Adding Complexity to the Simple Tree Block

If you surfed past the Free-style Tree blocks because you thought they weren't interesting enough on their own . . . consider adding a few boughs, using the drawing with your rotary cutter technique to add some complexity and interest.  I also liked the idea of making a mix of trees with varying complexity and height.

These are my tree block pairs for the December 2010 block lotto. They are 6.5 inches wide (to finish at 6) and 6.5, 9.5 or 12.5 inches tall (to finish at 6, 9, or 12)

The technique is a variation of my Free-style Tree blocks.  Here's how.  For each pair of trees, I started with two pieces of fabric, 8 inches wide and as tall as my target size plus 2-3 inches.  So, for the yellow/black tree pair (which will finish at 6 by 12), my rectangles were cut at 8 x 15 inches. For my 6 x 9 blocks, my beginning rectangles were 8 x 12 inches.  And for the  inches squares, I began with 8 inch squares.

1. Begin by stacking your two fabrics evenly and making horizontal cuts.  Use a ruler so the seams will be straight (and easy), but they don't have to be perfectly horizontal.  I tended to make the top and bottom sections a little larger because I knew I would be trimming a little at the end when I cut my blocks to size. The number of cuts you make will determine how many side-ward pointing "boughs" your tree will have.
   
2. "Draw" the appropriate part of the tree in each section:
   • 2 vertical cuts in the bottom section form the trunk
   • a triangle in the top section to form the top of your tree--be sure to leave a lot of "sky" at the top if you want to avoid losing the point
   • wedge shapes--shorter on the top edge than the bottom and slanted on the sides--in the middle section(s)
     
    
   
3. Swap the fabrics in the tree sections to create your trees.
4. Sew the block together by first sewing the pieces in each "row."
 
5. After each row is sewn, trim the top and bottom edges even. You can leave trimming the top and bottom of the block until later.

6. Sew the sections of tree together.

7. Square up and trim to your target block size. (For my block, 6.5 x 12.5 inches.

Click here for a look at many more examples of the "Jewel-tone Forest" quilters have made for the block lotto--if you're interested in joining us, there's still time.  The deadline is December 31.

Sampler Quilts - Love 'em or Hate 'em?

This month is "Quilter's Choice" for the Block Lotto.  In recent years the winners of Quilter's Choice months have made some really beautiful sampler quilts.  I know that they aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I think that sampler quilts with an interesting setting are beautiful.

For my blocks this month, I decided to remake some of my favorite lotto blocks from year's past--from 2001 to 2010.

This little girl with the big hat and long legs is a variation on the "boomerette" Julie designed when we made the traditional Oklahoma Boomer blocks, in July 2009.

This month's guidelines ask quilters to to put an 8 inch purple and white block of their choice on point, adding scrappy strings to the sides to create setting triangles, finishing with a 12 inch block.

This house is another variation of an original block, the Amish Houses we made in November of 2008.

I rotated the paper foundation and stretched the house to make it taller to fill the 8 inch block. I still love this minimalist house block design of mine.

For this month, our block choices may be traditional or liberated blocks.  I ended up playing with a little bit of everything, from hand appliqué to paper foundation piecing.

Below are a variation of Polka Dot, from December 2009, Laced Star, from February 2003, and a "double" double 4-patch, from January, 2007.

As much as I enjoyed my trip down Block Lotto memory lane, I couldn't resist making a new block, Posy (from the Quilter's Cache Site), along with a re-sized Double Wrench from August 2003 and last month's liberated Variable Star.

My links go to the photos of the lotto blocks which inspired my choices. If you're interested in tracking down the patterns for any of the blocks, you can find them in the Block Pattern list on the Block Lotto blog . . . along with those for every other lotto block we've made since January 2002.

I really intended to have SOME sort of actual design wall in place this week so I could post an actual design wall photo for Judy's Design Wall Monday, but it still hasn't happened.  I picked up a flannel backed tablecloth today because it has been making me a little crazy to work without one.

As a consolation to those who followed the link from Judy's blog, I offer you this virtual design wall of the lotto sampler blocks made so far by the sneak peekers (who received an advance look at the November guidelines.)

This virtual quilt contains my blocks, as well as those from Caroline, Christina, Ginny, Janet (S), Kasey, Kim, Linnea and Maree. Click any of the individual block photos to find out who made it and for a better look.

If you love sampler quilts, too, you might want to come join us this month ;-) 

 If you haven't yet checked out the "design wall Monday" around blog land, you can still enjoy the eye candy--check out the links at the bottom of Judy's blog post.

Good News, Good News and ... not so good news

You can probably look at the photo and guess what the good news is . . . yesterday, I started work.  It's a contract, but it is real, meaningful work and I'm thrilled to be there.  Here's my desk at lunch today–I brought in this little bit of appliqué in an effort to distract my brain during lunch. With so much new information flooding in as I work to learn as much as I can as fast as I can, it's been really hard to force myself to take a break or . . . go to sleep at night.

If I can get organized enough in my sleep-deprived state to keep bringing hand-work along and force myself to take a mid-day break, I will also make some quilting progress, which is definitely more good news.

Layer this week, when cooler temperatures are forecast, I may even venture outside . . . for lunch and stitching (it will be so much harder to be pulled back in to working when the computer beeps to tell me I have a new meeting or the idea to look up something pops into my head and jump back into my working mind completely on my own.

On the not so good news front, my poor old Explorer is still in the shop.

As a friend pointed out, the longer they keep it, the more likely I am to have my first paycheck in hand . . .

All's Well That Ends Well

Anyone that clicked over from the FNSI group might be wondering what happened to me Friday night . . .  well, my plan for Friday kind of fell apart when this happened to me.

After a meeting with a staffing company in the morning, I was on my way to Nancie's house to meet her bee and join them for some quilting when I stopped to run a quick errand and my car stopped and wouldn't start again.

I called AAA for a tow truck and giving them all the details of where I was and to which mechanic I needed to be towed . . . then, I waited for the estimated half hour in a hot car until a man showed up with jumper cables.  Huh?  He told me I needed a tow and that he would make the call and it would be at least another half hour of waiting in the hot car.
After dealing with the logistics of dropping the car off and borrowing a friend's car for the weekend, I did catch up with the bee and, at least, got to meet everyone, but I was wiped out and I ended up scratching my Friday Night Sew-In.

But, as the title suggests, my weekend did improve and even included some quilting.  A friend was traveling from Dallas to San Antonio and planned a stop-over in Austin at a city park not far from me.

On Saturday night, we chatted while her sweet husband cooked for us and on Sunday, we quilted and chatted some more ... while the men cooked–it was pretty much a quilter's dream ;-)

I finally got back to hand-piecing Bonnie's wonderful blocks–I am still hopeful that I will finish the year on time . . .  if Bonnie will forgive my tardiness and send the rest of block patterns.  Linda worked on a pile of wonderfully scrappy 9-patch units for her next quilt. One her cats, Mr Guy, helped by holding down her fabrics.

I finished my block just as the first batch of shrimp were ready.  It's not exactly a design wall, but here's my work in progress for Design Wall Monday–something both Linda and I decided we want to get back in the habit of doing.

Yesterday, was exactly the kind of day I needed. Thank you Linda and my regards to the chefs.  Thank you for taken such good care of me and reminding me how I need to get off the beaten path more often.

I can't remember the last time I drove down on a road without street lights, watched the sun set over the water or enjoyed a perfectly toasted marshmallow.

Check out the actual design walls of other quilters on Judy Laquidera's blog, Patchwork Times.

Subtle Signs of Autumn in Austin Texas

Fall has arrived, but the changes are far more subtle than in more northern locations.

The days are still sunny and warm, with temperatures in the 80's and sometimes higher, but the nights are cooler and the humidity has, for the most part, moved on.

Although things are still really quite green, an occasional tree, like this one shows a little color.

The job market feels like it is picking up after summer and I keep hearing from recruiters in a way that finally feels like a normal job search. I continue to be hopeful that my move to Austin was the right thing to do.

I want to pull my yarn stash out of storage and knit things.  I want to pull out some quilting UFO's and unquilted tops and finish and use them.

I am planning to join Heidi and more than a hundred of her friends tonight for the October Friday Night Sew-in.  I will likely work on some scrappy liberated stars for the Block Lotto or play catch-up with Bonnie's hand-pieced blocks–she recently posted October.  Either way, it feels great to get back to doing creative things.