March Block for Meg

Hi everybody!  I always get a big burst of energy at the beginning of March -- even though it's usually not quite true, I think spring is just around the corner.  You will see in my block for this month that spring is on my mind!

The top line:  I would like you to make me 'something' with Flying Geese units.  The colors I've chosen are clear, bright shades of pink/red/black/white/gray.  Here is a shot of the pile of fabrics I used as inspiration:

Please use 100% cotton fabric.  I'm not very particular about pre-washing --  a friend who owns a quilt shop told me there is really no need to wash anything purchased in the last 10 years or so, due to the ever-increasing quality of dyes.  If you're using vintage fabric or something with an unknown source, please pre-wash and iron.

Flying Geese are fun and practically addictive to make -- many a dinner has burned in our house while I made 'just one more'.  Traditionally, it is a rectangular shape with a center triangle and two 'ears' -- here are two of them, one above the other:

If you have a Flying Geese ruler, you probably already know how to use it (or its instructions are still attached to it!).  If you don't have one, don't buy one for my block, but I will highly recommend it as a terrific little tool if you like this design.

No worries if you don't have the ruler --  you can easily make these units with a rectangle and two squares.  Cut a rectangle to the desired finished size (this one is quite large as I was using a very large scale fabric):

Then cut two squares the same height of the rectangle and a bit longer than half of the length of the rectangle.  I have shown this as best I could in a photo:

Then mark a 45 degree angle seam from the bottom, left corner of the square to the top, right corner on one side.  Note that the top of the line will NOT meet the top corner of your 'square' because it's not a precise square:

Sew and trim to a 1/4" seam, then fold and press:

Then repeat on the other side, taking care to sew a truly 45 degree angle seam once again and not corner to corner.  Finally, square up the top side, which will have some extra height as shown slightly in the photo above.  Ta-da!

As I mentioned earlier, this is quite a big Flying Goose -- in fact, I've never seen one this big anywhere.  It measures 9" x 16 1/2".  You can choose whatever size you like....read on!

So, with the instructions of how to actually make the Flying Geese unit out of the way, let's get to the fun part -- fabric choice and design!  It's important with Flying Geese to keep a consistent 'theme' so you can actually see the geese.

You could choose a consistent pink/red fabric as the goose, with various black and white fabrics as the background.  Look how fun this is with the background fading from black to white:

You could chose a variety of pinks/reds as the geese, with a consistent black and white fabric as the background:

Or, you could make your geese from the black/white fabric and use the pink/red fabric as your background like I did in the demo block.  BUT, choose one theme and stick with it!  Otherwise, you will get this unfortunate mess like I did with my first go.  Can you see how the geese pattern is lost?

Finally, the really fun stuff...what will your block look like?!  (Instruction lovers, you can begin to panic now...)  You can send ANY configuration of Flying Geese that you like.  That's right -- anything!

You could make one big one like my demo block; two medium ones like the first photo in this post; or a number of small ones.  You can sew the small ones together however you like -- in a block, in a strip of border, whatever looks good to you.

I will create the final quilt by arranging your pieces on a design board, then sewing fill-in bits to make it all fit together.  Just so you have an idea of the finished product, here is what I quickly organized on my sewing table:

Hope you have fun working on it!  I will send my address in a separate email, and thank you so much in advance!  I just can't wait to see the results!  xo Meg

Hayley's Block for Katy

Hello Everyone! Its hard to believe that February is almost over it seems like it was just last week that I was getting ready for Christmas! Here is my block for February. I am a new quilter so I don't have a lot of fabric in my stash and what I do have I generally don't have more than one of the same colour. I did have a few pinks FQ and needed to buy some pink fabric for another Bee so I figured what the heck pink it is! I hope it is okay that I could only use 5 different fabrics, but that is all I had/could afford. 

Take Care,

Hayley

Jennifer's and Meg's School Quilt Project

Hi Everyone!

For the past two days Meg and I have been working with primary students on quilts for the school's 50th Anniversary. We have done this project for the past four years but for International Day.

Fabrics this year were chosen with "party" themes:

Birthday Party fabrics:

Beach Party fabrics:

Meg spent hours cutting everything perfectly and then organizing parents to help with the sewing and ironing.

When each class came to the quilt making area, they worked with a partner. Students had to decide with their partner whether they would make a "birthday party block" or a "beach party block." There were four templates that students used to arrange their fabrics.

After the students made their choices they took their design board over to the sewing ladies:

(Here is Meg in the foreground!)

After the blocks were sewed, another parent ironed.

Here is the first layout of the blocks all together:

Between now and June, Meg and I will each take a set of blocks and construct each quilt. The quilts will then be raffled off to raise money for a school project to reflect the 50th Anniversary.

Jennifer

Mended Hearts Quilt

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!


I wanted to share a quilt that my mom made for me in 2002. It's called a Mended Hearts quilt. She made it in a class and everyone shared fabrics to add more variety. The blocks are made individually...top, batting, backing, and then sewn together with a zig zag stitch.

Since each block is made separately, the back of the quilt ends up looking very interesting too. The little hearts added on top of where four blocks come together are there to cover up any imperfections in areas that did not match up perfectly (my type of sewing!).

This technique (my mom just explained it to me yesterday) has made me start to think of what other fun things I (we!) could do with this same technique.
Jennifer

A final block for Jennifer

I was certainly in a state of flow while creating this block for Jennifer. I'm not sure there's a lot of 'wonk' going on but I really loved going back and forth with the fabrics and colours to reach a satisfying look. Or is it too overwhelming? I must confess that one of my black and white fabrics is actually mostly grey, with some white and black. Is that called artistic licence? I hope it's worth the wait my friend:) Shall be in the post tomorrow! 


I've come to the realisation that a quilting bee is just the thing for me with all the ideas and inspiration that each mini project brings (without a full size quilt to complete). Perfect! Can't wait for next month's.

A Birthday Quilt

 I am almost finished with the quilt top that I have been working on here and there for the last several weekends.


I started with these Gypsy Bandana Frames:

(They are on sale now at equilter.com! http://www.equilter.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=135085&sid=31U9Hz2xr2@w1Cm-20112318904.5b


Also available in pink: http://www.equilter.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=134957&sid=31U9Hz2xr2@w1Cm-20112318904.5b


I had six frames total. I cut them apart and added white and blue sashing. Then from my stash I created a diagonal border using a color pattern of blue, green, orange, yellow, red, and stripe or b & w in strips of 3 inches wide, 2 inches wide, 3 inches wide, 2 inches wide, etc.

I still don't have a great way to photograph my finished work but here is the general idea:

And a couple of up close details:

This is the first time I have used much white in a quilt but I like the trend that I am seeing in the other quilt blogs. I look forward to adding some fun yellow designs in those white sections when I start quilting.

This quilt is for a friend in Colorado who just had a birthday this last week.

Hope everyone is well!

Jennifer

Shades of Blue

Here we go.....finally. With my sewing machine and house unpacked, my first block is complete! I hope you don't mind another one in blue Katy. I enjoyed putting this together. Blue is certainly one of my favourite colours and with little in my stash it was an easy choice. Jennifer, I promise my wonky log cabin will be on its way soon.
Bon weekend a tous!
Chris