Trying to Get Out of My Own Way

We are well into July and I had thought that by now I would have switched gears away from making Quilts for Survivors flimsies to working on a few of my own projects, including a few items for the Holly Bazaar in the fall, but it's proving a little harder than I had hoped. It seems like every time I turn around there is another project that just needs a little more attention. This Second Hand Clothes is the latest case in point.

I found the pieces and blocks for it lurking in a Ziplock bag and once I knew that it was there I couldn't unsee it. Last year I hand pieced lots of blocks - enough blocks for three quilts - but only got two together for our fall shipment so the third was bundled up for later. The simplest thing to do was just get everything up on the design wall and try for a quick finish.

The fabrics for this one are very traditional - beautiful, rich hues - and it's fun seeing it come together.

I've only got this corner left to assemble, so it shouldn't be long now.

There are more large squares cut and one pieced block as well so I suspect that at some point there will be another quilt cut and stitched, but not right now. 

The brown fabric on the bottom will be the border (another piece that I'm dying to finish up) and it looks like there might be enough of the red to make the setting triangles for the next one. Fingers crossed! If not, I could always combine it with one or two other reds since the quilt is very scrappy...M 

I Made It to Arkansas

I made it to Arkansas! Arkansas Crossroads has been in my sights for the last couple of weeks and now it has moved over into the finished column. Yay!

It's a pretty little quilt, but I am genuinely surprised at how light in colour it is. Not that I mind, but I thought that the grey corners in those Xs would make it much darker. Definitely what I would call a 'summer' quilt.

Such a dreamy palette; it's filled with a number of calicos that I am trying to use up, particularly the peach floral, which I think might be a VIP print. That's going waaaaay back. I think only one piece was completely used up but at this point I couldn't tell you which one.

The secondary pattern made with the grey corners is very effective but after sewing three or four quilts this winter/spring with stitch-and-flip corners it's time for a break from them.

The brighter hits of turquoise and mauve give it a great little bit of interest throughout.

I thought that I had a photo of the entire flimsy but apparently not - I'll try to remember to take one for you. 

This is another one for Quilts for Survivors; it will be interesting to see how they quilt it....M

Oh Canada!

Without a doubt our national anthem will be ringing out from coast to coast to coast today as we celebrate an extremely hot Canada Day; we're looking forward to enjoying fireworks over the Ottawa River this evening.

I always like to see if I can showcase a little red and white stitching in honour of our national celebrations and this year it's a selection of the scrappy nine-patch blocks that I am hand piecing.

They aren't pure red and white, but close enough to count.

I'm trying to force myself to create combinations that are a little outside of my wheelhouse.

This is my inspiration. It's from Linda at Koka Quilts and I was really taken with the border of larger blocks inserted amongst all of those scrappy nine-patches; mine would measure 3" finished. Subtle, yet effective. She has such a fun sensibility to her quilts!

I've got about two dozen nine-patches made right now and think I need about that many again to make a QFS flimsy approximately 48" x 64". I'm planning for 30 blocks in the centre (she has 25) so I will need to adjust my math to make things work. I might also switch up that border with a single wild blue/green print that I have but I'll play with that once things get to the wall.

Happy Canada Day everyone!...M

I Spy Flimsy

It didn't take very long for our quilters at the church to get the I Spy flimsy for Poppy's new little brother-to-be together (see my last post for details).

Once we landed on the pattern everyone just made up a bundle of blocks using whatever fabrics they had and there were lots to choose from. We used 42 in this one and there are 30 leftovers, so I suspect that we'll make a few more blocks and then have ourselves a second flimsy to quilt.

The blocks are all so different, and SO cute!

Some really adorable prints for little ones out there, aren't there?

Here's a little behind-the-scenes snippet for you...the kitchen island in the church hall is ideal for cutting our batting/trimming up quilts and also proved to be ideal for testing a layout. After this photo was taken, we received two more bundles of blocks so a few changes were made to integrate something from every quilter. All of the extras have become the start of the next one....M