SBOW: Sunflower Gatherings block 5

This one took me a little longer to do... I dare say that I may be getting burnt out on wool applique again?  Only eight to go, gonna keep plugging away!  I changed the centers of the blue flowers to be more "Forget Me Not" like, they originally had centers of the same blue fabric from the large part of the flower.  There are two blue flowers that extend into the alternate blocks.

I also got the directions for part 3 of the SAL, so I plan to put that together this weekend.  Flying geese for the that round, along with some more wool applique :)  I think that project is suppose to end in November, so there is plenty of time to join in if you want (from Primitive Gatherings, it's free).

Fair Results

I am humbled.  I can't even begin to tell you how much.  Yesterday when I looked up the results for The Evergreen State Fair (Monroe, WA), I saw that I was a "Class Winner".  Being completely new to entering anything in a fair, I didn't know what that meant.  A friend explained to me that it meant I was a "Best In Class" winner!  Wow! Really??? Even in all my errors that I know to exist in my Jane?  After the major tuck in the back that I hand sewed down (and really, you can't even tell there is one at all now)?  The backing that is made of scraps and my "map" to the fabrics I wanted to use for the blocks?

Kevin came home from work in the late afternoon today and we decided to go ahead and go.  We went to the quilt/sewing barn first (after parking a million miles away and checking out the horses).  After initially not finding my Jane hanging, we started to walk back to the entrance again and look.

I found her.

Over the moon is the only thing I can say.  Three ribbons!!  Here is the explanation for the pink/white:


Jane and I.  She was three rows from the entrance, but facing the opposite way.


Here is a link to my finished Jane quilt album (there are also some process and block pictures as well).

And a few fair pics...

Unusual chicken:


You will probably need to click through, but what would you guess on this one? Chicken or rabbit?  These were interesting too!


Free rides


I wonder if they are buddies? The silver cow was sleeping, but I just can't see how that was even comfortable.


Before we went into the goat barn, Darrin told me goats eat anything.  'Tis true... even blue ribbons!


I want one! Spot would be great for the blackberry bushes next door :)


This photo makes me laugh:


That's my fair report.  Again, I am so happy that quilty friends urged me to go for it and enter when I got a wild hair and asked if I should.  It was beyond my expectations.  Maybe I will finish my Orca Bay for next year?

SBOW: Block 4 finished

There is one more purple flower that will extend into the alternate block to the right.  One more down, ten to go!

Old Post: 12/5/2012 and 8/31/2013, Playing with Hexagons

***Note, this is from my first blog which got overtaken by a spam virus, and I ended up shutting it down.  While reading through Feedly (where I read my blogs), I discovered when clicking on my old blog (I never unsubscribed my old blog) I could pull up old posts.  I am thrilled because now I can place certain posts here and save them.  I will have this note on top of any post that is from my old blog.

This post was the oldest one I could get back to.  Though my old blog started in 2003 and I missing all the posts from before this, I am happy to be able to save some****

Every so often I get the urge to pull out the hexagon blocks I have made so far (up to 44!) and play with the color/fabric to see what designs I could come up with and maybe start piecing the blocks together. I scrolled through some great pinterest boards (one and the other) that quilters have created with just hexagon quilts today–in the past I have used google, but I found pinterest easier with the created boards. Maybe it was because people tend to pin what they love rather than just using the search word algorithm via google (so lots of duplicates in that regard). The first quilt at this post was pinned and that’s what got me to lay out the blocks I’ve made so far. I liked the center, but I ran into problems in figuring out what to do from there. I have two sets of blocks (12 each) that are the same fabrics that I need to either spread out in the quilt or come up with a design idea. I wish I started with a plan, but if I had a plan I’m not sure I would have come this far with these blocks. Not only that, but I haven’t found an easy way to doodle a plan with these hexies. I have software, but I can’t install it on this laptop (I don’t trust this computer since it is old and not reliable). And with paper… I hate erasing when I find that I am a couple of hexagons off! that happens too often. Anyway… Here are some ideas I played with this afternoon. Our living room has pretty bad lighting, but you get the general idea. I have more dark hexagons in waiting (enough for 24 more blocks), right now I am on a light/medium mood for the sewing. The blocks are put back for now. I’ll probably pull them out again when I finish up another dozen. *****Update from Aug 31, 2013 that I decided to add to this post: And I am still working with the hexagons. I am up to 50 finished flower sections. I am undecided about my layout and background still. I like the stars pattern that I posted about a while ago, but now I am not sure: I really like yellow fabrics and I’d like to use them more, so I was considering this… Yellow: Thinking not. My flower blocks get lost in the yellow I think Black: I like this. And a possible layout: I really wish I could nail down a layout that I’d like to do so I can start putting the flower blocks together into a quilt. Right now it just seems like I am collecting… I am feeling just too wishy washy on that quilt. So as the mood strikes me, I will continue to just put some down and take pictures. Hopefully one of the pictures will hit me as to which design I want to do soon! Isn’t it great to have digital cameras to be able to test designs?

SBOW: Block Three finished

Last weekend while I had a lot of alone time since all the guys were away at scout camp I had a lot of uninterrupted time to work on a few projects.  One of which was sewing together the backgrounds for the eight blocks (at the time, I have since received a new kit) needing to be worked on for the Summer Block of the Week (Sunflower Gatherings) from Primitive Gatherings (check out the link if you haven't already--isn't it gorgeous? She has a finished series of pictures of it, but I didn't dig too far on the site for it).  It was great to get in the groove and get all the four patches sewn and backgrounds prepared, now all I need to do is cut the wool for applique which tends to go much quicker for me.



Last night I cut and fused down the applique for the block 3, and tonight I am all finished until I get the alternate blocks sewn (it has two more flowers to attach beyond the original background block).  I have a retreat coming up in September, and I am thinking that will be my main project to work on.  The "pink" flowers are actually more red.

Maybe before I receive the kit for block #12 this coming week, I can finish another block!  I started this project 4 weeks after it began, so I was already behind... but I have to admit that I am enjoying the process right now.  After finishing up Folk Art Album, I did not want to look at more wool applique... but this pattern grabbed me, so here I am.  It would be a miracle to finish it in 2014 :)

Old Post: 1/5/2013 Finished Easy Street Mystery

***Note, this is from my first blog which got overtaken by a spam virus, and I ended up shutting it down.  This morning while reading through Feedly (where I read my blogs), I discovered when clicking on my old blog (I never unsubscribed my old blog) I could pull up old posts.  I am thrilled because now I can place certain posts here and save them.  I will have this note on top of any post that is from my old blog****

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**update to note, this is not a favorite quilt.  It is finished and one of my sons did claim it, so at least it's being put to good use**

I am glad that this was a mystery because I’m not sure I would have tackled it after seeing the finished quilts–mainly because it looks pretty intimidating. I like brights, but I’m not sure my finished top is as successful as other fabric combinations that I’ve seen. So I am wondering if the various colors would be enough in regards to looking like just a bunch of fabric thrown together. I converted the picture to sepia to see the values happening: If I were color blind, I wouldn’t find this quilt very interesting regardless of having over 2000 pieces in it. I like the pic my iphone took: no flash. And with one of flickr’s app filters: I like that one, probably because I like oranges in quilts. Either way the top is finished and with it up on my wall I should probably prepared a backing for it while the opportunity is there. I don’t know if I will start quilting it right away however. I’d really like to start Orca Bay now. I am clearly a glutton… Finished quilts displayed at a quilt retreat in Leavenworth, 2013: What a huge difference the fabric makes.

Old Post 2/16/2013: Folk Art Album

***Note, this is from my first blog which got overtaken by a spam virus, and I ended up shutting it down.  While reading through Feedly (where I read my blogs), I discovered when clicking on my old blog (I never unsubscribed my old blog) I could pull up old posts.  I am thrilled because now I can place certain posts here and save them.  I will have this note on top of any post that is from my old blog****

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**update: this top is a finished quilt, but this was a favorite post regarding this quilt so I wanted to make sure I posted this here**

and now I have to consider what the quilting will look like. I won’t quilt over the embroidery, which leaves me with thinking about handquilting because there is more control with that. But hand quilting through flannel (backing is also a brushed cotton) might not be the best idea in the world. Clicking through the photos will take you to my Folk Art Album where other pictures are posted (and you can view larger sizes). I love it. I can’t wait until it is hanging up in our living room. I strayed from the pattern only slightly. The poppies had one change, and I am glad I had enough red/orange wool to be able to add the extra bit for the front part of the poppy flowers: More border details: I wish I had made my coneflowers in the block more like the six I did in the border: and a top corner: I am going to leave this top up on my wall for a little bit and decide if I want to add any other embroidery details. I am still thinking about my initials on the bottom, I thought about adding my full name on each letter (so on the M it would read Melissa, the L Lee, D Devin), and also adding a date on the D. Still thinking on it. The Valdani perle threads and hand dyed wools really make this top shine! The variations in colors give it a lot of depth. Interested in this project? This is where I purchased my kit in 2009, and it still available.You’re welcome