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!

Flying the Coop!

We are getting ready to make our summer journey north to cooler temperatures, and like a true blue procrastinator, I have tons of things to get done in the next few days.  It didn't help that a stomach virus knocked me for a loop this weekend, but I am back with a venegenance today.  Besides all the chores involved in leaving your home for months at a time, there are a few other pressing matters that need my attention.

First was getting the block drafted, made and the pattern written for this week's 1880 Sampler Quilt.  Oh, how I love this one.  These little detailed blocks are like a quilt in and of themselves.

Then I got distracted by a new book, Fat Quarter Winners, by Monique Dillard.

Added to the distraction was the arrival of Judie Rothermel's new line called the Bancroft Collection. A technique that oversizes and then custom cuts the units is right up my alley!  The Fit to Be Geese ruler and technique seemed like extra work until I realized that I am always checking the grid dimension and trimming up my flying geese even when I don't make them oversized, so this method does save me the time of marking diagonal lines on the backs of all those little squares. 

Since I missed work on Saturday due to illness, I will spend this morning finishing up the kits for these two projects from Country Threads.

I like to take some projects to do over the summer that will be shop samples at TOWQS in the fall. 

And if I have time left over today, I will head to Kinko's to do some copying for my Autumn's Bounty quilt pattern.  Yes, you guessed it.  I have left it to the last minute.  But honestly, I work best under pressure!