I swore I wasn't going to start new projects, that I was going to focus in 2012 on completing UFOs. I have 12 listed and I want to get through all 12 of them this year. It feels good to finish projects. But it also feels to start projects and I confess, I am weak. My resolve dissolved.
So, as you may know from my previous posts I started a new project in Sisters at Quilter's Affair at a Friday class. Pictures are here for the teacher's quilt and another new start that I confessed to beginning in the hotel room after spying a focus fabric that I simply couldn't resist. The picture for was uploaded as a test from my blackberry here.
Anyway, here are some pictures of MY fireworks quilt which I think I will be naming "Fiesta" and a repeat photo of my "Curly Birds of Bend" quilt which is currently on my frame being quilted.
 |
| Block A - Light on the Right; Medium on the Left of the starting triangle |
 | |
| Top: Another Block A. Bottom Block B with medium starting triangle and then medium, dark, medium on both sides |
 |
| Building a Block B |
 |
| Playing in hotel room building blocks. Bed makes a great design wall/surface |
 |
| Curly Birds of Bend named because the focus fabrics has swirls, birds and I bought the fabric in Bend. |
 |
| Currently on my quilting frame becoming a quilt rather than a UFO! |
So that's what I've been working on. Last night I decided to work on the Fiesta quilt again before I lost the construction method. You know how that goes right? You 'get it' in class but then you leave it for awhile and before you know it, you're asking yourself: "how's that go again?" So, determined to get these both done and not on next year's UFO list.
Something else I've 'started' (but this one doesn't count as a new start and I'll explain why) is a quilt called "Bow-Dacious". It's out of Bonnie Hunter's "Adventures with Leaders and Enders" book. I was looking through all 4 of my BH books yesterday and was captured by the beauty of this quilt. Here's a photo of one that Subee made.
Before I started sewing again on my Fiesta blocks, I dug into my 1 1/2" strip bins and started cutting 1 1/2" squares and sorting them into colour families. The theory behind "leaders and enders" is rather than wasting thread after pulling a sewn block from the machine, you put a scrap of fabric under the feed dogs, sew down to the end of it and snip off the completed block. This prevents waste of thread but also as a leader, rather than an ender, you stop the machine from chewing the beginning of your new block. You can find a better explanation in Bonnie's book, but suffice it to say that I thought this would be a BRILLIANT way to use up my 1 1/2" strip scraps and create blocks for a new quilt in the process. 2 quilts underway at the same time without even trying! Gotta like that eh?? And THAT's why it doesn't count as a UFO. :D
I think I've got about 2 4-patches done but I didn't actually get that much sewn last night. We had a full house at the B&B so I just snuck in a few moments between meeting and greeting guests and showing them to their rooms and giving them the info for breakfast.
Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures soon of those building blocks and a completed top for my Fiesta quilt! Pretty excited about that one. It's a departure from my normal quilt style and fabric choices. Pretty wild but I'm loving it!
I am going to hang out some sheets on the line and mosey on up to my studio and sneak in some more play time.
Until next time!
Mavis
