Another Simply Solid Block

My month for the Gamboge Simply Solid Bee is November and I’ve already chosen my block.   It is inspired by a quilt by Amy Friend that can be seen here.

Spinning Wheel, by Amy Friend, is a paper pieced pattern that can be found in American Quilter.

I tried to get my hand on a copy, but it seems to be a magazine for members of the American Quilters.  I love how Amy’s version shows both the stars and the alternate square pattern.  (Amy commented below.  This magazine is now in stores.  She found hers at JoAnne’s.  While we don’t have a JoAnne’s, I bet Hobby Lobby, Hancock’s, or Books A Million may carry it.)

I want a scrappy version for my blocks and made up paper pieces and gave them a try.  I’m not trying for the stars effect and may actually have more of a kaleidoscope effect.  PDF can be found here.

When sewing these, notice that the small center square meets the pieced block where the pieced strips come together.  The pattern piece is marked to show placement.

• Attach the small square to one pieced block.  The pattern piece is marked to show placement (see 2nd photo at right).  Sew half way through the small square.  (3rd photo at right shows a purple mark at stopping point.)
• Iron the seam only at the sewn edge.   (This is the only seam I iron towards the small square.  Not ironing through the whole sewn seam will make it a little easier to join that last seam.)
• Attach next pieced block by matching the small square to the corner where strips come together as marked on pattern piece.  (see center photo at right.)
• Iron seams toward pieced block.
• Repeat for all pieced blocks.
• The last seam begins where the first seam stopped.  (Next to last photo.)
• Iron block and trim to 12″.  (Note for Simply Solid Bee ….  I made a couple blocks that were a bit short of the 12″.  If yours is short, don’t worry about it.  Just don’t trim and I will trim all received blocks to the same size.)

And that’s it.  Writing tutorials is not my strong point, so if you have any issues with this block, please let me know!

Have fun!

Ramona

Make It Right Challenge – Follow Up

A while ago I submitted this quilt for the Make It Right Challenge.  The idea was to use Angela Walter’s Textures panel and Art Gallery solids to create an original design.  The winners were announced here.  You should visit if only to see the first place winner.  It was pretty darn awesome!

My quilt shown here was chosen for Best Use of Color!  I was seriously excited.  There were some wonderful projects submitted so it was an honor to place in this group.

Last week I came home to a box by the front door.  There were some seriously wonderful goodies inside. Take a look.

Included is Quilter’s Dream batting which is what I have been using lately.  It truly is a dream to quilt with.  I have a piece of their wool batting that I will be trying in the near future.

The ‘pink’ fabrics are Art Gallery Nature Elements and there are fat quarters of Angela Walter’s Textures.  I’m actually working on a medallion quilt using Textures, cranberry tones, and other coordinating fabrics.  These are going to come in handy.

There’s a signed copy of In The Studio by Angela Walters.  Sweet!  I have both of her books already.  They are my go-to when trying to decide on quilting designs or just to play.  I highly recommend them to anyone wanting to play with free motion quilting.  My copy, which isn’t signed, is going to my niece who is just learning FMQ.  The signed copy I’m keeping!  I got to meet Angela at Quilt Con when I took two of her workshops and she is not only extremely talented, but a total sweetheart.

Then there is a Bari J Splendor Aurifil set.  Love it!  I’ve been wanting to try both the 28 weight and the new embroidery floss Aurifil just came out with.  This set is the 28 weight thread in some gorgeous colors.  I started doodling with it and they are great to work with.

 

 

Lighter than DMC embroidery floss, but it shows up really well in embroidery designs.  I can definitely see how this would be fun to hand quilt when you want the thread to show.   There was no tangling and it laid on the fabric beautifully.

Craftsy.com 

Not shown above is the coupon included for a free Craftsy class.  I’m a huge Craftsy fan.  I have taken loads of quilting and sewing classes from them and have found them to be a fantastic value.  I’ve been wanting to take the Tilton’s t-shirt class for a while and took advantage with this coupon I received.

So that was my early Christmas present.  😀

So much fun!

 

 

Star Surround Update

In an effort to lighten my fabric stash, I’ve taken a part in the Star Surround Quilt-Along hosted by Melissa of Happy Quilting.

This week’s task was flying geese…. a LOT of flying geese.  I have sixteen (16) colors and twelve (12) geese per color.  That would be 192 geese, thank you very much!

Done!  8:30 Sunday night, but done all the same.

At this pace, Melissa is going to have us finish this baby in record time.

 

 

 

Star Surround Progress

This has been a busy week!  My daughter gave me a new grandson Tuesday before last and I have spent half days at her house this week giving her a hand.  I have loved being able to help her out and spend some time with the little fella.  I normally don’t post a lot of personal stuff, but I’ve got to include a couple photos.  How cute is he?!

 

This is big brother’s reaction.  I’m sure the sweet will wear off when little brother gets a little bigger and starts getting into his stuff!

 

 

With everything going on, I haven’t gotten a lot of sewing done.  This weekend I tried to cram as much sewing in as I could.

I worked a little on a quilt for the baby.  I pieced this block in browns.  This may be a quilt for my son-in-law’s Christmas.  I’m thinking I’m liking it.  Then there was the churn dash block for the Gamboge-Simply Solid Bee.

 

AND THEN…there was all of the half square triangles for my Star Surround quilt!  I’m making the 16 block version and I may have bitten off more than I can chew.  I’ve gotten all of my 4″ blocks sewn, cut and pressed and I have started trimming the blocks.  Man!  It’s been a chore.

I do think I’m going to like them though.  I’m going scrappy and I’m not always sure I’m choosing the right fabrics until the blocks start coming together.  I have high hopes for this one.

I was hoping this photo would give a sense of the mound of squares here, but it doesn’t look half as intimidating in photo as it does in person!

There’s other stuff going on like the vintage Singer sewing table I picked up (and now need to rebuild the top!), but I will save that for another day.

I hope you had a splendid weekend and have an awesome week.  Cheers!

Simply Solid Bee

I’ve been participating in the Simply Solids Bee and having a blast.

This month has been an interesting block for Amanda of Fabric Engineer.

My first tries were a little off.  I didn’t remember all the directions…as in the color strips were to be 1.5″ wide, so the strips were all over the place for the first block.  The second block was much better and I was so proud…then I measured… .5″ too short.  I took the trim from my first block and used it as a center strip and pieced the two together.  I like it!  This is my keeper I will use in my sample quilt when we finish this year’s blocks.  I’ve got blocks from most of the months we’ve done so far and I’m eager to see how they come together.

So after all that practicing, I got started on Amanda’s blocks and this is what I came up with.  Amanda, I hope you like it.  It was a fun block.

 

 

 
This is July’s block.  I did a scrappy version and a simpler version.  The Queen Bee of the month chose the scrappy version.

I loved it so much I made another for my Simply Solid sample quilt.

I may still like the original best.  Fun colors.