Hearts & Sparks

It was probably because I had recently made these sweet 6-inch heart blocks for the February block lotto. (The pattern is here.)





Yesterday in a forum discussion on quilting.about.com, about what someone might make from a stack of 6-inch squares, people starting talking about the Disappearing 9-Patch and Christine suggested including 6-inch quilt blocks into the mix. The idea sparked for me. I immediately thought of the heart blocks.

I woke up thinking about the idea. I had to try it. But first I had to make more heart blocks.




As soon as the blocks were made, the rest was easy peasy.



Step-by-step photos and directions blogged here.

Until Christine mentioned it, I had never considered the D9P as a setting. She sparked all kinds of ideas for me now. But first I think I'll do some floral stash busting and make a colorful little hearts & flowers quilt that I know a little girl will love.

Bargello Madness

I finished piecing my Scrappy Bargello. It's 64 x 90 inches.



The pattern is a great, quick (even if I didn't finish on Sunday) easier-than-it looks pattern. I am a little surprised that the very diverse fabrics I used worked as well as they did.

Stashbusting with Bonnie and Brenda Leigh

The top isn't done yet . . . but I made a lot of progress on Bonnie's Scrappy Bargello today–you can see her great big finished top here. I spent a good part of the day sewing 2.5 inch strips into panels and stopped just before the interesting part begins.

During the mind-numbing sewing, I tuned in to The Closer marathon and watched as Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson sovled crime after crime after crime.

Does it count as stash-busting, even if the quilt isn't yet finished? The five panels I sewed today contain a little under 5 yards of fabric. An even better benefit to me was that while I pulled fabric for those 200 plus strips, I organized and folded a little less than half my stash. I'm hoping organization is contagious and I will continue to be motivated to finish organizing and folding soon.

Stash-busting: Stalled . . .

My 30's stash reduction project is stalled . . .



Next up is an appliqué border, more vines and fried egg flowers. I started thinking about changing those snowball blocks and need to make that design decision before moving on.

Stash-Busting Strategies

Between work, medical appointments and tests and my health challenges at the moment, I don't have a lot of time for agressive stash busting. But I'm going to focus on a few things and make some baby steps anyway.

I know that I tend to collect fabrics for quilt design ideas that frequently never get made. My first stash-busting strategy is to make a couple of those quilts . . . or at least piece the tops and use up the stash that has accumulated.

A year ago, when I was choosing blocks for the Beginner Block Lotto on about.com, I also designed a beginner-friendly quilt made from the same blocks or elements of the blocks or techniques. I've been collecting 30s reproduction fabrics for it for a while.

I finally began real work on it this weekend–here are the blocks I've made so far.

In January we made blue and white double four-patch blocks. For my quilt, I made 26 scrappy four-patch blocks.



In February, we made mono-chromatic pinwheel blocks. There will be four in my quilt.



In March, we made many (many!) I-spy snowball blocks. There are also 4 of those in my quilt.



In April, we made 9-inch maple leaf blocks in fall colors on a blue sky background. For my quilt, I made eight smaller, 6-inch blocks.



In May we made big scrappy basket blocks. I made one for my quilt, too.



Stay tuned to see how the rest of the 2007 lotto blocks are represented and how they all fit together . . . and the smaller version Amy made last summer whens she tested the pattern in a very different colorway.