Sunday, March 31, 2013

First Quarter Progress Report - 2013 Finish Along

Wow!  It is time for my first Quarterly Report for the 2013 finish along!

Here is my original list created shortly after the New Year and my progress
  • Blue One Block Wonder quilt - DONE!
  • Blue OBW w/seagull
  • Also this quarter, I hope to finish up my Beginner QAL quilt (still in progress) and How Far Will You Go? quilt - Done!
  • HFWYG quilt top 1.2

  • Time to use up all those clothing fabric scraps I've been saving and make quilts for the girls.  These scraps are taking up important "new fabric" space, so they have to go!  This is the NewFO, I planned to start in January; however, I was reminded that I need to make.... - NOT EVEN STARTED :(
  • 2 baby quilts for friends who are expecting soon.  Like really soon.  So I better get working on them too. -- Well I finished one
  • Discontinuity 1 but then I found out the friend I was making it for was having a boy!  I also started the 2nd quilt for my other friend, and am almost done with it!
  • I have 4 Star of Africa Blocks to do already, plus another 2 from later in the quarter - I finished the 4 to catch up, but I have the other 2 from more recent months to do.
  • I'll have 3 Skill Builder BOM blocks to do - actually there are 6 to do, and I have only started ONE.
  • 4 Lucky Star BOM blocks to do - DONE and up to date
  • 2 blocks each month, for a total of 6 blocks for the We Be Learning Bee - Done and up to date!
  • 2 blocks each month, for a total of 4 blocks for the Simply Solids Bee (it starts in February) - DONE and up to date
  • 2 blocks each month, for a total of 6 blocks for the Make it Modern Bee - DONE and up to date
  • Make it Modern March x plus
  • Winter Mug Rug for a Swap I signed up for - DONE
  • Winter Mug Rug Swap

Yes, there are a few things I didn't get to, but I feel pretty good about that list!

I will have to put my list together for the 2nd quarter soon - perhaps on the 6 hour drive up to Mammoth??

Thanks for reading today,

Jen


she can quilt

March finishes - April Goal Setting

I thought I would post this a few days early since I'll be shredding up the ski slopes this week with the family.

So how did I fair for March's goals?  Not particularly well.  As I anticipated, March was a busy month.


March UFO's

My Beginner QAL blocks went from this:

Beginner's QAL Blocks
 to this:

BQA top WIP

Progress, yes, but not really that much of it.

I also wanted to finish my Les Amis quilt, but only got as far as finishing the SID.  Now I need to get started on quilting the feathers.


March New FO's

I decided to just focus on projects from my Curves Class, and I was successful in finishing a few of the projects before I needed to move on to other things.  These sure were fun!

curves mosaic

1. My Rainbow Road table runner, 2. droplet journal covers, 3. Clamshell journal cover, 4. drunkard's path pot holder, 5. drunkard's path pot holder, 6. Summersville DP, 7. For my Valentine, 8. Clamshell Journal cover

Now for April......

April UFO's

It would be silly not to try to finish up the same two UFO's from March.  I am only one step closer, but it is a step in the right direction, right?

So Beginner QAL quilt, and Les Amis Baby Quilt.  Check, check!

April New FO's

As you know, I recently signed up for the Hands 2 Help Charity quilt drive.  Our quilts are not due until June, but I think things are only going to get busier leading up to summer vacation.  Better to get that done now.  I will be pleased with myself that I crossed something off my to-do list well in advance.  Perhaps it will give me the momentum needed to start a few other projects on that list.

H2H 2013 logo



Well, I should still be pretty busy, right?

Thanks for reading today,

Jen

Linking up with:
My Button


2013NewFO










Inspirational Sunday (7) - via the 2013 Road to California Quilt Show

The Birds have it.

Today I want to share 3 beautiful quilts that have birds as a central theme.


"Nite Owl by Sharon Hightower of Claremont, CA and "Hoot Are You, Hoot, Hoot" by Sherry Glidden of Ladera Ranch

Can you guess why I love these two?  Yes, I have a thing for owls.

The one on the right is called Night Owl by Sharon Hightower of Claremont, CA.  It is collaged, machine appliqued, and quilted.  She used a coloring book to create the original design.

The one on the left is called "Hoot are you, Hoot, Hoot" by Sherry Glidden of Ladera Ranch, CA.  It was inspired by a photo of an Eastern Screech Owl taken by Jason Idzerda.

Just beautiful!


"Estuary, Oregon Coast" by Marilyn Fromherz

This one is called "Estuary, Oregon Coast" by Marilyn Fromherz of Calimesa, California.  This quilt was part of the Fairfield Batting exhibit and was a grand prize winner.

Even though this is set in Oregon. this one reminded me of growing up in South Florida.  We had these herons all over the place, and they are exceptionally beautiful.

I just signed up for a new Blog Hop happening May 7th thru 15th, called "For the Birds".  You guessed it!  It is anything bird themed.  I'm still figuring out what I will make.

What is your favorite bird?

Thanks for reading today,

Jen

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Feathers - Building Blocks Tuesday (the early edition)

I am posting this week's Building Blocks Tuesday VERY early.  We are off and running on a quick vacation, and I wanted to make sure everything is set for my lovely bee mates.  The linky will stay open until the 9th as usual.

Welcome Make it Modern bee mates!  I hope you are ready for a fun, but challenging block.

IMG_2137


I feel in love with these feather blocks by Anna Maria Horner the moment I saw them.  She has a free pattern on her website HERE.  They are a great way to use up strips in your scrap basket.   The construction is not difficult, as long as you think it out.  I've created a partial tutorial for you, just in case.  ALSO, in case piecing a bunch of strips is not up your alley.  I also created a paper piecing pattern based on Anna's feathers, but not exact.  She is a professional after all, and I am just starting to play around with EQ7.

Each block measures 18.5 inches square when completed and has 2 feathers.  I would love it if you could use any fall colors you have in your scrap pile.  You can see I used plenty of browns, even a touch of dark purple is OK too.  Background should be some form of white or grey (hey, I'm not that picky).  I even used a white on white for my blocks.  For the spine of my feather, I used black, but any really dark color will do fine.  Ready to get started?

First, you will need to choose your battle ground: strips or paper?

IMG_2120

Anna's Method

If you are choosing Anna's method.  Please print out the pattern and templates.

 Here is a little trick I learned in Sarah Fielke's Craftsy class.  If you have a template that you will need to use frequently, get some self-laminating sheets.  But first cut out your templates, leaving about 1/8 inch around the template lines, and then join together A1 to A2, and F1 to F2 as instructed in the pattern using tape.

IMG_2121

Now, place your self laminating sheets on top of the template pieces.  Feel free to cut off any excess and use it on another template.  You can even layer a bit without having any trouble.  Once the laminating sheets are on, cut your templates on the cut line (as shown in the pic above).  I think I used just short of two laminating sheets for all these templates.  If you printed your templates on cardstock, now they will be SUPER-sturdy.  I just used regular copy paper.

Next you will need to get out those strips in fall colors.  I found it helpful to arrange them a little by length first, then arrange them in a pleasing color scheme.  That way if a strip was a little short, I could add a little to lengthen it.  Sew them together.  Double check with your Template A to see if you have your strip set wide and long enough.

IMG_2123
template A with right side up
HOWEVER, here is the tricky part.  You will need to get 2 of Template A going in this direction, then 2 of the wrong side of the template - don't you know the darn thing points in the other direction!

IMG_2124
template A with wrong side up.
I had to sew a few extra strips on to give me enough room to get templates going in both directions.   Arrange your templates on your sewn strips, and cut out 2 of Template A showing right side up, and 2 of Template A with the wrong side up (lining up the lines on the template as instructed in the pattern with the seams of your strips).  If you added a different color strip to any strips to lengthen them, make sure the seam isn't in the middle of your feather (it will look weird, trust me, I know).

IMG_2127

Unfortunately, because of the two directions needed for template A, there is a bit of waste...

IMG_2126

Now, I started with a piece of sewn strips around 23 inch square, and I probably could have gotten by with a little less, especially if I wasn't avoiding those seams for adding in the purple.  Anna's pattern uses a width of fabric long piece, but she was making a lot more feathers than us!

The rest of the pattern is pretty easy.  You add the background to each feather piece, then the spine, then the outside background pieces (make sure the narrow end of the background is lined up with the wide end of the feather - ripped those seams out a few times!), then put the 2 feathers together.  TIP: when adding the background pieces, you will have to start with little dog-ears hanging off the sides when you go to join the pieces.

When you are done, square up to 18.5 if needed.

IMG_2128

Pretty right!

But perhaps you don't have a bunch of strips in your scrap stash, or maybe the above process seems a little much.  OK.  Plan B...

Paper Piecing

First download and print out 2 copies of the paper piecing pattern HERE at google drive.  I am just starting to learn EQ7, and I have to apologize, it is not the best print quality.  Our scanner here at the house broke, so I had my husband scan it at work.  He didn't adjust the darkness, so some of the numbers are a bit obscured.  You should still be able to figure it out.

Cut out the pieces, and leave a little extra room around the side seam allowances.

IMG_2129

This block is too big for regular sized paper, so I had to cut it up a tad.  I found it easier to join the pieces now rather than once the fabric is in place.  So, tape those feather pieces back together.

IMG_2130
Caution, piece G is not oriented properly in this picture.
 Please tape Piece A to Piece B, and Piece C to Piece D, then Piece E to Piece F.  The feather portion should look like the picture above.  Please note, however, that piece G is not turned properly.  The longest side of G actually lines up with the length of the feather.  Here is a pic of the orientation for reference:

PP orientation

Using your favorite paper piecing technique, start adding small strips to Piece AB and Piece CD, beginning with background in A1 and C1!!

IMG_2131
This is terrible quality pic, but I wanted you to be aware that lining up this piece didn't quite cover the space it needed.
Caution! Because the strips are angled, you will need a longer piece than you think to cover all the corners of the diagonal.  The piece above didn't do the trick even though I centered the new piece on the previous one. You might want to test flip your piece as you are going along, before you sew it, to be sure it will cover the space needed.

Once you are all done adding the strips, join it with the spine (Piece EF) and then with the other half of the feather, like so:

IMG_2132

 I added pieces G and H after I assembled the feather.

I didn't give you pieces for the side backgrounds, because I found it was just easier if you cut 2 strips approximately 19 inches x 4 inches.  Sew them to either side of the feather.

IMG_2134

Then trim your feather down to 18.5 inches x 9.5 inches.  Yes, this puts the straight grain against the feather instead of the sides of the block, but for me, that is OK.

IMG_2135

And there you go!  One down, one feather to go.

IMG_2136
Your half block will have a little more background at the top of the feather (I trimmed mine a little too short)
Then make another feather using your 2nd pattern you printed out and add them together.  When you are finished your block should be 18.5 inches square.

Yes, my feather is a bit "thicker" than Anna's, but that is OK with me too.  Diversity is nice sometimes.

I also want to mention that if your feathers aren't perfect, that is OK with me too!  My spines weren't perfectly angled at all.  You can also repeat fabrics as needed.  I trust your judgement on what will look nice together.  Just think "Fall colors", OK??

You can email me any hate mail questions by commenting below, clicking on the email link on the "view my complete profile" page, or by Flickr mail.

For everyone else..... what have you been working on this week?

Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until April 9th, when a new linky will be posted.  And spread the word!


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!


Thanks for reading,

Jen



Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Easter and back-up plans - WIP Wednesday

Monday, I pulled out my Les Amis baby quilt and finally resumed all the SID.  Towards the end of the day, it dawned on me that I really need to have the girls' Easter baskets finished by Thursday because they are out of school starting Friday.  Scratch that, I'm having my wisdom teeth out on Thursday!  They have to be done by Wednesday, yikes!

Luckily, I had already pulled fabrics and started cutting out the general sizes of the templates.  I decided the pattern looked WAY more involved than I have done before, so maybe it would be a good idea to make one of the baskets to see how it goes.  This would give me a good indication if it was even feasible to get all three done on time.  The first one went together alright - not quickly, exactly, but within reason - so I continued with the other two and here they all are!  That one in the middle was my first one.  Clearly I choose the wrong fabric for the pocket (it would have been better as a lining), so I altered my plans a little for the other two baskets.

Divided Baskets for Easter

I used Anna Graham's Divided Basket Pattern found at www.noodle-head.com.  If you remember, last year I made some little baskets from Kat's tutorial at Diary of a Flutter Kat.  These were much easier to make, but I couldn't fit much into them (both a blessing and a curse).  These divided baskets have a ton more room, as you will see below.

I really don't like to fill the baskets with candy (they get so much from school and Grandma), so I spent way more than I should and got some toys, pencils, snacks, even some Chapstick to go in them.  Here they are all filled.

filled Easter Baskets

Other stuff on my mind for this week is our upcoming trip to Mammoth, CA.  The whole family is going, and we hope to ski our little hearts out.  I can't wait!  I love skiing, even though I didn't really learn until high school (a girl from Florida doesn't have many opportunities, you know).  Although.... we are going for the whole week, and I'm not certain I am in good enough shape to last all week on the slopes.  So, as a back-up plan, I will be bringing my Handstitched Quilt to work on; just in case I'm stuck in the cabin with something broken or super sore.

In case you are wondering, Building Blocks Tuesday is already pre-scheduled and ready to go, as is Inspirational Sunday.  The only thing that will be missing next week is WIP Wednesday, and since I am making progress at a snail's pace on everything, you really won't be missing much!

This Wednesday...

Completed Projects:
  • April Showers Mug Rug - done, but I can't show you until the 17th (my new day in the schedule). Hmm, that might give me enough time to do another one.
  • Easter baskets - 3 of Noodlehead's Divided baskets are done!
On-going Projects:

AKA - "stuff I plan to touch this week or next".
  • Bee Blocks & BOM blocks - Skill Builder BOM blocks (now 2 months worth), April's Simply Solids stuff came in the mail this week too.
  • Star of Africa Bee - February's block still needs to be done, and we just found out the March theme
  • Les Amis Baby quilt - all the SID is completed.  I am struggling on deciding if I want to do an all-over feather design, or if I want to do a more traditional "inside the lines" feather design, or maybe just scrap feathers all together and do flowers.  Decisions, decisions.
  • Baby quilt in blue - fabrics chosen.  Must decide on a design soon.  I would like to do a interlocking square type pattern, but simple chevrons might be more appreciated by the mom.
  • Discontinuity 2 - top is complete using the log cabin method.  Backing came last week, but I haven't done the basting yet.
  • Block tutorial for my month of Make it Modern - coming this Monday, assuming I can get it done.

Back Burner:

These will likely be touched in a couple of weeks - I know I've been saying that for more than a couple of weeks.
  • Handstitched Medallion Quilt - quilting in progress.  This is the project I pull out whenever we go up to the mountains for the weekend.  I usually only get a few threads more done, but it is a nice project to do in front of the fireplace while the girls are watching movies.
  • Beginner Quilt Along at Quilting Gallery - PROGRESS!  I have put the sashing on!  Hey, it is something in the right direction.
  • Curves Class goodies - catch up in progress, but on hold for now.   
This week's stats:
Completed projects - 2
New projects - 1
Currently in Progress - 6 ish

Don't forget to link up any blocks you have been working on to the Building Blocks Tuesday post!

And as always, thanks for reading,

Jen

Quilter in the Closet

Linking up with
 WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Comma cuts the mustard - Building Blocks Tuesday


Make it Modern March x plus

I can see how these x - plus blocks can be addicting.  Especially when they turn out so fun.

This one is for Karen as part of the Make it Modern Bee.  She asked for aqua, gray and mustard yellow.  I was completely unhappy with the mustards I had in my stash, so I ordered a little Comma, and it came in time.  I really made the look I was going for.

If all goes according to plan, next week's Building Blocks Tuesday might be a day early to accommodate for my month of the Make it Modern bee.  Of course the linky will be open until the following Tuesday as usual.

So what have you been working on this week?

Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open for a whole week.  And spread the word!


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!


Thanks for reading,

Jen


Sunday, March 24, 2013

Hands 2 Help 2013

Just a quick note to let you know that sign ups for this year's Hands 2 Help charity quilt drive start today over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  There are two charities to choose from.

H2H 2013 logo

I participated last year and sent a quilt to the Happy Chemo charity which gives quilts to those undergoing chemotherapy, and I must say, it felt darn good!  I'm all signed up to do another quilt this year, and I hope you will join me.

Thanks for reading,

Jen

Inspirational Sunday (6) - via the 2013 Road to California Quilt Show

This year at Road, there were a bunch of Modern Quilts.   I just love them.  They may not necessarily be simple to make, but unlike many of the quilts in the show, when I look at these, I can actually say "Hey, I think I could do something similar".  They are attainable.  Of course, I haven't really tried, so maybe they are extremely difficult.  But no matter, at least when I look at them, they FEEL attainable.  Power of perception!

This one is called "Convergence" by Annette Guerrero of Pasadena, CA.

"Convergence" by Annette Guerrero of Pasadena, CA

I love the bold colors and sharp angles that are accentuated by the straight line quilting.

Here is another quilt by Annette Guerrero of Pasadena, CA called "Iris".

"Iris" by Annette Guerrero of Pasadena, CA

This one makes me think all those improv blocks I have been doing for bee mates will come together wonderfully in their projects.

If you like Annette Guerrero's work, she has a great portfolio of pictures on her website.

There were also several quilts from the "We Love Color" book, as several of the faculty had either designed the quilts or done the quilting, but gosh darn it if I didn't have my camera with me when I went through that part of the exhibit.

Thanks for reading today,

Jen

Friday, March 22, 2013

Best Blind Date EVER! - tour of RJR Fabrics

In business school, they teach you that who you know is just as important as what you know.  A great deal of emphasis is placed on networking (which often occurs on a golf course). I found this to be true when I was working, and to a lesser extent now that I have left corporate America.  But for the most part, my networks have stayed segregated - business for business, mommy stuff for mommy stuff, quilting for quilting.  I never thought they would intersect really.

To make a long story shorter, my DH works and plays golf with someone who also plays golf with the owner of RJR Fabrics.  Somehow or other these fine men collaborated to set up a tour at the RJR facility, which incidentally is about a mile or so away from my house!  Two weeks ago, I met with Demetria Hayward, the VP of Marketing at RJR, who graciously showed me around the facility.

Marketing people are supposed to be nice, but Demetria was especially so!  I showed up not really knowing what to expect since my husband had set this up, and I joked about how it was a little like a blind date.  Let me tell you, this was the best blind date EVER!  Demetria really took the time to explain and educate me about the fabric manufacturing processes, design aspects, and even a little history of some of the fabric designers.  I would like to share a little of what I learned.

RJR visit


First, RJR only manufactures quilting cottons.  No apparel fabrics, home decor, etc.  Only fabric for quilters!  So they are pretty focused.  They don't actually manufacture the fabric here in CA.  Like other fabric companies they do that mostly in Japan and Korea.  When it arrives at their warehouse in Torrance, it is on giant rolls.  You can see them stacked in the picture above, though it doesn't give you much of an idea of size.  Well no one wants THAT much of one fabric.  So, RJR then takes them from the roll and puts them on the bolts like you see in your local fabric shop.

RJR visit

I'm not sure why this machine was so intriguing.  You can see the large roll of fabric on the bottom of the machine (and some in the bottom right of the picture).  This nice man then weaves the fabric through the machine, and it spins it onto the bolt.  He will then mark each bolt with his machine number and initials, as a quality control measure.

RJR also sells some precuts and quilt kits, which they cut and package themselves at this facility.  Here are some of the lovely women that get those ready.

RJR visit

Cutting is one of my least favorite tasks in quilt-making, I can only imagine what their day must be like.  Although, they do have some specialized equipment.  See that machine in the foreground, it is actually a fabric cutter.  Looks a bit like an electric saw to me, which I guess that's what it is, but for cutting through multiple layers of fabric at a time.  Perhaps if I had one of those, I could cut a whole quilt in a matter of minutes instead of hours?

Demetria also educated me a little about the screen printing process used to create the fabric designs and how they go about choosing designers and designs.  She also gave me a bit of a history lesson when it came to some of their designers, including Jinny Beyer, a true pioneer in quilting fabric.  She was one of the first people to design an entire line of tonal fabrics in a wide variety of hues of color - 150 to be exact!  Can you imagine one line of fabric with 150 different colors and designs?  It is called the Jinny Beyer Palette.  I, of course, new nothing about any of this, and was happy to learn.  I am somewhat oblivious to some of these things since I haven't really been quilting very long.

I could have spent all day chatting quilting with Demetria, but alas, our tour had to come to an end sometime.  She was kind enough to give me a little loot before I left.....

RJR fabrics loot

OK, so that is a LOT of loot!!  I was only expecting a tour, so all this was a bit of a shock.  As far as blind dates go, this was like being flown to Paris on a private plane just for dessert.  I love color cards and she gave me a whole bunch of them including one for the Jinny Beyer Palette and their line of solids.  There is also a kit in there to make a hand bag from one of their more modern lines, Cold Spring Dreams, by Mary McGuire.  AND a fat quarter pack of Doodle Zoo by Thimbleberries.  Whew!

I would like to thank Demetria, RJR Fabrics, and of course those golfing buddies, for their generous hospitality and for putting the whole thing together.  I had a thoroughly good time and enjoyed every minute of it!

So like I said, best blind date EVER!

Thanks for reading today,

Jen




Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Following the sheep

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4337199/?claim=yfsjs4ypz5e">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Claimin' my blog.

Jen

Now spinning the right way - WIP Wednesday

Thanks to a couple of sick kids and a disaster of a house, I have nothing new to show you this week and made little progress from last week's list.  HOWEVER, I have made progress on some of my general quilty goals for the year!

I finally made it to a meeting of the Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild earlier in the month.  I had pretty high expectations, and I wasn't disappointed.  First, there must have been at least 65 people there that night - standing room only!  It was fun to see so many diverse people in the room, and learning that there quilt styles were just as diverse was wonderful.  I also got to see them wrap up / show the final projects from the Madrona Road Challenge.  People made all sorts of beautiful stuff.  From mug rugs, to full size bed-quilts, bags, pillows, even a laminated mat to go under the kid's car seat to protect your upholstery.  So many creative patterns and uses for that line of fabric.  It was very inspirational.  I also heard from several members that attended QuiltCon and their take on the experience.  It made me really want to go to the next QuiltCon!  I hope I can make it back to another meeting soon to see what else is new.

I also started to organize my scraps.  No more overflowing brown paper bags.  I say "started" because even though I now have them organized by color, I was hoping to pull out lower quality fabrics for Ashley, and cut them to useful sizes for her.  I have only gotten as far as sorting them by color - but it is a start!

Also!  A couple of Friday's ago, I took a tour of RJR Fabrics!  My Dear Husband set this up - isn't he the best?  It turns out, their facility is right around the corner from me.  I am still writing up my post about the experience, but I hope you check back on Friday to hear about the best blind date EVER!


This Wednesday...

Completed Projects:
  • Bee Blocks - We Bee Learning blocks - done and redone (now spinning the right way), Make it Modern blocks - all done, March Lucky Star block - done!
  • Now spinning the right way

On-going Projects:

AKA - "stuff I plan to touch this week or next".
  • Bee Blocks & BOM blocks - Skill Builder BOM blocks (now 2 months worth), April's Simply Solids stuff came in the mail this week too.  And do I dare start the Forest QAL?  It looks so fun.
  • Star of Africa Bee - February's block still needs to be done, and we just found out the March theme
  • Curves Class goodies - catch up in progress, but on hold for now
  • Les Amis Baby quilt - quilting in progress, was put aside for curves week, but it is time to get going on the quilting.
  • Baby quilt in blue - fabrics chosen.  Must decide on a design soon.  I would like to do a interlocking square type pattern, but simple chevrons might be more appreciated by the mom.
  • Discontinuity 2 - top is complete using the log cabin method.
  • April Showers Mug Rug - Started!
  • Easter baskets - I want to make a few of Noodlehead's Divided baskets for the girls' goodies, but I am not sure I will have time.

Back Burner:

These will likely be touched in a couple of weeks - I know I've been saying that for more than a couple of weeks.
  • Handstitched Medallion Quilt - quilting in progress.  This is the project I pull out whenever we go up to the mountains for the weekend.  I usually only get a few threads more done, but it is a nice project to do in front of the fireplace while the girls are watching movies.
  • Beginner Quilt Along at Quilting Gallery - PROGRESS!  I have put the sashing on!  Hey, it is something in the right direction.
  • Charity quilt for the guild - not started.   
This week's stats:
Completed projects - just blocks
New projects - 0
Currently in Progress - 8 +

Don't forget to link up any blocks you have been working on to the Building Blocks Tuesday post!

And as always, thanks for reading,

Jen

Quilter in the Closet

I am not linking up today.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Maybe it is a hemisphere thing? - Building Blocks Tuesday

Have you ever tried to make excuses for yourself just not paying attention?  Take a look at this snail trail block for Hayley (Mrs. Pickles Garden) in the We Bee Learning Bee.

We Bee Learning March

Looks OK, right?  Well, my snail trail is spinning the wrong way.  When I jotted down the instructions for the block from Jess's tutorial at The Elven Garden, I didn't pay close attention to which way the trail was spinning.  I even drew a little picture -  spinning the wrong way.

Maybe it is a hemisphere thing?  I mean, when you flush a toilet in Australia, the water goes down and around counter-clockwise instead of clockwise like it does here in the Northern Hemisphere, right?  So does that mean that I really belong in Australia (or somewhere else in the Southern Hemisphere)?  Or is Jess in the wrong hemisphere?  Who knows!

So while Olivia is home with an earache, I will be unpicking these today and putting them together the right way.

So what have you been working on this week?

Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open for a whole week.  And spread the word!


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!


Thanks for reading,

Jen