While I was at Nikki’s house earlier this week we (by we, I mean she) cut out the pieces for Toni’s Japanese X blocks for the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild Scrappy Bee. Toni provided the fabric, and we swapped some between the two of us and added a bit of purple from Nikki’s stash.
Toni slightly changed the finished size of a tutorial from Badskirt, and I really dig how they turned out. I’m going to save this pattern for future projects, and I’m anxious to see how Toni’s quilt comes together.
I haven’t worked with linen, so the best way to start is to join a bee, right? I joined the Lovely Linen Bee and we agreed that the seven us would make two blocks for each beemate in the block of her choice, and we would all have 14 blocks at the end of the bee. It’s a mix of virtual and local gals in the bee and I’m excited to meet new people, learn new block patterns and work with linen.
Linda sent her linen from California and requested blocks based on the pattern Lap of Luxe by John Q. Adams of Quilt Dad, posted on the Art Gallery Fabrics site.
I went over to Nikki’s house and we did our blocks together. Essentially we made a handful of half square triangles. Thankfully Nikki did the cutting, my least favorite part. The blocks were assembled quickly, and with four together they make a nifty star.
I really dig scraps. Scrappy quilts make me happy…making use of something that might have been headed for a landfill or destined to be forgotten in the back of a sewing studio is a great feeling. Today I finished a few pieces for a boutique our guild is sponsoring for a retirement home. Guild members stock the boutique to give the residents an opportunity to shop for the holidays without having to leave their home. I used donated orphan blocks and scraps to make a few coasters, pot holders and gift tags/ornaments. I hope their eventual owners enjoy using them as much as I enjoyed making them.
In preparation for Christmas quilting, I ordered the Poinsettia Fantasia pantograph from MeadlowLyon Designs to use with my longarm. Judy was kind enough to enlarge the design for me so the flowers are bigger. As I was very excited to test the design, I made a quick table runner using a solid black center and a holly berry border. Then, I used the panto as the bones of my first thread painting piece. After two passes with the panto design (twisting a red cotton 40 wt. thread and a green thread of the same weight) I moved to the front of the machine, where the real fun begins. Using the red thread alone for the petals and berries, and a darker green thread for the leaves, I added details and echoed the whole design. I’m not sure which side I like better, but either way, working on this has really gotten me into the holiday spirit. It still needs binding, but that’s my least favorite part so it’ll have to wait a few days.
