Planning the Modern Medallion Quilt!

Pinterest has my board (which I cannot seem to get to fit my page to show you) if you want to see some of my idea for the Modern Medallion Quiltalong.  Research shows that people enjoy having something to look forward to, to plan..I would have to agree.  I am loving all the possibilities!  I am not sure I can get what I want without an actual pattern, but I am sure going to try.  

 On Catbird Quilt Studio I read through the first few parts of the quiltalong.  I KNOW I should go with the easier--follow her Math--pattern and do a 15 inch center.  I loved this star in a star on her site.  And I have my handy dandy block tool which has both the Sawtooth Star (bigger one) and the Ribbon Star (smaller one) and measurements that would work to put the one in the other.  The problem?  The two stars together will be 12.5 inches and not 15 as she suggests.

Then I got a crazy idea to do a Swoon block for the center, but it is 24 inches!  So then I found one at 16 inches and one at 12.5 inches.  

My other center idea is some kind of Mariner's Compass block.  It would be paper pieced and I could add some white space to get it to 15 inches.  

I am pretty sure I am finally going to cut into my Fandango fabric for this quiltalong, which I won a long while back from the very generous Carrie of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.

So far you can see I am enjoying the planning and dreaming more than anything.  I really have no idea which of these three idea will be my center, but it will be one of them unless I chicken out and just go with one of the 15 inch blocks here which will make my Math life much easier!  

Modern Medallion Quiltalong Anyone?

Fluffy Sheep Quilting decided to hop on the bandwagon that the Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland got rolling and well, I am in too!  They are going to be making a Modern Medallion as a quiltalong using the tutorials over at the Catbird Quilt Studio!  How fun it that going to be?
I have always wanted to do a medalian quilt, but need things like this spoon fed to me, I found this out the hard way when I tried to copy a medallian quilt that I saw in a magazine (that was in a museum--picture above is similar to teh one I saw).  I had only recently started quilting again and thought I could "figure it out" bought the fabric and everything.  Drafted a few different things and realized I like to follow someone else's pattern.  Anyone else's really!  So eventually I repurposed the fabric though I still have the center part of the medallian which was a panel--it reminds me that I wanted a medallian daily!  It usually hangs out on the design wall or the railing, just waiting for me to do something with it! 
Of course, now that I have seen modern medallians I have something completely different in mind!  I did a google picture search for "Modern Medallian" and found all kinds of cool stuff....not the least of which was this book which (gasp) I don't own!

  So yep, I need another project.  Gonna try it!  By February 5th I will have played in my fabric and come up with some stash to sew ith and I am supposed to create an inspirational mosaic to inspire my first central block of this medallian quilt. There will be a linky party so we can see what everyone comes up with.  This is going to be SEW much fun!

Collaboration Celebration of "Ring Around the Hexies" Anyone?

Ros finished quilting Packer Solstice in record time!  I stopped by to pick it up Saturday night since I was up that way for a Pampered Chef party anyway!  Today I went to Becky's to sew and got the binding done.  I have to bury some threads and get a picture in the sunshine, but I am tickled green and gold with it!  

Speaking of Ros, I convinced her that we should take on another Bonnie project for fun!  We can never get enough!  This one was designed by her and Mickey Depre.  I spent time today piecing the hexies so I can hand sew them together.  This will be a take my time project, I am in no rush to get it done, but just wanted to get it started.  Anyone else working on this or want to get going on it?  We can cheer each other on!

 The pattern is in this little book.  The hexie configuration is called "Boomer" and depending on the way you turn the pieced hexies you get different looks!  I am trying to decide which one I should go with!

It is really hard to decide which one to use, there are four in the wallhanging size (which is what I am going for at this point) and I suppose I can pick my four favorite if I want!

Twice in One Week!

Yep, I did it again--sewed on a weeknight!  It wasn't much, just the new Happy Squares block from Angela's Rainbow BOM.  Too cute, I had just enough of this fairy fabric in a strip to make it!
We also FINALLY went and saw the new Hobbit movie at the IMAX.  I am working tomorrow night so we pretended it was Friday--no crowd it was great.  We were both surprised by the way the movie ended...to be continued basically.  It was good though.  Next up we want to see the Saving Mr. Banks and Frozen.
Linking up with Angela for our Rainbow BOM Scrap Challenge!
So far all of these are made!

January - The Blue Blocks
Half Square Triangles
Roman Stripes

Attic Window
Patience Corner
SnowBall
Anvil
Ohio Star
Monkey Wrench
Tic-Tac-Toe
54 40 or Fight!
Split Pinwheel
Happy Squares

Spinning Pinwheel :)

I know it is a week night, but I had to make this spinning pinwheel!  Too cute!

Happy MLK Day!

 Got a big pot of soup going this morning which turned out pretty good for dinner!  Last night I sewed up this Wild and Goosey...still loving these blocks!

Here they are all laid out.  Getting fun to mix them up and take a picture every half a dozen blocks or so.

 This afternoon I did the 54-40 or Fight block.  These blocks are in Celtic Solstice, but this one was harder for me since it is smaller.  I like it though.

 Kathy worked some more on her Celtic Solstice...It is HUGE.  We put it on the bed and it touches the floor already--without borders, WOW!

I puttered around a lot today with not much to show for it...I did finally get everything all cut for the Quilting on the Rim mystery the end of February.  I still need to draw lines on 144 tiny squares, but other than that, it is good to go!  Hope you  had a great long weekend too!

Not Much Sewing, but Plenty of Prepping Going On!

 Yesterday I red tic tac toe block so it is the right size.  I might make the other one into a mug rug or something!  So here are all the blue Rainbow scrap BOM blocks.  I am really enjoying them and I am obsessively checking Angela's blog for the next one all the time.  Type A personality, cannot turn it off!

 Kathy has spent much of the weekend piecing her Celtic Solstice blocks and even has her first two rows together.  She did the GIANT size which is eleven blocks wide, sweet Jesus :)

Ros' blog reminded me that I needed to get prepping for the Bonnie workshops I will be going to mid February.  I spent much time yesterday and today organizing my purple and my shirting strips for "My *Blue* Heaven which is going to be purple.  Turns out Coleman's girlfriend Lexi's favorite color is purple (as is my daughter Hannah's and my Mom's) so I have this quilt tentatively in mind for her.  I also have shirting strips ready for "Playing with Jacks" which actually has more prep to it, but I still cannot decide on the colors for it!  At first I was thinking about shirtings/whites with indigo/blue and black.  Then I got to thinking that cheddar would be fun to work with but feel like shirtings, cheddars, and black might be boring.  Not sure if I am brave enough to skip the shirtings (which of course are now all prepped--into strips at least) and replace them with cheddar and then add red and black.  Hmmm...advice folks?




This is Bonnie's picture of her quilt, just imagine cheddar where there are shirtings?  Does it work?  Other suggestions?  I cannot prep any more for this until I figure out my colors!  EEK!  I am also thinking I might just do this in a wallhanging size for over my bed since I don't have it in mind for anyone.  We shall see.
In other prepping news (seriously, no sewing has been happening on my Martha!) I spent hours again today prepping for the Quilting on the Rim mystery quilt weekend that Becky and I are going to the end of February.  We signed up for this months ago before I knew about the Bonnie stuff and I know Becky and I will have a great time (and she cannot go to the Bonnie stuff this year, but next year when she is here...).  So the gal running the mystery sent us the prep and it is pretty extensive.  I was happy to do hst's with the papers she sent, but I was puzzled as to why she has us making the hst's a little big and then trimming each and every one of them down.  This defeats the purpose of using the papers if you ask me.  I gave Becky a head's up but she was already planning on switching out the papers for the right size so eliminate the trimming.  She is a smart cookie, I still have more to trim....

 This picture is from today and is about the 5th day I have spent some time with these hst's.

 See the tiny sliver I have to trim off each one?  GRRRR!  I am really hoping this quilt is worth all this effort :)

 The cat kept jumping up while I was trimming (I swear she is going to hurt herself on the cutter one of these times) and then would beg for attention or just sit so I could not cut.  It was comical how many times she did it!

 Trimming the corners off....ripping the papers.  I found myself doing a few pages at a time so that I could change it up and not get too dang bored!

 The last of the hst's are in the basket to be trimmed, all the rest are done and in their labeled bags.  Besides this there is a ton of cutting to do for this quilt that hasn't been done yet.  I still have a month to do it, but I cannot wait to get it off my to do list.

However, I need to actually sew, maybe a wild and goosey block or something before the day is done!  I am off work tomorrow so nice to have an extra day and I think I will be finding something to sew instead of prepping...I need more excitement haha!

Blue Saturday Linky Time!

 Linking up to Angela's Rainbow BOM again this week.  Last week over fifty people linked up, cannot wait to see how many are playing along this week!  Above are my Rainbow Sampler blocks patterns here.  I see Angela has put out the latest pattern and I need to get to it!  Edit**I made it but squared it down to 6 inches instead of 6.5, so there is another one of these in my future!

 I also finally got started on the Pineapple blocks I want to do this year!  One block down, will be working on this one all year and maybe even next year.

And of course Talkin' Turkey has three different blue blocks, all made last year.  I am still trying to decide if I should just make one more block (What color?) and then get this top all together so I can show it off when I go to Bonnie's workshop in February or if I should make twice as many blocks--working on it for the RSC all year again?  And yep, I know one blue block has a messed up center, wasn't paying attention that month, but planning to leave it anyhow!

Amy Answered the Call!!!

Had a short day at work today and then came home and made homemade vegetable soup and banana bread.  Also did some deep cleaning in the kitchen on and off.  The more I clean, the more I find to clean! Tomorrow I am working for a few hours, but after that I hope to get back to sewing!

Amy answered my Math distress call!  Love that girl!  Thank you Amy!  I am so glad I didn't attempt it because Amy said it was a bit harder than it should have been.  I made mine in red, white and blue and now am all ready to donate my block to the Astronomical Quilt Block Challenge!  I am very excited to make sure that among the donated blocks is a Bonnie Hunter block!  Here you can also see how it measures up next to the original blocks...still working on them for the Rainbow BOM.

My online sewing friend Susan sent me a full box of fabric strips and scraps!  I mentioned that I would love any cut off triangles from Celtic Solstice if folks didn't want them in the facebook group and the next thing I know I am getting fabric in the mail.  Seriously made my day.  I sorted and organized it all and could not wait to play with it!  So I sewed up a Wild and Goosey block...lots of fun new fabrics in there!  I also used some of the fabric in the donation block above.  Thank you Susan, you rock!

Astronomical Quilt Block Challenge

Karen Nyberg did a little quilting in space and now there is a 

Astronomical Quilts Block Challenge at Martingale!

What’s the challenge? Submit a star-themed block, of any style, that measures 9½" square unfinished, so that it will measure 9″ when pieced into a quilt. Use a permanent marker to write your name on the front of your block.

How many blocks can I submit? One block per person.

When must entries be submitted? August 1, 2014.

You can find more information about the Astronomical Quilts Block Challenge, including specifics on where to send your block, in this flyer.

So I have been thinking about this and I think it would be fun to make a block!  Of course I want it to be a Bonnie block since that is what I love best!  The first pattern that comes to mind is of course the very fun Talkin' Turkey blocks which I am doing for my Rainbow BOM.  Unfortunately they are 12 inches and this block needs to be 9 inches.  I highly doubt I can figure out that kind of Math--seriously so unless by blogging buddy Amy or some other such Math gifted person can tell how to do this I am at a loss!  

I did get this awesome block tool for Christmas and it has a ton of 9 inch star blocks in it, but of course no Talkin' Turkey!  I may wind of having to go with Union Square 1!  Are any of you making a star block for this challenge?

Edit** Check out what Amy came up with!

Monday, Monday!

Last night I finally finished up this puzzle!  As you can see there is one missing piece in it--we started this one at my mom's a year ago Christmas, boxed it back up and then worked on it here so no telling if it wound up lost at her place or what.  It was a tough one, but fun.  Thinking I might start another one today--I have a long break in my work schedule today--so I redid the Ooh Rah!  block in the correct size!  Last time I grabbed a finished pinwheel assuming it was the right size (why, oh why would I do that?) and then made it all fit after I realized I had it wrong.  I love the block though so no worries.  This one will be in the QOV I am making for Alycia.   It has been too long again!  Thanks Kevin the Quilter for the QOV inspiration!  

Sew Productive this Weekend!

 Last night I couldn't resist the urge to dig into the scraps that Sandy sent me to make another Wild and Goosey!  I am up to twenty blocks done, with one modern crazy one besides.  So much fun to have different fabrics to play with!

 This morning I got up to discover that Angela had posted another BLUE block this time a Monkey Wrench.  I love that I am learning the names of many new blocks I hadn't heard of as I go (this one I knew, but some of the others I didn't!).  I make my HST's with Thangles or Triangulations whenever I can..though I usually use the Easy Angle ruler for the zillions Bonnie has us make.  They come out much better for me with strips and Thangles!  In no time at all I had it made!

 

Monkey Wrench in Blue

I then got motivated to cut leftover bits into useable scraps and put them in their proper place.  I organized and got things in order.  The new semester at work starts tomorrow so I think I just thought I should get organized before I get too busy.  I also cut a backing for yesterday's Maverick Stars baby quilt.

I then started working on my other Rainbow BOM.  I was really inspired by Bonnie's Pineapple Crazy in her String Fling book.   They are tiny and paper pieced.  I may make one one day, but I already have a paper piecing project going so...

Awhile back I even made a few.  

But a few years ago, I HAD TO have this "Trash to Treasure" book and ruler from our local shop hop.  I love all the quilts in it and how easy it was supposed to be with the ruler.   The blocks are eight inches and once you figure out how the ruler works with it they aren't bad to make at all!

 I want a Rainbow BOM in these blocks and this picture is sort of what I am going for!  This is my block before I did the final trim.  You barely see that last blue on the block after trimming, and I put on one too many black rows (which just got trimmed off anyways) because I can be direction challenged.  I made myself a note for next month!

 So here is my first Pineapple Trash to Treasure Rainbow BOM block in blue!