Lots of work, not much show

These are the pics from the week. I feel like I have worked all week, but not much to show for it.

This picture is of about 2,000 - 2" squares. I have cut on them all week (about 20 hours total), but I only have about half of the squares I will need to finish the quilt. These are my squares for my Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt (English Paper Piecing). I have decided to make it at least a twin, but more if I have the fabric. I will stop when I run out of the background fabric, lol. Each flower will be a different 30's print, so I have been collecting past collections and charm packs for a while. I figured I need approximately 400 different fabrics for a twin. This picture shows about 150 flowers worth of squares. You can see a picture of the progress on the quilt in an older post.

These are the blocks from my Log Cabin quilt class. I finished 40 blocks for the quilt (36 for the quilt with 4 extra for design placement). They measure 12" finished size. I used a Kaffe Fassett Tangerine shot cotton (Pink and Yellow threads woven together) with strips from a strip club pack from Harpers. I will lay it out next week in class, so I will have pics then of the quilt put together (or MOSTLY put together).

This is the last pic of the week. I finally finished the center to my Popsicle Posies quilt from American Jane. I have the borders planned, but not cut. Hopefully I will get them cut next week.This next week I am hoping to get borders for 3 quilts cut. One is pretty complex with sashing strips and floating blocks, so it might take a while to complete. I am furiously basting hexagons to put together for my Grandmothers Flower Garden because I am going on a bus tour with Harper's (a local quilt shop). We are visiting 11 shops in 4 states in 3 days. I always take a hand project along to work on, but need to have the pieces ready (See all the squares above). I have most of my Mod Quads blocks done, only about 15 left. I also have about half of my Jacks be Quick blocks done. You can see the Mod Quads and Jacks be Quick pieces in a previous post. When I finish both sets, I will post some pics of them. In the mean time, I am making 2 dress and pants sets for my daughter. See why I said I have done a lot, but nothing to show for it?

Billiard Ball Pajamas

I recently made my daughter a set of pajamas from a pattern she picked out at Harpers (our local fabric/quilt store). It is a Kwik Sew pattern that is pretty easy. My daughter then picked the fabric from my stash. I was going to make pants for my husband, but Hannah said she had to have this fabric. My 4 year old now has the best pair of PJ's ever made.

My Life Long Projects

I have been working on some English Paper Piecing projects (EPP as some people call it).English paper piecing is where you have paper templates you baste the fabric to, then you hand sew the pieces together. So all of it is done by hand. After you surround a piece with other pieces, you can take the paper template out and reuse it for another piece. My favorite site is Paper Pieces. They have everything you would need to do English Paper Piecing. I work on them when I am in the car, waiting for appointments, or on long road trips.

I have two projects going. The first one is a grandmothers flower garden that is made using 3/4" hexagons. Each flower is approximately 4 inches wide. I am using a black dot that is fussy cut in the center, 30's reproductions for the flowers and 2 different greens for the borders. One of the greens is a Jo Morton fabric and the other is a Hoffman Leaf Green Blender Fabric.

The second one is a Pinwheel design using 1" half hexagons (they might be 1-1/2 inch). I am using Japanese Taupes for the colors and a creme dot Japanese Taupe for the "background" or constant in the quilt. Each pinwheel (blocks on the side) are approximately 7" wide.
I am not for sure how big I want these to be or how long I will work on them. I figured I would work on them until I get bored then finish them off. Since I can switch which one I work on, Each time I pick them up it is like a new project.

Next Round of Projects

The next few pics are of my next projects to finish. The first pic is of the pieces for a pattern called Mod Quads from Blue Underground. I have about 12 blocks finished but need to make like 70 more.

This is the pieces for my next class which is a curved log cabin. I precut the solid strips which I am doing in orange instead of black on the pattern. I always have to change something from the original.
These are the pieces for a strip club from Harpers titled Bow Ties. I started the pieces, but ran into problems not being able to tell the right side of my background because it is a batik. I am back on track now, so I hope to be able to layout in the next week or so.
These are the strips to a Harpers strip club titled Jacks be Quick. The pattern came from Cozy Quilts. Just strips so far, but the blocks will be coming shortly.

That is it for now. I have been out of town the last few days, so not much sewing going on. I will be posting some pics of my long term english paper piecing projects in the future as well as some garments I have been working on. Till then have a great week.

Finally Done, Yeah!

Here is the finished Day and Night quilt top. It is a huge quilt. I made a twin, but It is super long. It is at least 96" long. I have no idea what I will do with it. I do have some plans on how to quilt it. I think stitch in the ditch is probably the best way to show off the pattern the stars make.

This is my first log cabin quilt. It is more like a courthouse steps than a log cabin, but I still like it. I planned it around the Floragraphix IV line and I think it turned out breathtaking. I fussy cut the inner border from a stripe and then mitered both borders. I was 1 strip short from my fabric, so I had to do a search online to get the extra yard. I think having the mitered borders really works.

This is what the Mystery quilt pieces look like after 4 months. The blocks are starting to be put together (the bottom larger pieces) , but still no idea what to expect and we still have like 6 yards of fabric left to use.
This is the center for the Jo's Club "Autumn Crossings" which my teacher renamed "Midnight Trails". I have a border picked out and will post pics after it is put on.Hope all is well and I will be checking back in a few days with more Works in Process projects that I am trying to finish. I just pulled out 3 older projects to finish up, plus I start a new log cabin class in a couple of weeks. Here's to cleaning out the closets, Yeah!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have been busy working on finishing up some projects. Here is the finished Day and Night by Eleanor Burns. The first picture is the kaleidoscope center. I need to add borders to this one. I am going to "float" little star squares around the outside using sashing strips.

The second picture is the main block center. It still needs 3 different borders to be put on.
The next picture is of a strip club from my favorite local quilt shop called Harpers. Every month you purchase a package of fabric and they give you a pattern to go with it. This is based on a free quilt pattern from Amy Butler called the Thea' s Puzzle quilt. I loved this pattern and it was so easy. I will probably do this one again.

This is one of my quilt class projects that focuses on Jo Morton and reproduction fabrics. It is a snowball nine patch made entirely of Jo Morton Fabrics. I still have to add borders, but I haven't picked the fabric yet.Well, that is what I have been doing. This week I am going to finish a quilt center called Popsicle Posies, My Jo's club "Autumn Crossings", and all of my blue dresden plate quilts. More pics to come of my Mystery Quilt pieces, Day and Night finished quilt top, and my log cabin finished quilt top.