Coming Soon . . .

. . . to blog sidebars and facebook pages everywhere . . . or at least a few ;-)

Only a geek like me would follow the (table runner-sized) Block Lotto Blog Banner quilt, with this 17 x 22 inch quilt intended to become a blog/facebook badge.



It was fun to make this little quilt from small pieces of fabric in my scrap bag. There are 14 different blue fabrics used in the letters and 6 more in the binding. The white-on-white and the black & white fabrics in the background are also completely scrappy.

. . . and the string pieced heart makes it my first finish for the String Challenge.

What's in Your Lap?

I have next month's Block Lotto blocks on my design wall–but can't share those for another week. That's OK because most of my work-in-progress has been going on in my lap while I watch the Olympics coverage.

I wonder how many others have switched to hand work for the Olympic season?

Besides Bonnie's BOMs for January and February, the beaded heart sewing kit–all of which I've already shared–and the failed and unraveled sweater start (that I didn't even like enough to photograph), I've also stitched these small "pockets" from cathedral window squares.  They're currently open on one side and will  probably be stuffed and sewn into pincushions, but they're also just the right size to hold my classic–or could it be vintage already–iPod.

Yesterday I decided it just feels wrong not to be completing a knit project during the Winter Olympics, so I ordered Rosemary Hill's pattern for her Brandywine Shawl.

She is offering this pattern as a fundraiser for Doctors without Borders.  I loved it when she posted it on her blog and after seeing yet another beautiful example knit by someone else on their blog yesterday, I could no longer resist it. (I'm not the only one–this has become a great fundraiser for Haiti relief.)

A couple days ago, Lazy Gal Tonya shared some sweet photos of herself hand quilting–with her cat Poky in her lap. My big tomcat Johnny has lately decided that whenever I settle into one of the wing chairs with a project in hand, he needs to be in my lap . . . and be the center of my attention. Here he is, creeping up my ribcage and getting in the way, even as I AM focused on him and trying to take his photo.

Grace Hopper is not a lap cat and prefers to perch nearby, but last night, when I was machine quilting the doll-sized Blog Lotto Blog Button quilt, she jumped onto the sewing table and rolled on this small quilt (18 x 22 inches) . . . while I was stitching–she's never done that before and I was so startled, I didn't grab the camera fast enough.  Somehow I managed to finish the machine quilting with her "help."

In Michigan, I built a window seat for the cats next to the window (and beside my sewing table) so they could be nearby without being in the way.  It was also a good seat to watch all the activity on and around the pond behind my townhouse. I still need to find a way to do something like that in the itty bitty loft.  In the meantime, it'll be a balancing act around here, as I begin knitting the shawl and putting the binding on the little Block Lotto quilt.

For more snapshots of design walls and other projects, check out the links at the bottom of Judy's Design Wall Monday blog post.

Progress Report ... and thoughts on Abstraction in Quilt Design

Johnny rarely ends up in my quilt photos–his baby sister is the one who is fascinated by fiber–but when I was trying to take a photo of this finished top on my bed, he refused to budge. So here it is, Johnny Be Good and all.

(I'm not sure, but I think that light circle means there's a spot on the lens of my camera . . .  grumble, grumble)

As I was sewing the blocks together, I was thinking about the Lazy Gal Liberated Amish 2010 challenge that I recently joined and about the process of abstracting a traditional Amish quilt into a new quilt design.  I couldn't help but think about how the quilt I was putting together,  based on Gwen Marston's Liberated Wedding Ring quilt (from her book, Liberated String Quilts) was itself a liberated abstraction of a traditional quilt pattern and how it shares the essence of a wedding ring quilt, interpreted in a freer way.  Gwen's quilt has beautiful, traditional quilting . . . and I plan to attempt the same.

While I initially was eager to start working on my Liberated Amish challenge quilt, I actually think that the time spent thinking about it while I finished putting together the string quilt has been good for my thought/design process.

This is the quilt from the Faith and Stephen Brown collection that I have chosen as a starting point for the Liberated Amish challenge.

005:Nine Patch-Midwest c.1920 74"x62" 

To me, it's a 9-patch quilt that doesn't scream 9-patch and it features a wide range of values.  So, those are the two characteristics I hope to create in my quilt.

I feel like I'm ready to go, but I may pull out a UFO and finish it while I think about it a little more ;-)

Because I like Round Numbers . . .

I made six extra January Lotto blocks this afternoon, so winner #6 will receive an easily settable set of 40 blocks.



The last day/first days of the month are usually a flurry of Block Lotto logisitics. Since January was our biggest month ever (with 280 blocks, counting my extras) and 6 winners, there's a bit more emailing and following-up than usual.

As a result of timing, mostly, my design wall now has January Tic-tac-toe blocks, waiting to be packed up and mailed to the winners and some of the free-pieced "liberated love letters" we're making for the February Block Lotto–there are links in the sidebar if you want to know more about the block lotto . . . and maybe even join us. Here's a larger look at honey (my first block for the month).





To be honest, I'm anxious to get back to the project that was on the wall a few days ago, that I blogged about here.



After I finished making 14 blocks–as many Liberated Wedding Ring blocks as I had string yardage–I decided I wanted a bigger quilt and pieced some more strings. This time, since I knew how they would be used, instead of making a single piece of "yardage," I made sections that were sized to be cut into 2 or 3 blocks. The sun block is a reminder that I need to re-draft that block in a different size for the next UFO I plan to finish.

Libquilters Virtual Online Retreat

I joined some members of the yahoo Libquilters group in an online retreat for a few hours today.

I had a 26" length of "string" fabric that I made a while back and woke up thinking about cutting it up and making blocks . . . so I did.

It turns out that 26" is exactly what I needed to make the four units that make one of Gwen Marston's Liberated Wedding Ring Blocks. As I pressed the fabric, I started to second guess my plan to use a red paisley background because there were more red fabrics in my strings than I remembered. But, after I pulled some alternative ideas out of my stash and auditioned them, I still liked the red best, even if some of my blocks may be a bit muddled as a result.

I had enough strings to cut fabric for 14 blocks. After I've made them, I'll decide if the quilt needs to be bigger–I had originally been thinking of a big red bed quilt (for me!) but I also thought I had more of the string fabric. Here are the first six blocks.

They'll be set with alternate plain (red paisley) blocks.

This was also on my design "wall" today. It's bound (and even labeled–a promise I made to myself this year was to label every quilt–but I may add just a bit more quilting inside the letters.

Because my design "wall" is actually a curtain, the banner is waving a little. It is, in fact, quite square and flat. I'll have to try to get a better photo tomorrow.

Are you a design wall voyeur? Check out the links at the bottom of Judy's Design Wall Monday post for today for more completed projects and works in progress.

No Strings Attached - A Challenge

Lately, I've been working on blocks (and step-by-step directions for making them) for the Block Lotto, thinking about more liberated quilting methods and spending time with some of the Gwen Marston books from my bookshelf. I found myself really wanting to make a couple of string quilts from my "some day" list, so when I read about Stephanie's string quilt challenge, I knew it was for me . . . and luckily I found out about it just in time–today is the last day to sign up.

If you'd like to join me, click here for details.

Yes, this does mean I may FINALLY put together the block lotto blocks that I won 3 years ago. It's about time.