School Colors Flimsy

I got all the pieces together into a throw-size quilt (53" by 70").  That piece in the center, the blue and gold "P," was cut from a t-shirt.  It is certainly a lot of blue and gold.  Of course, it will look even better when quilted. 

School Quilt

I spent a lot of time over the weekend in my sewing room and have the quilt for the school auction nearly finished (the top, that is).  The photo above is of one of the panels.  I'm using hourglass blocks, about a gazillion of them as they finish at 3.25", with a piece cut from a school t-shirt in the center. 

I think this plan will work out well for this quilt, though it is not my usual style.  I don't usually favor such sharp color contrast but most schools have two high contrast colors for their school colors:  you know, blue and gold, red and black, green and white.  I already have an idea for next year's auction quilt, which I think will incorporate some white background.

Virtue and Vice Tour

I returned last night from a trip; here are a few of the places I've been:

Hiking in Saguaro National Park, Tucson, AZ

No, not Paris; the Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas

View of the Grand Canyon from the South Rim

On Jan. 2, I flew to Tucson to spend a few days at Canyon Ranch with my mother.  We had a fantastic time and it was so relaxing.  I exercised like crazy, ate fabulous, healthy food, and had three massages.  One of the highlights was a hike in Saguaro National Park.

From Tucson, I flew to Las Vegas, where I stayed "on the strip" at the Paris Hotel.  Everything in Las Vegas is a spectacle and the Paris Hotel has a replica Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe on the premises.  I ate very well in Las Vegas!  (One does not go to Vegas to be a good girl!).  But the highlight was a day trip to the Grand Canyon with Grand Adventures Tours.  It was fabulous!  I cannot describe the impact of seeing the Grand Canyon in person, though I took over 100 photos in an attempt to preserve the memory. 

Now I'm home, the laundry is finished, I have a few Christmas decorations to put away, then it's back to quilting.



My Plans For 2012

This year, I am not doing my usual to-do list of planned projects and goals.  Instead, I'm adopting a theme for my quilting and the theme is Project Fig Harvest.  I've challenged myself to "harvest" my stash of Fig Tree fabrics and patterns by focusing on projects that will use them.  This is less about stash reduction, more about using fabric that I like instead of putting it aside for I-don't-know-what-occasion. 

I've mentioned before that I have quite a lot of Fig Tree fabric in my stash..

...and patterns too. 

During the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when I wasn't doing much quilting, I was giving this some thought and I have a couple of projects mentally planned out.  I even have an idea for a scrap quilt to use up the bits left over from the main quilts. 

But 2012 won't be all Fig Tree all the time.  I need to finish this year's school auction quilt before I start a new project and I want to make at least one more Christmasy quilt as well as put my Etchings fat quarters to work in something.  Sometimes, I can't stop myself from making to-do lists!

Project Runway - Dress #3

My latest creation:

The fabric for the dress in this block is a little thinner than usual quilting cotton fabric.  It is closer to voile.  As a result, you can see the dress form through the dress (at least, I can see it).  But once I have all the blocks finished, I will be cutting out the backing from behind the dresses so I have less bulk to quilt through. 

It is great fun to pick out the fabric for these dresses!  It takes me back to my childhood, when I loved playing with dolls.  I am the classic tailored type now; I rarely wear a dress and when I do, it is nothing like this.  Though I did have a brief Laura Ashley phase in the 80's.  For proof, see my wedding dress.

Me and my dad just prior to my wedding.

Slicing and Dicing

The quilt I'm making for the 2012 school auction is made up almost entirely of quarter square triangle blocks, also known as hour glass blocks.  I need to make about 400 of the hour glass blocks.  Luckily, I have some good tools!

I started with teh Easy Angle ruler.  Thelma of Cupcakes 'n Daisies blogged about this ruler, recommending it for making half-square triangle blocks.  What do you know, but I found it among my (rather extensive collection of) rulers.  I don't recall using it before but I think I saw it demonstrated at a quilt show and bought it then. 

Anyway, I decided this project would be the perfect time to try it out and I was not mistaken. It is very easy to use. I sandwiched one blue fabric with a gold fabric, right sides together, using a bit of spray starch. I cut the strips then used the Easy Angle ruler to cut the strips into triangles. The pairs stayed together fairly well and were easy to feed through the sewing machine, chain-style. 

The next step was to cut each resulting block in half, diagonally, and re-sew pairs together to yield the hour glass blocks.  I deliberately made them a little oversize so I could cut them down to the perfect size.  All this cutting is tedious but I find it is the only way for me to get the required accuracy.

For this cutting, I used my Bias Square ruler (shown here on a dinner napkin so you can see the markings).  This ruler has markings every 1/8th inch, plus the diagonal line marked.  It made it easy to trim the blocks down to size.  As you can see in the first photo above, I was basically shaving them down to the correct size and squaring them up. 

So, this is what I have now.  About 400 blocks, arranged by color combination, and ready to be sewn together in rows.

Still a lot of sewing to be done, but I am finished with the cutting.

Happy New Year!

Now would be a good time to replace the blade in your rotary cutter and the needle in your sewing machine if you have not done so recently.  I am still trying to get in the habit of starting each project with a new blade and a new needle.

 I hope 2012 is a good year for all of us!