QOV Works in Progress

I feel stalled on my quilts for Quilts of Valor ... so maybe blogging about these works in progress will help me kick my butt into gear.

My guild's QOV mini-group has started a challenge.  We each start with one of two panel designs ... and make a quilt (top) by January. This is mine.

I have an idea about where I want to go with this, but ... haven't yet actually done ANYTHING beyond thinking about it.

Since I haven't EVER made a quilt using a panel, this may turn out to be more of a challenge than I envisioned ... but, you know, I have a very hard time saying know to a challenge ...

The colors are actually more dull and muddy-together than they appear on my screen. One of my goals is to do something to help pull apart the image of the eagle from the top half of the U.S. by repeating all the colors in my quilt.

In the meantime, I have started using the bag of 1 1/2-inch QOV strings that were gifted to me.

I simplified a block that caught my eye when reading blogs–I can't exactly remember where, does anyone recognize it? Anyway I drew a foundation pattern with pencil and paper and have been paper-piecing these blocks.

After making a couple test blocks from my hand-drawn pattern, using a leave-in stabilizer for the foundation, I decided I liked it well enough to create something more precise in EQ.

Then, I woke up a few weeks ago, on the morning when the QOV mini-group meets, thinking about using the method where the foundation is printed on (the non-shiny side) of freezer paper and you don't sew through the paper. I thought it would be an easy thing to print some foundations onto freezer paper and try it at the mini-group ... turns out the hardest part of the process is getting the freezer paper–cut off the roll–to become flat enough to go through the printer. This is easier said than done ... but I did it, though I was late for the mini-group.

These eight blocks represent the original 3 (with foundations) and 5 made using the freezer paper method. I will need 80 of these 7 1/2-inch blocks to make a quilt that is 60 by 75 inches.

And then, there's this ... still waiting for me to quilt and finish it.

The backing and batting are ready ... I think I just needed to think through the how and where.  There isn't enough space in my sewing room to open the work-table I would ordinarily use to baste a quilt and I am still thinking about the best way to do it in the space I have.  I may take it with me and see if I can use the tables at the quilt shop after the meeting today. I am looking forward to quilting it ... as usual, it's the basting that slows me down.

Joining all the pretty appliqué project links at Esther's WOW (WIPS on Wednesday) and WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced.