Granny's Choice

Grandmother's Choice this week is Granny's Choice. The block was easy to make and I am pleased with the way it turned out. Besides the Kaffe print, the striped fabric is from Lakehouse. The blue swirly fabric has been sitting on the shelf for several years,and sadly, I am not able to say what fabric company released it.

Inspiration

Here's the inspiration photo for the setting I hope to achieve with my Grandmother's Choice blocks. The challenge will be to find the right fabrics for the alternate squares.

Fiddling Around

One block eliminated, a new one added (top left), and everything rearranged. Better. Getting there.

Some of the participant's in Grandmother's Choice Block of the Week have been constructing their quilts as they go along. I am still deciding on a layout. Tending towards an on point medallion type of thing. Very early stages. Anyway here's a peek at some of the blocks laid out. The alternate squares would actually be half square triangles with a light and a dark side. No doubt I am making this harder than it needs to be but just sewing all the blocks next to each other with sashing and cornerstones seems so ho hum.

 I can see by this photo that the light background fabrics need to have more oomph. The upper two thirds of the blocks have Kaffe Fassett's Aboriginal Dots in white with blue dots. The bottom one third has Kaffe's Spot fabric which is white with light aqua dots. I like the very bottom dark purple fabric for some of the dark triangles, but it's all very much subject to change as things evolve. As Monica has mentioned so wisely, blogging has turned out to be a great editing and design tool. Who knew? I certainly didn't.

All Together

Here are the folded log cabin blocks all together so far. I see there needs to be some serious editing. For some reason, a few of the blocks I made way back when have dark center squares instead of gold/yellow. Some look really muddy and blur the pattern made by the strips. No sweat, though, as these are so much fun to do. It's a good excuse to make more.

Two more Log Cabin Blocks

Two more folded log cabin blocks done! These are beginning to be a bit addictive.

Folded Log Cabin

Folded Log Cabin block number six. Halfway through! Not totally happy with the rather bright yellow center, but some fabric paint may fix that later.  I am now on the lookout for an interesting piece of metal or wood to use as a hanger for the finished project. Sara Kaufman has found very interesting pieces of tree branches and industrial metal to finish off her wallhangings.

Coffee Cup

Coffee Cup is the latest Grandmother's Choice block posted this morning. Alert Readers (ARs) may have noticed a new button to the right, "Jack Attack." I spent the afternoon at a local fabric shop playing photographer for a friend who was teaching this class. After the baby quilts are completed, and a few more of the folded log cabin blocks, I will work on a Union Jack quilt.

Contrary Husband

Despite the love birds appearing in my version of the block, this week's Grandmother's Choice block is named Contrary Husband.

More Folded Log Cabin Blocks

Here is another of the folded log cabin blocks. They are quite dense and heavy for their size, which is approximately 7.5 inches. Yet another:

By the way, these blocks are supposed to be 7.5 inches unfinished, but no two are exactly the same size. They have not been squared up, or as Bonnie Hunter says, squared down. You can't add fabric, only remove in the squaring process. They may need one or more strips added to bring them up to sufficient size to trim down to 7.5 inches.

Mr. Roosevelt's Tie

Last week, the block for Grandmother's Choice by Barbara Brackman was Mr. Roosevelt's Tie. Don't think of this as a bow tie, but rather the sort of ties worn with starched wing tipped collars. I am not yet quite caught up after a week of playing at retreat. I will tackle this week's Grandmother's Choice block tomorrow.

At guild meeting on Friday, one of the guild members was showing off blocks she made from "Folded Log Cabin Quilts" by Sarah Kaufman. The member in question makes any and all varieties of log cabin quilts and had made her blocks in black and white prints with bright vari-colored centers. Very striking. I had played around with these blocks a couple of years ago, and as with so many things, did not finish the project. I dug out the blocks and here two of five completed.

The blocks are made on a foundation of muslin and consist of rounds of folded strips or flanges. It makes for a somewhat heavy piece and would not be appropriate for a bed sized quilt. There will be twelve blocks in the sampler which will make a long and narrow wall hanging. I think this project should go to the top of the list after quilting the two baby quilts.

Refreshed

I spent the past four days with three quilting friends sewing, laughing, and just having a relaxing time. The son of one of the ladies owns a summer cottage an hour away and likes that we use it in the off season. I made 33 more of the "made fabric' squares seen here, for a total of 48. At some point on the drive home, I realized that I made twice as many as necessary as there will be alternate blocks between the sawtooth star blocks. Oh well, they were fun to make. Tonight is guild meeting and we have Tricia Spitzmueller as our guest speaker. Tomorrow she will lead us in a workshop, "Quirky Quilts the Color Book Way."

Besides sewing, we put together a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Quilt themed, of course.

Diamond Stars

In the evenings, in order to justify my junk television viewing, I work on hand pieced things. These are English paper-pieced stars made with diamond shapes. The outer circle will be filled in with six more of the light stars with dark backgrounds.Eventyally it will be a table topper. I have limited myself to Daiwabo taupe fabrics. Yes, I know,there is purple and pink and blue and green in there, but they are all Daiwabo and considered "taupe." I think that just means that they are subdued in color.

These were made in the conventional way - basting the fabric to cardstock templates, then whip stitching together. Recently I purchased a  Sewline Fabric Glue Pen after seeing it advertised in a Piece o' Cake email. The glue pen will be used in lieu of basting. It will be a test to see if it works as well as basting and if it is easier and faster. I have begun using Bottom Line Thread from Superior Threads to whip stitch the pieces together. It is very fine and stronger than cotton in that it doesn't fray or break after repeatedly pulling it through the basted pieces. Being as fine as it is, it also shows much less on the front.

This month's main block of The Fox has Spots BOM by my local quilt shop. The color is a bit funky because there is a piece of turquoise fabric behind part of the block. I am catching up a bit and also completed last month's optional block from the same BOM:

Here are all the completed blocks to date laid out on the floor. They are making a pretty happy looking picture, I think.

Impediments to Quilting

Charley has decided that this is a nice, comfy place to rest. It's not easy to machine quilt with a 12 pound weight on top of the quilt. Steady but slow progress is being made, nonetheless.

Tinted Chains

Grandmother's Choice block this week is Tinted Chains. I don't have much else to show for the past two days what with Easter and April Fool's Day and all.