Design 2 Mini

I have been having fun designing blocks for the 30 Quilt Block Design Challenge. You can read more about it here. This is block #2.

block 2 

I feel in love with this block and had to see where it would go. I powered up EQ and took block 2 for a spin. I liked the results.

block 2 became X-Squared

So I ask you what's a quilter to do but make it. Right? But you knew there had to be one... I had a moment of insanity well it was longer than a moment as I cut all the pieces to make this one. The insanity part I thought a mini would be nice...yeah insanity pure and simple. All those HST's are 1 1/2''!!

one and a half inch pieces 

There were a lot of little pieces 48 hst's to be exact plus 16 center parts. What was I thinking? Keeping all those points sharp and having everything line up was going to be fun.

64 1 1/2'' little bitty parts

I sewed like a madwomen, or at least it seemed like I was, needing to get those pieces together. Oh yes I was squirreled or as Sandra of mmmquilts likes to call it a DrEAMi moment. She is going to be having a linky party starting January 28th visit her blog mmm!quilts to read more about it.

ahh success it was all coming together

Those four blocks are 4'' finished. Ahh my little points were all matchy matchy and that makes me happy. I did press the seams open which is something I don't normally do. But when working with all those little pieces it reduced bulk at the seams.

one X-Squared mini

I was in a hurry to get a couple pictures so I glue basted the binding on and will hand stitch it down later. Sometimes the best quilting is just some simple straight line quilting.

glue basted binding

I am loving my new mini. Now maybe I can get back to working on my Meadow Mystery blocks.

Meadow Mystery quilt blocks

That's how I spent my Sunday I hope yours was as enjoyable as mine.

Linking up

Main Crush Monday
Sew Fresh Quilts

I look forward to Tuesdays and the release of the next three blocks in the 150 Canadian Women that Next Step Quilt Designs puts out. I did have some catching up to do and can now say I am caught up. Is it Tuesday yet?

blocks 22, 23 and 24

I am using a variety of shades of red. I am laying them out and keeping them all together on one of the design walls I bought for a $1 from Connecting Threads during Black Friday sales.

the first 24 blocks complete without sashing

I am trying to decide on whether to use a black or white sashing. Once I make my mind up then I'll have some more catching up to do. But for now I'm liking my blocks.

Sandra of mmm!quilts and Lisa of  sunlight in winter quilts are hosting a 30 days of Quilt Design Challenge. I decided to join in on the fun, whether I'll make 30 blocks or not we'll see. But for now block #1 is drawn up. I am going to try and sew up each block I design using some of my scraps.

playing with a churn dash idea

My first block is playing with a churn dash idea I have had for awhile, maybe this challenge will bring out more churn dash blocks or send me in a totally different direction. 

Are you up for a challenge if so what kind of challenge do you like?

Hurry up Finish

As you read this the wedding quilt has been made and gifted. You can read about it here. The wedding was lovely and we had a great time. The nice thing about small weddings is everyone knows each other and the conversation just flows. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, for a few hours the worries melted away.

finished with time to spare

The designing and making of this quilt was a mad crazy rush. Why oh why did I do this to myself? As I told my friend the bride 'only for a special friend would I have made a quilt in such a short time.' She loved it.

I couldn't find the sun to take better pictures in, it's that overcast time of year. Oh well the pictures must be taken as everyone wants a little eye candy. The four patch blocks went together quickly. 

four patches in a four patch.

The star blocks I made and used a template to cut the points, and wonder of wonders from the first one to the last one everything fit perfectly. This quilt was cooperating, that doesn't happen very often. My seam ripper for once was quit, no rip, rip rip this time around. Not to worry it gets lots of workout on a regular basis.

star blocks fit perfectly

For the quilting I did simple loops and leaves using Aurifil 2605 on top and Superior bottom line in the bobbin. I may have gone a little crazy stitching them, I got in the flow and there was no stopping me. My hubby said I had the peddle to the medal.

flange binding

I made my first flanged binding! What a great way to finish up a quilt that little pop of colour that the flange gives, in my opinion added to the overall effect. I like how this quilt turned out, and may have given myself a little pat on the back for a job well done. I even finished with time to spare.

back

I knew I wouldn't have time to piece a backing so I used a gray mottled wide backing. 

Now it's back to the slower more relaxed type of sewing. I'm working on my 150 Canadian Women blocks in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday. Three blocks are released every week with a story of a Canadian women with every block, week 7 is the latest release. I have week one, 6 and 7 done. I may be playing catchup with these. 

week 7 top row, week 6 second row, week 1 bottom row

I am going to make them using my scrap reds and whites. The blocks are 6'' finished so some of the little pieces of white on whites are getting used up, hopefully I'll get all those little bits and pieces used up on this project. I may have to get a few red FQ's, we'll see how things progress first.

Linking up to 

Needle and Thread Thrusday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Sew Fresh Quilts

 

Moving forward

As Christmas draws near, only four sleeps left, wow where did the time go? Are all the preparations ready...NO. But as ready as they are going to be this year. We will have a nice Christmas watching our grandkids open their presents and making sweet memories. One of my granddaughters asked if we had presents for them and at the time the answer was no, extenuating circumstances happening over here. Our grandaughter informed us that grandparents just have to have presents for them. So what is a grandma supposed to do but make sure there are presents. There was some shopping done in the last couple days. Oh heck the tree is even decorated and that is thanks to a couple of grandkids helping out.

one good looking tree

I guess they really want Christmas at grandmas to happen. I usually love Christmas and look forward to all it brings. This year has been a difficult year with some serious health problems, which I will not go into here.

Christmas village

Christmas to me is more about family and the love of being together, and not the gifts. I love the spirit of it all the joy on peoples faces, the food and the smiles and doing the decorating just not so much this year.

I am not a list maker by any stretch of the imagination. But I do have one goal for 2017 and that is offering my Medallion Quilt, you can read more about it here that I designed for my guild in 2015 as a BOM on my blog. The plan is to start mid January with the first months instructions.

Medallion Quilt 2015

I have also been sewing like crazy. We have a wedding on December 28th of a dear friend and I thought I'd like to make a quilt for the couple. Oh and I had 14 days yes you read that correctly from the time of invite to the big day. What in the world was I thinking, or just maybe I wasn't thinking at all.
I quickly came up with a design and set to work gathering fabric, some emergency shopping was necessary. The top is almost together. I am going to need a quick quilting plan to get it done ontime as there may be a big holiday in the middle of my mad rush.
Want to see what I have come up with? Her walls she just painted gray with the end walls a turquoise and she has a charcoal gray chesterfield. Thankfully I decided to make it lap size.

in progress wedding quilt lap size.

Any suggestions for the quilting?

I doubt I'll have time to write another post before Christmas so I wish each of you and your families the joy and love that the holidays can and do bring. Merry Christmas!!

Linking up to Quilting Jet Girls Planning Party I love a good party and this one is great thanks Yvonne.

New Stash Additions

Want to see what made it's way to my house? I'm sure I heard a yes please. Okay here goes.
First up I won a designer scrap bag from Flaun Cline of I Plead Quilty! for my entry into Persimon Dreams Scrap Quilt Challenge. I entered 'Pinky', you can read more about it here.

'Pinky'

These are the winnings. Some strips, and some bigger chunks and those adorable fish that is an 18" piece.

strips

bigger pieces including a couple batiks

fishies 

No real plans for them at this time but one never knows what idea will pop up. I have been thinking about making a string quilt at some point and some of them will perhaps work their way into that.

 I may have done some Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping.

design wall

This design wall was on sale at Connecting Threads( not an affiliate), for hold onto your seats $1.00. An extra design wall may come in mighty handy, how could I go wrong especially at that price.

local shopping

We also need to support our local quilt shops and I did that with this lovely bunch of fabrics from 'The Quilting Corner' in Simcoe, Ontario. I love the green, of course I love green anyway. They are as follows: green-Maywood Studio, beige-Dowager Countess from Andover Fabrics, blue-Mary's Blenders by Mary Koval, gold-Northcott, beige print- Bees'n Blooms from Moda, red-Northcott, red leaves by Kona BayFabrics

Linking up to Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash

Quilting Decisions

Quilt top sandwiched and in the ditch stitching done, now what. This is were the indecision starts, how do I want to quilt it or better yet what does the quilt itself want.

top waiting to be turned into a quilt

Supplies all gathered, I spent over an hour looking for that ruler toe foot. I rearranged some of my quilting things and of course I moved that foot. You know where, that place where it is easy to find and you can put your finger right on it. Yeah right...sure. NOT!! Note to self quit rearranging things, leave well enough alone.

supplies gathered, dove(2600) on machine ready to go

I use clear wrapping rolls from the dollar store to test draw possible quilting designs. They don't take up much room are 36 inches long a nice size when test drawing designs.

swirls????

or maybe?

swirls and lines??

Sandra of mmmquilts thought of radiating lines or swirls. How about a combo of the two? I do think this quilt is finally starting to speak to me.

I need to order another spool of Aurifil 2600, it is my go to colour. I am in luck Craftsy is having a Black Friday sale. (These are affliate links) 

Class Offer: $17.99 USD or less on all Craftsy classes

Supplies Offer: Up to 70% off Quilting and Sewing project kits & supplies

Aurifil Thread

 I'm going to try out some Boundless fabric.

Boundless fabric

 Did you do any on-line shopping from the comfort of your home?

Quilt Tops

When your mind is a jumble what do you turn to? Me it's simple I sew and sew I have done. I made three quilt tops for my guilds charity Ronald MacDonald House.

First up is the strip top. This one was started after my regular guild meeting, some of the members stayed and worked on the charity quilts. It is always fun, some people sew, some cut others press and of course there may be some laughter thrown in along the way.
I opened a bag of strips and just started sewing them together. They were all different sizes and some were not straight.

varying size strips

 I then cut them into 10 x 10 squares to straighten them up. I had 5 blocks done and more strips to go when I came home. I put them up on the design wall to decide on a layout, wish I would have taken pictures but never thought about it. I had enough strips to make three 10 inch rows with a couple 2 1/2'' strips to sew in between then. I then decided to frame the center and am glad I did as I think it brings it all together. I used a 1 1/2'' dark grey strip and then a 2 1/2'' strip followed by another 1 1/2'' strip.

42 1/2'' x 40 1/2''

For the next two I raided my stash. I had put some fabric aside that I knew I wasn't going to use for myself when I straightened things up the last time. It is a must, the cleaning up part, as once in awhile there may be a mess of stuff laying all over. I pulled a print and then found a solid that worked.

I had a little over a yard of each. I wanted something simple and easy so I made 6 1/2'' HST's. I had 50 HST's when I was done and just started playing around with layouts in EQ7. These are the ones I settled on. The first one uses 30 HST's.

39'' x 32 1/2''

That left 20 HST's and the second layout. I had a few strips left over, but the not enough of the print to make a complete border. An addition of the leftover solid and the border came together.

32'' x 30 1/2''

The last top I worked on is one I'm writing a pattern for. This one needs a name. Any ideas for one?

nameless

The next step for nameless is the testing stage.