FINALLY!

I am happy to say I finally finished the first block...I was so excited to get the material and start on it, but, like others I see, it sat on my table for several weeks. I kept changing my mind as to what I wanted to do with the block and became a little overwhelmed -- and excited at the same time -- with all the ideas that started flowing. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my creative side was starting to show itself. I decided to keep it simple and this is what I ended up with -- I hope Rebekkah likes it.

Oops

I'm sorry Rebekah! Not a very punctual start, I know, but my square is done!

You can read more here.

Spoiler Alert for Rebekah!

Boy, I was cutting it close. I finished this block on Saturday morning and sent it out in the afternoon. She should be getting this in a few days. I hope she likes it. Making things wonky is actually harder than making straight precise blocks. And it takes up a lot of fabric.

Round 2

I can't believe it is June 14th and we are already onto the second month of the quilting bee. And after seeing all the gorgeous blocks put together for Rebekah, I really can't wait to see what everyone does this month. You are all really amazing.

The fabrics I picked are Alexander Henry's Birdseed and solid white, yellow, medium gray and dark gray. I sort of flew by the seat of my pants on the sizes of the pieces I sent but they are basically all about 15" x 6", except for the dark grey and that is 7" x 7" (since it is more of an accent color).

My general plan for the quilt is to use it on my queen bed so I am hoping that everyone will make a 14" x 14" block. I am planning on sewing 4 additional blocks to make it 4 blocks by 4 blocks with sashing in between and a nice big border. If for any chance, I didn't send enough fabric for each of you to work you magic into 14" x 14" block, feel free to go smaller. Also feel free to bring in fabric from your own stash if you want to spice things up a bit.

I did a little research on flickr and in my fabric books for inspiration. Here is a mosaic of some cuties - I am really digging the wonky lines of these quilts. I had trouble adding these two quilts to the mosaic but here are links to two more inspirations as well.

I sent out the fabric on Friday so hopefully you will receive it in the next couple of days. Let me know if it doesn't arrive soon.

Bit the Bullet

Man, how can quilting make you so nervous? I was procrastinating on the quilt block but then realized it was mostly because I was so nervous. I had picked out the word fabric to add to the three fabrics Rebekah had sent me and they had been in a little pile on my cutting board for weeks.

So today I bit the bullet and cut into them. I went the safe route and did a wonky log cabin. Of course I had never done one before but it's wonky so you can't mess it up!

I hope you like it Rebekah and I hope I'm not this nervous every month!

Piano Keys

Here is my completed block for Rebekah:

I loved the mushroom fabric, so I knew I wanted to showcase at least one of the mushrooms. My original plan was to do a wonky log cabin, but with all the black and red it didn't turn out quite right, so I started piecing pieces together randomly. I did the left side first and it reminded me of piano keys since they were almost alternating. After that I decided to do the right side in a similar fashion. I added the black swirly fabric to break things up a bit.

This block was pretty fun. Definitely made me quilt differently than I usually do!

One done, 12 to go

Rebekah's fabric arrived over two weeks ago and has been pinned to my design wall...looking down at me in that beckoning, but mildly intimidating way. While cruising the group's blogs I noticed a few wonderful blocks popping up here and there. I knew I had to make that first cut and just do it. Thanks for the push, I needed that!
After taking the rotary cutter to the first piece my fear sort of melted away and much like Carissa, the fabric inspired me to create this block. I did do a bit of redesign which involved a touch of ripping.
Rebekah, I hope you don't mind the addition of the bit of white. I'm pleased with how it came together and now I'm looking forward to the arrival of the next set of fabric.

Carissa's block for Rebekah

a few weeks ago, my first fabric showed up in the mail. (it’s so fun to get good mail!) i opened it to find these three blocks of fabric:

one of my tiny fears about joining this group was that i’d have … let’s call it “quilter’s block” …. and be stumped as to what design to create. not with these fabrics! for some reason, as soon as i saw them, i pretty much knew what i was going to do. i was relieved when Rebekah's instructions fit perfectly with my plan. in fact, it was so obvious to me what the design “should” be that i was concerned that someone else in the group would create an identical block (which, really, wouldn’t have been a big deal, right?). i was relieved to learn that there were more than three different fabrics, so not everyone got the same ones that i did, thereby increasing the chances for randomness (hmmm.... good to note for when I have to pick out fabrics.....)

i finally sat down, late one night to actually make it. cutting the fabric was a bit daunting (can’t go buy more to replace it!), but realizing that even if something dreadful happened there was enough fabric that i’d probably still be able to make a block of some kind helped. also, remembering that mistakes can often lead to wonderful design serendipity helped. i first attempted to do something very wonky, but didn’t like the way that turned out (looks like i need to dissect denyse’s ‘wonky’ technique a little longer, apparently), so i did something a little different. because i am a slap-dash sewer extraordinaire, you can still see the wonky design idea on the back of the block:

i think the slant was just wayyyyy too pronounced. plus, i don’t think d.s. ever does parallelograms. anyway, bleh. but like i said, i fixed it and then decided to add a little bit of hand-stitching detail and here is the final block!

i hope she likes it. i do! i’m looking forward to the next month’s quilting challenge!