liked her and her design philosophy. Check out all her cool stuff here.
I'm about half done with Toes in the Sand and will keep it in my active rotation in 2015, so I should have it done by the end of the year.
The third in this series of BOMs is one we offered at Mea Bernina last year. It was called a BuckABlock and featured half square triangles using Thangles. Half the blocks are done in a turquoise small flower print and half in a red-violent larger flower print. I think I'm going to set the blocks on point with setting squares in between.
Toward that end I bought Garden Couture by Embroidery Design Studio thinking I would applique and embroider flowers in the setting squares using the fabrics from the pieced blocks. This project is also in my active rotation so I am aiming for completion in 2015.
So, I think I am almost at the end of BOMs "present". Only a couple more for next time. Whew, there are a lot of them! I'd better stop blogging and start sewing!
Next on the BOM list . . .
So, I guess I'll start with my guild's BOM - it's an art deco version of flowers designed by Reeze Hanson of Morning Glory Designs. I actually spent last week catching up and now have 6 blocks done and I'm actually current through December! WOoHOo! I have no idea what the finished quilt will look like, but I'm liking the blocks so far. I'm using mostly a tone on tone fabric I really enjoy called Quilters Shadow by Stof, a Danish company. Here is the December Block, Tiger Lily.
My next BOM project is almost finished - pretty soon I'll be able to move it to the "past" list. Last year Mea Bernina hosted a modern mini quilt of the month club based on Elizabeth Hartman's Modern Patchwork book. I thought instead of making 12 mini quilt wall hangings I would try to make them using the same fabrics so that I could put them together in one large quilt.
I chose a fabric from the Habitat collection by Michele D'Amore with various soft colored dots as my focus fabric and then pulled other fabrics in to complement it. This is one of my favorite ways to select fabric!
I've gotten all 12 blocks done and am now trying to figure out how to put them together. I've got a post out on FB asking my sewing sisters whether to float or frame the blocks. the jury is still out, so if you have an opinion, I would love to hear it. Framed in brown like the left side in the pic or floating on taupe like the right side?
Another BOM that I am almost current on is Fiesta Mexico by Karen Kay Buckley, hosted by Stitchin' Heaven, a quilt shop in Texas who sends the fabrics each month. The quilt is gorgeous - the colors are rich and vibrant and the shapes are really sensuous. Unfortunately the instructions could use some explanation on how some of the blocks go together. I even called the shop when the pattern arrived and asked them if I was missing a part of the instructions LOL!. I'm muddling through but I wouldn't be if I were new to applique. I've got the first 6 blocks done, except for the first block (top left of the quilt in the pic) - which includes some pieced triangles I'm not sure how to add.
Til next time, Keeping curious and BOMing!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
When I was a kid, my favorite part of Christmas Day was after opening presents and before a laid back dinner of scrumptious leftovers from our large family meal on Christmas Eve.
My Dad had a fantastic Danish black leather chair in our living room. It sat against the wall and next to where Mom put up the silver Christmas tree (and later a real one and then later an artificial green one). I would bring all my presents and make myself a little cave behind my Dad's chair and just look at and play with all my gifts, appreciating each one and it's giver.
Today, in honor of that childhood tradition, I am going to go downstairs and make a little cave of my toys and gifts bought by me and for me this last year (machines and fabric) and I'm going to look at them, play with them, and appreciate how blessed I am.
Call me when its time to heat up the leftovers!
With Much Love for my Friends, Family and Sewing Sisters this holiday season and always,
Wow, do I ever have a lot of BOMs that I'm working on! A couple of posts ago, I showed a picture of my spreadsheet that I use to keep track of my progress. Here it is again. I'm not sure if you can read it, but on this sheet I am tracking 11 different BOMs. Some of them have only 1 block completed (not even a whole month's worth), some are pretty close to being done. I wonder if I have some BOM in tubs that haven't made the list. I guess I had better look!
I'm working on several embroidery BOMs and the first one I started (in 2013) was Hoop Sisters' Feathered Star. I only have part of the last block to finish and then 48 blocks to do for the border. Each block takes about 50 minutes . . . so I still have a good deal of work ahead. This BOM was one offered at Mea Bernina last year and was the first time I really put my BR 830 Embroidery machine to use. It was a great way to get comfortable with my machine. Now I'm hooked. It's a good thing I have another machine - I start my embroidery machine and then turn to my BR 440 and work on a pieced or applique quilt.
Hoop Sisters comes out with a new Embroider-a-Block each year. The design for 2014 was Jacobean Journey. Of course, I also had to start this one - the colors are so rich and vibrant. I haven't gotten far at all - maybe only 2 blocks out of probably 100. I've worked on the blocks at Mea to help make the shop sample. The pattern has several optional ways to combine the blocks, so I might put together a smaller version or a table runner. We've received 2015's Embroider-a-Block at Mea and it is also stunning (like I said they are hard to resist). Sown Seeds is bright and fun, totally different from Jacobean Journey but just as beautiful. This one will go on my future list!
The last Embroidery BOM on my list is actually a Row of the Month. It is called Tree of Life by AnitaGoodesign. Mea Bernina offered it as a class meeting for 2 days a month over 3 months. I couldn't attend all the classes, but I did get 2 and 1/2 rows done. It is a gorgeous design, and the best part are the dimensional leaves that are added when the quilt is done. The three of us in class each used a different background. One was white, one was black, and I used a light blue background. I'm planning on putting it on the wall in my guest room which is bright and happy with colorful accents.
So, I have 3 current Embroidery quilt designs in progress. I intend to finish Feathered Star first before I move on to the others. I'm sure other gorgeous embroidery BOM quilts will come along and move from my future list to my present list!
Happy Embroidering!
