Sunday, March 29, 2009

Green Quilt update

Here's a small sample of how the green quilt is coming along. I don't have enough backround fabric to finish as originally planned and I can't find a suitable substitute so I'm looking into alternative layouts.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Quiltathon

I decided to participate in Judy Laquidara's Quiltathon this weekend. I will be quilting anyway, so why not? I started last night with meeting a group of friends at the Quilted Angel, the local quilt shop. They have open sewing the last two Fridays of the month from 4:30 to 9:30. I took everything to work with me so I could go straight there. I worked on a pattern called Minnesota Windmill from Amazing Nickel Quilts. I finished the first step, 62 half-square triangles.



This morning I worked on the green quilt, walked the dogs and went to the Tri Guild Luncheon with Tamara, Francis and Chris. Moonlighters Quilt Guild hosted. The food was great and the speaker was so-so. We did have a good time. After a quick nap, I got back to the green quilt. The large stack in the front is what I got done today. The two stacks in back are the ones I finished earlier this week. The small stack on the left are the ones that are not finished. I ran out of the backround fabric. I'm doing the "draw a diagonal line and sew on both sides" method to make the half-square triangles. All the sewing is done, except for the ones with no backround. Now to cut them in half, press open and cut into quarters to make the blocks.

Friday, March 27, 2009

More Green Quilt

Here's the block I'm using for the green quilt. It's called Tillie's Treasures, from the first Nickel Quilts book and is 7 inches finished. One down, 142 to go!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Green Quilt

Here's some more photos of the green quilt. After I got all 143 pairs of 5 inch squares up, I worked it over to remove squares that stood out too much or were too light. Then I moved the darkest squares to the outside to create a border. These will have light green backrounds instead of white with green dots. This is not the final layout since turning the squares into blocks will change their character. I wanted to weed out any possible problems since I have barely enough backround fabric. No room for errors!


Here's a closer photo so you can see some of the print's details:

I really used every shade of green, from gray green to bright green to blue-green to a green so dark it's almost black. Some squares have a little bit of a contrasting color to add interest. I can't wait to start sewing. This was going to be a stand-by project for Friday nights but I'm so excited about it I think I'll start tonight!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Tamara's 2009 Block of the Month

Here's the March block, Sawtooth Star. The instructions can be found here http://www.quilterscache.com/S/SawToothStarBlock.html



This is what I was working on this weekend:



Several months ago a fellow guild member gave me a bag of green fabric and said "do anything you want with it.". I was inspired to make a green quilt. I'll be using a pattern called Tillie's Treasures from Nickel Quilts. I pinned up all the squares to see if any really clashed before I started sewing. There are two or three I may remove but overall I'm happy. I'm trying to not repeat any green and I think I can do it. I'll be using white with mossy dots for the backround, also from the bag. There were also some large cuts I can use for the backing, 1.5 to 2 yards each. I spent all day Sunday washing, ironing and cutting fabric for this project and I still have the backround squares to cut.