Another Block for Stephanie!

I once again had fun digging through my scraps to find some of my favorite pieces for Stephanie's blocks. I appreciated Anthea's careful thought, research, and explanation of what she discovered about Kaffe Fassetts fabrics...saturated with color with no white. I tried to stick with this idea as I worked. I was also thinking of Katy's value project from February and tried to include some lights, mediums, and darks. I found the technique of sewing on the paper to be easy, the tutorial was very simple to follow. Thanks Stephanie, here is a sneak peek at your block, it will be in the mail on Monday... just in time!

And just a gentle and friendly reminder about our charity quilt. Below is what we have so far. I'd like to have the blocks by mid-December so that I can work on the top over the Christmas break. You can make one or two (or more!) blocks and feel free to cut doubles and make two of the same block, size: 12.5 unfinished.

The backing fabric:

This quilt will be for a boy or a girl.

Thanks everyone!
xo Jennifer

Anthea's String Blocks for Stephanie

The arrival of spring has meant there are lots of lovely outside things to do on my days off and so I have had to be pretty focussed to finish these blocks before the end of the month.  But once I had all the fabrics sorted out, they were very easy to complete.
I found choosing the fabrics quite tricky - I even went and checked out my local fabric shop's selection of Kaffe Fassett cottons to absorb some understanding of what sets his style apart from other designers. My very un-educated conclusion is that it is full-on colour saturation and no white. So using that and your comments of "brighter jewel tones" Stephanie as a guide, I hope I have created some blocks that you can use.
Thank you Jennifer for your kind scrap donation earlier in the year - having them to use was such a big help.

Anthea

Stephanie's block from Linsay.

It rained all day here on Sunday so I hid in my sewing room and made Stephanie's block.  This is a fun block to make and the end result is going to be a quilt which is bursting with colour.  I didn't fussy cut the strips but some flowers positioned themselves nicely on the red strip and a little bird landed near the bottom right hand corner.

Fortunately it is still raining which gives me the opportunity to get back into the sewing room to make our charity block that I have been meaning to get round to for ages.  I know which block I want to make I just need to find the fabrics to match the guide fabric.

Linsay.

Katy's twin blocks, take two

Chris...so sorry for not reading the directions properly...my first blocks weren't really twins, so here are some pink flower twins for your August quilt.

I found the flower print at a thrift shop in New Hamburg a year or two ago, no doubt coming from one of the mennonite quilters in the region. I hope they fit in with the rest of your pretty blocks. I'll drop them in the mail now! Now on to Shauna's much-belated tree block and the September block... I have my sewing mojo back.
xo
Katy

Amy (Canada) Blocks for Stephanie!

I love this pattern! It was a great use for the rest of my strips from my spider web squares. I was even able to use some scraps other people sent me, do you see them there?! There were a couple of things I wanted to share with you guys. First off, Stephanie, I couldn't find the seam allowance, but assumed it was 1/4". This only matters on either side of the white strip. I hope that is correct. Another thing I wanted to tell you is that if you use 1/4" seam allowance, you'll want to cut your strips much thicker than you think. Mine were way to thin and I had to use some thicker ones. Lastly, I found that because you are cutting the edges off, your seams are not backstitched and when you rip the paper off, your seams are pulled apart. I don't know how to fix this. I actually left some of my paper on because of this. Any ideas of how to prevent this? Otherwise,  a beautiful square! Love it!

Update to September Block...

O.k.  I have spent the day sewing and have found that I DO NOT like the grey with my color choice.  Please use a 1 1/2 inch strip of white in the center.  Just plain white.  Not cream. White.  Thanks for your patience.  Next year I will make sure I have a block made BEFORE I post!

Thanks, Stephanie USA

Happy September!

Happy September everyone!  I love September.  I love it because it is my birthday month, it is the start of fall, and Halloween is next month!

  This month I want everyone to make 4 (four) 6 1/2 in string blocks.

There are several good tutorials, but this tutorial  is the one I like the best.  Rachel from ps i quilt does a fabulous job of teaching this technique.  I especially like how she used a solid white strip for the center of all her blocks.

This Flickr group has several great examples.

I found this 

on the Fussycut blog.

I love the grey.  

Please follow the tutorial on ps i quilt.

I would like your blocks to be 6 1/2 inches.  Don't worry about putting the blocks together into one 12 inch block.  I will do that.  As far as colors go, I would like the center strips to be a bright white.  Please cut 1 1/2 inch strips of thewhite for the center block.  Go wild with the width of the other fabrics.

I will be using a variety of these fabrics by Kaffe Fassett.

I will be using the brighter jewel tones.    I hope this isn't too confusing.  Email me any questions! I can't wait to start getting your blocks.  I will post pictures of my blocks when I get them done.

Happy Sewing!

Stephanie, USA

Amy's (USA) blocks for Chris

These were sent with Doris' blocks a while back, but I am just now getting a chance to post about them! I enjoyed making these blocks....although I fell prey to a measuring error...I measured once and ended up cutting twice instead of "measure twice, cut once!" Oops! The first blocks were 1/2 inch too small. ugh. My first attempt (picture below) then became a cute pillow that my daughter put together for a friend's birthday gift! So after finding more fabric, I was able to make the blocks the right size! 

I also completed a commissioned quilt this month. It is for the son of a good friend. When he was born, they lived on Route 66-a historical highway that runs across the country. She asked for a large lap quilt with the Route 66 theme because his room is decorated that way. I had fun coming up with a design, locating fabrics and putting it together! He is thrilled with it-yay!

Now I have to figure out what block I want to use for October! 

Amy (USA)

Chris's blocks from Linsay

These blocks were fun and quick to make and I think the final quilt will be lovely.  I always love pink fabrics.  I have to come to terms with the fact that I am more girly than I like to admit.  The photograph makes them look very vibrant.  They are not this strong in real life.

 

I loved Katy's photo of the quilt covered car and I thought I would share something similar.  Calum and I went to a tiny village in the Swiss Alps which was having a flower show last weekend.  It was a strange flower show because all the plants were displayed as collages which were then position along the tiny main street of the village.  In addition there were lots of things covered in knitting.  Table, chairs and a letter box; lampposts; and even a whole chalet.  I loved it but Calum thought it was all a bit weird.

 The main street

 There were rose petals in the water fountain.

 So pretty, and mad.

 Look at all that knitting!

Bbq lunch right beside the knitted chalet. Great fun.

Katy's Blocks for Chris

I am happy to report that I've now got my sewing corner set up in our new house (mostly), and found some quiet in the midst of end-of-summer crazies to sit and sew this morning...

I found the fabrics at a quilt show that I happened upon in Perth, Ontario a few weekends ago, which happened to also be on the same day as the local 'garlic festival'. I felt like a kid in a candy shop...garlic festival or quilt show??!! I ended up getting to do both! I took my eldest boy with me for a hurried walk through the quilt show after a few hours at the garlic festival and park. He wasn't sure he wanted to go in, until he saw this...

The quilt that I most identified with was this one...and maybe it will be my 2014 international stashes pick?! The design is amenable to multi-quilter fabric selections and colour palettes...and it's so cheerful. I see it gracing a bed at the cottage...

and the quilt that both A and I felt was magical and art and beauty all wrapped into one was this one...

We spent a lot of time in the vendor's hall trying to find the perfect pinks for Chris's quilt...I loved the little flower print and though it's a new fabric, it has a vintage feel to it. A and I worked hard to find just the right solid to match the pinks...I hope you love it Chris. I loved how fun and easy this one was, especially since I've just found my sewing mojo!! I would like to try and make this quilt too...

Anthea's blocks for Chris

Time slipped away and here it is September.  Here are my blocks for you Chris, made using a lovely citron wild-flower fabric and contrasting spot.  It was very hard to make the cuts into these pretty materials.  And I made a error and had to cut again...oh the pain.