Gravity: Constellation Blocks

Here are my constellation blocks from Gravity:

 

I know that the pattern suggests pressing all seams open.  I'm pressing 99% of my seams to the side.  If you google pressing seams open or closed, you will find quilters arguing both ways.  I recently heard a well-respected quilt teacher say that pressing seams open was 'not good quilting',  Yikes!  That sounds a lot like the quilt police to me.

 

  We could also have a big discussion about steam or no steam,  starch vs. best press.  Non-quilters would never  believe than pressing seams can be  such a big point of contention. 

 

http://www.equilters.com/library/techniques/SeamsOpen.html

 

http://thecraftyquilter.com/2014/01/lets-talk-pressing-seams-open-vs-to-the-side/

 

I say do your research and do what works for you.

 

Linking up:  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/2015/05/gravity-quilt-along-block-2.html

 

Wild & Goosey

I've been working on Wild and Goosey on and off for four months now.  Today I sewed some rows together to get some idea of how big this thing is going to be:

 

This is  roughly 56"x49".  It could be the center of a big quilt, or it is almost big enough for  a throw.  The  question is:  how big  of a quilt to I want to make? 

 

I'm not sure.  Generally, bigger is better to me.  I rarely wish I had made a quilt smaller.  Queen sized seems the most versatile to me.  It works on a queen bed, but you can easily use it on a full size bed, and it will work under a king sized quilt on a king bed.  But making this quilt queen sized would mean another year or so of Wild & Goosey blocks.  I'm not sure I want to commit the time to a queen sized Wild &Goosey!

 

But I've still got scraps galore, enough for 3 or 4 queen sized W&G quilts.  A lot of scrap quilt patterns aren't good for itty bitty scraps, and I enjoy the mindless paper piecing of this easy block. Until I can decide, I'll just keep making blocks.  As Pam says, 'Quilt world problems.'

 

Linking up:  http://www.freshlypieced.com/2015/04/wip-wednesday-just-keep-sewing.html

Project of Doom QAL

Here are my blocks so far for POD3:

 

I  put them all out on the floor to remind myself what fabrics I've already used in this quilt. They are in no particular order.  I try not to repeat fabrics in a POD quilt, but when the pace is one block a week, I tend to forget what I've already used.  Right now I think I need more light colors and more red.  I have enough blue, green, orange and pink for now.  I like to use fabrics without a lot of busy prints for the books.  This will make the book titles easier to read when I get around to stitching them. 

 

So far I've done a good job of keeping up with these blocks. I've even finished this week's block already:

 

 

Linking up:  http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2015/04/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-stained-glass-at.html

 

Scrap-In-A-Box

I completed Clue 4 of Scrap-In-A-Box today.   I'm honestly not in love with this top, but it turned out a lot better than I thought it would.  I used some really ugly prints and colors that weren't my favorites.

 

I need to decide on colors for the sashing and borders, but that is next month's project.  Right now  I'm leaning towards a forest green Christmas print.

 

Linking up: http://www.freshlypieced.com/2015/04/wip-wednesday-sewtopiated.html

http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/2015/04/lets-bee-social-69.html

Stash Report

Quilting has been taking a back seat to gardening this week.  I've been pulling weeds, mulching and planting almost every day.  I still have a lot to do, and some of it won't get done this spring.  The red buds are out. 

 

So are the dogwoods.

 

 

The daffodils are almost gone, but the irises and columbine are just starting to bloom.

 

 

 

Used This Week: 2.25 yard  (Henrique's quilt)                                                 
Used Year to Date: 32.25 yards 
Added this week:  0 yards
Added year to date: 48.25 yards
 Net added: 16.0 yards

Linking up with Judy:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/04/19/fabric-report-week-16-2015/

GRAVITY!

At long last I can show my first Gravity blocks.  I got so excited when I received my kit, that I made these right away.  I didn't want to show them on my blog, though, because the QAL hadn't officially started yet.  I found the hardest thing to do in this block was keep the colors straight.  Many of the colors are very close, and the light in my sewing space isn't great at night. 

I wrote A-F on flower head pins and pinned groups of cut pieces together by color to help me remember.

Linking up:  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-gravity-quilt-along-begins-block-1.html

Henrique's Quilt Top Complete

In the time it takes me to do one step in a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, I got Henrique's quilt totally sewn together.  This is a super simple pattern, but you don't need a pattern to make it.  Just google free plus quilt tutorials, and you will find a bunch of them.  I didn't use any particular tutorial, but read  many.

This quilt is made of rectangles (12 1/2 x 4 1/2) and squares (4 1/2 x 4 1/2).  I used 13 fat quarters and may have been able to get the whole thing out of 12 if I had planned my cutting better (or planned it at all!).  I didn't worry about planning where the partial pluses would be.  I just cut a few extra squares to fill in spaces and cut off the rectangles that extended too far at the end.  This quilt is 48"x 60".

I need to get both Henrique's and Dandara's quilts done by July when they will be visiting the US.

Linking up: http://www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2015/04/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-pennant-quilt-is.html

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2015/04/made-in-america.html