Orca Bay, step #1

I just couldn't resist starting Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt "Orca Bay". Step #1 is to make 224 tiny hourglasses, each being 2.5 inches square. I love 1900-era quilts, so I'm mostly using reproduction fabrics which are abundant in my inventory! Most of the hourglasses are done, some pictured below.

I'm also using scraps from recycled shirts, which with their many plaids, stripes & homespun fabrics are perfect for replicating 1900-era quilts. In the photo below, the black fabric with the small boxes inside the bigger boxes (2nd one from the left) came from a shirt....it's perfect! I also love the black mourning prints, which were very common in 1900.

I love mystery quilts and I'm so curious to discover how all these little pieces will eventually go together!

Louise

Challenge blocks

I made some blocks for a challenge over at the Sunshine Yahoo group. Ann sent 2 small pieces of "ugly" fabric to me and I sewed some quilt blocks using those fabrics, which I'll be returning to Ann. She'll be making Sunshine quilts with all the blocks she gets back, which will eventually go to kids who can use a bright & cheerful quilt.

In the top group below, the light fabric was the "ugly" fabric. In the bottom group, the gray was. Personally, I didn't think the fabrics were that ugly!





















The cute bunny above is a Debbie Mumm pattern. I never made it before & wanted to try it out. I'll definitely be making more of those bunnies...they would be perfect in 1930's reproductions!

Louise

A charming gift

I was the lucky recipient of Nancy's blog giveaway. She sent me these beautiful charm packs! Thank you, Nancy, for your generosity! It's time I start thinking about a giveaway.

The Christmas pack is Nature's Gift, by Moda. The other is an assortment of rich solids.

I recently took a Pat Speth (Nickel Quilts) workshop & it opened my eyes to all the possibilities of these sweet little charm squares. Pat is such a nice person & the workshop was great. She taught all kinds of techniques and tricks. I highly recommend her workshops and lecture, especially if you love scrap quilts.

Louise

August Lotto blocks

I finished the August Lotto blocks for the Sunshine group & will mail them off in a day or so. I really like doing these blocks. It was fun to play with purple & yellow, which I don't usually use. As a bonus, I used up some scraps! Tammy (of Sunshine) will incorporate these blocks into donation quilts for kids.
September's theme is "bright colors".....and another opportunity to use up scraps!

Louise

Friday design wall.....UFO progress!

Today I was in the mood to dig through a bin of older UFOs.
I pulled out this project. This morning all it was were the animal panels & small squares. My progress so far today:




I had an almost identical top in the box that, except for borders, is already done.

These two are destined to be donation quilts. I think some child will like the animals. In fact, I think that I have some animal print fabric that would make great backs! Use up that stash!


Periodically, I consider all my UFOs and feel so overwhelmed! It'll take me years to finish them all, I'm sure. I've decided to try to at least get them all to the "top" stage, with backings and bindings all set to go. That way, I can pull out all the related scraps and fabric pieces and either donate them or file them back into my stash, so they're readily available for something else. Small scraps will be chopped up into blocks or strips.

For years I've accumulated many styles of fabric: kids, brights, reproductions, batiks....anything that I "just had to have" at the time! My tastes are changing and my quilting time is limited, so I've decided to just sew what I really love - Reproduction fabrics, especially 1900 or before. As I sort through UFOs and stash, I will cull fabric and donate it. I don't feel guilty anymore about how much I paid for it all. I really just want to pare down my stash to the stuff that I really love working with! The donated fabric will be useful to someone else, and will benefit my favorite non-profit thrift store.

Louise

Quiltmaker mystery, step #2

I finished this step today, in the current Quiltmaker magazine. It involves making 48 of these little blocks:

The instructions are to either use the template in the magazine, or to paper piece. I wasn't looking forward to doing either!
I remembered that I had these nifty tri-recs tools & found that they worked great! Why didn't the magazine recommend these rulers??!!



Here is the 2nd part of step #2 - 17 & 14 of these blocks. I'm thinking maybe they're for some kind of border? The dark is really a dark purple.



This is how all the blocks look together. I can't imagine what the result will be. There are still 4 more fabrics that haven't been used yet.


I have to admit that when I make mystery quilts, I never use fabric that I am really in love with. That way, if I don't like the design I haven't "wasted" any fabric. These purples look pretty together, but they are older fabrics and I'm happy to use them up!

Louise

Quiltmaker mystery - step #1

Despite my large repertoire of UFOs, I succumbed to temptation and started another one! It's the Mystery Quilt in the May/June 2011 Quiltmaker magazine, designed by Debbie Caffrey. The good thing is that the fabric is all from my stash, so I didn't have to buy more! Some of this fabric is very well aged!

These are the fabrics I'm using - all purples & greens.




Here are the finished blocks from step #1. So far, it's an easy quilt & I like the way the colors are playing together.
A few years back I let all my quilt magazine subscriptions expire. I just had too many & all the patterns started looking alike. I like this magazine, though, so I may end up subscribing, especially now that Bonnie Hunter, one of my favorite quilt celebrities, is a contributor.

Louise