I dropped a few more BOMs this week & Quilt Show

Well, I've been working on a super secret project this past couple of weeks, but I have also finished a couple of more BOMs of which I can share with you.

Lower left is the Octagon from Craftsy (June 2 of 2). Upper left is the one I posted about last time, the Greek Cross (June 1 of 2). Upper right and lower right are Quilt Story (June 2 versions). They were supposed to be anything with Flying Geese. I made one more traditional and the other a little crazy. I realized once I finished that I could not get them to come out to a 12.5 inch block, so I added borders and then squared off the blocks :)

Next month (July!!!...I know. Don't say anything!) it will be Dresden blocks and Rounded blocks. I think rounded doesn't necessarily mean it will have curves, as long as it appears rounded, sort of like the Octagon block above.

Hope you enjoy! I am linking up at Richard and Tanya's Link a Finish Friday.

I also wanted to mention that I will be in Philadelphia, PA next Saturday to visit the Quilt Show!!! Anyone else going? Would love to meet up and say Hi :)

Until next time,

Mike.

Trilogy: Free Motion Stitching, WIP Wednesdays and The Hexamaniac.

If you've been following me, you might know that I have been participating in the Craftsy Block of the Month (BOM). I posted about making Hexagons for April. Well, I finally finished the second block.

The one on the bottom was the second block. I used a starry night for the sky and a dark green leafy pattern (from my curtains) for the grass.

I had never appliqued before, so I decided to just wing it. I took my shapes (some of which were sewn together already in strips) and sprayed the backs with 505 adhesive sewing spray. Then, I positioned them on the background. I decided to do a straight stitch with white thread right up next to the edges:

At first I was doing this with a foot attached and the feed dogs going. But, it was a ton of stop and go, so I remembered Leah Day at the Free Motion Quilting Project having us stitch in lines or follow a pattern using free motion. I decided to try this and let me tell you, it was so much easier and faster! They stitched on rather nicely and in no time! It just sew happens that the Quilt Along Wednesdays last week was a review of stippling and these techniques. I'm happy that I thought of something I learned and applied it to this block!

Now, to the last part of my story. Once I started sewing all those Hexies (by hand) on Craftsy I realized that I could do this anywhere. I don't even have to be home. So, I took my zippy pouch that I won and loaded it with fabric squares and all the necessary accoutrement and took it on the train with me to work. It became addictive. Then, during my lunch break (after eating) I went outside in this lovely weather here in NYC (Battery Park) and paper pieced some hexies :) I just picked out some fabric. I have no idea what these will be for. But, I knew I had just started another work in progress!

I also want to mention that I have linked up at the New Bloggers linky party. Go there and visit some of the newer bloggers and comment on their posts and follow them too! They need them! When they reach milestones, they usually have giveaways!!!

Anyway, until next time,

Mike.

I am linking up at WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced and the Free Motion Quilting Project.

 

        

Big Fat Queen on the Wall!!!

I blogged about this quilt in my previous post ...and here. But check this out:

It takes up my entire design wall!!! And, that's not with the border. It will be difficult to baste (I spray baste). I might need some help from my husband. Anyway, I love the optical illusion. It's great. Now I need to work on sewing all 42 of the blocks together! Just thought I would share due to how impressed I was with the enormousness of this project (is that a word?). Google confirms. I also had a seam ripping moment. I had accidentally taken the orange block and the turquoise block and sewed them along the diagonal with the wrong side of fabric facing the right side (after I cut it). Sew, I had to rip those seams out and sew them back together without using the line/double seam/cut technique. And I have to say, I saw a seam ripping technique on Leah Day's blog that said rip every 4th stitch and then pull it apart. (It may have been a comment on a post, as I cannot find it.) It worked wonderfully. I'm surprised I had never heard of that before.


Since I already finished the Modern Mini Challenge (voting starts March 5th), I made some progress on this one. I will post when it's time to vote on the winners of the MMC. Please come back then and show me some love :) (votes). I blogged a little about it here. I'll send out a reminder.

Please comment, +1 me, follow and share this with others!

Anyway, until later.


Mike.