Getting Things Done

When I come home from our monthly Out of the Box Fibre Artists meeting - I was all hipped up and didn't get to sleep until late. So many quilts, techniques and ideas....and never enough time!!!

This month's speaker, Sharon Collins, sure wowed me! For whatever reason, I'm totally intimidated by paint and fabric dye - but after seeing her work, I just have to learn this! She is creating these amazing landscape art quilts with her hand-dyed cotton, silk and silk organza. Some of her pieces have 4 or 5 layers. She uses a technique called flat dying. This summer, I'm going to learn more about this and let you know what happens! Check out her website in the Related Links below.

It's been a very busy March so far. I've made progress on a few things. Here they are:

Beaver Block (It's my March OMG and being made for Celebrate - Fêtons 150)

I've been working very hard on Lorna's (Sew Fresh Quilts) Beaver block. I have to admit that I was pretty anxious about making it since piecing is not my favourite thing to do. Well, I am thrilled to say that it was a really great experience. The pattern was easy to follow and her technique was great. I finished piecing it in a couple of days. I am very impressed!

Now I'm quilting it. That's the fun part of the process - where the quilting gives it that extra boost.

FMQ the Beaver block

Details of the FMQ of the flag and tail

England Souvenir with JoJo Hall's World Quilting Travel Adventure

Progress on the England Souvenir 

England was the fourth location in our World Tour. I'm a little behind, but slowly catching up! I love this Tea Room wall hanging and it's going to hang in my kitchen.

World Quilting
Travel Adventure

I used the Crafted Applique technique and as usual, it was a success. Since I want to make it an art quilt, I visited a local beading shop and found some black chain to use to hang the sign from the post. I can't wait to start the embellishing, but I should probably clean up those loose threads and sew down the applique first!



Growing Up QAL - Block 3

Block 3 of Growing Up QAL

The third block in Alida's Growing Up QAL is all about circles. I'm really proud of myself. I took my time, used tons of pins and it went very well. It reminded me of why I disliked sewing sleeves on garments! I can't see myself making an entire quilt of circles, but after making 8 of those suckers, it was getting easier.

Postcard from Sweden Quilt Along

I know, I really, really don't need another QAL project - but in my defense, I started this quilt top over a year ago.

Half-Square Triangle

I saw a finished version that was incredibly FMQ somewhere in Internet land and fell in love. Any excuse to make something to practice my FMQ on, even if it involves half-square triangles (HST)! I bought two Hoffman Bali Snaps packages - Sea Glass and Gemstone to start with but once again my planing and math skills were off :-) That's ok - I have lots of potential batik fabrics in my stash.


What I learned:

• I'm not sure if it's because it gets darker later but I now feel like working on my quilting after supper. I've been able to advance a lot of these projects.
• I enjoy having projects at different stages of completion - it gives me the chance to FMQ, piece or plan - depending on my mood.

Related Links:

• Out of the Box Fibre Artists Group
• Sharon Collins Art - check out her landscapes
• Sew Fresh Quilts Patterns and Beaver Block Pattern
• OMG setting for March - Celebrate - Fêtons 150 in March (March 1, 2017)
• Beaver Block - More Celebration the Quilting Way (March 13, 2017)
• Visit England with JoJo Hall's World Quilting Travel Adventure
• Growing Up QAL - Block 3 link-up
• Postcard from Sweden Quilt Along (scroll down past the links for the QAL info)

Linking Parties: Here are the link-ups that I'm participating in. Check out what everyone is making! Postcards from Sweden QAL, Growing Up QAL Link-up, World Quilting Travel Adventure - Travelers' Souvenirs, Let's Bee Social, Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Free Motion Mavericks, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Main Crush Monday.