Gnome Home~

Here's my Gnome Home, at last!  Sharon, i'll put it in the mail later this week.  I hope you like it.
Definitely a challenge with all the little pieces, but I'm happy with it. 

made in New York

So, i'll admit feeling a little pressure to do well with this block.  I mean, not only did all of you make awesome blocks for me, but this is a New York beauty, and I'm the bee member living in NY...

Jen, I'll be honest, this was quite a challenge.  But at the same time, i really liked flexing my quilting muscles and seeing if I could figure it out.  I ended up really liking both the block and paper piecing.  I've always loved piecing curves and I have a pretty pink & red fan quilt sitting in my UFO pile.  This month I learned that curves aren't too tough to tackle even when I don't have tons of time to sit and sew.  Thanks!

Here's my test block:

I found the pattern online here:  Donna Duquette's New York Beauty Block Patterns
The pattern said it would make an 8"x8" block, but that is actually the unfinished size.  Thank goodness for test blocks, right?  I solved the size problem by enlarging only the background pieces so Jen can cut it down to size when she assembles the top. 

This was fun.  I'll get it in the mail some time in the next few days. 
Who's ready for March?!

Status Update!

Alright, this is what I have so far, doesn't it look awesome?!?

As of yesterday (today's mail isn't here yet), I have blocks from Suzanna, Madeline, Marianne, Claudia & Lesly. 

I'm sorry I didn't post when I received each package-- as Lesly mentioned over on flickr (and I posted here on my blog), January has not been a very smooth month for me so far.  Both of my parents are in poor health and in the last 3 weeks my dad (who will be 50 next month) has undergone 3 operations related to a hole in his intestine and resulting infection.  Not fun.  When I booked tix to fly home to see my family after the holidays I thought I would be in for 2 relaxing weeks of letting everybody play with my baby and enjoying some stress free time together.  Needless to say, that's not what happened.  Things are looking better for dad though, but he'll still have a long recovery.  I'm back in NY with mixed feelings-- I know my help is needed in Chicago, but I have a life and a family here that can't be neglected either.  I have a feeling some of you will understand how I feel.  But anyway, when I got home Madeline's package was waiting for me, and Marianne, Claudia, and Lesly's all arrived the next week.  Just what I needed -- some peace and quilting!

I've been working on my 9-patches while George sleeps and my piles are getting bigger slowly.  The blocks you have all made are really amazing.  It's so interesting to see the skills and handiwork of each of you.  I can't wait to get the rest of the blocks.

Thanks for being patient with me as far as communication goes.  Having this bee to lean on may just keep me steady all year.  :)

(p.s. on the weightloss front-- don't ask.  in my frazzled, stressed out state, I ate a lot of oreos and hot chocolate.  but looking forward, i will get on track!)

Jessica's Block - A Real Journey

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's!

This block has been a real journey and learning experience for me. I have done a little bit of paper piecing in the past so I thought, I'm fine I don't need to do up a test block. Boy was I wrong; I won't be making that mistake again!

Had I done a test block I would have abandoned this block half way but as I had already used up some of the fabric and I thought it would look awesome on-point, I forged on. Near the end of sewing all the quadrants I ran out of the light fabric so I substituted a bit of mine. Once I had all the quadrants done, after much pulling out and redoing, I thought they looked pretty awesome.

Little did I know the most challenging part was yet to come, joining the quadrants! Should be easy right? What I didn't think about is that there are 16 seams meeting in the center. Try as I might, I could not get the center right, so needless to say, I'm not happy with how this block turned out.

The above block is from 100 Quilt Blocks Magazine. I adjusted it from a 12.5 unfinished block to a 9.5 unfinished block. It is a gorgeous block; I'm sure the problem was me.

Anyways, I decided that I had to do right by Jessica, so off I went to my stash and picked out some fabrics that went with Jessica's coffee, cream and sugar theme and started again. This block turned out much better. On this one I used my own fabrics, all except the center. Hope you like it Jessica.

This block is a mix of Woven Rails, Cactus Star-the center, and Heaven's Ablaze- the corners, from Quilter's Cache. Below it's on point.

I hope one of these blocks works for you Jessica, I'm going to send them both just in case you want to use the first one I did on the back of the quilt or something (no hurt feelings if you don't use it at all). I'm sending some little scraps from the second block I made using my fabrics, just so you can tie them in a bit if you want! These will be going in the mail tomorrow.

Jessica's Block is done!

Here's my finished block for Jessica. I hope you like it. (Looks like preparing the photo for the web clipped off the points on a few of the star arms but they are fine in real life.) It's called Teresa's Guamin Star and I chose it from the quilter's cache link that Jessica sent us. I picked this one since Jessica asked for a pattern that could be used on point. I have a little bit of fabric to return with the finished block.

Merry Christmas everyone.

The Coffee & Brown Sugar Quilt

Hello Shrinking Quilters!
I put my fabric in the mail today so go get yourself a big glass of water and get ready to start a new quilt with me~
Here's the situation...

I have an addiction to coffee.  Since the pregnancy (and now I'm still nursing) it's been 2-3 cups a day of decaf.  before that it was 4 cups to the whole pot of regular.  But it's not just the coffee.  For me, coffee is a vehicle for the cream and sugar.  In the past year there have been times that I've gone through a pound of brown sugar in a week, in my coffees alone.  (yeah, i bake too, but we'll save the brownie addiction for another quilt).

the thicker, the creamier the better.  bigger mugs give more pleasure-- my go-to mug at home is blue glass and holds about 16 ozs.  For this weight loss quilting bee (all of 2010?) I have decided to give up coffee and pour it all into a quilt instead.

Here's what we're making:

(I did this work up in EQ5, I haven't upgraded my software-- spent the $ on fabric instead.  So the fabrics will be different, of course, this is just to give you the general idea..)

I sent out a selection of beige, cream, and/or brown fabrics with a smaller piece of a deep turquoisey blue.  Please make one 9 x 9" finished (9.5" unfinished) block of your choice.  Any traditional or slightly wonky (think maverick stars) pieced or appliqued block is fine, but please chose something that works on point (i.e. don't applique your scene without rotating the foundation first!) Please use the blue in or towards the center, if possible.  The blocks in my EQ5 version are just examples, I can't even say they're blocks I like, I just needed something to fill the space for the preview quilt.  You do not have to chose one of those!  I'll make double nine-patch setting blocks.  When finished, the quilt will go in my family room.

Since this is the first quilt in our bee, use it as an opportunity to share a part of your personality with the group.  If you need more direction, below are a few quilt blocks that I like, but you are not limited to these examples at all!

I like Baltimore Album blocks and Hawaiian applique..but piecing is great too:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maydela/3505909387/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22514067@N00/2473894705/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22514067@N00/2474712208/in/set-72157604936428528/

http://www.quilterscache.com/B/BedofStarsBlock.html

http://www.quilterscache.com/C/CactusStarBlock.html

http://www.quilterscache.com/C/Chain&CrossBlock.html

http://www.quilterscache.com/W/WanderingStarBlock.html

http://www.quilterscache.com/P/PiecedTulipsBlock.html

lots more 9" blocks over at quilter's cache!

Of course if you want to peak into my cozy haven of quilt-beauty, just check out my flickr favs.

 If you want to add fabrics from your stash, go ahead, but please stick with my color scheme.   It's ok to mix it up and combine modern designers, repros, batiks.  Solids are fine, but NO black or white fabrics please!

Alright ladies, this is not supposed to be hard!  If I've scared you with too many options, ignore them.  Just choose a block that you'll enjoy making.  When you're done, sign it with an archival safe permanent marker (iron a piece of freezer paper to the back first so you get a nice writing surface)-- name and location please, then send it back to me by January 31st. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I can't wait to see them!

~Jessica