Blooming Away!

More flowers!

I've seen so many pretty versions of this. If you look here, you'll find a list of blogs where you can see what other quilters are doing.

Check out the rest of Karen's blog, too--she has a number of great projects going. I'm especially interested in her "Dear Jane" quilt. Why? Oh...well...no special reason...

 As you can see, I'm still going strong!

Now I'm finding that the hardest part is tracing around the plastic template for my sewing lines. I may have been better off using paper piecing after all!

Janet from Quiltsalott isn't doing the SAL as far as I know, but look how beautiful her flowers are! Her blog is one of my favorites. Australian quilters seem to have a different way of using color, and Janet's color sense and workmanship are extraordinary. I suspect the whole color thing has something to do with being able to look out the window and see this (scroll down to the last picture.) Or these. Or this (scroll again!) Honestly, it makes me feel like I live in the Land of Boring Creatures. All I usually see when I look out my window are grackles and sparrows amongst the crabgrass. Anyway, not to be all fangirly, but it's really worth it to read the whole blog from the start. She has everything--great pictures, great quilts, great tutorials, great recipes, even a few squee-worthy baby pictures!

Sometime soon I need to figure out exactly how many hexagon flowers I'll need for a quilt. Then again, maybe it's not something I need to know at the moment! I might be better off just letting the blooms pile up in their basket before I discover that I need 1500 of them (totally made-up number, BTW.) Oh dear. What if I run out of fabric?? (Exit Lisa, laughing hysterically...)

More Flowers!

Looky what we have here:

Yep, more flowers.

Even though this is supposed to be One-flower Wednesday...

...obviously I'm sort of an overachiever!

They're fun to make, but the best part is choosing the fabrics. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying that!

I had thought I would sew these using the paper-piecing method, where you cut hexagons out of paper, baste the fabric over them, and whip-stitch them together. I ran off a copy of the size hexagons I wanted (you can find an explanation of paper-piecing and a link to printable hexagons here) and started cutting. After about the fifth hexie, I thought, "Ya know, I could just sew them together," and that was the end of the paper-piecing plan. It's really not hard at all to just sew the pieces, even though there's a set-in corner. That's one of the reasons I love hand piecing--I would never try to sew these on the machine. I'd go bonkers and probably end up sewing through my finger or something. Blood stains on the fabric are just too, too tacky.

I would do the paper thing if I were making really small hexagons. (Mine are finishing to about 7/8" on each straight side.) In fact, I'm doing another quilt using paper-piecing because the pieces are so teensy-weensy. I'll save that for another day.

Last chance to comment for the giveaway! I'll draw a name Friday, and the lovely merino-silk lace yarn will be on its way to a new home!

One-Flower Wednesday

So, that whole finishing projects thing. Not doing so well with that. I slipped and started another quilt made of hexagon flowers.

This quilt-along was started by Karen of "Journey of a Quilter". Each Wednesday she posts  pictures of her completed flower blocks. You might notice that she doesn't work only on hexagon flowers--she has a number of other projects going too. She's obviously my kind of gal!

 Here are the guidelines. Mainly, just use hexagons and put your name and blog link on the list at least once a month. I think I can handle that. 

 Although it's called "One-Flower Wednesday", you may have noticed something.

I couldn't stop making the little boogers. I have a couple more cut out and fabrics lined up on the cutting table, waiting their turn. It's a terrific way for me to dive into the stash and work with all of those nineteenth-century reproductions I've been hoarding. Jo Morton and Judie Rothermel are my heroines--I love their repro fabric designs. This kind of quilt gives me a chance to put lots of different fabrics in one quilt, and I can do it without totally destroying my sewing room. That's always a good thing!

I'm changing the rules for the giveaway just a little bit. It actually gives you more chances to win. Just comment on any post (or all of them!) until June 30. Every time you leave a comment, I'll put your name in the hat for a chance to win that beautiful laceweight yarn I showed earlier.

Next time: Some thoughts on the 10,000-Hour Challenge. See you!

Lust, Serious Lust

Heh. Got your attention? It's not what you think, trust me.

If anyone were paying attention to my blog list, they might have noticed an increase in non-knitting blogs. I seem to have come full circle and am back to my original love, quilting--with a bit of cross-stitch thrown in. This is dangerous, because it means that not only am I reading about gorgeous quilts that I yearn to make, I'm also seeing lots and lots of fabric that I suddenly must have. Because, you know, just like my yarn stash, my quilt fabric stash is low. (Excuse me a moment while I pause to laugh hysterically.)

It's not enough that I live within walking distance of one of the state's biggest quilt fabric shops, either. Oh no. Now that we have internet shopping, the world is our oyster. Ok, not oyster. I hate oysters. The world is our, um, oh heck. I don't know what metaphor to use, but you get the idea.

This is what I'm lusting after:


That is Moda's French General fabric, and I waaaaaaannnnntttt it! Unfortunately I cannot afford it, so it will have to go on my wish list. I don't need it. I have shelves and shelves of quilt fabric that I've been collecting since 1982. I used to work in a quilt shop, and as you can imagine I made the most of the employee discount. And I have at least a dozen or so quilt tops waiting to be quilted, as well as tops that I've begun hand-piecing, machine-piecing, and appliqueing. But that doesn't keep me from looking and lusting. What's worse is that I'm just showing you one of my objects of desire. There are also the madder red fabrics, and the shirting fabrics, and the William Morris fabrics...

The only antidote is to go upstairs and fall in love all over again with the old familiar fabric that I so carefully and passionately acquired over the past quarter-century. It's been a while since I pulled the dust covers off the fabric shelves, so I'm going to spend some time getting reacquainted with my old loves. It promises to be fun!