Not crazy about my results

I decided it was time to try and assemble my trees and I'm not really liking the results. I'm going to stop where I am now and quilt the small piece that's already assembled and save the other blocks for another time - maybe I'll come up with a better plan for joining them.

I'd like to try this again in the future but I may need to rethink and limit my color scheme....keep it scrappy but pick just a color or two to work with. I did have a lot of fun making the trees - they may even show up in other projects.

Not pleased with myself

Oh well, things did not progress as well as I'd hoped and I have precious little to show:

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I'm not sure it I like the non-wonkyness but maybe I have been brain-washed by all your wonky projects. Also I'm bothered by the absense of piecing but then again, I said I wanted to do appliqué and try a few different things and embellishments.

In short, I don't function well on the no-plan plan but promise to plow ahead with this because I am curious where it will take me.

Broken Dishes

Quick update ~ the double row of broken dishes blocks works really well (and if you let your eyes blur out a bit you'll discover a marvelous secondary pinwheel pattern dancing across the top border). Thanks for your suggestions, thoughts, and encouragement!

Still need to piece the left side's zig-zag border and then construction of the top can begin in earnest!

Quiltdivajulie

Monkey Business ~ Help Needed

Here's where the project stands at this moment ~ I'm a bit stuck on what to do with the top border. Contemplating a double row of alternating broken dishes blocks (love the play on words, plus the colors help balance the weight of the 'monkey wrench' blocks at the bottom). What do you see?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! [note added later - please see my post of July 24 to see a rough sketch for my early asymmetrical border ideas]

Quiltdivajulie

Sawtooth tree

I took your advice and added another tall tree in the lower right corner. It looks great there! Thanks for the suggestion. I made 4 more trees last night and moved things around a bit. I'm getting bored seeing the same ol' tree styles, so I've drawn out 2 completley different designs. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Trees...need a critique

Here's the "big picture". I'm not done, of course. I intend to add more trees. Right now, I need a break and I want your opinions. I think it needs more big trees (the size of the tree sitting on top of the 'D')....or should I just flood the piece with tons of smaller trees? Do the trees need to be closer together?

I'm not sure of the positioning of "Deep in the Forest" either. Should I move it to the right, under the tall Tree Everlasting....or should I line it up on the left side of the quilt...or leave it centered?

I'm in a thinking stage, so any ideas about balancing this piece will be welcome.

Kudos to All

No pictures to share, no progress to report, just wanted to drop in and say what a wonderful job everyone is doing with their quilts. Even though my hearts are on the back burner for the moment I really enjoy looking at what everyone else is doing. The colors and the wonkiness never fail to cheer me up! Hurray for free piecing!!!

Tree Everlasting

Just to show you that I've been working on this, here's a couple of pictures.

I am piecing in sections...adding a few trees as I go...and then moving on to another section. When all the words are put together, I'll have to make more trees to fill in the spaces between the phrases. I plan to stagger the trees rather than set them in straight rows, and of course, that means the piecing will be more complicated. I am having fun though! I'm rummaging through my large basket of fabric "strings" for more beige fabrics to use in the skinny spaces between letters. More variety, you know. (I hope the background isn't too busy!)

project k top done

sheesh...I forgot to post a photo here of the finished k top. It's going with me for hand quilting later today as we spend the weekend at the beach. I will toss many threads into the van as I have not decided quite what I want to quilt on it as yet.

Violette

I am to be Violette's godmother on Saturday. I wanted to make her a quilt as a gift. I had not originally planned to include her name, but after toying with Tonya's letters, I decided to give it a try. The tallest letters here are about 8 inches high.

But I thought the letters in the fabric were a bit too washed out; that there wasn't enough contrast. Then I found this dark purple fabric with lines of pink dots in the bargain bin. I liked the contrast with the background fabric.I liked the spacing of the letters in the original and decided to keep it, so I worked on her middle name first. Then I decided to make a wonky heart to dot the "i" in "Violette."As you can see, the new fabric provides a strong contrast with the background fabric. I will use the original panel elsewhere. This is the completed name panel. It's about 20" high by about 24" wide.

After I got this far, I realized this was going to be bigger than a "standard" baby quilt. With what should I fill up the space? What, I wondered, was "girly?" As soon as I posed the question in my mind, this phrase popped in my head...

"Sugar and Spice, Everything Nice"

I knew I was in serious trouble.

More Monkey Business

Here is my not-to-scale sketch showing the direction I'm headed with the borders... gotta love a good eraser!!

Have loads of yellows but am a little concerned about the black background fabric ~ will proceed carefully to fill in the central panel and then re-evaluate the situation. Hope to stitch (a lot) on Saturday.

Ready for the Next Steps ~

All of the letters have been stitched and the words are spelled out on my design wall ~ now it is time to create the top itself. Still playing with multiple border ideas...

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"Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing the monkey bars -- at some point you have to let go in order to move forward." (author unknown)

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Added Later ~

The saying above is paraphrased from a scene in The Wizard of Oz ~ the Wicked Witch calls upon her army of flying monkeys to track down Dorothy & her companions, skyjacking them back to the castle... click here for more info on those monkeys. In my case, the motivation came from a bad day at work...

progress on the k project

I have spent most of today working on my summer class -the k project. Thought I would post a current photo of it's current status. Some of the parts are stitched together, and I have bits and pieces in place around those sections. Still subject to change of course but I am really enjoying the process of putting this top together.

Roses - Quilt top finished!

Well ladies, she's done. The top is finished. Oh, I like her! With a LOT of help from above and from Grandma's machine and quick basting hands back home, there is a possibility she'll be quilted before the wedding. Keep your fingers crossed that all will go well and I can give this to my hermanacita on her wedding day!

(When I am home I'll try to get a picture once she's finished that shows all of the borders. Don't have anywhere big enough in my little apartment!)

Thank you for all your support and encouragement along the way. You are all fabulous!

Hanging my head in shame

Oh my ... despite the best of intentions and lots of ideas zipping around my head I still have not started my repetition project. I might take material on holiday with me, the project would then mainly be handpieced - we're flying and there is no way I can take my sewing machine, obviously.

I will report in August, hoping that I've accomplished something by then.

Pink tic tac toe

I was having a little fun while I was trapped (LOL) in my sewing room upstairs today while my husband was sanding the front hall floor. I've made a wonky nine patch of wonky nine patch stars. No other plan yet, but just some summer fun.

And so it begins...

Finally, visible progress!!! The first three words are constructed and fabrics pulled for the rest.

The monkey wrench blocks will form the lower edge.

Side and top borders yet to be decided (work in progress). . .

Help....

***Update***

I wish I had asked for all of your opinions BEFORE I started piecing....so many great ideas. In the end, I have ended up doing a bit of everything...a little appliqué, cutting some straight edges to sew short rows, some set-in corners, some partial hexagons. Just whatever it takes to get it together depending on where each rose is fitting in. I will post pics soon so you can see how it is coming together. It is taking longer than I'd like, but I've made my peace with it. Hopefully the top will be done on Monday! Only 3 more roses to go out of 30 and then the wonky borders. Yeah! THANK YOU for all the encouragement and ideas. Although I haven't used all of them for this top, I now have a plethora of things I want to try in the future. You are all FABULOUS!!!!
- Andrea

My roses are so wonky I am having a bear of a time putting them together. Tried set-in seams... disastrous. Doing some appliqué edges, some straight seams...it is taking forever. Anyone have some suggestions? I don't want to turn them into squares, but at this point that's all I can think of that won't take a DECADE to complete. I'd love to hear any ideas you might have...

Thanks!

Better Late Than Never?!?!?

I have been dithering ever since I signed up for this class...

I just haven't been able to get my head around WHAT I wanted to do.

Wonky houses, wonky log cabin blocks, a row quilt ~

around and around and around...

And then today inspiration struck!!

It was one of "those days" at work when everything was needed 6 hours ago.

Too many people wanting too many things on a day

when we were short a receptionist

(meaning the rest of us had to take turns covering for her).

Anyway, I had torn a page from a catalog yesterday

because a particular color combination caught my eye.

The page surfaced on my desk this afternoon, and THERE IT WAS...

the phrase that has eluded me for so long

Don't make me break out my
Flying Monkeys!

I don't know which color combination I'll use,

but I finally know what I want to say on my quilt!

Roses - Progress!

Going to take a short break from sewing to post this picture of the progress on my rose quilt. Oh how I wish I had a design wall!!! Alas, my white bedspread and standing on a stool has to do. I think I have another 6 roses or so before I call it good. Then filler greens, putting it together and borders. It's coming along!

p.s. Thank you for all the encouraging comments to my last post. I can't figure out how to reply directly those of you who asked questions! Grrrr.......new to blogging. When I am safely within my deadline for this project, I'll tackle that!