Design Wall Monday - Skorca!

We are finally home after 10 days and 50 hours on the road - it was brutal near the end, especially when we were stopped by {I think} the world's longest train two miles from the house.

I have a ton to catch up on - Rudolph and the Grinch posts to write - but first I threw in the laundry and sewed some of the Orca Bay blocks I missed while I was gone.

 I'm...not in love. Yet. I think the Ohio Stars on the white pop, but the black ones are messy and less defined. I did decide to string the blue flying geese, and I like the flow it adds that way.
Bonnie's final design is a 7x8 layout - I think I'm going to do 6x6.

Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times, and more Orca Bay progress at Quiltville!

Design Wall Monday - Week 43

Swooning right along...

{I tried moving the design wall over to get a full shot, but it's just not happening.}

I decided to use my Lollipop scraps to finish the last of the two 16" blocks, and I'll use the fall leaves scraps from the Argyle quilt for the other one. (That's the strip hanging on the right.) 

The Lollipop is a little darker/redder than it looks in this picture, so it blends well with the fall colors.

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Design Wall Monday - Week 41

Swooning over my design wall still.

I'm done with the biggest blocks (24") because I'm out of full fat quarters.

I double-seamed the flying geese and saved the HST leftovers to see if I could reuse them in a 16" block. The answer is...yes but... There is just enough of Fabric B (the star) to do the same Fabric B in the smaller block. However, I don't want repeats in the same place, so I'm saving the HSTs for another project or the back.

Of course, there's plenty leftover of both fabrics from double-seaming the 16" flying geese, so those will get re-used in the 8" block and save me a few minutes of cutting and sewing.

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Design Wall Monday - Week 39

Slowly adding more Swoon blocks.

There's now two 24" blocks, two 8" blocks, and one 16" block.

I have two more full fat quarters, so I can do one more 24" if I want - I probably will because it takes me 2+ hours for each block, regardless of the size. 

I have plenty more partial fat quarters for the smaller blocks. Looks like I need more brown in the smaller blocks and more color in the bigger blocks...

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Design Wall Monday - Week 38

I'm using the wall to try to finish the backing for Halloween Hexagons...and I don't think it's going to work.

I only had six fat quarters of the stars, and adding that pieced section will only give me another 5" strip, which won't cover the left side.

So I don't know what to do. The fat quarters are (of course) from last year. And they glow-in-the-dark - anything I piece from my stash won't.

I could scrap it and go buy some minkee or flannel, because honestly, the spiderweb I plan on quilting won't show as well on this back. Not a very effective use of stash...but then, neither is this right now.

I do think the strip is kinda cool, though.

Check out more interesting design walls at Patchwork Times!

Design Wall Monday - Week 37

Still Sunkissed Jewels...

Poor thing got relegated to leaders/enders for a while. The top three rows are completely done. I should get it together soon, though I'm going to spend the next couple of days cutting for a retreat, and I'm not taking something as big as this for retreat leaders/enders.

Of course, it's hard to work on anything when your cutting table looks like this...

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Design Wall Monday - Week 36

I've been working on two different projects this week.

On the wall, Sunkissed Jewel Boxes.

I need to fiddle around with the color placement, and I think I'm going to ditch the last row. 6x6 is more symmetrical for this layout, and the extra blocks will look nice in the back.

On the floor, the Tennessee Waltz:

I have about 30/49 blocks done, and I think I really nailed the color placement. I can't wait to make my own - this one is going to my mother for her 60th birthday.

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Design Wall Monday - Week 35

After finishing up all the in-progress chunky log cabin blocks - and hating them - I needed something light and easy to work on.

Thank you, Jo and Moda Bakeshop. I already had the Sunkissed charm packs, so I made HSTs out of one and 4-patches out of the other.

I wanted to lay out the log cabin in a barn raising pattern, but my awful color choices will prevent that. This one will end up being my barn raising.

I didn't have the jelly roll that the pattern calls for, so mine will only be about 48x56" without borders, but that's a good size baby quilt.

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Design Wall Monday - Week 32

I've been doing more quilting than sewing, so the design wall is a mish-mash of chunky log cabin blocks.

I've been strip piecing them, which might not be working for a leader/ender project - I had to put the blocks up on the wall because I kept losing track of which step I was on. I'm going to cut the necessary pieces to finish these twelve - I'll need something easy to grab when I'm making bindings later this week.

I did decide to add another row of red and blue, so they'll finish 14" square.

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Design Wall Monday - Week 31

I made a couple of log cabin blocks to check colors and placement, so it can become a leader/ender project.

These are the first five blocks, laid out in the start of a barn raising. I have another blue - the gingham in the picture below - I could use (and reuse the red from the center), but I think it might be too light for the blue side.

The blue to the left will be used as a border since the print is too large, even with chunky 2" logs.

And now I really need to stop playing with them and get back to quilting the Christmas Kaleidoscope.

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Design Wall Monday - Week 30

I was going to make a joke about how this is my design wall...

But then this happened...

And now I'm too hot to be funny.

The actual design wall is Christmas Stars.

I was going to do a second block like this one, but now I'm thinking about just putting them together as they are. I like the middle star that I won't get by breaking up the blocks.
 I can still use the strips of 2.5" blocks I've already made in a border. I'm going to get something else for the first border, though. The white up there has roses and isn't very Christmas-y.

However, there will be no sewing, of the dress or the stars, until the AC gets fixed!

The cats have the smartest plan - get as flat as you can on the tile floor.

Preferably near a fan.

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Design Wall Monday - Week 29

Finishing up the Christmas Kaleidoscope.

There's another row below and another to go on the side, but I ran out of room.

Everything needs to be squared to 12.5" unfinished before getting sewn together.

Hmm, I need to move one of those red/whites in the fourth row - three in a row isn't very scrappy.

I already have one of the borders cut, so this should finish up quickly. Which is good, since my sister is coming at the end of the week to help entertain the tonsillectomy patient, and she won't let me use the sewing machine while she's here. (Except to make her a dress.)

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Design Wall Monday - Week 28

Charming Wildflowers, minus a row.

And why is it missing a row? Because I only have 39 charms, not 42. I didn't bother to count because I've never had a short charm pack before. So... Either I go with the 7x5 layout, or rip off some and make it 6x6... I don't know.

Regardless, it will need some borders next. Well, after I figure out how to make bi-colored setting triangles.

{And yes, I know there's a block going the wrong way in the top right. I have a pin in it so I remember to fix it. Eventually.}

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Design Wall Monday - Week 27

Testing my kaleidoscope layout for the quilt-along.

I like how the solid separates the scrappiness enough that it's not chaotic.

Merry Christmas! Er, I mean, happy Independence Day!

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Design Wall Monday - Week 24

More of the Railroad Crossing...

As I finish piecing a block, I add it to a row on the design wall. It's nice to have all the same blocks, so I don't have to keep track of what goes in which row!

The quilt will be 5x6 blocks, so I'm more than halfway through. I need to start piecing the horizontal sashing as I finish putting on the corner triangles.

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Design Wall Monday - Week 23

Making progress on the Manassas Railroad.

I'm still not sure on the lighter sashing, but it's already cut, so...

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Design Wall Monday - Week 22

Happy Memorial Day! We've spent the long weekend planting grass, which has cut into my sewing time. Still, I've made decent progress on the Hunter's Star.

I laid it out on some leftover batting when SOMEONE kept running across it and scattering blocks. Of course, SOMEONE thinks the batting makes it even better to nap on.

 On the actual wall is the iSpy. The two side rows are together and most of the two middle are pieced. I might need to cut one or two more pairs of novelties to fill it in.

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Design Wall Monday - Week 21

If you're here for the giveaway, it's here. But feel free to browse anyway. And if you like what you see, follow me to see more. ;)

On the design floor:

Frequently arranged by a cat or a kid, but coming right along. There's two of each fabric so my nephew can play a matching game.

And on the design wall:

The sashing isn't cut to size yet because I'm not sure if it's too light for Civil War fabrics. Opinions?

I love that the cornerstones will make little shoofly blocks, even though my dad will never notice.

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Design Wall Monday - Week 19

The Steelers quilt is coming along nicely.

I'm about to the point where I need to contemplate borders. Which means I need to trim the 160 2" HSTs leftover from the corners. Ouch.

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Design Wall Monday - Week 18

I had two of these up, and was planning on trimming the rest of them as a fast leaders/enders, when The Accident happened.

I thought they might need sashing, but now I think I like the secondary pinwheels. Maybe. When I finish all of them, I'll see if it looks too busy.

However, I never realized how much your index finger holds the ruler when trimming, until I was squaring up the third pinwheel. I powered through that one, but I'm going to have to go buy a gripper or something, because I have nothing but the Steelers quilt pre-cut.

This, folks, is why you should not rotary-cut your finger have lots of projects pre-cut and waiting for you.

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