Compounding a Fracture....

One thing I really wanted to finish piecing at Quilt Camp in April was my Fractured top. 

Over the years, I have come across several versions of the Fractured quilt in magazines and online. I would tear out magazine pages or print off pictures (in the days before Pinterest existed--lol!) to put in my "someday" file. Eventually, I came across instructions to make the quilt in an Australian magazine, Quilts Down Under. 

Not too long ago, I also purchased Kathy Doughty's book that contains her directions for Fractured (along with lots of other great quilts!).

The (Compound) Fractured Tale:

I'm not sure why (sheer stupidity!), but even though I had Kathy's book with me at camp, when I finally got all my blocks pieced, I followed the chart from the Quilts Down Under magazine article for block placement.
Something didn't look quite right, but I checked and double checked and it was exactly like the placement guide, so I started assembling my blocks.
You probably know where this is going, right??
I had one more row to add when it was brought to my attention that the chart was all wrong. Not just in one place, but all over the place--ack!
Thankfully, Bev had made the quilt and knew that there were errors in the placement guide and I would need to use the photo of the quilt to get the blocks in the correct alignment. Or, I could have just used the chart in the book which is correct--yeesh!
I needed to remove eight blocks in various rows and rotate them, so I pretty much had to take half of the quilt top apart and put it back together. I packed everything up and set it aside to tackle at home.
Lesson learned --when it doesn't look quite right, investigate further!

After a lot of reverse sewing, mumbling and muttering,  I finally got my quilt altogether. It's not my usual type of quilt, but I love it. And I love that I was able to use so many fat quarters from my stash. I know it's hard to see in the photo, but I just straight line quilting in each "fractured" piece. 

This is a pretty big quilt--queen sized! I procrastinated all day and ended up having to take my photos into the sun--not the best way to try to get a decent photo--sorry!

And because I procrastinated so much this month, I finished the binding by machine with a blanket stitch to save time! 

Fractured was my June One Monthly Goal and also one of  my 2016 Finish-A-Long projects.

Yikes!

It just occurred to me earlier this week that my UFO for June was still folded up with no backing, binding or quilting--ack! How did this month fly by so quickly?

One thing I completed (on my 2016 2nd Quarter Finish A-Long list HERE) was to make project bags. I had just enough of this novelty fabric left for one bag.
I used the fabric for one side and the other side is clear--I need to see what I put in there! 

The rest of the bags are all clear vinyl--and already full.
I'm afraid with my inability to say no to so many sew along's, I may need to make another batch of bags very soon.

At least I've been keeping up with most of those sew along's:

My flags for Front Porch are finished--
 I'm excited to get to the next block--this is a fun project!

My little baskets from Linen Closet Designs are finished too--only two more to go!

I have another week of 365 Challenge blocks under my belt.
 We are almost half way through--yay!

I spent an entire day selecting, pressing, and piecing together fabrics for the backing of my June UFO--7.5 yards worth of stash! Hallelujah! Fractured is on the quilting machine and with some luck, it may be finished by the end of June--fingers crossed!
Linking with Needle and Thread Thursday HERE
and Humble Quilts HERE
WIP's Be Gone HERE

Barely Above The Water...

With the warmer weather, it is getting more and more difficult to get my 365 Challenge blocks done each day. Thank goodness we have had a couple rainy days!

Today's block (in the center) took a couple hours to construct--I'm hoping for some easier blocks next week! I'm really burning through my stash of light blue fat quarters. Don't worry! I'm not in danger of running out, but it will be nice to get back to the darker blocks eventually.


By the way--if you have fat quarters to use up, check out these free Moda patterns using twelve FQ's on the Bear Creek Quilting Company HERE. Macaroons and Neighbors are my favorites so far. The patterns are intended for Bella solids, but I think they would look great using prints, plaids, stripes, or whatever you have in your stash.

The Temecula Circa 2016 blocks are small, but not so challenging.
I've been making all the blocks with squares from my scrap boxes--nice to use some of those up!  

These are what I have so far.
There will be 74 total, so another 40 or so are on the horizon.
Two a week is pretty easy to keep up with--much more doable than one a day! It's hard to wait until October to see how these all go together.

Next on my to-do list: the nine patches needed for Lisa's Flower Garden.
Thankfully, these should go together quickly.

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I don't sew by machine in the evenings, so it was fun to get my Buttermilk Basin "T" finished--finally a use for my dollar store baker's twine! 

Linking with Scraptastic Tuesday HERE

Another Busy Week!

Another busy week! I made it to the Minnesota Quilter's show on Thursday--a super fun day with lots of shopping opportunities and gorgeous quilts. Yesterday I spent almost all day doing yard and garden work--good thing, because today is crazy windy!

Otherwise, I spent the rest of my free time sewing 365 Challenge blocks. These are from last week--most are extremely time consuming and I am so happy when a simple one is posted.

This piece of wood that my youngest son made for me has been very helpful in making my blocks.

I guess he got tired of listening to me whine about a sticky stand I bought for my phone that doesn't work for more than a few minutes.
 In the beginning, I would jot down the block instructions each morning, but as the blocks have become more complicated, I rely on my phone. And I finally figured out how to keep my screen from closing--yes I'm a slow learner! In case you have neglected to learn your phone too: Settings>General>Auto-Lock>Never.
Just remember to change it back later.

He also showed me how to use an old cassette case in a pinch--who knew??
Everyone but me, probably!

I have plenty of Slow Sunday Stitching today while I let my knees recuperate from all that gardening--the latest Buttermilk Basin Mystery Block and Linen Closet Little Wooly Basket blocks.

I also have my flags sewn for my Front Porch quilt--if I run out of wooly stitching, I have a few stars to applique.
I think I will save my 365 Challenge block of the day for tomorrow!
See more Slow Sunday Stitching HERE

Here I Go Again...

I had no intentions to join another Sew Along, but I'm telling myself it's more like an incentive to get an old UFO out of the bin. 

Several years ago, I was so lucky to take a class from Lori Smith of My Heart to Your Hands. It was a folk-art applique class, and she taught us how to make folksy, primitive flowers by folding paper--kind of like paper snowflakes. This block is what I came up with in class and then it got tucked away--another stalled project--sigh.

When I started to see all the fun basket blocks being posted at Humble Quilts for the Gwennie Inspired Medallion Quilt Along, I remembered my block and thought it would be perfect for an improvisational QAL since my flowers and leaves were all "improvised", so to speak. Unfortunately, my flowers were in an improvised vase, not a basket. Last night I picked off the vase and appliqued a shape that looks more like a basket. It's not quite as fanciful, but I guess it looks a little sturdier to hold those big flowers. The brown "sepals" hadn't been stitched yet either, but now all is complete and ready for the next round!

In early May, I finally forced myself to get in for a cortisone injection in my right wrist--it had been way too long since the last one. Turns out the arthritis in my left wrist is actually more advanced than the right wrist, so I ended up with shots in both. I was feeling so good, I decided to could do a little hand quilting! Finally, my little Celebrate America quilt is complete--hip hip hooray!

I'm really not a hand quilter, so I did big stitch quilting using red pearl cotton. I think it adds a little spunk! The star is cut from a beautiful hand dyed piece of wool. This was one of my 2016 Finish-A-Long  projects--so nice to check another one off the List!

Check out more fun medallion center baskets HERE

June UFO/A New Beginning!

I almost finished putting together my Fractured top while at quilt camp in April. There was an unfortunate incident, and the top came to be known as Compound Fracture. More on that when I get it turned into a quilt--you'll have to stay tuned--haha!

I finished putting the blocks together when I got home and would love to get Fractured quilted this month as my One Monthly Goal--it's pretty big though! I took it to the long arm quilting group last month and got lots of input on how to quilt it--I'm very excited to get started!

Maybe you saw this fun Front Porch BOM last year (or was it the year before?) from Jan Patek. I loved the Dresden Plate bike--so cute. A few weeks ago, Jan had the pattern on sale on her website--you know I can't resist a sale! Very soon after that, Lori at Humble Quilts proposed a Front Porch Sew Along--you know I can't resist one of those either--I was doomed!!

Jan designed a line of Front Porch fabrics too. 
I was compelled to pick up a few pieces any time I came across them on sale, so this is the perfect opportunity to finally use them. 

Of course to make my Front Porch more scrappy, I will add in some pieces from my stash!

It's been a long time since I've done turned edge applique, so it was very enjoyable to start on Front Porch. Simple and big shapes made it go together pretty easily. I changed the perspective on the house very slightly--it's a wonky old farm house (no front porch though--what's up with that??)  and I decided my tree was a cherry tree in full bloom--hence the pink. This is going to be a fun project, I think. The three flags are next! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE 

and Humble Quilts HERE