Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt - totally enchanted!

These are my first 6 blocks from the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. I have happily joined the Quilt Along over on flickr and you may want to go there to see all the amazing blocks. There is also a yahoo group which I have joined, my first time in a yahoo group.



This is #21, Contrary Wife. Each block is 6.5" unfinished and they are set on pointe in the quilt so that is how I photographed them.



This one is #62, Old Windmill. The idea of the quilt along is that people will do about 2 blocks a week. I am now caught up to the schedule and I really do not plan to rush ahead.



This block is #48, Homeward Bound. You will have noticed that I am not doing them in order. The quilt has 111 blocks, I seem to be doing the easier ones first. Easier in that I can just do the math and piece them my favourite way. Some of the blocks are going to have to be paper pieced or maybe I will used the template method that the book describes.



This is #34, Flock. To me it looks more like a fish or a bunch of fish. The one in the book had different colours for the larger triangles but I like it like this.

I am a bit concerned that this could turn into a  never-ending quilt project, so I have resolved to put whatever is done by next June (or maybe sooner, who knows) into a quilt and finish it off.

I have some other blocks to make this weekend for one of my quilting bees and for the Mystery QAL. I'll post them tomorrow if I get them done. It is cold and raining today, a perfect day for more sewing!

Best,

Leanne

Loads of colour!

I am working on the Modern Crosses Quilt from Modern Log Cabin Quilting by Susan Beal. You can see how each 9.5" block is made up of 4 log cabin blocks. I think this design is a very clever log cabin pattern, but the blocks are not fast to make.



I have 25 blocks done. I am going for twin size, so this is about 1/3 of what I need. I am not sure how I will arrange them in the end, I am using all my very colourful fabrics. I think I need to look for some more blues, greens and purples, there are a lot of warm colours in there.



I have also joined the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt craze. This is block is Basket Weave, #4. I used the same fabric stack.



This one is Friendship Star, #41. I love this block generally and it sure is cute at 6.5" unfinished. There are amazing blocks over at the QAL flickr site.

These small blocks are very enchanting, I expect I will make some more this week. I need to have 6 done to be caught up, but I can now understand why many people are way ahead, they are very satisfying to make. If you have missed hearing about this new QAL, the quilt has 111 blocks and the QAL was started by Angela at Fussy Cut and Amanda at msmcporkchopquilts.

I am linking to WIP Wednesday, as I finally have some progress to show off again. You should go over there for a look at everyone's work.

Best,

Leanne

Presents for me - Pay it Forward Gifts!

Look what was waiting for me when I finally got home today! I have been out of town since Tuesday, and really tired of being away.

Judith, my friend from Rags to Bags, sent me such a wonderful surprise to come home to. Look at that flower, it so cheerful! It is a pin that I can wear or pin on a wall quilt to see all the time.



This is the cutest bag, I love it! There are pockets inside too!



And Judith even sent me some Party Rings, the real kind! She named the Party Rings quilt, and you can see that the name is prefect.

This present was my Pay it Forward gift! The concept of passing on an unexpected kindness is really nice. It sure is fun when it is your turn to get the gift, I can assure you. If you have not yet done so, I encourage you to sign on when you next see an invitation.

So, having been away, I have not been quilting. Here is my newest project, I did four blocks before I left, and four tonight.

It is the Modern Crosses Quilt from Modern Log Cabin Quilting by Susan Beal. I have wanted to make this quilt since I saw it on the cover of the book. And I have wanted to play with these fabrics, the Not Afraid of Colour Bundle from Sew Fresh Fabrics since they arrived a few weeks ago.



I am making this quilt to send to Quilts Recover.

I was in northern Alberta for part of last week - the smoke from the forest fires that are still burning is thick all over, although I was not very close to Slave Lake. I am glad to be able to help out this initiative, started by Cheryl from the Naptime Quilter. The first plan is to send quilts to those families who lost their homes so suddenly to the Slave Lake forest fires.

I hope you have enjoyed the weekend. I am glad to be back home.

Best,

Leanne

Quilt alongs - a little help from my friends.

So I wanted to tell you all about my other quilt alongs, you can read the Ta Da! post about my Party Rings quilt from the Lily's Quilts QAL in yesterday's post for the conclusion of that QAL.

These blocks are the first three from the Mystery QAL. I highly recommend this QAL, the patterns are wonderful, Sheila from the Bluepatch Quilter is hugely knowledgeable and supportive, detentions are rare, and the group of quilters is a lot of fun.



I did this one today. I have done a lot of HSTs and I love them, so many different patterns can emerge, depending on the colours. Sheila had us make the HST blocks slightly larger than we needed (about 1/8 of an inch) and instructed us to trim them. Well, see the nice joins, that is what trimming will do. Totally worth it!



This quilt top is done. It is my entry into the Naked Bed challenge that Sarah Fielke at The Last Piece initiated. It measures 100" wide by 98" long and fits with some extra on my king size bed. You might want to check out the other quilts in the flickr group, there are some very talented people there.

When I first started quilting, I saw these Laura Gunn fabrics. The lines are called Poppy and Lantern Bloom and I started buying them. I quickly learned that I needed a special pattern that would show off the large scale prints well and when I saw the Wedding Quilt pattern at The Purl Bee, my plan was made. Then I made a bunch of other quilts instead and the fabrics sat in my cupboard. I am so glad that this challenge pushed me to get this made for my bed. The white is Essex linen/cotton which is a dream to work with.

My current question is should I back this with a large king size sheet, add batting and get it quilted so it can be on the bed. Or should I make the pieced back that the left over pieces has inspired? I could make that pieced back into a second quilt instead and have this one to use far sooner - this is how I am leaning.



These cut fabrics represent my late start on the Ogee QAL, which Lesly at Pickle Dish is hosting.

This beautiful Curlicue Crush pattern is by Rebecca from Chasing Cottons. It took me a long time to pick the fabrics to use, and now I have a lot of curves to cut, but I am in the game. Here are the fabris I picked, all spread out:



And I am so excited to be starting the Kaleidoscope QAL that Elizabeth from Don't call me Betsy is running! This is a quilt pattern I have wanted to do for some time. Here are my fabrics:



This one is just starting, I hope you will join in too, follow this button to get there:

I am also going to take part in the Skill Builder Sampler that Leila at Sewn is going to provide, it starts real soon too. I mean, really, with a button like that, one must participate!

It seems that I like quilt alongs - I learn things, I try different ideas and I meet fun and interesting people!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Best,

Leanne

Ta Da! Party Rings - All Done!

I can't pick which picture I like the best, so I am giving you all of them. If you want view bigger individual pictures, click the mosaic and you will go to the picture on my flickr page and it has links to all the individual pictures.

I love this quilt! It turned out pretty much exactly as I imagined - sort of retro looking like LP Records. It is soft and bumpy. It does not lay that flat in all spots but then again, beds and people are not that flat.



It is a full twin size, about 60" x 90". It is the product of Lily's Quilts QAL which was great fun. I learned a lot in this QAL and made some friends too.



It is hard to get a really good photo of the whole quilt, especially since it is grey and raining today, but I could not wait to show you.



The back is even harder to photograph. It is a black and brown flower print called Oh My by Saneae for Moda. The quilt front is a combination of Kona solids and prints Giselle by Jessica Gonacha Swift.  I bound it with one of the prints used in the giant dresen circles.

The quilt-as-you-go quilting was done in two different variegated threads,  called Strawberry Creme and Chocolate Brownies. These are hand dyed threads from Romania which I ordered from Valdani (I had no idea that thread could be so wonderful, go take a look).



I joined the blocks after quilting using the method that I worked out with Marci from Marci Girl Designs and blogged here at Lily's Quilts. This method for joining worked out very nicely, there was no impact on the original design and I was able to quilt the blocks with the backs in place so you can see all the quilting on the back too.



Next week, this quilt is off to my niece, so I am going to ooh and aah over it until then.

This was a major part of May's quilting, so I am linking to to Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day. I am hoping to visit all the sites linked there over this week, I hope you will check them out too.

Tomorrow I hope to tell you about my now finished new quilt top for my own bed, a product of the Naked Bed Challenge, which I just have to iron and photograph - it is king sized so even harder to get a good picture. I expect I will also tell you about some new quilt alongs I have not been able to resist.

Best,

Leanne