Several weeks ago I posted about an International block swap that I have been enjoying for the past few months.
The next two participants chose the same pattern…..”Wings of a Butterfly” by Angie Wilson of @gnomeangel..
It is a fairly simple block and I think that the interest comes from the 1-inch border around the center 1/4-square triangle block…..
The first recipient (Debbie) requested a teal/aqua center, bright fabric butterflies around the block and low-volume prints for the background pieces……
While Janet asked for dark and light blue fabrics and white/grey backgrounds…..
They are each so different and I can’t wait to see how the two quilts are going to turn out.My months are coming up in August and September and I am still trying to decide which pattern I want to use.
I have actually had the thought of putting the block designs into Electric Quilt and seeing if two different ones can be combined to form a new pattern.
For the last few years, I have been subscribing, reading, and enjoying “Make Modern” magazine. It is a digital-only magazine that is based in Australia and, as the name suggests, it focuses on Modern Quilting.
Each year they sponsor some sort of QAL (quilt-a-long) and 2021 was the year for me to join!! We are doing a block swap based on the blocks in the “Smash That Stash” quilt….
….and my group is comprised of 4 Australians, one quilter from New Zealand and ME!!
Each month one member is featured…she selects which block she wants us to make, and we make two 10-inch blocks or one 20-inch block in that design. We will rotate thru the members twice, meaning that each of us should receive enough blocks to make (or at least be a good start) on a fun friendship quilt.
Our first “Monthly Queen Bee” is Gaye who is our New Zealander, and the block that she picked is called “Intersections….
It looks fairly innocuous until you realize that all SIXTY-ONE pieces fit into one 10-inch block!!!
Gaye requested bright colors with light backgrounds and a fussy-cut center block.
If you remember back to my “too-small block” post, I knew that I had to be super careful in my cutting and piecing or else the block would end up as incorrect in size.
I also added a few other tricks to help keep these blocks in shape. First of all, I used spray sizing on each fabric before I cut the 1.5 inch strips….
This gave the fabric a bit of crispness which made cutting and piecing easier!!
Since there were so many pieces to cut, I made myself a chart to follow……
For the “fussy-cut” center square, I made a paper “window” and used it to select the featured design…..
It was then easy to place the ruler over the top and cut the piece so that it fit perfectly…..
Once everything was cut…..
….it was time to start sewing.
The first step was to piece two 1.5 inch squares, and pray that they measured 2.5 when ironed…..
Whew….so far so good!!!
The pattern suggested that the block be pieced in rows, but I chose to start at the center and work out to the edge. This way I could stop after every addition and check that the block size was still correct (or at least CLOSE)…..
I had to do a bit of adjusting on the first block, but the second went together easily…..
In a relatively short time I had the two blocks finished and ready to ship off to New Zealand…..
In April, our queen bee has picked “Wings of a Butterfly”……
It will be fun to play with some triangles in this one!!!
Normally, I am finishing my challenges on the day that they are due, or maybe the day before if I am really organized, but, with this one, the idea came quickly and I was finished over a month before the due date…. UN-HEARD OF!!
Just after I finished it, I was talking to another guild member (Sue) and she said that she would make it different by using the other spelling/meaning of blue……ie BLEW!!
Just after our conversation, we made another trip to Kunming, China where I spied this wonderful bronze statue…..
I adored the look on the man’s face….
….not to mention the little boy at the back…..
Now THAT is a great example of “BLEW”!!
When we returned home, I called Sue and asked if she had ever acted on her inspiration. She said that she had not and that I was welcome to use the idea.
I started with the photo itself, tweaking it to enhance the color…..
I used the pinwheel as my inspiration and added a bunch of small pinwheels and two larger 3-D pinwheels….
….and added the beaded “stick” to meet the embellishment and blue requirements.
I made a couple of paper quilts to test out the quilting designs….
….but finally decided on wavy parallel lines in a metallic thread….
I love the final product…..
…particularly the way that the fabrics worked together.
And, as a plus, it is another fun “Travel Log Quilt” that reminds me of a trip to Kunming!!
Back in 2010 our guild proposed a challenge called “I’m So Blue”. It had to include the color blue and also have some form of fabric embellishment.
Unusually for me, I had my idea MONTHS before the due date, and it came from the British Sit-Com, “As time Goes By”. In that show there is a picture on the wall that has a dresser with a single flower in a vase and I had always been drawn to it.
I started out by pulling blue scraps and placing them around a piece of lightweight fusible interfacing…..
I did my usual internet research and came up with an interesting looking chest to use…..
….and also found this flower design…..
I added a vase and flipped the flower to one side….
After everything was cut out and fused down, it was time to add the embellishment. I wanted the chest to have an antique look so decided to sponge paint a bit of color…..
Since I was playing with paint, I also added a bit of stenciling (you can see it at the top of the above photo).
After adding a border and a few more details, I declared that “As Blue Goes By” was finished…..
But this was not the end to the “I’m So Blue” challenge…..come back tomorrow for the next entry!!!
I have been participating in the “Monthly Color Challenge” Quilt-A-Long series being hosted by Patterns by Jen.
So far we have pieced blocks inspired by Eggplantand Lemons…..
For March, we moved on to the amazing Sweet Potato….although there has been a lot of questions about whether we should be calling it a Yam!!
I headed upstairs with my inspiration….soon to be my lunch…..
…and once again marveled in the wonderful colors!!
Picking fabrics was fun….
….and before I knew it the pieces were cut……
….and piecing could begin…..
Since I am making the 6-inch blocks, it was important to keep a correct seam allowance. If you remember, I learned this lesson the hard way when I was making my Lemon block. You can read about it HERE.
I love the resulting block…..
We are supposed to share our favorite recipe each month and mine is super simple…..
Bake the sweet potato until it is nice and squishy and caramelized….
….add butter, mash it well and salt and pepper liberally!!!
