A sneak peek at the details

I've finished hand quilting the banner for my sister's nursing home, and it will be installed on the weekend. I'm posting a sneak peek of the quilting here -- you can see the vine pattern (especially if you click on the picture), for which I used a variegated machine quilting thread. The binding is done, and I just need to sew on the label, which I can do sometime during the 2,000 km trip (over three days) to her house.

Ever quilt needs a bag -- here it is rolled up inside its made to measure bag, also labeled. Really, after all this work, I don't want it to get dirty or go missing!

Baskets of questions

I contributed two blocks to this basket quilt which is traveling across Canada to raise funds for Mennonite Central Committee. Can you tell which ones I've made?
I have other questions too. How do I temporarily stop following blogs during vacation? I don't want to come back with hundreds of posts to read. I was away from my computer for 48 hours this week and came home to 82 new posts on Google reader. Is there a way to suspend my subscriptions? Thanks for your help.

Machine quilting neophyte

A great big thank you to Joyce who patiently coached me on her mid-arm machine on a frame. I was a nervous driver, and I created many lumps, bumps and thread knots, but the overall effect is fine. I've trimmed the quilt, which is backed with quilting flannel and batted with bamboo, and I will bind it in the same black that's in the inner border. I took whatever hexagon halves were left and sewed them together according to value and colour and sort of floated them in the border with some neutrals. This is a lap sized quilt (about 54 by 60) made in the magic hexagons that someone on the web has organized a quilt-along for.

More beautiful blocks

Lots of eye candy here. At left are Laura's blocks. Her fabric challenged people but everyone managed to come up with a great block. At right is Anne K's pastel purple with primary coloured insect fabric, featured attractively in a huge variety of ways. We loved to hate her fabric, but we did alright with it.

Cheryl had a busy button print fabric on a white background. I made her a set of spools because how can you have buttons without thread? At right is Bonnie's medium blue, which worked well with a variety of colours.

Audrey's gold fabric inspired several stars and Karen's two paisley prints (right) has some traditional stars and blocks, as well as the lovely crazy patch by Audrey.

Stephanie's stripes were cut in a variety of ways for these blocks: some without the blue, another without the green. My geometric one is on the top right. The little birdhouses on Anne F's fabric inspired a flurry of flying geese and birds in the air. By the time Audrey had paper pieced that fabulous cardinal (bottom right) the theme was set, and so I made the word block to reflect the theme.

We had fun explaining our reasons for these blocks. Karen used quilter's cache.com to search for blocks with our names (or as close as she could get), Anne F. always put strip piecing in her blocks to reflect our guild name (The Strip Piecers) and others of us were inspired by the focus fabric.

And one more piece of eye candy: most of us brought our hand dyed fabric to compare and show off. Several of us want another go at this, because we love the results. I suggested a challenge using the hand dyes, but most of us aren't ready to cut into them yet.

Beautiful blocks

These are the blocks I received in my guild's mystery exchange. I chose that light marbled fabric because I knew it would be would be a challenge to work with, and I also threw in a metre of black. I got a huge variety of blocks with lots of pinwheels and hourglasses. Laura made me a liberated star (and I made her four. see post below) Everyone used the light as a background fabric and brought in other colours. I really like all of them. Cheryl (top left) took everyone's leftover triangles and made a liberated block, and Audrey (top, second from left) took the plunge and cut into her red hand dyed fabric for my block.
I'd been working with that same fabric in the Friday block party challenge over the winter, so I have four 12.5 inch blocks and 2 10 inch blocks using the same fabric, as well as bits and pieces left over. I'll put borders on the smaller blocks, make a few more, and I have a lovely throw-sized top.

Strip piecers fabric challenge

(click on pix to enlarge)
Since September, my quild (The Strip Piecers) has been working quietly on a challenge. Each of us put a metre of fabric in a box with our name, and everyone made a 12.5 inch block from it over the last eight months. We've been oohing and ahhing over other people's boxes, but couldn't peek into our own boxes during the process. Yesterday was the big reveal. I've been taking photos of the ones I made all along, but haven't posted my blocks because some Strip Piecers read my blog. I've got pictures of all the quilts laid out, but until I get a chance to upload them, here's something to look at. Yes, I know there's a repeat. I forgot to take a picture of one of them, so the wonky stars are in twice.We each received eight blocks, and they're all really fun and really different.

Day of decision

It's a beautiful Monday morning here after a long, cool spring (after a long, cold winter) and I've decided to stare procrastination directly in the face. So I've just photographed my four AAQI quilts from pastel hand dyes so I can register them and get them in the mail asap. Tonight is my guild's wind-up party, and we're doing two fun things: a dinner potluck and a block pot-luck. For the past year, a metre of my fabric has been circulating among eight others in the group. I've been making blocks for each of them and they've been making blocks for me. Tonight is the big reveal. Stay tuned, it's going to be interesting!