Prism Progress

Isn't that a clever alliterative title? As I told you yesterday, I guess you can't take me at my word. On Saturday I said that my intention was to sew some more houses on Sunday. Did I do that? No. I kept looking at the Prism quilt and decided to search out some more magenta fabric. I had some success. I added four new magentas and then moved on to the red/orange and brown/gold rounds.

The colors aren't showing true in this photo. I had intended to put some true oranges in the red/orange round but they just didn't look right. Don't believe the orange that you see in the photo; those are really more salmon or whatever you would call a color that is slightly off true orange. I am still thinking about my brown/gold round. Some of the golds appear to be too dark in my opinion. I also think I have too many browns that are cutesy calico with tiny little flowers. I have a lot of that in my stash. I think I will stand back and give more consideration to what I have there before I move on. But, remember what I said about my word? I could very well change my mind. I am also running out of room on my design wall. At the very least I am going to have to move things around in order to get the next round put up.

Look at this mess. What a slob! As I cut fabric for the prism, I came across fabrics that I didn't cut for my scrap houses. The reason these were overlooked is because they are large pieces of fabric and on my first search through my tubs I was looking for actual scraps for my houses. Now that I have cut into these fabrics for the prism quilt, I may as well cut some house pieces from them too. I didn't see any reason to nicely fold everything and put it away only to pull it out again when I cut house pieces. So there it is. A huge pile of fabric waiting for more cutting.

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April FMQ Challenge

I thought I might take another stab at this month's FMQ challenge. As May is now looming, I don't think I will. I really appreciated the method shared by Don Linn. I have a message for professional quilters: You can keep your day job. I will pose no challenge to you any time soon. Maybe I'll be able to manage stitch in the ditch with a walking foot. I might become adept enough at meandering that I will dare put it on a quilt. But I will NEVER be able to quilt on a pattern and have it look good. Evidence is presented here:

I squished the two designs to one side thinking that I would fit a third one in the middle. No such luck. OK. I had two shots at it. I used a chalk pencil to transfer the design onto my quilt sandwich. The transfer process went great. I tackled it with great excitement. Oh how quickly my hopes were dashed. When I sewed coming toward myself, as we normally sew, I had no problem following the lines. But, when I changed direction and was sewing away from myself I couldn't see the line. How do other quilters do this? I don't have x-ray vision so I can't see through my machine. I was just guessing where the lines were half the time. I was working on a small piece. I could have turned my work to follow the lines, but that is not how I would do it on a full-sized quilt. That's the point of machine quilting. You do it without turning the quilt all the time.

So I end the April challenge having 'finished' the assignment, but not at all happy with my product. I guess I will be sending some quilt tops off to be quilted by people who know what they are doing.

In Too Deep To Quit Now

Despite all of my protestations that "I will not add any new projects while I have so many WIP's and UFO's" I have added another project. Apparently my word isn't worth much. You may have noticed the button for the Prism QAL. I just love the colors in this project. It is a project that explores the rainbow. This has been quite a change for me over the years. I have really been afraid of making color choices. Have you noticed that the first quilt I ever finished was white-on-white? There is a reason for that. It was a safe choice...no color choices. Now I am trying to break out of that straight jacket to make some bold choices.

Today I started pulling together my fabrics for this QAL. I have quite a stash of purples so the center of the quilt is a snap.

Even though the directions for the project call for medium, I went for dark in the center. As I worked my way out to the next round, I found that I do not have enough magentas to complete the round. I know I could repeat fabrics, but I think I would have to repeat too many times. I have very few pinks in my stash, so I am also repeating the lights in that round. I plan to find more magentas to fill out that round.

Putting the magentas aside, I tried to move on to the red/orange round. However, without having the magentas completed, I don't know what I will want to place in each spot. I think I am at a temporary stand still.

What a mess I have created in my sewing room. I have pulled out several of my stash containers and am in the midst of sorting and cutting fabrics.

Actually, if I could abandon this project right now, I would. I think I am in too far to quit. I have cut quite a few pieces and have been going through all of my stash trying to pull this together. I know that when I get to the yellow/brown round and the green round I will have no trouble having enough fabrics to finish each round.

So what do you do when you start a project and then have second thoughts? I think I will work on scrap houses tomorrow.

Passing on the Love

I have gone through the blogs I follow and carefully narrowed down the list to select bloggers to whom I want to give the Liebster Award. (See Sunday's post for details on the award)

This is amazingly difficult to do. I did finally settle on a list of five. I am giving the award to:

• Heather at A Passionate Quilter
• Fiona at Finding Fifth
• Jennie at Jennie's Threads
• Kristy at Quiet Play
• Sarah at Silly Banana Sewing

Please do check out these blogs. Each is very deserving of the award and I am sure that each will pass on the love.

Liebster Award!

I am absolutely gobsmacked to have been awarded the Liebster Award. My wonderful follower, Sarah, has awarded me with this honor. Have you met Sarah yet? You should go check out her blog here. I have enjoyed following her progress as she works toward a City and Guilds Level 3 Certificate in Patchwork and Quilting.

 Have you heard of the Liebster Award?

About the Liebster Blog Award

The origins of the Liebster Blog award are somewhat unclear but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany, Liebster meaning favourite or dearest, to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. Upon accepting the award the recipient must then pass it on to five more blogs of note. A way of introducing other bloggers to the blogs you enjoy.

The Liebster Convention says that:-
1. Thank your award presenter on your blog and link back to him/her;
2. Copy and paste the award to your blog;
3. Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs (with less than 200 followers) that you love;
4. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know;
5. Have faith that those award winners will spread the blog love.
Isn't that a terrific idea? Whoever thought this up should be knighted or something. Now I have some thinking to do. I need to revisit my favorite small blogs and choose only 5 to pass the award to. This will take some thinking. On my next post, I will announce the 5 winners.

Thanks again, Sarah!

New Settings

This is really annoying. What has happened to the Dashboard? I don't like changes. I am not yet good at manipulating my blog and now they go and make changes. I want the Dashboard back. That was the best way to follow my favorite blogs. I probably shouldn't even post this because I am just complaining and not sharing anything that anyone else will be even remotely interested in. Sorry.

Merry Snowman #3

I have finished Merry Snowmen block #3. This is another cute one. I had to take the snowman off and relocate it. I had sewn it on 1/2" above the seam, as the directions said, but I put it above the wrong seam. I hate reverse sewing.

I haven't made any houses since Saturday. I will have very little sewing time coming up. Have I mentioned that I am employed full-time? This is the busy time of the semester. All of the big assignments are being turned in and I have a very short turn around time. I think I am going through house withdrawal.

This Week's Progress

I accomplished my goal of making 10 scrap houses. In fact, I made 20 scrap houses. I only counted four of the 8 that I reported as half done last Monday.

I needed a break from houses, so on Sunday I began working on Merry, Merry Snowmen block #3. I had a great time in my sewing room this week. Thanks for stopping by.

Mother's Scraps

I came across some scraps that I gathered from my mother's things after she died. It was a surprise to see these fabrics after such a long time. I don't know what my mother had been intending to make from them, but I love the colors. I guess we have similar taste. No surprise there.

You can see on the backs of the triangles that she had used a pencil to trace around a template and then cut them out. She had a cutting mat. In fact the green mat you see in my pictures is the one she used. She didn't have a rotary cutter. She had one plexiglass ruler, a six-inch square. I wonder how she used the mat without the accompanying tools. I wish I had been able to teach her how to use these more modern tools that would have given her better success in her projects.

I decided to include some of these fabrics in my house quilt. There wasn't enough of every fabric to cut the pieces needed for a house block. I decided to piece some of them in order to use them. You can see a couple of them above. It is very unlike me to compromise the quality of a project like this. However, it now seems very important to me to have some of my mother's fabrics in the house quilt.

I have been thinking about the process that my grandmother went through to make her quilts. It is amazing to me that she managed to accomplish what she did without the advantage of the tools that I now take for granted. I have never had to 'make do' as my grandmother always did. I make quilts as a hobby, not as a necessity. I don't think my mother ever completed a quilt. In fact, I have a set of Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks (hexies) that I have attempted to finish for her in the past. I haven't looked at it for a few years. I think it is time to get it out again and work on it some more.

This weekend's progress

I have spent quite a bit of time in the sewing room this weekend. What a great time I have had.

I have pieced the top of this baby quilt. You can find the pattern here. The fabric is Hoopla by MODA. The circles are not yet appliqued on. I have been moving them around trying to decide how I want them to look. I might stick with this arrangement, but I might not. I'm funny like that. I saw this on Moda Bake Shop quite a while ago. I bought the fabric and it has been in my stash until now. I mentioned that my daughter is expecting another baby in October. I just had to get this made even though I have promised myself that I won't add new projects to my 'to do' list when I have so many projects in progress.

I have made more progress on my houses. I have completed 12 this week and have these 8 about half done. I am done sewing for the day so this is my accomplishment for the week.

I have taken my completed houses off my design wall. I need to use the surface for other things. I can't have it full of houses for the rest of the year. I have pinned them together in groups of 10 (ala Bonnie Hunter) so I can keep track of my total. I am keeping them in a basket. I now have 61 completed houses and these 8 mostly finished. Sixty-one brings me to March 1. I am getting caught up.

I have been asked about my house blocks. I am participating in the 365 Scrap Houses in 365 Days Challenge. Information can be found here.

See What I Won!

See what I got in the mail today? Just look at these yummy fabrics. I won them from Canton Village Quilt Works (cvquiltworks.com) in conjunction with Victoria (bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com) in celebration of Victoria's birthday. Thanks so much to both of you for the beautiful fabrics. The possibilities are endless, but I am really thinking that I want to make pillows for my family room, which is pretty bland right now. I think these colors will really spice it up. I will have to get pillows on my 'to do' list.

In addition, I will have to get thinking about a baby quilt. My daughter has announced that she is expecting another baby in early October. It is still too early to know the sex of the baby. So now, a baby quilt on my 'to do' list. I also need to make a 'big boy' and a 'big girl' quilt for the other grandkids who are about ready to get out of their cribs. What fun!

Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Snowman BOM

I finished block #2 of the Merry, Merry Snowman Block of the Month project.

I just love the girl holding her purse. Still to be added are buttons for the eyes, the coal buttons down the snowman bellies, and a star shaped button on the sled driver's hat, and a heart button on the scarf of the snowman in the bottom row. These will all be added after the quilting is finished. This is really a fun project.

Now back to making houses.
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April Fool's Day

Rabbit, rabbit! A double special day. First of the month and April Fool's Day. I have no tricks planned. Here is the scoop. I had a very productive month of March. I finished the first block in the Merry, Merry Snowmen quilt BOM. I received the second shipment and have nearly finished that one too. I will be posting a pic later today when I finish the embroidery. I completed the FMQ challenge and posted my best example of this month's challenge. I completed 40 scrap houses this month. Woo Hoo! I now have a total of 45 as of the last day of March. By my calculations, that takes me to February 14. I could be wrong as math is not my strong suit. I have completed both of the Blogger's BOM blocks. I joined a rainbow charm square swap, purchased, cut, and sent off my charms. I am feeling good about my accomplishments for March.

I have joined up with the Small Blog Meet. It is a group for bloggers with fewer than 50 followers. I think it will be very helpful to be in contact with others who are very new to blogging.

This blog entry isn't arranged the way I want it to be. My blog seems to have a mind of its own and I just don't have the time to fool around trying to make it look better. Sorry.

Thanks for stopping by.