On my design wall

Nothing of my own on my design wall today, but one of my goals each month is to keep up with bee blocks, which to me includes BOMs.

My LQS has a First Saturday BOM program that started in August, so we're 8 months into it. Just to see progress, I put them all up on my design wall. I really like this year's color palette with all these fall colors.

Here's the main block, with this month's version at the upper left.

QF 1st Saturday Main Blocks

Here's the alternate block. These are 12" blocks, two per month, so I guess this year's quilt will be pretty big with 36 blocks. Not sure I'm loving the alternate blocks, but we'll see what the plan is at the end.

QF 1st Saturday Alternate Blocks

I don't count any of this fabric into or out of my stash because each month we get kits with only exactly enough for that month's blocks.

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, and Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.

March Stash Report and Goals Update

Stash Report

Even though it's not quite the end of the month, I don't have any fabric purchases planned or any projects ready to be finished, so I feel safe in counting my monthly usage today. I'm linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times.

IN this month: 3-1/8 yards (2 yds Easter print;  3/4 yd for STLMQG collection challenge; 3/8 yd STLMQG door prize)
OUT this month: 20 yards - Yes, 20 yards! (1-1/8 yd leftover from swap pillowcases to STLMQG free table;  8-1/2 yds for Gramercy & Friends flimsy;   2-3/4 yds wide backing for Plus Dash;  3/4 yd for Plus Dash binding;  1/4 yd for Running Around block sample & bee block;   6-5/8 yds for potential publication project flimsy)

IN YTD: 36-1/8 yards
OUT YTD: 54 yards
Net Change: 17-7/8 yards OUT
Whoo-Hoo! I can do some serious shopping in Paducah!

One of this month's little projects (for which I bought two yards of fabric but only used one) was this Easter basket liner. This is for baby CJ. The basket was actually Grandpa's when he was a boy; it's "vintage." Grandpa didn't think we wanted the mess of plastic grass so he asked me to make a liner for the basket. The bunny will fill this basket for CJ and his dad here at Grandma & Grandpa's every year, regardless of what he delivers to CJ's mom's house.

Easter Basket for CJ



Goals

March Update:
The surprise arrival of the proof of my book, which required immediate review and corrections, rearranged all my priorities for March so some things just didn't get done.

1. Complete Gramercy & Friends flimsy (it's on LAQ's waiting list for April). Done
2. Layer, baste, quilt & bind boy charity donation quilt, due 3/17. Not done. I can finish it for a different children's quilt donation drive later in the year. I donated 3 quilts to the drive that ended 3/17.
3. Prep Gramercy backing. Not done. Must get that done this week.
4. Add borders to complete potential publication project to the flimsy stage. Done
5. Make Easter basket for CJ. Done
6. Keep up with bee blocks. Done
7. If Plus Dash is returned from the quilter, complete the binding. Done
8. Finish writing Plus Dash pattern. Done

Other, #1: Received proof for my book, reviewed & made corrections; received 2nd proof, reviewed & made additional corrections. Total 4+ days of very focused work!

Other, #2: Remade Running Around block and sent tutorial to STLMQG BOM chair.

April Goals:

1. Prep Gramercy & Friends backing; make delivery arrangements with the quilter.
2. Prep piecing group project to hand out in May.
3. Work on Hands to Help quilt (UFO from earlier pattern test)
4. Keep up with bee blocks
5. Go to Paducah for Quilt Week

The April list is relatively light due to Paducah and in order to leave time for any book stuff that may come up. I don't know if there will be any book stuff; my editor said when we were discussing the final corrections that I might not hear anything "until I find two cases of books on my doorstep one day."

There is still a chance the book could be published in time for Paducah Quilt Week. That would be pretty cool, to be there when they introduce it.

Plus Dash Finished

My Plus Dash quilt is finally finished, quilted, bound, labeled and photographed. Quilted by my friend Sandy E. who did a fabulous job - I love it!

 

Plus Dash, 70" x 86"

 

Sandy's quilting

 

 

Beautiful quilting; perfect stripe for the binding

 

 

 

 

Linking up with Whoop Whoop Friday over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Check out all the other quilty inspiration over there. 

 

Running Around block

I think I've over-committed myself. I sat down and made a list of all the stuff I have to get done with due dates, and I'm committed through July. So, I need to work only on stuff on my list and stay focused. A lot of them are small projects, so as I get them finished I'll feel less pressured.

There is nothing on my design wall today. All the little Dancing Plus blocks have been put away for later.

Instead, I'm showing you one block on my "design floor":

Running Around block

One of the items on my list is a block tutorial for STLMQG. Our secretary put out a call for BOM tutorials and I responded that I can take an early month - May - because I already have one ready to go. It's the block above, which I submitted to Modern Quilts Unlimited's new designer challenge in 2013 and it was chosen as a finalist. You can find the complete Running Around block tutorial here.

Ready to go, except that I no longer had the block (it was sent to the magazine) so I had to make a new one. Voila, I made the one shown above yesterday and got that checked off my list. I can pass it to Kelly at the April STLMQG meeting and e-mail her the tutorial.

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times; check out everyone else's design wall (or floor!) for inspiration.

PS - just by coincidence, the fabrics in the block above came from a STLMQG charm swap and their free table, so I used fabrics from STLMQG for STLMQG.

Stash Report 3/22/15

Overall a good week for the stash, and I'm still moving in the right direction.

IN: 2 yards Easter print for basket liner; 1/2 yard for STLMQG "Focus Fabric Collection Challenge" swap.

OUT: 2-3/4 yards wide backing and 3/4 yard binding for Plus Dash, which is now finished.

I'll tally up the totals at the end of the month, but I think I'm doing OK this month. Which is good, since I'll splurge in Paducah next month!

Here's a detail of Plus Dash, finished, showing the quilting & binding. This quilt is actually very hard photograph. Because it's big, the details of the prints and the quilting don't show up when I get a shot of the whole thing. This is definitely a quilt that looks better live than in photos.

Plus Dash Detail

 

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times; check out the other stash reports over there.



Sandy's Quilting

My friend Sandy is a long arm quilter extraordinaire. She does mostly custom work, and her quilting always enhances whatever quilt she's quilted. Her waiting list is often several months out, so I usually put my name on her list when I start a quilt, so by the time it's ready to be quilted, I'll have a shorter wait.

This week she returned one she had just quilted for me and I absolutely love it! The quilting is so perfect for the design of the top. We talked a just little about the general nature of what I wanted, and Sandy did her thing. I'm so pleased with it!

Here's a close up of the back; can you guess which of my recent quilts this is by the quilting design?

Sandy's Quilting

I'm currently working on the binding so technically it's not quite a finish yet. I'll have to wait 'til next week to post finished pictures. Meanwhile, I think Sandy's quilting is whoop-worthy, so I'm linking up with Whoop Whoop Friday over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Dancing Plus Blocks

AKA Wonky Plus Blocks

I couldn't resist trimming a few up and playing with them on the wall. These are little blocks, 6-1/2" after being trimmed (6" finished). I'm using scraps for the colors and mostly scraps so far for the low-volume backgrounds, but I'll need more backgrounds soon.

Dancing Plus Blocks

For anyone interested, my instructions for making the blocks are here.

I got absolutely nothing else done last week due to dealing with the book proofreading and corrections. My house is a mess and some administrative stuff has to be dealt with today as well, so not much sewing will happen for another few days.

Check out what everyone else is accomplishing in their sewing space over at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday. I'm also linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.