Sunday, November 17, 2013

Blockhead Project

I went back to Anna's original post about her blockhead idea, and reread her concept. Although she states you can make up your own rules, I like the idea of using the concept to work on quilts I have hanging around my sewing room, but have never started.  
Christmas Magic by Kim Diehl is one such project. 
 I bought the background yardage the first time I saw the project, but that is as far as I got.  
The project requires 88 of these blocks.
 And each block has 2 flying geese...that is 176 flying geese...YUK!
A total of 8 different fabrics are used to make theses units; so if I make the blocks out of one fabric per month, at the end of 8 months all the tedious piecing work is done!
Of course, my enthusiasm for a project is always its greatest at the beginning, so I already have 2 months worth of blocks made.
Four of the blocks are used to make these units that will be in the center of the quilt.
I am using Open Gate's Fit to Be Geese Ruler to make my flying geese.  I am a big fan of making things over-sized and then custom cutting them to the desired size. I think these are coming out pretty darn good.

I will also continue to make one Le Jardin block per month and a set of red and white blocks per month, but those were actually WIPs and her concept was not really intended to finish up UFOs or WIPS.

The final border of Snowbound is done, so I'll be back soon with a finished flimsy.  Might be awhile before I get anything to the finish line.  My favorite machine quilter retired and one of the best longarm quilters in the state just gave birth to her first child. I am one of those quilters who likes to quilt by check, but will do some of my smaller projects myself.  

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!
 I get to be a guest this year!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

A Few Finishes and I am a Blockhead!

It's A Grand Old Flag is an official finish.
As I was putting on the binding, I noticed the machine quilter had missed one of the leaves.  Then I noticed she was not the only one...
I had not blanket stitched around 4 of the red stars!
I had a good laugh and will try to correct my error...some day.

Anna, over at The Woolie Mammoth, came up with a great motivational idea...Blockheads.
I don't know all the details, but I decided to use her idea to help me finish up some WIPs. 
If I understand the approach correctly, once a month I will work on just one block each from the projects I want to complete. So my projects are Le Jardin, my red and white quilt and the hexie quilt.
Here is my progress.
Block #7
I am doing them in a strange order, AND I made a mistake on this one too.  After I had the house appliqued down, I figured out I had cut the background the wrong size.  No way was I going to start over, so I cut the side strip a little wider.  Hopefully, I will not notice it too much.
Wish I had drafted this one as a full size quilt.  I will finish it off with a wide solid border of either the red or the white and applique some birds and berries on it.  Like Le Jardin, it is definitely a long term project.  Working in just two colors and repeating the same block over and over again is not my favorite type of piecing!

Unfortunately, I did not get a hexie block made today.  Ah, but the month is young!

Fell Off the Wagon

 It was bound to happen. I had stuck to my guns until I saw Laundry Basket Quilts' pattern, Alaska Magic. I told myself,  "It is te...