How did I not notice this?!

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Just Takes 2 Schoolhouse Quilt

This package arrived for me last week, from Pink Chalk Fabrics.  It is January's charm and solids pack of the month, which I ordered on a trial basis.  Two charm packs and coordinating fat eighth solids.



It's wonderful, and full of inspiration.  I only wish I could continue the subscription, but I have to be honest with myself that I already have too much stuff calling my name!

I realized that the colours in these fabrics would be wonderful for the sampler blocks inside the dark brown schoolhouse.  And while looking for a possible sky fabric, I found a bright large print that was mean to be a backing but matched the colours of  Honey Honey pretty much perfect.  I just don't know if I want to make a commitment for something this different than my usual style!

Grrrrr... Easy Street!

I haven't got very far on the stitching in the ditch part of quilting Stars for a New Day...and I woke up Friday (snow day!) with the idea of sitting and piecing the blocks for Easy Street.  It took me till dinner time Friday to complete all the blocks...I do take lots of breaks :).  Then I tackled the setting triangles yesterday morning.  I was putting the setting triangles together by row, and when I got to the last row, I realized I was short 12 triangles!  And, much to my sutprise, I couldn't find any of that green, just nowhere.

 I had already made the decision to use the same green throughout the setting triangles, so a different green is going to really stick out if I use it in the same place throughout the setting blocks...even if its a green used in the quilt elsewhere.   I guess my only choice is to un-sew the the little triangle at the other end, and replace it with the new green, so that there is the same green at each end of the larger triangle.  And then I might have to change out the corner tip green on the corner triangles.  Arrggghh.  In the mean time, I'm going to put it all away and hope that I run into some more of the original setting triangle fabric.

 

Beginning is always the hardest!

I`m about to embark on quilting Stars for a New Day (finally!).  While pinning the sandwich yesterday, I was wondering just how I did such a good job in picking fabrics!  I love this quilt, and I think I was a lot more adventurous in fabric mixing then, than I have been since.  The only thing I would change is perhaps the dark centre star fabric, maybe a little too Christmas-y looking.



This is a big quilt, 85`square, with lots of borders, many small pieces in the stars, and I`m sure challenges ahead in what I`ll use from my quilting arsenal.  I`ll start wtih stitch in the ditch around the borders and the centre medallion, then hopefully I`ll have some ideas by then!



 

While I was working up the courage to put that quilt under the needle, I cut out the fabrics for SherrI Falls' Mystery Monday.

 



I did one of these last year, and I found it was a great way to use those small pieces of fabric that are wonderful but not big enough for a quilt.  Its easy to follow along as she makes a small quilt, and really nothing to lose except fabric that may have just continued to sit in your stash!

Two great new online programs!

Every new year brings an abundance of new on-line block of the month projects...so many great quilts of all sizes, different techniques, and inspirational colour ideas!  I start collecting them, not sure which I will actually commit to.  I came close to working on Jingle by Erin Russek, and Fanciful Four Square by Lynn Brown...but then came Whooo Knows by Sindy Rodenmayer of Fat Cat Patterns.

My daughter was home for the weekend and nearby when I first saw the owls in this quilt...and Wendy was quickly looking over my shoulder as I exclaimed about this quilt.  She immediately asked if I would make it for her...and I said, sure  if you can wait awhile...it will be your Christmas 2014 gift!   To make it even better for me, I was able to find enough fabrics in my stash to get going on it, and I just need to supplement some more brown in a few months.  Me, without enough of the right browns!!  Here`s a pic of the first block I finished yesterday.

The next series that grabbed my attention on Friday was the new Just Takes 2 program, a schoolhouse sampler.  You can see the details here.   Gay and Brenda presented such great blocks last year in their original Just Takes 2 quilt, I knew I had to take part in this one as well.  And a schoolhouse quilt has been on my wish-list for years.

I went through my stash and decided on a rich dark solid brown for the schoolhouses and scrappy pinks for the sampler blocks...but after making the first block it didn`t look as good as I had hoped.  So I found a great dark blue print  for the schoolhouses, and I think I`ll stick with the pink as a the second colour.  Hopefully I`ll have the first block done by the end of the week!

Daydream on the Farm...finished!

Weekend sewing

Before I show pictures of some sewing I did this weekend, I'd like to comment that my camera seems to  be not taking very good pictures! I've had this camera for years, and while I don't think its possible for a digital camera to "break", there definitely is something off with the colour and exposure of the pictures its taking.  So, a little tweaking in a photo program is needed, but I still think that I haven't got a very true picture!

On Friday, I was able to put together the third row of Jacqueline's Album.



Then I tackled the centre of my version of Stars and Sprigs.  Because of the lost applique blocks, and because mentally I had put block making for this quilt far behind me, I decided to make the quilt square.  This actually works out ok for me, as it was already getting very big...it will finish at about 90" square.  I have a good idea on a pieced border,  that will take a bit of time and a lot of math, so I'm not sure where it sits on "the list".  In the mean time, I know I have a centre pieced and the border fabrics saved.



 

I've been working way on the quilting of Daydream on the Farm.  All these pieced blocks gave me a challenge for how to quilt them.  I don't much like stitching in the ditch with a free motion foot, so I decided to highlight the piecing by connecting curved lines to various part of the block, as shown in the few blocks in the picture below.



 

This week I'd like to get the quilting finished for Daydream on the Farm, and I'm working on the third embroidery block for Snow Day!.