The Last is First

 

The last quilt top sewn is the first finished because the graduation party is this weekend. Just simple point to point free motion quilting. I found a long strip of binding in my binding box and cannot think what I was going to do with it. Perfect for this quilt which I am calling Shades of Green. All of this was from the stash.  Ann

Machine quilting

 These still chilly days have kept me productive in my sewing room. Three fourths of the blocks are quilted just swinging an arc from point to point. Book club to day to discuss The Girl in His Shadow by Audrey Blake.  Ann

North wind

 The blocks are done now to arrange them and rearrange them a few dozen times and sew 112 half square triangles for the borders.  Ann

Progress

I had a couple dozen of these north wind blocks together before the weekend and a couple dozen more sewn between this and that…..…I only need 80 blocks then how many ways to arrange them.   Ann

Makes me think of wheat

What a difference natural light makes on this.  It had a yellow cast in the artificial light in my sewing room.  And the little bugs immediately found it when I laid it on the grass. The gold and taupe prints  add a lot of texture to the otherwise very dull neutral fabrics.  It makes me think of wheat fields not fields of corn and beans.  And now my pile of quilts is ta da done!  I have to start packing my sewing room and sorting and tossing.  I'd rather sew  --Ann--

Corn and Beans and Crop Circles

This quilt was pieced months ago, I stuck it on the design wall while I was machine quilting the red eye quilt  also months ago,  I wanted to quilt it different from the other quilts I have made with the corn and beans block aka north wind block.   I swung an arc from corner to corner of each of the triangles on the other quilts. click, click, click, I'm doing crop circles on this with the handi gadgets half circles.  As long as no one ever puts a dinner plate or any other circle shaped object on top of the circles it looks pretty good. --Ann--

Design Wall

I spent the weekend machine quilting the pink and yellow shoo fly and I put the boring neutral north wind blocks back on the wall.  I sewed a few more blocks then did some grouping by value.  I need to sew a gazillion half square triangles for the border.  Back to the sewing room and linking to Judy's DWM.  --Ann--

TaDaDone

 Ta da done quilted, bound, signed and labeled!  I finished Sunny Day with two weeks to spare so I get to enjoy the bright sunny colors.  I really wanted to take pics of it outside with better light but for days it was too windy then the snow melted and I didn't want to lay it on the dirty grass.  It was sewn entirely with fabrics from the stash.  And look at it next to In a Fog.  I much prefer a Sunny Day and this winter every sunny day has been memorable since there have been so few.  --Ann--

Sunny Day Quilting

Actually it is overcast here again.  I finished the borders last week then promptly layered and pinned.  I'm just swinging arcs in each triangle from point to point and can do several blocks with continuous stitching.  My other favorite form of free motion quilting -- never stopping well maybe seldom stopping.  Remember trying to draw the house with the X in it when you were a little kid?!?  Little did I know that it would be a useful skill in machine quilting.

And this is the back I'm so glad it is on the back because it was in constant motion as I ironed it before layering the quilt.  Happy quilting.  --Ann--

Like a Sunny Day, Design Wall

I was a kid with a pile of blocks to play with over the weekend.  At first I was rearranging then on the wall then I took them all off and sorted them into piles of mostly yellow, mostly blue, red, green and purple.  Like a kid with Halloween candy.  Then I would start at one corner and pick and choose and work my way across the wall and move things around. Then step back and hmmm and hmmm some more.  Then they would all come tumbling down again to start the process over a third or fourth time.  The last time up I started with the yellows and blues, arranging them diagonally and alternating. That just looked like clutter.  I liked them better when I grouped 4 yellows then 4 blues.  The groups of spun out from there.  In the top 2 photos the blues are together but not by value.  The greens at the bottom of the first 2 photos were moved and regrouped.  The third photo the yellows and reds on the right side have been moved.  In the last photo the blues were grouped more by value and the green at the bottom was moved to the right so the two puddles of green were not lined up in the same row.  All the while I'm arranging these blocks I'm jumping up and down from my sweet 16 machine quilting on the white on white quilt.  I could just sit and study the quilt but I see the problems better with a glance.  I believe this is the final arrangement.  There are two of each block and they are at least two rows apart.  I like the way my eye moves around the quilt.  Today I sew the blocks together.  Linking to Judy's DWM.  --Ann--

Power sewing and arranging the blocks

I finished sewing the northwind blocks now to arrange them or maybe sew a few more blocks.  While I think about how to arrange them I started machine quilting the white on white quilt.  I started the meandering feather in the corner of the first border and went all the way around the quilt with the feather then went to work on the center.  I stitch a while then glance  at the design wall, then jump up and move a few blocks, step back then machine quilt some more and repeat.  I'll have the machine quilting done before I finish arranging the northwind blocks.  --Ann--

Oops

oops!  look what happens when I don't take the time to lay the parts the way they should be in the block.  Stitch a lot,  rip a little.  --Ann--

180 on Design Wall

The beginning of last week I was merrily sewing on the neutral north wind quilt and checked with the bride to see if I was on the right course.  I sent her a photo of the Northwind in Blue and asked her to imagine it in neutrals.  She decided she liked color better so all the neutral blocks came off the wall and out came the colors.  Which was a pleasant relief and change from the white on white because the ground is white and the sky is gray and the day is overcast and was dreary all last week and there doesn't seem to be a change in the forecast so the bright colors are a welcome change.  I pulled out my box of Merryvale fabrics and sorted the 6 x 18 inch strips and paired them by big and little  prints, busy and calm, light and dark, near compliments, analogous, or monochromatic. Then pulled out some yardage to fill in with more blues and yellows because all the blue strips went into the 2 Northwind quilts in the links.  I need to sew a couple dozen more then arrange into a visual order.  Hope your gray days are filled with quilting fun.  Linking to Judy's DWM.  --Ann--

Off the couch

This is a quilt I gave my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary 10 years ago. It has been displayed on their couch ever since. I have it again. It is the Northwind block also called Corn and Beans it is just big triangles with little triangles in between. Inspired by Sharyn Squier Craig's book Design Challenge: Northwind.  The fabrics were all from Merryvale bales. Each 6 inch by 18 inch strip yielded 2 blocks with a few small triangles leftover. I arranged the blocks by color and value, the darker blocks seemed to gravitate to the outside with a row of half square triangles for a border. I machine quilted by swinging an arc from point to point of each triangle. click for another quilt of the same block   --Ann--