Monday, November 7, 2016

Design Wall (Table?) Monday...

It's been a REALLY long time since I've done a design wall post - partly because I don't really have a wall to post things to.  So, today, I decided to try using the table on my screened in porch that I use for layering quilts, and it worked fairly well!  The only real downfall was that I couldn't get out there until after 5 pm; the time change on the weekend made the space a little dim, and there's no lights out there (I use that area primarily in the summer - there's no heat out there either!)  But, I really wanted to get this posted today, and the pictures turned out reasonably well...
I had mentioned that I was testing a pattern for Cathy - I've been plugging away at this for a few weeks now, and I just want to get it done!  It's not a complicated pattern, but life got really busy for a bit, and then hubby was diagnosed with influenza which meant that I got to put my nursing skills to work for about 9 days.  With some of the other craziness going on, I didn't pay enough attention to the instructions, and ended up making a goof that required ordering more of my feature fabric - and waiting for it to arrive.  It finally came, and I'm on a roll again!  The pattern is Geese Around the Tulip Patch, and here's my version (so far):

The pattern uses these 2 blocks for the body of the quilt:

I'm hoping to have all the blocks assembled by this weekend!
I'm linking up to Patchwork Times

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Little things...

It's that time of the month again - time to reveal my 366 blocks for October.  I have been doing this for 305 days!  (plus the first 3 for November... but we aren't going to count them just yet).  Taking a quick look at the blocks when I photographed them, I see that I did a lot of black and black-and-red blocks.  I cut out stacks of black and white, and black and red and white, and white and black blocks for a quilt I'm eager to do.  It was too hot to sew, so I cut fabrics instead (the air-conditioning didn't reach to my sewing room... and we had some HOT days in October!)  I also cut the fabrics I needed for our quilt guild's place mat donation - I was assigned to use purple - and that colour also made an appearance in my 366 blocks.  So, now that you know why some colours appear more abundantly than others, you can see the blocks!
Another little thing that I've been busy with is tiny "bead bags".  We have an excellent Children's Hospital in the city near us.  One of the neat things they do is to give every child a "bravery bead" every time they have to have a procedure done - x-rays, scans, bloodwork, chemo, etc. - and the kids need a place to keep those beads until they collect enough to make a necklace.  That's where these little bags come in.  I was asked a few weeks ago if I have fabric - YES!  I do!  Then I was asked to make some of these little bags - so these 14 are ready to go tomorrow morning.

Here's a close-up of some of the fun fabrics I used - and I have LOTS more cut and ready to sew up.

I have a BIG project in the works too - I'm testing a quilt pattern for my friend Cathy - it's called "Geese Around the Tulip Patch" (there's a pic on her blog!) - mine is in greens.  I'll have a picture of my progress here in a day or two...
 Linking up to  Quilty FolkMy Quilt Infatuation, and Quilting is more fun than housework.