26, 26, 26 and FNSI Results

 "26, 26, 26", that's what is going over and over in my head. Why or what is 26 you might ask? It's the number of UFO's I have!!! I'm going to make a UFO page on my blog later this week so that everyone can see how much progress (or lack of) I will have made this year! The following picture is of a quilt I'm making for my daughter's 18th birthday. Oh, and by the way, she celebrated her 30th last year (glad I made you feel better about your own UFOs).

As tempting as it was to finish my daughter's quilt, I decided to work on something else for the FNSI. After all, what's a few more months added onto 12 years? I really need to get Moody Blues done. It's going to be my entry into our guilds quilt show in April. The small drunkard's path blocks were sewn together last night and I started joining the blocks together. There was a design dilemma part way through the evening so progress was halted.

With a little more sewing time left, I started on my blocks for the charm square challenge. It's not very interesting at the moment, but I think it will turn out well. I'm not revealing my idea for it until it's further along.

So that was my night. Now I have to check out what everyone else accomplished!

Happy Stitching
corina

My FNSI Results

Even though I was the first to sign up this time, I was probably the last to get started! I'm not quite sure where the day went, or for that matter, half the night. My Moody Blues quilt needed some work so I finished piecing the drunkard's path blocks. They were a bit tricky to sew because on some of them I had to match the strips on both convex and concave portions of the blocks. There will be a lot of matching seams once I sew the blocks together too (now I know why I loved doing the string quilt!)

There are more blocks than are shown in the photo but not too sure of their placement. I like the present arrangement and may leave it as is (I swear I rearrange them on a daily basis!). By the time I add borders it would be a decent size for our bedroom wall. There are a couple of blocks that are just strip pieced. Eventually they will have a full circle appliqued on them.

As you may have noticed I am on a black and white kick. So here we go again!

I finished the last round of another Jelly Roll 1600 last night. I've had a few ideas in my head and that pattern makes the perfect background for them. One of the ideas was to applique a bunch of funky flowers in wild colors off to one side of the top. I cut out one flower (missing a center) to see how I liked it. The other idea is to applique a bunch of philodendron leaves on the top, so I cut out one to see the effect.

I think I like both ideas, which means I need another jelly roll 1600 background! Tomorrow I'm invited to another mini retreat with Myra of Tactile Pleasures in Fabric. I will be bringing my 40 2 1/2" strips and hopefully come home with another background.

Once these last 2 quilts are pieced I've gotta do the sunflower thing. So yes, eventually there will be something else on my blog besides  B/W!

Happy Stitching
corina

A Few More Rows

I've cut up a bunch more blocks. Right now I've got 48 blocks. Guess I should decide what or where I'm going with this quilt pretty soon. I'm thinking of hanging it on the wall so I don't want it too big. I'll probably make another 10 or so blocks. I've cut waaay more strips than I need, especially if I decide not to do a strip pieced border. Here's what I've got so far. Good thing I'm not a photographer or I'd starve. As hard as I try to take pictures that are straight, they always turn out crooked (so do some of my seams, maybe it is not a photography problem, more of a brain malfunction).

Saturday is sewing day with Assiniboine Circle in St. Francois Xavier. I'm so glad I became a member. Lots of sewing, eating, talking and laughs. A really great group of women. I think I'll be smart this time, and pack up what I need to bring on Friday, rather than 1/2 hour before I leave! Isn't it amazing how much stuff you need to lug around for quilting? so worth it though!

Friday Results

I really enjoyed my first Friday Night Sew In. I've made some progress on my batik quilt, which is now called Moody Blues. The layout is just rough and I haven't decided if I want all the pieces to be strip pieced, or to keep some of them a single fabric. I'm thinking I like the way the first blocks I made were arranged in my previous post. There will be alot more rearranging in this quilt's future. It'll talk to me when more blocks are done.
 

It sounded really simple to sew a bunch of strips together and cut out a few shapes, but it takes a lot longer than anticipated. Now, I'm not in a rush and I know it takes me a long time to decide on fabric,  I just didn't think it would take me as long as it does to arrange strips from light to dark etc. I swear I must have rearranged one of the strip sets a bizillion times! The great thing about it all is I LOVE DOING IT. I'm finding my favorite part of quilting is not really the actual piecing together and quilting, it's playing around with the fabric.

I did say I would tidy up my room a bit before starting...NOT. In fact, I made it even worse? or better? I've got strips over chairs, on the floor, on the design wall, hanging off the cupboard doors, even one of my dogs walked out of the room with a nice blue batik strip on his back!

 By the way, those Kansas Troubles fabrics are back in the closet. Maybe one day they will get to come out and play.