Player Piano Mouse

One of  Author quilt blocks will feature a book by Dr. Dachman, Player Piano Mouse.  I have had fun making this block, both the mouse and the piano keys.  It's a little wider than most of our other blocks, but it can be trimmed down and help to even out a short row.  (Not all of our blocks are turning out to be 10 1/2" square!)  You'd think with paper piecing, all the blocks will end up perfectly, but that's not the case.  Some are 10 1/4" or some other measurement.  One turned out to be only 9.5" wide, an inch too short.  We could add on an extra book to each short block to bring each block to the 10.5"  but we talked it over and decided to "square each row" to 60" rather than dink around with tiny individual variances!  So here is "Player Piano Mouse."  I used musical themed fabrics for the two books, too!

Football

One of our blocks in the Author quilt is about a football coach and his trials and tribulations as he pursues greatness for his team.  I found a paper pieced pattern for a football, and decided to use it.  Here it is:

Bias on the Bottom

I have finally finished the Whirligigs quilt top!  I still have to sandwich/pin/quilt yet.  But slow but sure wins the race, and finishes quilts.  Here's how it looks:

I put a small HST in each corner as a little accent, but it's hard to see.  The Delectable Mountains border turned out really well.  I was worried that they would stretch out when I sewed them on, but I remembered my rule:  "Bias on the bottom."  When you sew, it works better if you put the stretchy(ier) part on the bottom, and the strip of plain border on top.  The pressure foot pushes along against the top piece, but if there's no bias or seam, there is no stretch. The teeth underneath just grab the fabric and move it along and it all goes together beautifully.  That little rule made the difference is sewing that border.

Argyle

I have been thinking about making Aidan a quilt for a couple years now.  I recently asked him what his favorite color was, he said blue and then asked "why?"  I told him it was so I knew what color underwear to buy him for Christmas!  He said he had a different idea, maybe it was for a quilt!  Big smiles here for both of us!  We both understood what was really being asked. Aidan knows how to read between the lines! I asked what about a second color, you know, for "contrast" in the "underwear".  He said Red.  Now, I have to really look for, and buy, some red and blue boys underwear to wrap up a Christmas!!  But in the meantime, I will be working on his Christmas quilt!

I had bought, some time ago, a fair amount of blue plaid flannel fabrics, with a snuggily cozy blue flannel quilt in mind just for Aidan. Aidan is the kind of kid who likes a snuggily blanket!  I had a pattern in mind, and plenty of fabric to do it, but was just too busy with other quilts. Then I changed my mind when I saw the Three Dudes Quilt, and I thought, THIS is for Aidan!  I kept this in the back of my mind too.  Now I have some time (not really!) and have been re-thinking what to do for Aidan.  I found ANOTHER new pattern, and thought THIS ONE would be perfect for Aidan, and I have gone back to the original idea of my plaid flannels.  I have even made "the first cut" so the quilt is officially started!  This one will go fast, and I think it'll be just perfect Aidan.  Here is picture of the quilt, a pattern named "Argyle." (I don't have the pattern, but I can easily figure it out from this picture.)

Just picture this in reds and blues.  Blue borders, a very light gray instead of white, blue plaids instead of green solids.  Here are the first 4 blocks!

This is a really simple pattern, 10" blocks, no seams to match in the blocks.  You'd have to match the red and blue diagonal lines when you put the blocks and rows together, but that's not too bad! I'll be able to chain piece this, so it should go really fast!  I'm on a mission!!

Gravity

I had to put Whirligigs away, it's about 95% done.  I am waiting on the mailman to bring me a little more black fabric, such a tiny amount I needed, a mere 4.5"  WOF.  I guess because I made it bigger, that little bit extra caused the shortage.  Or, I hadn't planned on 44 delectable mountain blocks either when I calculated yardage.  That's what I get for changing the plan!  Anyway ...!

I just got out a different UFO (I have so many to choose from!) and got to work.  I chose the Gravity quilt because I had quite a few of the color blocks already finished.  So I have been busy working on this one while I wait for my Whirligig fabric to arrive.  Gravity is a rather large quilt, and as of right now, it has no name on it either.  I have no particular recipient in mind for it.  I just thought it was pretty when I saw it.

Gravity is made from Anthology fabrics by Robert Kaufman.  These are solid colored fabrics, and the fabric is very very nice, almost like a linen.  Anthology fabrics come in 303 different colors!  Wow!  This quilt will be fun to quilt, I'll have to think of what color thread to use.  And how to quilt all these spaces.  More fun awaits!  But until then, here is my progress on the Gravity quilt!

As you can see, it's a rainbow quilt, with a black/gray background, all done in diamonds and triangle shapes.  I have a couple of specialty rulers to make this easy, the "Sidekick" and the "Hex and More" from Jaybirds Quilts.  I love those 2 rulers and have used them for other things besides this quilt. This was originally a Block of the Month from Jaybirds, and I signed up to do it.  I have all the fabrics now, and just have to finish it up.  I am liking this project!

Delectable Mountains.

I have been working on the Whirligig UFO as a part of my quilt guilt 2016 UFO challenge.  I had gotten a lot done already and as I gazed upon this beauty on my design wall, all done except for borders, I decided, It's too small!  I had enough extra fabrics to make  more blocks, and so I did, I added an extra row, so the quilt is now 5 x 5 instead of 4 x 5.

I also started on the borders.  Also with leftover fabric, mostly scraps, I made 44 smaller delectable mountain blocks that I had been thinking of doing.  Eleven per side.  I think it will look  fantastic!  Here's my progress!

As I gazed upon the new improved version, I decided I really really didn't like one of the blocks.  Dull and boring in color, and so I ripped it out and made a new block, a red one!  Can you tell which block I ripped out?  Maybe that gray one in the 3rd row?  Or perhaps the brown one in the 4th row?  No.  Actually, I might have replaced that gray one... it is also a little on the boring side.  But I didn't have enough fabric left to redo one in any other color!  My delectable mountains used up every possible scrap of any decent size!  Ok, which one, you ask.  The olive green one in the 2nd row is the ugly duckling!  Puke green if you ask me!  And so now my quilt looks like this!  Better, eh?

Scrap Overload

I have been working on multiple quilts (the Mystery quilt, Asteroids, Rainbow Kaleidoscope for the quilt guild presentation, whirligigs, plus miscellaneous things --cow, etc.)  Needless to say, my sewing room is in need of a serious cleaning.  I should put things away from one project before I start another, but nooooo.  Isn't there an old saying about a cluttered room is the sign of a gifted mind?  (THAT's MY story, and I'm sticking to it!)

Anyway, to say that I am a scrap hoarder is an understatement.  Ever since I learned that paper-piecing can use the SMALLEST scraps, I've been keeping almost everything!  And my scrap bins overfloweth!

I have decided to make an actual quilt with those scraps, and this may take years and years to do.  I am cutting squares in various sizes, the smallest being 1.5" square.  If a scrap cannot make a 1.5" square I am tossing it out!  I cut the largest square I can from a scrap, the largest being 3.5" (3" finished,) a 2.5" square (to finish at 2") and 1.5" (1" finished.)  I plan to sew scraps together (as in the picture above) and then arrange them in some random combination to make a 12.5" square (finishing off at 12").  These will all be sewn, not strip piecing, so it will take some time.  I am making it a goal to sew one "square" a day (16 one-inch pieces in a 4x4 arrangement) or a 16-patch of 3" squares, or a 4 patch of 2" squares, or whatever it turns out to be.  When I have a significant amount of squares, I will make a quilt and call it "Scrap Attack."  A have enough scraps to make about 100 of these kinds of quilts!!