Facebook can be dangerous - we all know that. It's especially dangerous for someone like me who is addicted to Block of the Month quilts.
I follow several groups on FB - one of them is "For the love of paper piecing". That's me! I love paper piecing - foundation piecing to be more descriptive and to differential this technique from English Paper Piecing (which I also love and for which there is also a FB group).
Several weeks ago, Janeen Van Niekerk from South Africa posted to the FB group that she was starting a 12 week quilt along. Oh Boy! The quilt is sooooo cute. I couldn't resist and can hardly wait til March 4th when it starts. Come to think about it, it's not a BOM, its a BOW, so maybe it doesn't count against my BOM count (grin).
I'm thinking about using Ricky Tims' Stable Stuff Poly because it's a great medium for foundation piecing, it can go through the printer, and it doesn't have to be removed (my least favorite part of paper piecing).
So, my plan is to purchase fabric for the sky and use my scraps for the trees, critters and flying geese. I'll let you know if I stick to my plan. Once I get into my green fabric scraps I may have to add a piece or two to get the contrast. We'll see!
Only a week to wait! Curious about foundation piecing? Check out this tutorial. Want to join in the Forest Quilt-A-Long? See Janeen's website to sign up.
P.S. I'm writing this from Lawrence Memorial Hospital. My sweetie Saul has had some heart issues and is currently recovering from a catheterization and had a stent put it. He is doing well and will be home soon. During idle time, my thoughts go to quilting . . .
It's a disease - I haven't met a BOM I did not love. Well maybe 1 or 2. Not only do I love them, I feel like I just HAVE TO do them. Even though I already have 5 . . 6 . . . no, it's 7 going.
Last year I signed up for an 18 month Dear Jane BOM through Stitchin' Heaven in TX. Thankfully they delayed the start until January 2015. So this past January, I received my first set of fabrics and some extra tips for the first series of blocks.
Dear Jane is a quilt made (well finished and dated) in 1863 by Jane A. Blakely Stickle of Vermont. The quilt blocks were then drafted into a pattern and published in 1996 by Brenda Manges Papadakis. There are 169 four inch blocks, 52 border triangles and 4 corner blocks (my mathematician hubby tells me that is indeed 225 different blocks).
I had already bought the book and in fact got it autographed by Brenda, but I thought that instead of obsessing over color choices, I would just do a BOM that included fabric. There were several choices out there - traditional, reds, blues, or brights. I decided to go with traditional, although I tend to prefer the bright colors. My reasoning? How could I do a Dear Jane in anything but the original colors? Jane went to so much work to make the quilt and Brenda took years to draft the patterns, so to honor them I decided to go traditional.
The notes that came with the fabric indicated that I can do some of the blocks using a foundation paper method. Too bad the notes didn't have the foundation pattern. No problem! I could make one. Foundation piecing is one of my favorite methods. I love it because the points turn out nice and pointy, the seams are straight and everything fits together perfectly. If you are curious about foundation paper piecing, here is a tutorial to check out. The one thing that paper piecers and appliquers all know is that you have to reverse the design in order to get it to come out like the picture. Oops! I forgot to reverse the design. It looks great, but my pinwheel is turning backwards. Oh well, I'm not doing it over just because a pinwheel is spinning clockwise instead of counter clockwise.
So, 1 done, 224 more to go. It feels a bit overwhelming when I look at how many more I have to make. I'll add them to my BOM list and make progress slowly and steadily (I hope).
I am officially a Janiac!
I'm about to start another BOM (shocking, right?) - Tula Pink's 100 Modern Block City Sampler. About 30 quilters from the Kaw Valley Quilter's Guild are starting a Sew Along to work through her 100 Modern Quilt Blocks book. Oh what fun this will be!
We had our organizational meeting after January's guild meeting and made a couple of decisions. Easy Peasy -we are going to do as many or as few blocks as we want, whichever blocks we want, in whatever colors we like. We'll get together before the night time meeting, and after the daytime meeting to share our blocks, and then also gather occasionally during the month to sew together. We want to make an opportunity quilt out of some extra blocks, but we postponed deciding about the details until next month. I set up a FB group for us so we can post pictures of our blocks. So we're ready to rock and roll!
A couple members - Joy T. and Sammie M. already had some blocks made. In fact Joy wowed us with her binder and organization. I think she had 6 or so blocks already made! She inspired me to get going.
I found a fabric to use as an inspiration fabric and then realized that all the colors were in PB&J by Basic Grey for Moda. I used fabric from this line for Toes in the Sand by JayBird Quilts and I just loved it. So I found a FQ packet on Etsy and I was ready to go.
Since we were getting ready to visit my Mom in Arizona for a bit, I only got one block done before we left. I loved how it turned out, although Cleo does not seem to be impressed.
As folks started posting their blocks on the FB group, I was getting a bit jealous because I didn't bring any Tula stuff with me to Arizona and I was really itching to make some more blocks. Here are some of the blocks that inspired me (CJ, Kathy, Shari, Maggie, Sandra and Tonya). They're great, aren't they?
Since I didn't bring my book or any of my fabrics, I asked some of my sewing friends to send pics of the blocks so I could make them here. A trip to a couple of quilt shops and I was set. I set up my Mom's 58 year old Singer and had the first AZ block done. Over the next couple of days I made a few more and so now I feel like I am not behind! I have made my goal of 6 blocks for January!
Here's what I have learned so far:
1) Some quilts are more fun when done as a group.
2) I could easily get fabric envy - meaning I love others' blocks so much that I want to do them again in different fabrics.
3) This could get addictive.
4) I can get a simple 6 inch block done in about 20 minutes.
5) I love the simple yet unique style that Tula captures in these blocks.
I'm looking forward to our next meeting, I can feel the excitement of my FB friends who are part of this Sew Along - every day there are new pictures of their beautiful blocks.
It's All About Tula!
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!
