Kaleidoscope II and Farmer's Wife Blocks

 Here is the quilt I began working on last week during our snow, using up scraps from a previous quilt. Well, sometimes when you try to use all the scraps, you should just stop and let them go. I thought by adding the half blocks on the ends that it might turn out 'artsy' but instead it just makes you wonder "what happened"? Oh well, that is how I learn with quilts. It seemed okay when I took the photograph but when completed, just makes you wonder - lol!! 

One of the things I've enjoyed doing through the years when making quilts from leftovers is trying new things or making do with what I have. Some have turned out great and others, well, not so great. I enjoyed working on it and I think it will be a nice baby quilt for some child when I decide to give it away.

 Here is a close up view and I guess my favorite 'scrap' was the striped binding I had left from the nautical quilt I made in January. It was absolutely perfect for this quilt, too, and just the right amount.

 As for the back, I had fun piecing some backing leftovers from my "Not So Easy Street" from Bonnie Hunter's 2012 Mystery quilt.

One of my UFOs I would like to finish this year is my Farmer's Wife Quilt. Yesterday I actually made these three blocks and pulled fabric for about a dozen more. I think I enjoy choosing the fabrics as much as I do making them - just trying to find the 'perfect' choice from what I have to look similar to those in the book, and then getting them to all turn out the same size - 6.5" unfinished. 

When I began quilting in the early eighties, a 12" block was pretty much standard, and so much simpler to be accurate with larger pieces. Now 6" is a popular size and I have to work pretty hard to get them all the same. Guess I'm spoiled to so many blocks that you make and 'cut down to size'. I'm about 1/4 finished with this quilt now if I make all 111 blocks.

To see some other Farmer's Wife Blocks with a totally different spin on them, visit Pinkadot Quilts. Her fabrics are wonderful and so happy!

 Happy Stitching!

Snow Quilting II

Here is a picture taken this morning of our second round of snow in two weeks. However, this time we had ice and sleet first then snow to cover it last night. Isn't it beautiful?? Of course people all in the south and up the eastern coast can show similar pictures today. I went out to feed the birds this morning and it was just crunchy under my feet. Now the sun is shining brightly and it is beginning to melt but so pretty while it lasts!

 I needed a little project to work on yesterday so I found over 100 triangle leftovers from this quilt that I made in the nineties. It is hanging in the stairwell going upstairs. It is made from the pointillist palette fabrics by Debra Lunn. The fabric gradated from one selvage to the other with tiny dots of color, shading into the next. I designed this kaleidoscope quilt to show off the fabric and shading.

 Here is a close-up of the quilt.

 Here is what I worked on yesterday. I only had enough fabric to make one block of each fabric with a few leftovers. I'm still trying to decide how to lay it out - not like it is on the design wall, though. I need to do something with the other leftover blocks. I will add the black and white triangles to make them square and I'm thinking to separate the blocks this time.

A close-up view of the fabrics. Now I could do this probably 25 more times with other little bags of fabric I've kept from leftover quilts. It is fun to see what you can do with the leftovers! Happy Stitching to all those snowed in today.

Snow Quilting

 This is snow from two weeks ago when Atlanta shut down. What's a quilter to do but stay in and sew!! I did not mind that one bit!

 My niece is having a baby any day now and is using gray and white in the nursery. I went and found all these different grays when I learned of her colors. A couple of days later I was at two other quilt shops and they had several fabrics with the chevron design, gray and white, just like she was using. I did not know it was so popular!! I was tempted to buy that fabric but then the design was already there and where was my creativity going then? So I searched on the internet and found this blog, Crazy Mom Quilts, and she had a tutorial showing how to make this quilt without sewing any triangles. It really worked well!

 You lay out your fabrics as you desire (which took me quite sometime to decide just how I wanted the lights and darks to go), sew them together in rows on point and then square up the quilt cutting off the excess triangles. Quite simple.

 I mailed the quilt last week so now we are just waiting for the news of the baby.

A close-up view of the quilt and design.