Killing Time

If you ever taught quilting, you know that after a little while the class doesn't need your constant attention. Its during those moments that I make an extra block or two from comfort quilt fabric. These are some of the extra blocks I/we made in the last few months. They aren't really orphans, so I guess I ought to pay better attention to the fabric I select so they work together.

Since I've decided on the setting and made

all the blocks I need for my Shoo-Fly quilt,
I started to add the sashing.  But I had to
take one more "what if" photo.

Still busy working in the woods, but I will take time next week to go to the Machine Quilting Today show in Oconomowoc. I will be volunteering. Not sure if or which classes I may take yet. Hope to see you there. 

Going to Judy's Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday first.

Still love to quilt

Wouldn't it be grand if we had all the time we WANTED. Maybe pop a little pill to add a few hours to the days we wanted. Weekends maybe. Or if you like your job and after job life then simply extend the days to do all in life you love. We've been enjoying a beautiful summer here in SE Wisconsin and I have spent many hours outdoors. No surprise to you if you have been following me for  a while. We've eliminated most of the Prickly Ash on the agenda for the year and we have moved on to the Buckthorn. And I thought I would be quilting. Mark got to see a tree-eater in action and has decided to hire someone to come out and mow down the worst of the Buckthorn. That is great news. I love our little woods but this particular 2 acre corner is pretty much impassible and it will only get worse if we don't attempt to get it under control during our lifetime. We trekked through the marsh yesterday too. The guys decided that we ought have the same tree-eating machine cut a path through the marsh, too. Cool.

I have decided to set my Shoo-fly blocks on point so I needed to make 8 more with dark backgrounds. Good thing I had plenty of purple batiks in my stash to blend in with those in the layer cake. Those are done and  I am ready to assemble the top. You will see it here first.

I did a you-tube video on my Thirtysomething technique. I'd like to tweak it but the gal helping doesn't have too much time for that right now.

Nann's suggestion

Another option I don't often consider is to place the blocks on point. Nann wanted to see what they looked like, so here they are. Of course any of the previous layouts could have been done on point. But my first thought was to separate the dark backgrounds for the border and use a darker fabric for the setting triangles. I didn't like any other fabric I had for that position. Leaving the blank space where it appears there would be a light and a tan setting triangle in squares is just one more option.

I don't usually consider diagonal sets cause I don't like sewing them together when they are on point. When I play with that setting in EQ I rarely like it. I do like diagonal design lines in the quilt but usually let the blocks do the work for me.

I have pretty much decided to not make any more blocks. These are the remaining fabrics. I don't like the greens and oranges with the others. The oranges I used aren't as intense as they look in the photo above but shown below they are too intense for my liking. Some might think they are the accent or zinger that the quilt needs, but I don't want it doing that dance.

Hopefully I can get started on assembling them tonight. There is room at Studio 3 if any of you local quilters want to join us Wednesday evenings. Give me a call.

Time to Decide

I've made 56 Shoo-Fly blocks. I need to make a few decisions. First do I want to make any more blocks and second, which setting do I use? Here are a few of the settings I've seriously considered.

 And this one I have shown before. I like the two above because the color is stronger but I don't like the setting at the left with dark sashing. Go figure. I don't know when I will get  a chance to put them together this week. Tomorrow is quilting at church and it is supposed to be unseasonably cool this week so I want to work outside some more and there's the quilting classes besides. Maybe  late one night if I can't sleep. Then I will see if I have something suitable for a border.

 I will be glad to be done with this one.It has taken too long. I am anxious to get onto something else. I think I will focus on some quilting for a while. The Midwest Machine Quilting Show is coming up and I always find it very inspiring. I want to get a few comfort quilts done and then do something fussy for me.

Stop by Judy's blog at Patchwork Times if you want to see what other quilters are working on.  I really like the linky parties cause they help me stay focused. And I like seeing what others are working on.  I always enjoyed show and tell at guild meetings and I don't belong to a guild anymore so they make a great substitute. I have thought before of joining another linky party though I am not sure when I would getting anymore quilting done than I do now. At least not while I am working outside so much.

Practicing Freehand

My daughter's friend asked me to quilt this for her on my longarm. It is about 80" square. I've done little quilting this year sew I was concerned it wouldn't turn out well cause I wanted to do it freehand,or at least, not follow a pantograph. I can usually follow lines pretty well, but I wanted to do it freehand and I'm not real good at that, yet anyways.  I am just a bit concerned that I may never get very good at it if I don't do it more often. That and the fact that I never could draw very well. And wow, now I am just doodling on a quilt with this big machine and it's fun. I just wish I was better at it. So I plug along and practice. Actually I quilt, but I always call it practice cause I need more of that. One thing for sure though. If I really am just doodling, then it is sloppy work. But if it is a real quilt, I try harder. I do think I need to mark the quilting lines more. That is always something I didn't like to do. But to do a good job, I guess I need a good sharp line. The chalk doesn't do it for me. All that means it is not as freehand as I'd like it to be.  Some teachers say doodling on paper everyday helps. Maybe I could do that while I have my morning coffee.

I was glad to finish this one up and already have another one loaded. It is a small
sampler comfort quilt. Should be fun. Now off to check out the inspiring quilts linked up to Judy's for Design Wall Monday.