While I was waiting...

While I was waiting for the Fil-Tech trilobal poly thread to arrive for the DWR I decided to get going on a donation quilt for Project Linus. I love a nine patch on point and wanted to actually piece a quilt on my "new" old girl, so I was off and running. I used my Accuquilt Go! to cut the 2 1/2' squares (I hadn't yet received my 2 1/2" strip die from Accuquilt which I had asked for as a Christmas gift), and I already had the 6 1/2" large square die so it was very quick and easy to get my initial pieces cranked out and ready to piece. I belong to Four Seasons Quilt group in nearby Scriba, and we were gifted lots of donation fabric last year with the stipulation that it be used for charity quilts. Charity/donation quilts are common within that group so it certainly fit what many of us like to do. I had waited until others had had a chance to pick out fabrics they wanted to work with...I sometimes like the challenge of having to work with fabric that might not be my first choice. So if you look at some of my other quilts from 2014, you'll see that with this one I'm once again working on using up the striped fabric. There was a whole bolt of this in 100% cotton, and it's nice, not flowery, so it could work well for a generic boy's quilt as well as girl's. Project Linus is a favorite group for me - I like that they donate to a variety of service organizations - and they're always indicating that they have a special need for teens and boys, so for the past year or so I've shifted to making teen sized and try to choose fabrics and colors that would work for a boy as well as a girl.

Well, in just a few days of  a bit of treadling, I got the nine-patch to the flimsy [68 1/2"X 51 1/4" pre-quilted] stage:

In the meantime, the thread arrived for the DWR, so I finished up this donation top (my Fons and Porter tool for setting and corner triangles made it fast and easy to cut the correct sized triangles) and now have that to go on the quilt frame once I have DDL's DWR quilted.

Oh, we also have a monthly Take-N-Make project in the Four Seasons group. It has to be quick and easy to make. Although our January meeting date got postponed because of nasty weather, I did actually get the project done before that scheduled meeting date. This month it was a fabric "box" from American Patchwork and Quilting December 2013 issue:

At first I wasn't sure what I would do with it, but I picked fabric and colors that I like just as an incentive. I have found it very useful! My thread cutting scissors when I'm using the "old girl" since her thread cutter isn't very sharp anymore, and my seam ripper lean at just the right angle and stick up just enough to easily grab whenever I need them...more often than I'd like some days! ;)

SO, in the early days of this new year I've already finished a small project, and have a flimsy-in-waiting to be quilted once the DWR is done and off the frame. Not bad, especially for me. Right behind those, I have committed to making a queen size Native American Star/Lone Star quilt for a good friend. 

Yesterday I spent a lot of time figuring out how I wanted to quilt the DWR. As a kid in junior high school, there was a test that everyone had to take that showed your apptitudes...you know, to help you decide your career path. Well, it's funny I ended up as a quilter, because I scored in the lowest possible percentile for spatial skills. You know, the ability to "see" and manipulate images in your mind's eye. It means that while most folks can have a sense of how something might look, I have no clue. I do use a piece of vinyl to try sketching out potential quilting, but most often I still end up actually trying several different things and ripping out what I don't like. That was my day yesterday. I didn't take any pics, but I tried serveral different options on the pieced arcs. Ultimately, I decided to go with plain old stitch-in-the-ditch on the arcs. I'm using a pansy panto (square) that I've reduced down to fit the larger off-white areas. I'm *thinking* I may do free motion leaves in the little off-white pieces...the jury is still out on that.

In peace and piecing,

Michelle