Carolina has redeemed herself

32 Carolina Lily

After trimming her down a bit I could had the last pieces more accurately, although I've just realised that the top point of the petal is chopped off, but oh, well, there are worse things that can happen.

Guess I have to have another cutting session for my Civil War blocks now because I've sewn everything I had cut out already.

The Civil War in my sewing room

I've fallen very behind in my civil war blocks.  I blame Carolina... she started it!

I cut this block out and started to put it together, only to discover that I'd cut some pieces too big.  So I trimmed them down and continued sewing... to find out that only one of my pieces had been too big, so now one was too small.  She got thrown onto my sewing table in disgust, waiting for me to cut a new piece.

A little while ago, I decided to have another cutting session of my blocks.  Get them all cut out and then when I felt like sewing but didn't know what to do, I could put them together.  That was until I got to Ohio Star, and cut the pieces wrong.  Since I was using left over charm squares, I didn't have enough fabric to just cut new pieces.  Again my blocks were thrown to the corner of the table and left for another day.

Last night became that day....

33 Indiana Puzzle

The fabric selection for this one is just some fabrics which I ordered that week.  Obviously I hadn't done any sewing.  I could have done the curved seams a bit better, but I was being lazy.  I just matched up the starting point, matched up the end point and sort of pushed it into shape in between, no pins.  Didn't come out too badly I don't think.

34 Rosebud

Fabric selection for this week was mostly Block Lotto batik fabrics.

35 Star of the West

This week's fabrics are what I used to make the mini book bag, which was left overs from a few years ago where I had made a bag for my nephew to keep some of his matchbox cars in.

36 Kentucky Crossroads

I love this block.  The fabrics are ones I used for Clucky, and it's interesting the different feel you get when the fabrics are used in different ratios.  The red and yellow were very small parts of Clucky, but in this block they are the main fabrics.

37... I'll get back to you on this one

38 Ohio Star

This was the other fated block.  The fabric selection is left overs from my Scary Squares table topper, and I cut the pieces for the hourglass blocks to small.  At first I didn't know what to do, but then I decided to add borders to the blocks to make them the correct size.  My first thought had of course been to use black, but I like how the coloured borders came out better.  It does change the shape of the star somewhat but that's how new blocks are born!

And what of the fated 32 Carolina Lily?  After sewing on one of the last side pieces, I discovered that the block has warped a little and should have been trimmed down before adding that piece.  So it needs some unpicking, which I wasn't up to at 10:30 last night.

So that brings me up to about September somewhere, only about two and a half months behind....

Lets not talk about my Civil War blocks

After my big catch up a few months ago, I've fallen even further behind on my Civil War blocks.  I came across one which I'd cut out wrong but only discovered this when I was sitting at the sewing machine and had half completed it (hadn't yet sewn the wrong piece yet, though).  I got annoyed with myself over it and left them be for a while because I didn't want to think about fixing this block.

The other day I decided I'd better make headway or they'll never get done!  Today I spent some time cutting out blocks and pinning the pieces together.  They can then just sit on my sewing table and they're easy to pick up in the evenings and finish one.

So here are five of them waiting to be sewing together (including the half completed one on the bottom).  That takes me up to the first week in September.

I'm a Desperate Housewife

I finally got around to making some of the other blocks from the Desperate Housewife's Quilt-as-you-wish-along.

The first is 'Evolution' by Jane

The pinwheels are actually blue and pink (not red), my screen doesn't show up the colour very well.

The second is 'Quasar' by Wedding Dress Blue

I really love how both these blocks turned out, and they look even better in the photo, I guess because you have that effect of standing back and seeing them rather than the close up view.  I love the Quasar one so much I'd like to make more of them in the same colours, but all the fabrics came from my scrap bin so I might not be able to get all of them the same.

I've also been working on catching up my Civil War blocks
27 Irish Chain

Fabrics for this one are the Baby Hand Print mini quilt I made, and the fabric I used for the labels on the kids puppy/dino quilts

28 Next Door Neighbor

The background star fabric is left over from my husband's coffee quilt, which I used again the other week to line the wallet I made for his Tablet PC (which is still a work in progress because the design brief changed after I thought I'd finished it!).  The purple, pinky/orange and light green are all from hexies I made, and the darker green is some of the fabric I received from my Mug Rug Swap Adventure II partner.

29 Railroad Crossing

All these fabrics come from my Desperate Housewife's quilt block 'Perspective'.  The background is very dark purple, even though it appears almost black here.  I really love how this block turned out.

30 Peterson's Stars & Stripes

Luckily enough, this week I had red and blue fabrics to choose from to get the American flag effect which is the point of this block.  The red and yellow strips are fabrics I bought at the recent craft show and the blue is the binding off my dinosaur quilt.

31 Empty Spools

Fabrics for this are the backing from my Wee Folks quilt and one of the yellows I used in my block lotto blocks this month.  I cut the fabric really carefully to line up the stripes but then forgot about the seam allowances, so they didn't match up after all.  I don't really like how the block came out at all.  I might get around to redoing later.  Or maybe I wont.

And my final catch up item for tonight is Birdie Stitches.  This is actually the July block, I've skipped over June for the moment, and am now working on August, which is progressing rather quickly thanks to a sooky baby who wants me to sit in the lounge near her while she plays!

I feel so much better after having caught up on all these blocks.  I'm now only one week behind on Civil War blocks by my standards, and my outstanding Birdie Stitches are now down to 1-1/2 from 2-1/2.  Another few things to cross off my August to-do list.

Catching up - Blocks

Starting to catch up on my blogging.. Here are some blocks I've made in the last two weeks.

First up the next two Barbara Brackman Civil War Blocks (I'm only 2 behind now)
25 Calico Puzzle

My photography on this one was a little to wonky to crop it down neatly as I normally do).  The fabrics for this one are from the June Block Lotto entry, and the tea bag wallet I made to go with my mug rug.

26 Barbara Frietchie Star

Another nice bright cheery one!  The fabrics are from the July Block Lotto (which I cut out with the sneak peek) and the pink is one I used on Lyn's cherry blossoms.

WOW, I've patchworked my way through half a year!

Speaking of Block Lotto, here is this month's block, a liberated checkerboard.  I think it has 'liberated' my brain, because everything has been a bit wonky lately.

I was going to make 3 pairs of blocks, but had a bit of a "oops" moment with the next two.

I still think they look rather funky, now I just have to find something to do with them....

While I'm catching up on blog posts... I had some more goodies come in the mail.  There was a bit of a mix up with hexies this month (due to an updated list being circulated).  Turns out the ones I got the other week I wasn't supposed to get till September, and today my real July ones turned up, all the way from Denmark.  The photo doesn't really do them justice, the colours are so much prettier than they appear here.

And now that I'm doing some paid work, I treated myself by signing up to Pink Chalk Fabric's Monthly Solids Club.  The first delivery arrived on Monday, which also included a May bundle I was able to order because they had some left.  I'm just disappointed that I couldn't sign up in the beginning because I'm sure I've missed some pretty bundles.  The May bundle is called "Pocket Full of Posies" (the purples/greys) and the July bundle is called "Cabana"

The purples already have a purpose.... I've volunteered to design a block for Jane's Desperate Housewife's Quilt.

My block is coming up in a few weeks, so I'd best get busy and make it!!

Phew! That ended up being a longer post that I'd planned....

Blocks, Blocks, Blocks

Here are my next two Civil War Blocks

23 Illinois Roads

The fabric selection this week came from my Retro Nine Patch quilt top

24 Ladies' Aid Album

These fabrics come from the crayon roll and funky bibs I made last week, as well as some of the fabrics I'm using for Mug Rug Swap Adventure 2.

And I made some blocks for Block Lotto this month.  Not terribly exciting, but really easy to put together!

That time again

for more civil war blocks

21 Underground Railway

The fabric selection for this week is left overs from my Wee Folks quilt top.  This block was really fun and easy to make and I love the result, so cute and happy.

22 Blockade

This has become a bit of an 'it'll have to do' block.  After careful planning and double checking I still managed to get two of the flower pieces sideways.  By the time I realised I was not prepared to get up from my sewing machine and cut new triangles.  Also once I uploaded the photo I saw how badly my centre seams matched.  Actually now I look at it again I can see a few more seams which don't match and triangle points which are missing.  Oh, well.  The fabrics this week are from the puppy quilt top which I'm trying to get finished as part of my May challenge.

I really should remember to remove my loose threads before I take my photos.  Did I say that last time as well?

Post 8 of 9

Busy little beaver

or so it seems (sew it seams?).

I went to edit the photos I've been taking and realised how many there are since I last posted!  There are some I can't share yet because people might see ;)  but I have been busy doing things.

First I finished the last of the Retro Nine Patch blocks

I had an 'oops' moment with this one too, I'd done the flower buds the wrong colour, so some unpicking was involved but it was soon recovered.
Here they all are together

Can't wait to get on and sew them all together now, although I haven't even thought about what fabric I'm putting with them.  I guess I'm waiting for Lyn to tell us what we're doing.

I've caught up on the last two Civil War Blocks.  I've fallen into a pattern of doing them in pairs, which works for me.  I'm just determined to get them finished by the Saturday night when the new one comes out.

19 Missouri Star

20 New England Block

The blue/tan fabrics for both of these are from my dino quilt and the red/pinks are from belated Mother's Day gifts* (except the white which I just used because I needed an extra colour).  After making the challenge to myself to finish the dino and puppy quilt tops within a month, I sat down and finished the dino one last weekend.  I haven't managed a photo of it yet because I need to lay it out or hang it up, plus we've had rather grey days recently, not brilliant for photos.

It might be some time before I can share photos of the Mother's Day pressies because my mum reads this blog and I am not sure yet when I will see her next to give her the gift.  Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise ;)

And the other photo I pulled off my camera is another gift which I haven't gifted yet, so can't share, but you should get to see that in a day or two.

*It's not that I'm really slack with Mother's Day, it's just that my family don't get hung up on dates so we exchange gifts when we next see each other rather than pay for interstate postage.  Consequently I didn't get around to making Mother's Day presents till now because I knew there was no rush

Post 2 of 9

Civil War 17 & 18

Two more blocks done.  I'm having more fun with these as we go along.  Trying to make my fabric choices reflect something meaningful for that week plus work together to make the block look reasonable.

17 - Comfort Quilt

It was suggested that scraps of indigo blue prints for this block would add to the look of a woven coverlet.  Since I'd been planning on starting to cut out the dino quilt that week, it was a perfect opportunity to use some blue, but in the end I decided not to.  That week I'd also made a bunny for The Boo for easter, since she is too young for chocolate, and I really wanted to include that fabric in my quilt so I could remember it.  Also the block is called Comfort Quilt and pink is a far more comforting colour to me than blue.  So the fabrics for this week are from the bunny and green from the puppy quilt.

And since I didn't get around to blogging about the easter bunny I made, here it is:

18 - Union Square

I love the way this block has come out, so fresh looking!  The flowers and green in the nine patch are from the puppy quilt, and the white and clouds are from another baby quilt I'm working on.  It took me a while to choose the colours for this one and in the end I cut the flowers on the bias so they were the right way up.  I really wanted to include them in the block but didn't want them going sideways.  I just wish I'd paid a little more attention to my cutting and sewing so that the flowers were better placed within each square.

Another two blocks down, another two weeks into the year.  This project sounded so big when I first took it on and now I can't believe we're over 1/3 done!

Weeks and months keep slipping by

And more Birdie and Civil War blocks are complete.

Civil War block 15 is Fort Sumter.

The centre nine patch represents the Fort surrounded by blue water and the red is the lines of fire from the shore.  I think this is the first time I've done a square in a square block and I quite like the look.  The fabric choices for this week are made up of fabrics I bought from AQC, and some others which I found in my sewing room whilst I was doing some tidying up.  I'm really liking that leafy pattern in the centre, and luckily the fat quarter I bought contains the selvedge with the name on it so I *might* be able to obtain some more.

Block 16 is White House

I did the pinwheel the wrong way around on this.  Of course I didn't realise until I went to press the pieces and had already cut the fabric.  Oh, well, in the grand scheme of things, no one will know, and I'll probably even forget by the time I come to make up a quilt with these.  The fabric choices are my friend's birthday present which I'm working on at the moment (and can't show you because she reads this.... you'll just have to wait!), and the red is the same as the previous block because in needed an extra colour.

The next block needs blue, so I guess I'll have to make sure I work on something blue this week.  What a good excuse to start cutting out my nephew's dinosaur quilt.

Birdie Stitches Block 4

I've started to mix up the colours on these a little from what Little Miss Shabby does, which quite a few other people are doing as well. I like the effect. I might have to go back and change some of the earlier blocks so that they look right compared to the newer blocks.  I'm still trying to stick to the basic idea though, because I feel I have to have some respect for the person who has designed the picture.  I'm loving these blocks, they're so cute and colourful.  I hope my daughter likes birds, since at the moment this is destined to be her quilt.

Civil War block 14: Fox and Geese

I did actually complete this block on time, within the week, I just didn't get around to blogging about it.  Barbara's story here as usual.

This was a relatively easy block, specially from all the half square triangle practice I've had lately.  I even remembered to cut and sew the lighter green fabric so that all the writing was the right way around!  Fabric choice this week was from the mug rug I am making for the Mug Rug Swap Adventure

 

As for the actual mug rug, well you'll have to wait till next week to see that.  Don't want to give it away to my swap partner ;)

In other news, I have FINALLY finished my music quilt!!!!!  (Except for the label, but I'll do that this week).  I just have to find somewhere to hang it up and photograph it now.  One of those jobs that I'm so glad it's over I never want to see it again, even though I really like it and I'm rather proud of my efforts.  Do you get that with your projects?

Tonight I couldn't decide what to work on next, so I rearranged my quilting fabric stash and organised it by colour.

Catching Up

My sewing for the last couple of days has been a bit of a production line.  I've made three Civil War blocks, more blocks for Block Lotto, plus a Friday Block Party one....

The Friday Block Party one still needs some applique and I was kinda toying with the idea of doing that by hand, so it's not actually finished yet.  Not sure why I decided to do it by hand, and maybe I'll change my mind in the end but we'll see.  It's the first one I've done, although I've been following for a while.

Here are the Civil War Blocks

11 London Square

The fabrics for this one were sourced from the pile of pre-washing and ironing I did.  I managed to cut all the little trianlges of the trains and beige out of the other half of the large square (from the half square triangle), so I had less wastage.

12 Louisiana

The fabric choice this week was a little more symoblic than actual.  I spent most of the week planning, designing and buying fabric for the puppy and dino quilts I've got planned.  Whilst all of the fabric has now arrived, I didn't want to cut into it before I've cut up the quilts, so I found a different dinosaur fabric from my stash.  The royal blue is actually the fabric I bought for the dino quilt applique, I know i've got plenty of that so I didn't mind cutting it.  I also did a little work on some christmas items as part of my March Challenge, so the light blue is from that range of fabrics.  I didn't actually use the light blue but it was the best fit to the other fabrics.

13 Little Blue Basket

The fabrics for this week are fabrics I have used on the next Block Lotto blocks.  If you get your blocks in by a certain time, you get the info for next month early as a 'sneak peak'.  Can't share the block lotto blocks with you yet, but these are some of the many fabrics I used on them.
I might add a handle to this block later, not sure yet.  Some of the ones I've seen with handles look great, but some others don't grab me so much.

I've certainly had my run of half square triangles in this lot!!

I've also finished the next Retro Nine Patch block, but forgot to photograph it.  That will have to wait till next time.

A little bit behind

I've spent a lot of this week on the computer and not so much in the sewing room, so not a lot of physical achievement, but some planning.

I have managed to complete the 10th Civil War block.

 This week's block is called Lincoln's Platform, and was chosen to mark the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln being inaugurated as President of the United States.  As always you can read more of the story on Barbara's blog.

My fabric choices this week are mostly sourced from the stack of pre-washing and ironing that I did last week (when I *should* have made the block), with the pink spots and plain coming from a project I am working on as part of my March Challenge.
I had seen some of the other blocks completed and liked having the stripes to frame the centre block, also the example block that Barbara showed had a fussy cut flower in the centre to remember Mary Lincoln's silk dresses and I really liked this sentiment.  It became a challenge to find an appropriate flower and surrounding fabrics which worked with the stripe I had chosen (the only stripe in all the fabric I had washed).  In the end I went with the selection you see here.  A bit of a mish-mash, and the central flower is not one you would have seen in the 1860's, but still it's a flower.  Unfortunately the block has ended up at 8 1/4" instead of the 8 1/2" it's supposed to be, so will have to remember that when it comes time to put them all together.

Now I'm only one block behind again, because of course it's a new week and we're now up to the 12th block, so I'd better hurry up and do the 11th.


Also this week I caught up on the Retro Nine Patch block.  I finished block 2 the day before block 3 was released.

I had more success with the satin stitch on this one because I outlined first and then did the satin stitch.  My little purple flower looks a big wobbly, but I guess it will just match the wobbly-ness of block 1!  Block 3 is traced out and ready to go... but I've got a month to finish it so there is no rush just yet.




I found some time this week to get in a bit of free motion quilting practice so had a go at a meandering line/stippling type of thing.  Here are my results:

I'm pretty impressed!  I had to play around a bit with threads and bobbins to get a good combination, but more on that later.

Oh, and I've just finished the latest Birdie Stitches as well so I'll have to blog about that soon.  I think today I will try and get some actual sewing done, rather than just reading/writing about it ;)

Civil War block 9: Birds in the Air

Barbara's block this week is more triangles.  I think I'm going to be good at piecing triangles by the end of this year...

Barbara's blog shares a wonderful story of a quilt made entirely out of this block which included an anti-slavery motif in the centre:

After Deborah's death in the 1880s, her offspring cut the abolitionist quilt in half, one side for each branch of the family. When their descendents decided to rejoin the pieces, they removed the binding and found the small image of the African man, which had been cut in half and hidden for decades.

How wonderful it is to find hidden treasures such as this, and especially one with such historical emotions.


My block doesn't contain anything so historically significant, but the fabrics I chose this week are ones I used to make the softies to be donated to the Qld Flood and Christchurch Earthquake victims.  The 'birds' (the three smaller trianges) were meant to be from dark fabric but I wanted to use both the prints in the block, so they've come out a bit light.  I guess they can be light coloured birds like doves or something ;)

Civil War block 8: Cotton Boll

Another week, another new Civil War block.  When I look at how many blocks I have, I see how fast the year is progressing.  I might stop looking in the box once I finish each one ;)

This week is Cotton Boll.  When I first read the instructions for this one was I was a little confused.  You had to cut rectangles and sew triangles onto the sides of them, or use the template to cut out the shape.  I thought a template sounded like too much fuss, so I was going to go with the rectangle option, but then it didn't say how to place the triangles against the rectangles.

Lucky for me, Barbara Brackman is based in the US, so her 'Saturday' block actually comes out very early Sunday morning our time.  By this time, a few of the other bloggers who I follow have already made theirs so I get to see some of the trials and tribulations before I even start.

Mary at Quilting in OZ made the block a different way.  She cut four squares instead of rectangles, attached squares into the corners, instead of triangles, and then trimmed the underneath.  I decided this was a much easier method, so off I went to find my fabric.

This week's fabric is from my stash, but it's the fabrics I selected to try my hand at making a hexagon flower.  Mary's method requires more fabric than Barbara's because you cut off excess.  Mary used 8 x 3" blocks.  The yellow fabric I wanted to use was left over from something my mum made once when she visited, and I also had used some of it for leaves on my music quilt.  Only a small portion of a fat 1/4 was left.  And not enough to get 8 x 3" squares out of it :(  I was going to have to do the block Barbara's way after all, which took a little more brain power.

Then I thought about the maths, and I thought about the maths another way, and then I thought about the improvisation that is "traditional" in quilting... and I decided I didn't need to have 8 x 3" squares exactly!  Once the quilt was made, no one was going to know how big those triangles on the corners were supposed to be.  So I measured up my fabric and discovered I could get 8 x 2 1/2" squares.  That would do me just nicely!

As for the story behind this week's block, I'll quote Jeanne from Spiral directly because she says it better than I could:

Barbara Brackman's article this week refers to the shortage of cotton fabric in the South during the Civil War.  Not that there's a shortage of fabric hereabouts :)

Here is a picture of the hexie and the civil war block together.  I love how the two work together.  I don't think I've actually made a quilt with the same fabric arranged in different shapes.  I want to do that now!