Who's Ready for a Quilt Along?

Things are finally quieting down on my end - Super Bowl Mania is over (I'm deep in Packer Country), so work is a lot less hectic.  My mother-in-law is back from her vacation in California, so Zeb is thrilled to be spending time with Grandma again.

Plus, I got the Double Wedding die set for my GO!  I'm excited to play with that tonight.  And for those of you with GO! cutters - check out amazon.com for dies.  I got my DWR for 41% off the retail price of $89.99.  I also got my Hexagon die for about the same savings.  Interestingly enough, I only ordered them two days ago - I'm close enough to the warehouse that those come out of to have gotten them in 48 hours, and to have not paid for shipping at all.

But anyway!  The point!

The point is...

I'm going to start, in April, a Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along!  Check back here as April 2 comes closer.  I'm starting to do fabric requirements and measurements now.  I'll be doing a few sets of requirements:  one for those who are going to use GO! cutters, the Omnigrid DWR templates, as well as a set for some templates from EQ7.

My end goal is to have a queen-sized DWR top by the end of this quilt along.  Now I just have to decide on a time frame.  I know most blog quilt alongs don't drag on, but DWRs involve a lot of curves, and that's an area a lot of folks just aren't comfy in.  Don't worry!  I'll post lots of photos, and tips and tricks.  I've made two DWRs before.

What do you all think?  As far as timeline goes?  Two months? Three? Four?  Longer?  Let me know in comments!  (I tried doing a fancy schmancy poll, but it didn't load correctly)

Baskets Galore!!

I've been sewing like a woman possessed for the last week!  I started Monday night, with Basket Block 12:

From there, the sewing machine and I were pretty inseparable.  Weirdly enough, I've taken to calling my sewing machine "Bessie" in my head.  Is that weird?  Anyway, barring a small incident where Bessie decided to hork up a lint ball 1/4" in diameter and I had to clean out the lint and oil her moving parts, things moved pretty quickly.

This was where I stopped Wednesday night.  Thursday night left off with the nine patch blocks finished, and the top partially done.  Friday night, at about 1 AM, I was left with this:

I got into a determined frame of mind, and by 1:30 AM I had the 1" red and black border pieced and added.  I debated staying up later to add the last border, but I had Stitch'n'Bitch in the morning.  I held off finishing up until after show and tell, then got that bit done:

That's it!  One week of sewing like crazy, and I have a top done!  I'm so excited.  I've already got the binding decided on.  Now just to cut the binding and piece the backing.  I'm hoping to be able to pick up batting next week, but we'll see if I get around to Joann's.  I might not, since we're stopping at a quilt shop Saturday morning, and I think I'd rather buy fabric. 

Stitch 'n' Bitch 5-8-2010

Saturday was May's monthly quilting day at Sandi and her mother's home.  I didn't get a whole lot done - just one half of Basket Block 10, but I did get rid of a lot of fabric!  We held a small swap, and I'm almost ashamed to say that I got rid of full laundry hamper of fabric.  What didn't sell to our small group of friends, Sandi is being so kind to hold onto and get rid of at a garage sale.  I'm just thrilled that I didn't have to bring it all home and put it back on my shelves!

...  Shelves, which are admittedly quite a bit sparser thanks to the ruthless culling of old fabrics that I did, but I had to be completely honest with myself and how I will be using my fabrics.  My tastes have changed so dramatically, and most of the cuts that I got rid of were half a yard or less in length.  

Anyway, I got opinions on my Flying Geese II top.  I'd been debating whether to back it with aqua, or try to find a rich turkey red print to go on the back, so I asked for input.  The general consensus is to back it with turkey red, so now, once I'm off my fabric diet, I need to find a backing of appropriate color.  It'll be bound with a mustard print, so I'll also be on the lookout for that.

I had quite a number of things to show off...  As I said, I got half of Basket Block 10, done.  This means that I got Blocks 6 through 9 done!  They were actually done in the middle of the nights Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Friday night, I cut the fabrics for 10 and 11.  I finished both of those blocks this afternoon, while Grandma Fern had Zebediah.

                                               Block 4                                             Block 5

                                                 Block 6                                           Block 7    

                                       Block 8                                            Block 9                    

                                             Block 10                                              Block 11

I've also received quite a large number of Birthday Blocks!  My request was for Blockade Blocks in aqua and purple.  I got the cutest little fabric postcard for helping out with angel blocks for the 2009 Birthday Block Swap.  I have a few made to send out, and will be starting on more soon, hopefully tonight, actually.  As soon as I have more Birthday Blocks made, I'll do a post solely for those.

Sewing for Myself!

Now that I'm all caught up with birthday blocks, I've been able to do some sewing for myself!  My project of choice:  Sandi's Basket Quilt Along over at Piecemeal Quilts.  I've been lucky enough to be able join Sandi and the group of wonderful ladies she quilts with once a month, in person!!

It's sooooo nice to have quilting friends!

Anyway, these wonderful ladies are putting together basket blocks from instructions by Sandi.  All of the instructions are available on her blog.  Just scroll down and look for them on the right hand side of the page.  They're in PDFs, so you can save them for later or print to work on now.

The last two sessions with Sandi and the ladies, I was able to see some of their basket blocks.  It's really fun to see how much we all differ in our fabric/color selections.  Me?  I chose to go with a white, black and red color scheme.  Very striking, very fun.  

Then I got to my stash...  Still loving the red, white, and black.  But it needed something.




Some red.

Check.

  

Some black.

Check.

Lots of white.

Check.

And some...

LIME GREEN!

I'm a big one for 'zinger' fabrics.

Make it POP!

I am just loving the way this is coming together!  I took liberties with the color placements in the patterns - I just can't follow a pattern to the 'T'!  

And of course, I had to buy fabric to enhance this quilt:

Aren't these just gorgeous together?  I'm debating the polka dot or the wavy, red/black stripe for the binding. I think I might have the perfect red/black Alexander Henry print in my stash for the backing - depending on how much I need once I'm done.

The plan is to make two more blocks this weekend, along with at least one set of Birthday Blocks for the month of April.  I also need to make at least one large tote bag for the International Quilt Festival in Rosemont, IL.  That's coming up quickly, and, well, it's a quilt show.  That means fabric.  That means I need something to carry my goodies in, since backpacks are verboten.  

Maybe I'll even make a matching roll-up for my quilting tools, so that I can use the tote bag for taking projects with me to my quilting activities.  

Oh! Speaking of quilting activities...  I've gone and joined the Milwaukee-Madison branch of the Modern Quilt Guild.  That's TWO groups of quilters that I get to hang out with!!  Our second meeting should be coming up this month.  It looks to be a sewing day!  See?  This tote thing is becoming more and more necessary.

Well, I'm off to put together another basket block.  These things are addictive!