All Hallows Eve

I got fabric in the mail today from Lesley to make blocks for March for the modern tradition bee. We are making variations of Granny's Flower Garden, be sure to check hers out they are awesome. But the hubs is sick and I really haven't slept for what is now going on hour thirty something and I don't want to mess them up so I am coloring instead. I have a few variations floating in my head and I am waiting for them to peculate, but I'm a little slow today.

April is my month for the modern tradition bee and this weekend I spent a little bit of time looking at blocks. As soon as I saw this one I was hooked with one of those I need to do something like this moments.



Typically I'm not drawn to something this traditional but in this case I even love the fabrics they used. What I'm not so keen on are those triangles there in the corners. I love that they filled up that space with the dark fabric but after working with some very frustrating triangles this weekend I thought you know turning that into two 1/2 square triangles and a solid square would really make a whole lot more sense to me. I looked at some other variations of this block just to be sure I really liked it and well while they didn't reach out and grab me like this one I still found them very appealing.

But I really think I like the corners on the other one better just made using a different method. The original is also for a twenty four inch block which is huge so I am doing some math and trying to resize it to around 12.5 inches. So I am coloring and trying to work out the details in my head.

I even know what fabric I am going to use. For my birthday back in October I bought a fat quarter bundle of this line. And since Camille (don't you love her style) is coming out with a new line at market in May I have to use this one so I have a reason to replace it. I think that is how it works, right?

Week 4 Pinwheels

I've been having a lot of fun with the different pinwheel blocks for the quilt along that Rachel is hosting. Last week's block was by far my favorite so far. I just really like the look of the pinwheel within the star. this week the scale of the pinwheels was pretty large again. The blocks were pretty easy to make and went together really quickly. I had plans to get a lot of house work and a lot of sewing done today but I got distracted by a nap in the hammock so I will have to make up some of that ground tonight. It was just so nice to be able to sit outside and it was so pretty after all of the dreary weather we have been having lately.


I think the fabric choice for this quilt along might be one of the things that i love the most. It has been really neat to see all of the combinations come together. This week I realized I had already used a lot of my blue fabrics from my layer cake but not many of the brownish gray or the greens so I choose fabrics for those colorways. Maybe not my favorite of all the fabrics but I think it will give the depth and diversity that this quilt needs to be successful in its design. It is a little hard since I don't really know where this quilt is going or how the blocks will end up but I am trying to just relax and enjoy the process.

Sneak Peak

BeeStitched for Gretta
Originally uploaded by Lynette Russell Designs

Remember all of those little stacks of happiness that I had a few weeks back. Well they were mailed off and most of the members of my team have gotten them in their hot little hands. One of those bee members finished hers up already which made my day yesterday. I think I love this block even more now than when I picked it out to start with. I am also so glad that the white fabric didn't work out because I think the gray was defiantly the right choice here. I love the way it makes the colors pop without the starkness of the white. I love how a few of the small blocks appear to be fussy cut. I don't know if that was intentional of just luck but I love it none the less.I am really happy that there are so many fabrics and colors in this quilt because it will make it so beautiful. I am gushing with the excitement of seeing more of these beauties finished and posted on flickr so I can look at them everyday. And then jump up and down because this is going to be my quilt. My very own quilt.

Pinwheels Week 3

So the hum of the sewing machine has been pretty absent around here for about two weeks now. While I did a little bit of sewing two weeks ago after the quilt show and a few stitches here and there in between for the most part I have been feeling the anxiety of being away from my machine for to long. So tonight after dinner I sat down determined to finish up the week 3 pinwheels for the sampler I am doing with Rachel over at P.S. I Quilt. It is amazing to me that simple blocks can sometimes be the hardest. I am loving the combination of the buttery yellow with the hunky dory and I am glad that I decided not to use white. But I have been struggling a bit with the bulky seams and getting a good match on all of my points. They aren't all as crisp as I would like. I think this might be my favorite block so far. Because I love the way it is a pinwheel hiding inside of a star and this blue combination is really neat to me. I have a feeling I am going to need to get some more of this fabric line soon. Shh don't tell my husband.

A Lunch Date, A Change in Plans, & A Pinwheel or Two

WOW! Do I have a lot to say today or what. I hope you have a cup of coffee or your pick of poison because you might be settling down for a while to hear all of this. Let's start with Saturday. I had an amazing lunch date with DeeRoo and her amazing family. I'm not sure who had the best time but I know I really enjoyed meeting her and her wonderful sister (who I might mention is a great resource for technology and blog questions, don't hate me I'm just putting it out there) and mother. We meet at the Quilt Show in front of the Webfabrics booth (lets just say I think I might have paid her salary for the next month or so) since Dee works at that store (don't mind if I call you Dee, do you?). Then we exchanged goodies and I got a real treat bag full of all kinds of scraps from Delores, Dena Wayne, and Stephanie Allgood. Thanks ladies! Where was that bag when I was cutting all those three inch squares. Guess I have to find another great scrap busting pattern. Dee does that make you an enabler? Are you going to the races? Dena I'm sorry you missed it but hopefully you can make it next year. Followed up with lunch at Cracker Barrel where we had good food and good company.


Next up a change in plans. You know how you have your mind set on one thing and it never works out. Well when I was planning my star quilt for Bee Stitched I really wanted to use gray instead of white but the only gray my local quilt store had was slate and it was too dark and too blue. I settled on quilter white from P&B. Last night as I was getting everything ready to go into today's mail I ran out of white. So at lunch I ran back to the quilt store to get more, guess what they were out of this time. Yup you guessed it no more white. And nothing even close to what I had bought. I mean they had muslin and blends and all sorts of white on white prints but no plain white quilters cotton. Oh no that would have been too easy. So on my way back out the door as I was trying to think what to do next I noticed the kona wall looking much fuller so I walked over and wow they had gray. Not just gray they had ash, medium gray, dark gray, slate, and something else which was in the gray family but whose name escapes me now. I settled on the medium gray and now I have my packages ready to go in the mail tomorrow and I am a happy camper because I got what I wanted to start with. I love the way the bright colors pop with the gray.


And finally, yesterday was spent mostly babysitting but while she was napping I did manage to finish three out of four of my pinwheel blocks for weeks one and two of the pinwheel sampler quilt along over at Rachel's. I am using Honky Dory and a butter yellow. I had the yellow from a previously failed plan and I thought I was going to be using a lot of white in my two quilt bee quilts so I thought the yellow matched nicely and would be a nice touch. Well I have eliminated white from the first of those two quilts and if they had, had more than 6 yards of the gray I might have eliminated it from the second one as well. I guess one white quilt is a necessary evil though. And I do like the way it looks.




Overall I am happy with these blocks. The point is off on one of them which is frustrating but since I don't have the full layout of the quilt yet I don't want to remake it just yet. I hate the thought of buying another layercake for just one square so I am going to just wait a bit and see what I have left at the end.

Little Strips of Hapiness

Also up this month I am sending out fabrics on Monday for my month of the Fussy Cut Bee. I had such a great time making log cabins for Leanne in February for the Modern Tradition Bee that I knew immediately I needed one of those quilts in my collection as well. I have all kinds of ideas about how I am going to arrange the blocks. One thing I have been struggling with is fabric selection. I'm just not sure I have just the right composition yet. Here is what I have planned so far. Take a look:Now I need to send these out on Monday so I don't really have a ton of time to make any changes but I don't know I feel like it still needs, something. It might help if I tell you that the directions I gave my bee mates is to use a 3.5 inch fussy cut flower in the center of the block and then 2.5 inch logs around. I am going to the local fabric store during lunch on Monday since I need a bit more white fabric for my Bee Stitched blocks.

In my next post I am going to tell you all about the great lunch date I had yesterday. Stay tuned for details.

Spider Web Solved

So remember all of that whining I've been doing about my Spider Web quilt and how I don't like the kites and all that. Well Thursday at the quilt show I think I might have found my solution. Turns out if you twist and turn those blocks you end up with something like this:



I love it. Okay so you still end up with an occasional kite here and there and there are those big x's to think about but I think my love for it outweighs my dislikes in this case. Of course a lot can change between now and May when it's my turn for the bee. Not to mention all of those great ideas that Bea came up with just for me. So maybe it's not really Spider Web solved as much as another Spider Web possibility.