Quiet week

Hi folks, and happy first day of spring! We officially made it through the winter. What a relief! We are pretty good here. The hubs is feeling better after about a dozen milkshakes and several boxes of cold medicines, plus all our snow seems to have disappeared. No green shoots in the garden yet, but the ground is thawing.  Can mud be far behind?

I had a very quiet sewing week. This was my big accomplishment:

That's the yellow crumb star for RSC15. I think I did better with this one. It's less linear, that's for sure. I got this book from the library to help get me over the problems I was having with crumbs:

This is by Victoria Findlay Wolfe and was kind of helpful. It focuses mainly on "made fabric," which is basically how to put crumbs together. She's really into it! She has some challenges in the book that look interesting and I think I want to work through. If nothing else, I got a cool yellow star out of it. "Wonky" still bugs me, though.

I also put together most of the Loyal Union Sampler blocks:

I can't decide if this is a table topper or a baby quilt. It's about 45 by 45, so it could be either. For the sashing, I used a pale blue-green solid that doesn't exactly match any of the other colors, but I think it turned out great. The other possibility was yellow, but I'm glad I went with this color instead.

I'm not feeling bad at all about abandoning this big project and using the blocks for this smaller piece. It's actually a relief not to have it hanging over me, plus there are now a lot more possibilities for all that pink and green fabric. Any suggestions for a pink and green quilt?

So that was it for me this week! Quiet, but not totally unproductive. We'll probably have a quiet weekend, too, although I have this strange urge to scrub things, like the cabinets and baseboards. What is it about spring that makes that happen? Must be something in the air.

Have a wonderful weekend! Hope it's spring-like!

Linking to Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict,  Link a Finish Friday. and Angela at soscrappy.

Slacking off

Hi all, and happy St Patrick's Day! This is always a happy day in our family. We are not even a tiny bit Irish, but one of my brothers was born on St. Patrick's Day  (no, his name is not Patrick) so there is always a good reason for celebration. We seem to have a thing for holidays--one of my sisters was born at Christmas, the other was born in early May so that her birthday sometimes falls on Mother's Day, and we have recurring Labor Day and Easter birthdays in the family too. I am nowhere near a holiday so I get a day all to myself!

So, I have been seriously slacking off! I don't know what my trouble is. The hubs has been sick, so that could have something to do with it. I know you all feel my pain.

One thing I did do is cut out the pieces for a bag out of the 1987 fabric:

I know--exciting.

I also pulled out some stripes fabric to make Lorna's ZebraZ quilt:

I was sure that I had black and white stripes, but I don't, so I will probably use these. I plan to make "semi-cheater" zebras using these stripes because I really don't want to piece the stripes. I'm going to have to make one up and see how I like it.

Finally, I also decided to abandon a project:

These are some of the Loyal Union Sampler blocks that I made over the last year. There are 121 blocks and I only made about 20. I just don't have any enthusiasm for this project any more, so I am going to stitch these up into a baby girl quilt--or maybe a table topper-- and use the rest of the fabric for something else. I'm actually okay abandoning it. I made a Sylvia's Bridal Sampler and it was a lot of fun, but this one just never excited me much.

Hope you are all having a much more productive week! I'm going to try to finish up the Boston Common quilt and maybe make up the bag this week. And maybe I'll cut into some zebras, too. It all depends on how Mr. AQ is feeling and how many times I'll have to run out for a milkshake because his throat "feels weird." I know that you know what I mean!

Linking to Let's Bee Social and WIP Wednesday.

Under the weather

Hi folks! Hope you are all feeling well, because I feel really crummy. My head is about the size of a basketball and I can feel my sinuses in my throat. Not sick enough to stay in bed, but too sick to do complex things--like cook, for example. I'm totally blaming the weather, because it is cold and raining. Of course, students always make sure they sneeze on their papers before they hand them in, so it could be that, too.

Since I'm feeling so crummy, there's not a lot going on right now. I really don't feel like working on either of the quilts I should be working on. I did make these three new blocks for the Loyal Union Sampler:

I guess I was in a green mood. That star block in the center is paper pieced and it still nearly killed me. Tiny squares do not go with a headache.What was I thinking? Thank goodness there is only one to make for this quilt. I'm not sure I like the other two blocks, but I committed to making all of the blocks for this one, so maybe they'll get lost in the forest of the remaining blocks.

I also spent some time paging through quilt books and I picked out a pattern for these strips:

I chose this pattern, called Jitterbug:

From this book, which was another library find:

(On a side note, I think there must be a quilter who works in acquisitions at our library, because there are quite a few really recent books on the shelves. Wish I knew who it was, because I have a couple requests!) I may do some cutting for this one if I start feeling better. I'm not sure I trust myself with sharp objects right now.

One thing I have hope of finishing in the next few days involves this orange tote bag:

I'm hoping to turn it into something else this week, if my eyes ever focus properly again.

Anyway, it's time for some tea and soup, and maybe several cold pills too. Thank goodness I have several quilts to cuddle under because it is darned chilly around here.Fall is definitely here. My neighbor's tree has even started changing already.

Everyone stay healthy this week! If you feel too crummy to sew, you have my deepest sympathies. Make someone wait on you!

Linking to Linky Tuesday, WIP Wednesday, and Let's Bee Social. Come on over and check out what everyone else is up to! 

Hop Around the World

Hello all, and welcome to September! Hard to believe, isn't it? Angela at soscrappy has tagged me to participate in the Around the World blog hop, and today is my day to post. (Thanks Angela!) Also up today are Shasta and Katie. For those of you who are new here, I'm Mari (rhymes with sorry, in case you're wondering) and I'm a college professor whose main distraction is quilting. I am lucky enough to live in the beautiful state of Wisconsin with the hubster, who does not sew but understands my need to do so. Our three grown children have flown the coop, so now I have a sewing room to keep all my thready mess. Come on in and let's chat!

What am I working on?

Well, I've just finished two big projects, so now it's time to move on and finish up this quilt:

This is a scrappy Ocean Waves variation from this book by Joan Ford:

This is a pretty nice book if you're looking for a new project. Her version of the quilt is made with reds, but mine is made in blues since I had so many. I've been making it a little at a time, leader and ender style, for several months. I've finally gotten to the point where all the little units are made and now need to be put together.

Yes, all of those units come together to make one block. The directions call for using one white on white, but mine are also scrappy, mainly because I didn't want to buy anything new for this project. I could probably put the blocks together as leaders and enders too, but I have to pay too much attention to the orientation of the pieces to do that.

And here's the first completed block! Only 47 more to go.

I'm also working on a long-term project to make the Loyal Union Sampler, following along with the crew at Patched Works. Calling it a "long-term project" makes me feel better about being hopelessly behind. Here's the one block I made in the last couple of days:

Someday this will be a very pretty finished quilt. Someday a long time from now. . .

Of course, I also have two Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts in progress, one using half-square triangles

and the other with Odd Fellow's Chain blocks

These will be finished early next year, after the close of this year's challenge. I'm actually hoping to do a lot of work on them over Christmas break.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Hmmm, this is a hard one, mostly because I don't want to label myself. I'm not modern or traditional, but some of both, and I like all kinds of different patterns and fabrics, mainly depending on my mood. I love traditional blocks and I use mainly traditional methods. To me, that means that I always go back to the way my grandmother and earliest teachers taught me to do things when I was a child. Hand basting, pinning intersections whenever necessary, measuring and squaring pieces before they're put together, and figuring out how to conserve as much fabric as possible. That's right, we rock it really old school around here. Sometimes it also means drafting blocks by hand, on graph paper, and drawing layouts the same way. But I also love many modern fabrics and most frequently opt for traditional blocks in "happy" fabrics.

Gratuitous quilt picture from 2013.

Why do I create what I do?

I love art. That sounds pretentious, I know, but painting makes me cry and sculpture takes my breath away. I also love fabric and all kinds of textiles. I can't draw, paint, or sculpt, but I can sew, so I use that to put together color and pattern into something pleasing, not to mention useful. Nothing I do approaches Monet or Van Gogh, but could they wrap themselves in their artwork on cold nights? Well, maybe. Those guys were pretty odd. But canvas can't be all that cozy.

Also, I spend so much of my time with books and papers and such that I often need to do something with my hands. It calms my brain and relaxes me. When I'm working on an especially tricky idea in another part of my life, it helps a lot to use another part of my brain to piece and quilt. And let's just admit that fabric feels nice. It's cozy and colorful, and who doesn't find that comforting?

How does my creative process work?

I wish I could say I had some grand quilting trajectory that I always follow, but usually it either starts with a pattern I want to make or a piece of fabric that keeps saying "pick me, pick me!" I have a list (on a spreadsheet. . .I know) of patterns that I want to make and things that I have in progress. For example, Burgoyne Surrounded has been on my list for a very long time, so now I'm finally going to make it. I purchased a long length of white on white yardage this week (7 yards!) and plan to use that with my solid scraps to make up a lovely scrappy Burgoyne Surrounded quilt. See what I mean about modern AND traditional?

Won't that be striking? There are a lot of pieces, but I have a lot of scraps. I started cutting this past weekend and will start sewing this week.

As I said, sometimes the fabric talks to me. Right now, this one is yelling the loudest:

This is a strip set from my local quilt shop. I don't trust the precuts from the manufacturers any more, but the ones from the shop are all the right size. I don't know what this will be yet, but I'll start looking for a pattern to use with it. I get bored easily, so I need to have about three projects going at once. I want to start whatever this will become as soon as I'm done with the blue and white Ocean Waves. But you know I'll probably decide on a pattern tomorrow and start it right away without finishing the blue and white quilt first, right?

So, that's usually the process. Of course, after I choose the pattern and the fabric, I obsess over every aspect of the project until long after it's finished. And sometimes I find things I really want to make, either online or in a catalog, or sometimes through quilt shop projects, and somehow they worm their way into my projects list. It happens. I mostly just go with it. This is supposed to be fun, and what fun are deadlines, rules, and schedules?

So that's it! As a part of the blog hop, I'm tagging Bernie at Needle & Foot and Julie at Me and My Quilts for next week. I can tag another person too, so if you'd like to be included, either leave me a comment or drop me an email. And everyone have a really good week all around!

Linking to Linky Tuesday, WIP Wednesday and Let's Bee Social. Pop on over!

Block week

I love summer, don't you? There is so much to DO and see, and it's so good to be outside. Couple the great weather with travel to a professional conference, and for me that means not a lot of time in the sewing room this week.  Since I knew that I'd be travelling (and I still had to finish my paper!) I just concentrated on getting some blocks finished this week.

First, there are these Odd Fellow's blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge:

These are not yellow, which is June's color, but I am behind. Sigh. These are great blocks, but they are not quick, I'll tell you. Each of these takes me at least an hour and a half. Lots of pieces! I wish I had a couple of good tips for them, but the only thing I can think of is to use a point trimmer on the white triangles so that they fit correctly. (THIS is the one I use.)

Next up are a couple of extra small triangle blocks, also for RSC14. These ARE quick. I realized that I need three of each color for the triangle quilt, and I only had two of these. So here are an extra blue and an extra purple:

The purple has sparkly metallic dots. Who can argue with sparkly?

I also made one lonely yellow triangle block:

Turns out I don't have a lot of yellow scraps, which is weird because I love yellow and use it all the time. I didn't know it was so hard to photograph, though. Could not get a decent picture except in the deep shade.

The last blocks I made this week were a part of the Loyal Union Sampler quilt-along that I'm doing with my local quilt shop, Patched Works. They are going through 10 blocks a month to get all 121 finished in one year. It's now June, and I'm on. . .February. Sighhh. But it's not a race, right?

All of the blocks in this quilt-along are cute, and I've seen them in so many different fabrics and they all look great and like different quilts all together. Mine are made from a fabric line called Dogwood Trail by Moda fabrics. Most of these are paper pieced, a technique I love. If you did the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler, these are much, much easier.

That was my quilting week! Hope you got some stuff done too. I am at a professional conference, so I expect to have a great time and learn a lot this weekend. If I remember and have some time, I will link up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Scrap Happy Saturday.

If you have some time, jump over and check out this post at Freshly Pieced, where Lee gets to write about our terrific state of Wisconsin for the AMB Blog Tour.

Have a great weekend, everyone!