Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

This month begins round two for Snip.Sew.Send. Unfortunately some of the ladies had to step out due to life changes but they will be missed! Now there are only seven of us and we will make two blocks so that we end up with a total of 14.

July was Lula Dahl's turn and she requested wonky stars. The sky was pretty much the limit on what we could do with them. I decided to make one a bit normal and one that was not.



First up is the so called simple one. I say that because it gave me a lot of trouble. It is funny how a simple block can be the problem child while the more complex one was easy. The issue with this block was due to me sewing at one in the morning. I know, bad zonnah for sewing when tired. Always a no, no. But for the record I could not sleep :( Also, I had to get creative with the blue fabric to make it fit the block and I used every last piece of it!



Did you notice the star was rotated? I also copied Anne's star block and put muliple fabrics in the points.

Next, is my favorite. I love this block and think it would be interesting to see a whole quilt made out of it.





I hope you like it Rebecca.

Film and Thread

Anne from Film and Thread asked us to make a block with the theme of maps. She said it could be loosely interpreted. My first idea was to do a treasure map but that was quickly vetoed when I thought of this block which plays of her blog title.



Everything but the border was hand stitched because to me inset seems are easyier to make by hand then on the machine.





The block went together smoothly until I got to the end I realized that I made it too big and that adding a 1.5 inch border would make it bigger than asked for. I emailed Anne and she was very nice and said it would be ok. Then when I went to add the borders I once again made a math error and made the border to small! This whole fiasco sums up this month for me. Oh well, in the end I love it. It is so fun imagining something in your head and seeing it come to life.

Snip.Sew.Send - May

This month for Snip.Sew.Send, it was Lula Dahl's turn. She asked for log cabin blocks with a pinwheel in the center and sent tons of fabric which was nice! This is what I came up with.



I need to say that I am in love with this block and had a hard time mailing it off today but alas I did. I am going to keep this color combo in my head because I love it, the bright yellow with the muted orange.

Thanks Lula Dahl for letting me make this for you :)

Easy :)

April is Heather's month for Snip.Sew.Send. She had a block picked out for us to make and all we had to do was follow the instructions. She sent me these pretty orange fabrics.

Fun, Fun, Fun!

I have to say I am pretty proud of myself because I used almost all the fabric Tina sent me :) The scraps in the corner was all that was left and it is slightly bigger then twelve inches! It was really nice being able to work with pink for a change. Thanks Tina for this opportunity. To see more snip.sew.send block click here.

This month for Snip.Sew.Send was Kris's month and she wanted small houses. Well the first thing that came to my head was a barn. Even though I think this barn is cute, it is far from perfect or exactly what I imagined it would look like. I do need to warn Kris that it is very thick and I am sorry for that, call it poor planning.

I Am Seeing Red

It was Robin from Crafty Musings turn this month and she wanted a log cabin block. She said it could be traditional or wonky so I did a little of both :)

Addicting

Well, I must say these squares were quite addictive! I decided to paper piece them so that it would become a mindless activity. It is nice not to think every now and then :) Gretchen sent so much fabric that I decided I would make a layout that would be nineteen inches by nineteen inches if sewn together. There are a total of 30 blocks. On some of them I really did use the last bit of fabric, so those will be a little shy of the unfinished size, sorry. If they are too small for you Gretchen feel free to add to them.

October

This months snip.sew.send from Nichole was a bit of a challenge for me because I don't have a stash. I do have leftovers from all the quilts I have made but none of those had flowers in them. I did have the floral print from my month but it did not go with the purple. So I did some begging and got these flowers :) My favorite is the yellow one. This picture really does not do it justice but it looks really good with the purple. I had a lot of fun fussy cutting and doing the math to make the block.

Stars In My Eyes

This month Lisa from Chemistry Couture sent out some fabric with the requests of scrappy, stars, and 10.5 by 10.5 blocks. I have never done scrappy and when I completed my block I am not sure if it classifies as scrappy. I am actually quite nervous that it might not blend into the rest of the quilt. Lisa, if it does not let me know and I will gladly make another. Besides the scrappy part, I am in love with this block and how it turned out. All of the stars are reverse applique and was pretty easy to assemble. Hope you like it? Oh and is this a Fourth of July quilt? :)

Zonnah's got curves

{Plan A, which didn't come to be}

Zonnah asked for 7.5" square blocks with curves and circle featuring the floral print and the red as an accent. I sketched out several blocks, but decided on this half flower. It was inspired by a magazine ad for a spa in Savannah. I used the freezer paper method to piece it and colored the paper with colored pencils to see how the finished block might look.

{The block that is}

Somehow the block ended up 7.5" tall but only 6.5" wide, thus the orange strips flanking the flower. This was my first flat work with curves. I've sewn curves in garments, but this was a lot different. Zonnah, you really stretched my skill on this block and I was very happy for it. I hope you like it!

Geese on the brain

After the last couple of months of doing everything at the last minute with no small amount of stress (I swear, I'd blink and then the month was gone!), I decided I needed to try something different and finish my block before the end of the month. Crazy!

August is Zonnah's month and she requested a 7.5" block that included circles and/or curves. I've had flying geese in my brain lately (in more ways than one, maybe!) and I decided to try and get them out of my system.


Inspired by this and this and Gail Garber's book, Stellar Journeys: Flying Geese and Star Quilts, I drew this block.

Then I used freezer paper foundation piecing to create the geese (a la this fabulous tutorial from Twiddletails).


This was my first time trying this technique, and I was super happy with how well it worked. I can see why many prefer it to traditional paper foundation piecing-- no dulling of the needle and no having to tear paper away!

I decided to go ahead and applique the geese onto the background. This may not have been the best decision because I had a very difficult time trying to position them (I did them needleturn, using freezer paper on top) and there was a lot of bulk in the seams. I had to do a couple of the points twice before I was happy with them. I suspect it probably would have been easier to just do some curved piecing. Live and learn!


The points are still not perfect, but I'm feeling okay about them at this point and I am happy with the overall look of the block. Hopefully, Zonnah will be happy too!

I heart circles!

I really liked that Zonnah challenged us all to circles. I pieced a circle and used fusible interfacing to applique the circle. I figured that would be easier with all the seams around the edge. I hope she likes it!

Mail Delivery

It is August and my turn :) The finished quilt will be for my sister. I have already informed her how it was going to be made by 11 other random people that I have never met. She just looked at me like I was a crazy person. Lol. I would like the theme to be circles and or curves. Get creative and make whatever you want. I would like the size to be 7 ½ by 7 ½. The floral is the dominate fabric and the red is just for an accent. Please just use the fabric provided, if you need more or made a mistake just let me know and I will send you some :) You should be getting your fabric soon since I sent it off today!

Candy, Candy, Candy

This months block was a fun one. Having open range with such beautiful fabric was a dream come true. The block size was new to me. I am used to five inch square blocks, lol. This felt like I was making a mini quilt. For this block I had something in my head that was a cross between a dresden plate and one of the Dear Jane blocks I recently did. I took out my graph paper and pencil then went to work. Most of the block was pieced together in the method Robin just posted about for her June block. The curved white pieces were not in the original design but when I got to that part there was too much going on and I needed to break it up and so in came some white. The hardest part for this months block was fitting a pattern to the amount of fabric I had. Not total fabric but the individual pieces. For instance the big corner pieces I could not have cut out of the smaller prints if I had wanted to. While talking about the fabric, it was such a good idea to send everyone different fabric. I first saw Nichole's block before I received my fabric and was planning a block based on those fabrics, only to open my envelope and see different prints. I am not complaining for I LOVE the fabric I got. Anyhoo, this was fun and I am excited about next month, my month. Here is a sneak peek of the fabric for August.

Method To My Madness

Do you really think wonky is my style? I don't think so :) This block was a big push for me and although I did not follow the path of a true wonkier (is that a word?), I think I did rather well. I like to plan everything in my blocks so I decided I would not do that when choosing which fabrics went where. I literally closed my eyes a just grabbed. The only fabric I kind of planed was the floral because I wanted it in the bigger spots so it would be dominant.

So now for the method:

I decided I would paper piece the block. Here is the telephone book paper.


Then since my paper was not 12 inches long I cut two 6.50 inch squares.


Then I made my pattern on the squares.


Here I am piecing it together.


Right after piecing.


Then I had to sew them together. I know looks crooked but I swear it will come out straight :).


Yeah! It's straight.


And the end result.


My only complaint was the orange fabric did not come up in the pile as much. Oh and don't let the pics deceive you, there was a lot of seams that got ripped out because I am not pro at lining fabric up :P

I had so much fun doing this block and cannot wait till next months block.

Zonnah

Welcome! Welcome!

Yea! We are finally ready to get going and I can't be more excited.

I just sent an e-mail to all the members, so if you didn't get it, check the spam folder then let me know if you still don't see it.

Following is the block schedule and a little intro for everyone. I feel like this is a "new to the area" mixer and I should give a little conversation starter during intros:

June ~ Adrienne This is me, hey. I am in the midst of a zigzag play quilt and a whirlygiggle something.

July ~ Chen is working on a mess of 9 patches and whipping up some great pillows using Mendocino fabrics, which I love.

August ~ Zonnah is working on the Dear Jane quilt. Her hand applique blocks look fabulous. I love that she includes pictures of the backs.

September ~ Lisa just submitted a killer dress to the American Sewing Guild competition. So original. She also has great money saving tips while still stocking up on necessary sewing stuff.

October ~ Nichole posts great photo tutorials and other must-have info on her blog. So helpful in so many ways.

November ~ Gretchen just made a new dog bed for Stuart. I think he likes it, too.

January ~ Robin is working on four quilts including a Dear Jane, Playtime, Mod-Quilt Sampler and a coin quilt.

February ~ Kris recently returned from her sister's wedding and has been challenged to cut up but preserve her sister's (and mother's) wedding gown. She's looking for ideas, if you have any. Kris also created the banner and button for this blog. Thanks, Kris!

March ~ Tina has donated super cute owl themed bedding for her daughter's art program fund raiser.

April ~ Heather is finishing three, count them three, graduation quilts for loved ones. Her spring magic quilt has recently been completed and makes me want to take it on a picnic.

May ~ Rebecca has a vintage giveaway in progress right now. She's slimming down her fabrics and notions while increasing a lucky winner's.

June 2010 ~ Anne recently created a laptop cozy for her daughter complete with a funky elephant applique. I'm jealous.

One little request. When posting anything please try to use the labels I've started. They are pretty simple: first name-month. I think they should come up when you type in the first few letters of the first name. If we can keep the labeling concise I think it will be easier later. Thanks!

Please feel free to tell more about yourself in a post. Let me know if you have any questions. I will be sending out fabric and instructions in a few weeks. Yea!

=]