Many Thanks & My Design Wall Audition

First of all I must send out a big "Thank You" to Bonnie Hunter for the link to my blog. I am meeting some great new people, and as a relatively new blogger, that is fun. Her book, pictured here, gave me new enthusiasm for finishing some projects that had seemed like they would never get done. I had to send her some of my handcrafted herbal soap as a thank-you. In an earlier post I said that when I had enough people reading this blog I would do some kind of soap give away, so if you stay tuned you may have a chance at a similar package.



Well, the design wall finally went up last night and I am so excited to use it. The only problem is that my current project is still mostly on the design boards, not ready for the wall. One block on the wall is not that inspiring, don't you think?

But I had to try it out, so I pulled out a set of blocks that I made using a pattern I picked up at a shop hop 5 years ago. They have been simmering, waiting for a great setting idea. I think I finally found one when I got Sharyn Craig's book referenced in a previous post, but I won't be working on this for a little while. The baby quilt, t-shirt quilt, and another one I have yet to post about have to take priority. But hey, they sure look good on the new design wall.

Each block contains 16 different fabrics in the center. It was fun collecting the fabrics from remnants, fat quarters and other quilters' scraps. The orange and purple colors were the most challenging to find in large variety. Hopefully next time you see the design wall it will contain something that I am really working on. Thank you DH, for making this a reality.

"Til next time, from the little mountain valley where the sagebrush grows (and where it DID NOT snow today!),

Janet O.

Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo...

...my mother told me to choose... (actually, I wish my mother would tell me which one to choose!). There are currently two quilts I am working on that I had wanted quilted ASAP. Neither one of them is to the flimsy stage yet, but knowing that my two local longarm quilters usually have a few weeks lead time I got my name on their lists a couple of weeks ago and then went to work on the tops, secure in the knowledge that I would be ready by the time they could squeeze me in. So it was a complete surprise when I received a phone call from one of them yesterday saying she was ready for my quilt. At first I told her to skip over me and go to the next one on her list and then I thought, "why not get something out of that pile of flimsy stage quilts and put her right to work for you?" Now the question is, which one (and this doesn't include the three I have draped over my loft banister made of vintage blocks)? Some of these tops have been floating around here since the late 1990s--and they look it.

And the winner is... this Chinese Coins that I made in a class a couple of years ago , learning free-form foundation piecing. A real stretch for me--although I make scrap quilts, I usually plan the scraps a bit. This was a "kitchen sink" approach--though I tried to limit it to warm undertones (emphasis on tried).

In the meantime, I have set aside my sons college t-shirt quilt, which is to the sashing and cornerstone stage, to get my grandson's birthday quilt made. I had hoped to be farther along than this by now, but the friend I mentioned in my previous post passed away Tuesday morning and I have spent a lot of time on the phone coordinating the meal for the family to follow the funeral.

These are not pieced yet--just trying it out. If you don't have a design wall, design boards are the next best thing. Foamcore board, spray adhesive and cotton batting--holds block pieces in place as you move them from the cutting table to the sewing machine--or stand them up to get a good view.

Everything is cut and ready. I'm thinking this needs some depth and I may audition a dark blue to border some of the blocks. You can see some in the fussy cut Dr. Seuss print, if I can just find the right color.

My current leader/ender project is something I saw at our local shop hop last year. It is called "EYE FOOLER" from Spruce Creek Designs. It is made of a lot of little pieces, so it is fun to see it happening between the lines--as Bonnie says.

This is the one hanging in the store.

Leader/ender progress. All the 4-patch units are made. Now I start on the tri-recs units.

Last exciting news--I am getting a design wall! No more crawling around on the floor to lay out and rearrange blocks! Since we are empty nesters (again) I decided to quit moping about how quiet the house is and try to find something positive in the situation. Our boys moved into an apartment with friends the day after Mother's Day. So I am taking a nice long wall in the main floor bedroom and DH is doing this up right. He has trimmed one of the two 4x8' panels of foam insulation so that they will fit perfectly between floor and ceiling. He is screwing them into the wall and then I will cover it with a king size cotton batting. I can't wait!

Design wall in the making!

'Til next time, from the little mountain valley where the sagebrush grows,
Janet O.