Strip Diamond Stars

Oops. I may have just started another quilt.

I'm heading in the direction of string diamond stars, but that's about all I know. Except that I want this to have a more subdued palette.

 I have this bin out because I have been working on the Spiderweb. While I have included a full range of fabrics in the Spiderweb, I skip over some of the more subtle colors and designs. Not because I don't like them but because I get the sense that they don't want to spend the rest of their lives at a noisy party.

And thanks to Leanne and Nicky for sponsoring Scraptastic Tuesday. Last month I won the gift certificate to Mad About Patchwork. Here are the fabrics I chose. Okay...maybe I went a bit crazy. When I first got the certificate, I spied the bears and fell in love with them. But when I went back to get them, they were gone. This meant I had to find them elsewhere. But in spirit, I got them for participating in Scraptastic Tuesday.

Dear Jane G4

Here is Dear Jane block G4 or Shutter Bug. Okay, let's call it an approximation of G4. I liked how Faberdashery reversed the colors so I did that. But then I didn't catch on that the book's version was different from the Dear Jane quilt. And then I'm sure Molly did something naughty, and now the triangles in the second layer of the green fabric are logs instead of triangles.

Molly says all the finger pointing tuckers her out. Besides, she has her own artistic pursuits.

Watermelon fish

Today we are having a watermelon picnic. To see what others are bringing to the scrappy potluck, visit the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.

Meanwhile, Molly and Buddy conducted an art critique of the vintage spin back. Apparently they didn't mind the arrangement but rejected four of the blocks.

Vintage spin revisited

Here are the vintage spin blocks that I am going to assemble for the back of the reversible spin quilt. I tried several layouts until finally Molly took over and said this was it.

She is obviously pleased that she has taught me to not even bother to use the design wall.

Meanwhile, I am quilting the front of the vintage quilt onto the batting. I am machine quilting in a grid based on each block. I will then use this grid to align the vintage spin quilt back. And I decided to sew the circles on last so I can machine quilt across the quilt without crossing over the center circles.

Fox, flamingo and spiderweb

This is a patchwork fox I made at the beginning of last year. I thought I would bring it out in honor of Ms. Fox who was quite noisy this morning. She was also busy because I only got a quick glimpse of her jaunting across the yard.

And here is the flamingo I made last year as part of the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge. I made a bird for each color but haven't yet figured out how to put them all together.

I also made twenty more spiderweb triangles.

And last but not least, here's Molly who was distracted from taking down the curtains again. She is thinking about adding to the pile of blocks on the floor in front of the design wall.

Spiderwebs and Fox

I spent most of the day gorging on my favorite type of sewing...the spiderweb. I have bins of strips and hunks that I use and it is so much fun to see so many bright fabric patterns. And I get such a satisfied feeling as the triangles stack up. Then I make the dreaded calculation of how many I need to make a full sized quilt and I realize that I made no progress at all. Eventually I will learn to skip the calculation part.

And I'm sure many of you expect Molly to help me remove the foundation papers after I've sewn the triangles. But Molly is an efficiency expert when it comes to destruction, and she prefers to shred the foundation papers BEFORE I sew the strips to them.

This morning I went outside at the crack of dawn and scared Ms. Fox who ran back into the woods. I also startled a deer who snorted and stamped at me. Later, Ms. Fox returned and I was able to take this photo of her from an upstairs window.

Peacocks and Stars

Here's the finished peacock quilt fresh from the dryer. It had an extended soak in the tub, a quick rinse in the wash and then a trip in the dryer. I had planned to take it into town to my quilt chapter this morning, but the morning went faster than expected. This seems to happen a lot.

And seriously, with this much help in the sewing room, I am fresh out of excuses. And yes, that's Molly who is climbing the design wall under the peacock quilt as I'm trying to take the photograph. I don't have the heart to tell her I don't actually find her help helpful.

I'm also making twinkler stars to make into another donation quilt for our quilt chapter. These didn't stay on the design wall long and are now heaped in a pile on the floor. Thanks again Molly!