Ready to swap

I am hosting a red and white nine patch block swap for an online book/quilting group which was reading Sandra Dallas' The Persian Pickle Club.  In the story, the Pickles set autograph blocks into red and white nine patches.  There are 18 people participating, so people could make one or two sets of 18.  The other day, with 3 people's blocks still in transit, I swapped out the first set of blocks for everyone else.  I am still waiting for one person's package, but here are nine sets waiting to be swapped. 

We are expecting a house guest Thursday night, so if the package doesn't arrive, I will have to set these aside somehow and wait.  Hope I don't have to!  This swap will necessitate two trips to the post office since three packages are going to Australia.  I don't mind filling out a few customs forms, since I received some lovely Australian fabrics in exchange for postage.  Hmmm... so many ideas, so little time!

Took some pictures today

It's sunny this morning but we expect rain for the rest of the week.  Just had to take a few quilt photos while we could.  Here's one of the Heart of Vermont guild challenge for this year.  Each person received between 1/2 and 2 yards of a very unusual fabric and had to make something featuring a traditional blocks made in at least three different sizes:

The green is the challenge fabric - it was a sort of mint, with gold, brown, and yellow flecks.  I used a light yellow batik as the background, and almost every inch of fabric in the 1/2 yard I had.

I also took photos of a new baby quilt that I'm listing on etsy.  You can see it at www.etsy.com/shop/CobbleHillQuilts.  I am thinking of buying a quilt rack for photography - the wind is so annoying, and we can't always find a nice day outside.  A friend got one on eBay - need to look into that.

Today's blocks

This morning, I got busy and made the blocks of the week for Loyal Union Sampler and the Jane Austen Family Album, as well as the block of the month for Threads of Memory.  It feels good to be all caught up! 

This is the "Rhode Island" block for LUS which some found difficult at 6".  Perhaps they followed the directions in the book.  I diverged a bit and did a little fudging.  I really like the greys and blues I'm using.

 

 

Then I moved on to TOM but didn't take a picture.  I'm using very busy Civil War fabrics for a very authentic look, which is very outside of my comfort zone.  Still, I think it will be a nice quilt if I can figure out how to set the blocks.

 

 Here are the last two weeks' blocks for JAFQ:

 

This week, I bought a deep burgundy blender for a thin-ish sashing.  There's a burgundy in the Lady Mary Downtown Abbey collection, but I was afraid to buy it online for fear it would clash.  My LQS doesn't carry this line, so I just got what they have.  I plan to make the blocks each week until my Lady Sybil FQ bundle runs out.

Ocean 16 patch

I've been dipping into my box of 2" squares all week and I still have plenty.  Here's what I'm doing.

6" 16 patch blocks alternate with plain blocks, so it's quite easy.  I love the fossil fern I'm using in between.  I only have a few more blocks to go, and then I plan to make appliqued borders also using scraps.  A floral vine doesn't seem quite the thing, though, so I'm browsing all of my books and the internet to see if I can design something a little more sea-worthy. Stay tuned!

Two finishes

Our quilt guild met last night, in a new location that we were very happy with - plenty of parking, good space, a real kitchen.  We will miss the library but we had outgrown it, amazingly enough.  The guild started the year I started working on the quilt show (2008-9), and we have over 70 members.  Amazing!  Here's what I brought for show and tell (sorry it's fuzzy - someone took these with her phone).

The first is a round robin I participated in last year with an online group.  I did the schoolhouse, and five others did the rest.  I quilted and bound it, feeling that it was complete just as it returned to me.  Love it!

 

 Next is what a person with too much time on her hands might do during a snowy day with a bunch of 2.5" squares.  I saw the center block in a book of "modern" blocks and just expanded it a bit.  It has lots of mistakes, but I enjoyed working on it anyway.

Ready to quilt

This scrappy little quilt was made mostly with 2.5" strips.  My box of 2.5" strips and squares is running over!  I plan to quilt it fairly simply.  Next time I do that half square triangle thing, though, I think I'll use a larger size square.  It's very "fiddly."

Back on track

I have been trying to keep up with the weekly block for the Loyal Union Sampler and doing fairly well.  But I haven't made a Nearly Insane block in a while.  So today, I made the LUS BOW and a few more:

 

 

My shoebox of blocks is getting pretty full.  Still, I am about half-way to a quilt top.  Up next:  the Threads of Memory block of the month.