More of the Same

Yes, today I bring you more of the same.  The pink is even getting a little old to me.  However, I'll be looking at pink for quite some time to come.  It's actually coming together quite nicely.  But I'm pretty sure that it isn't going to be a quilt by the time Grace's birthday gets here the end of February.  This may be one of those quilts that gets drug out until Christmas.  But that would mean I'll have to figure out a birthday present in between now and February 26th.

This is a terrible picture of what I had done as of Sunday morning.

I took this picture before I headed out to work at the college on Sunday.  I wanted to start figuring out the details to put the rows together.

There is a lot of spare time in my work day at the college.  I'm busy first thing in the morning and at the last of the day and in between that I usually do a lot of reading.  This time I was able to put a lot of numbers down on paper.

I counted out letters and added in the 1/2" sashing in between each letter to figure out how much extra space I had to get to the 60" width I want.  I'm planning to add a border to finish out the width.  I'm lousy at math so luckily all of my blocks are the same size.  Just not all of the words are the same length. There will also be more than one word on several of the rows.  Hopefully, my figuring is right and the rows will all come out the way I planned.

The first row sewn together.  Okay, the only row sewn together, so far.  I also made yet another word and have another one cut out.  So a little progress was made.

On to other news.  My sister Cathy tells me that there is a picture of my quilt in the newest issue of Quiltmaker.  It tells about it being a block of the month.  I haven't seen the issue yet.  I'm really excited to see how it all turns out.  Quiltmaker posted a picture last week on their blog but I was asked not to write about it on my blog yet.  They weren't quite ready.  I'm patiently waiting until I can post MY first picture.  I'm told they will let me know when.  I think I'll head to the store a little later and see if the new issues are out yet.  I think they usually go in the stores later than they are mailed.  I'm not a subscriber my Mom is.  We live about five blocks from each other.  She gets a couple of magazines and I get a couple of different ones and then we trade back and forth.  We've done it that way for years.  As of yesterday she hadn't yet received her copy in the mail.  But my sister who lives less than two miles away got hers.  Go figure.

Have a terrific Tuesday.

Julie

This week I have been working on the blocks that will go with my words.

4" Blocks

These blocks will all finish at 4".  So far I have between 10 and 20 of each block made.  The most labor intensive blocks are the stars.  I have the most of them because they've been my leader/enders while I've been working on the words.  The second block down on the left is the only one of those.  I wasn't quite sure I wanted to make more.  But looking at this picture I think it will work out just fine.  It will add good scrappy color.  I have a couple more block patterns in mind but haven't had the time to get started on them yet.

These are the only two words I've done this week.  I've just spent most of my time on the little blocks.  One of these days I have to figure out what size I want to end up with and how to get the rows to that size.  Putting together one row is easy.  Making the rest of them that length - not so simple. The piecing of the blocks is the easy part.

Here's another picture of the rest of the words that are done.  Just to keep it all on the same page.  It doesn't however, all fit on the same wall anymore.  A few more words and a lot more little blocks and I'll be ready to start setting it all together.  That should read - tearing my hair out.

Speaking of hair.  Why don't people who cut hair check the haircut anymore.  I may have just got the worst haircut I've ever had.  And by the time I try to get both sides the same length it really will be a mess.  I should go back and make her straighten it out but the last thing I need is for it to be cut any shorter by a mad stylist.  This too shall grow back out.  Thank goodness.

Have a great rest of your day!

Julie

Thursday Update

My title to this post actually makes it sound like a Thursday update is going to be a regular occurrence.  Probably not going to happen.  I usually don't spend much time sewing during the week.  This week has been a little different.  Maybe because I can't sleep and maybe because these blocks are going together so fast and easy that it makes it a little more fun to spend time at the machine.

So here are the new words I've made.

 

And here they all are together.  I'm running out of room on my wall though.  As you can see I still need quite a few words.  Not a problem.  I have a two page list of possibilities to choose from.  And it seems like I think of more every day.

I still haven't decided for sure how I'm going to sash the rows.  I've cut narrow 1 1/2" strips of gray to put in between them.  It almost makes it look like lines that you would write on.  I'm leaning toward that.

All of the pinks are different.  But I have been using the same background on more than one word.  And I'm running out of background fabric.  I have been working with half yard cuts for more variety and it looks like I'll need a couple more.

Have a great Thursday.

Julie

New Quilt Started

I absolutely can't help myself.  Really.  I don't say that lightly.  I really get my quilting fix by piecing.  And I just can't seem to stop starting new tops.  A design idea or pattern gets going around in my mind and I just can't wait to get started on it.  So - I did - again.  Be sure to biggie size the pictures so you can see the fabrics.

Word Quilt for Grace

This is a quilt that I've started for my beautiful, awesome granddaughter Grace Kaye Ann.  She will be seven on February 26th and pink is her very best, favorite color.  Or so she says.

A couple of weeks ago Thelma at Cupcakes and Daisies wrote a blog post about starting a Christmas quilt using words.  And that one post started my mind thinking quilt for Grace.  I already had the letter patterns from making the Temecula Quilt Company sew a long quilt Little Letters and having the letter patterns was half the battle.  So here is the start of my word quilt.

As I've been making progress on this I've been trying to decide exactly how big to make it.  Do you have any idea how many different sizes are out there for twin size quilts.  I am also figuring out how to make each row come out the same length.  I'll need to put in some filler strips.  I have been making the star blocks as leader/enders.

A couple of the pinks I have won't work for the letters mostly because the print is to large.  The pink with the kids playing ended up in the snowball blocks and were used as filler blocks for the word Friend.

There are a couple of things I've decided as I've been making the words.  One is that I only want to use white fabrics as backgrounds.  I used a light ecru with the word Love and it really doesn't work for me. That word, as it's made, isn't going to make the front of the quilt.  The word Sweet is still iffy.  It's a little dark and busy.  It will stay on the wall until I get some more words made.  I figure there will be other dark words so Sweet may fit in just great.

And there you have it.  I need to decide on a couple more 4" block patterns for fillers and what size it will end up.  I will say that the words are going quickly.  All except for the letter F.  I'm convinced that they gave the wrong cutting sizes. 

If you think about putting together your own word quilt one of the things I did was Google "positive and encouraging words" and believe it or not there are sites that give you lists in alphabetical order.  And not just thesaurus sites either.

Have a great Tuesday!

Julie

I haven't had much time to do any sewing this week.  But I did have a little time on my lunch hour Monday to order some more fabric from Whittle's Fabrics.  This website may be more than a little addicting.  Before Christmas I had gone in and started putting fabrics in my shopping cart but never did place the order.  Since then I've been working up a few designs in my head and decided that I needed to get some more pink fabric.  So in addition to what I already had in the shopping cart I may or may not have added a few more.

This is what came in the mail today.  I love how they box up their fabrics. They are folded so nicely you just have to lift a corner to see what's next.  This stack isn't fanned out very well.  There are 31 half yard cuts of various fabrics.  At least seven of them are pink.  What's a grandma of girls to do but buy pink fabric?

Lunch is over.  So it's back to work for me.  I can't wait to get these home and start sorting them out.

Happy sewing,

Julie

It's time to post my color version of Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion mystery quilt.  I'm quite happy with the way mine turned out.

It's pretty girly. But that's okay with me.

Grand Illusion 2014

It looks very pink in the photos and I guess it is.  But I wouldn't have described it that way until I saw these pictures.

I'm liking this one better than the last couple of mystery quilts I've made.  I suppose it's the colors.  But I also like how busy this one is.

Celtic Solstice 2013

Celtic Solstice turned out great.  I guess I never posted a picture of the finished top.  I'll have to get that done. Maybe I just like the ones with pink and purple in them?  No, that can't be, because Easy Street has a lot of purple.

Easy Street 2012

This one is Easy Street from 2012.  It is my least favorite.  My colors just didn't do the pattern justice.  And I'm not fond of all of the black and white prints in this one.

Orca Bay 2011

My Orca Bay from 2011 turned out alright.  I'll probably end up quilting it at some point.  Jennifer keeps asking for it.  We shall see.

I still need to put the borders on my Grand Illusion.  The pieces are made I just haven't had time to sew them on yet.  Maybe next weekend.  My long weekends are over so I have to get back to business as usual.  Work.

Happy Monday,

Julie