Merry Christmas!

Amy, I can't wait to see this quilt when it is finished. It is going to be fabulous! I really like the finished look of my block, it is very festive! Here is my contribution:

And here are just a few more notes that might help our other group members:

• This was a good project to work on in stages. One night I cut everything out, another night I sewed my half square triangles and squared them up, and then finally today I started sewing it all together.
• For some reason I missed the request on Amy's post to use at least 6 reds and 4 greens. I used 6 reds and 3 greens. As I started assembling the area outside of the star, I wished I had cut more of a variety of both reds and greens.
• Sewing the pieces together in small groupings was helpful. These were my stages: 

The center star:

The four corners:

The four sides:

As Amy suggested, it was extremely helpful to take pictures as I worked so that I could keep track of where every piece belonged and to be sure the pieces were all turned in the right direction. 

So now my block is going to hang on my design wall 

for a few days before I send it ...just so I can admire it!

Thanks Amy, I'm glad I could be a part of  this quilt for your parents!

xoJennifer

Better Late Than Never ?!?

So...here are my July blocks. Hot off the sewing machine today! THANK YOU DORIS, for patiently awaiting these blocks. Hopefully they will fit into the 2 empty spots nicely. Ahem! I now have some printed text fabrics to add to my stash!

And...here are my 2 August blocks! Thank you CHRIS for your patience!! The pinks look a tad washed out in this photo. Looking forward to seeing all of our blocks together :)

And soon to be started...my September and October blocks :)

Happy Fall, from Canada!

Shauna

October Block for Amy (USA)

Hello All! Now that Fall is upon us here in the Northern Hemisphere, I feel the need for a Christmas quilt! I have set the lofty goal of completing this quilt in time for Christmas for my parents! They have a cabin in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and I can picture this quilt on the couch by the fire! I spent quite a bit of time looking for inspiration and stumbled upon a block tutorial by Melissa at Happy Quilting. I am using her Star Value Tutorial-
http://happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com/2013/05/star-value-tutorial-for-between-heaven.html

I changed around the colors using reds, greens, and white/creams. If you have Christmas fabrics in your stash, use them! If not, I am looking for deeper reds (no pinks) and deeper greens. In my block, I feel like a few of the green triangles are too light, but I am going with it! You can use prints or solids. I included both creams and whites in the stars and outer corners.
Please use at least 4 different green fabrics and at least 6 different red fabrics.

Cutting Chart for a 16 inch block-

Red Squares for HST   need  16  measuring 3 inches x 3 inches

Green Squares for HST  need 12 measuring 3 inches x 3 inches

White/Cream Squares for Star HST  need 8  measuring 3 inches x 3 inches

White/Cream Squares for Diamond HST  need 4 measuring 3 inches x 3 inches

Red Squares need 16 cut 2 1/2 inches x 2 1/2 inches

White/Cream squares for Star  need 8 cut 2 1/2 inches x 2 1/2 inches


After cutting-
Match 4 green 3" x 3" with 4 white/cream 3" x 3"

Match 8 red 3" x 3" with 8 white/cream 3" x 3"

Match 8 red 3" x 3" with 8 green 3" x 3"

Follow Melissa's tutorial for making and trimming up the HST's to 2 1/2" squares and for assembling the block.  After I laid the block out, I took a picture before starting sewing. This definitely helped me when it was time to sew. I referred back to the picture many times & saved myself from having to use my seam ripper.

                

I am excited to see this quilt come together! My mom thinks our group here is absolutely amazing-I must agree! My biggest difficulty will be not telling her over the next couple of months!

If any questions arise please let me know!  Thanks in advance! 

Amy (USA)

PS I also got Stephanie's blocks done-just have to get to the post office!

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