Women of the Bible Sampler Blocks 39 & 40

The last two!  

Block 39 - Elizabeth   10 inches.

Block 40 - Mary     15 inches.

Those are the last of the main blocks in this sampler.  I still need to make all the filler blocks...and there are 22 of them!  I haven't even begun to do them yet.  They aren't very big and they aren't hard (flying geese, 4 patches and pinwheels).  I've been procrastinating because of color placement.  I decided today that I'll just sew them as I go along putting together the top.  Its sewn in 5 different sections.  That way I can lay out the section and choose fabrics to balance out that particular part. I think I'll be be most happy doing it that way.  

I really, really, really don't want to lose steam on this quilt and have it end up in my never ending u.f.o. pile!  I'm so bad at getting distracted with new projects.  

Not this time.  Nope. 

Poor neglected blog

I have been sewing! But these lovelies are what has distracted me from remembering to blog my creative projects this summer!

Grand kids over for summer play.

Vacation time!

Baby cuddles.  She has finally gotten used to Nana. :)

Summer is winding down so I should remember my little blog again!  Hee, hee.  

Quilty pics to come.  

Women of the Bible Sampler Blocks 37 & 38

We are so close to getting done!  I just got the directions for the last two blocks (just now pulling fabrics) and then it will be the filler blocks are sewing it all together!  Can't wait.

 Block 37: Lois & Eunice.   15 inch block.

Block 38: Syro-Phoenician Woman.  10 inch block.

Hillside Houses

Pretty Little Quilts started a free quilt-along for Hillside Houses back in May, I think.  I loved the quilt and have a full bin of solids so decided to participate.  I actually finished my top not long after the last block was posted on June 10!  A first for me.  :)

This was my first row.  

Then the next row:

Isn't it cool how they interlock?  The pattern has 3 sizes (throw, wall or mini) and I made the throw. That made for big pieces to work with and big blocks......which for me meant easy and fast.  

Here's my finished top:

I love it!!!!!  

I have no idea what to tell my quilter to do for the quilting.  Any ideas?

There have been some fun variations being made that I've seen on Instagram.  One of my favorites is a Christmas village with Christmas prints for the houses, white for the roofs and fussy cuts in the windows.  Creative.  

You can find all the blocks here if you want to make some houses yourself!

A bag and a pouch

 I made a little zip bag as a sample for the shop where I work, Quilted Strait.

Its called The Runaround Bag by Lazy Girl Designs.

This was the easiest zip bag I've ever made.  It has a lining but  the seams are exposed rather than in-between the lining and outer fabric.  This would be a good beginner bag to make.  Or as gifts since they are super fast!

For the cat mini swap I just did, I made a Two in One Pouch by s.o.t.a.k handmade for my partner. This was also a pretty fast pouch.  Lined with hidden seams....my favorite way! Construction was different than I've done before but completely easy to do.  Her pattern was thorough with lots of pictures.  

This is the pouch opened up. 

And folded over. 

The construction method allowed me to use 4 different scraps for the lining.  So fun!

I will definitely be making more of these.   :)

Mini Quilt Swap

I participated in the last round of swapping minis with the Mini QT Swap group on Flickr.  The theme was "Furry Purries". :)

Based on my partners mosaic and color preferences I made this mini for her.  Thankfully, Pam took a picture of it cuz I forgot to! 

Its some of the blocks from Elizabeth Hartman's pattern "The Cat Quilt".  So much scrappy cuteness.

You can't really tell in the picture, but I hand quilted around each cat in coordinating perle cotton.  

And Pam made this mini for me:

Can't even begin to say how much I love it!   So cute and so me.  Thanks, Pam!

This was a great round of swapping.  

Women of the Bible Sampler Blocks 31 - 36

Here are the latest blocks in the sampler.  

 Block 31 - Martha & Mary.  10 inches.

Block 32 - Salome   10 inches.

Block 33 - Pilate's Wife   10 inches.

Block 34 - Queen of Sheba   15 inches.

Block 35 - Adulterer  10 inches. 

Block 36 - Menstruating Woman   15 inches.

Its getting so close to the finish!  Can't wait to see this all come together.  

Women of the Bible Sampler Blocks 27 - 30

Here are the latest sampler blocks I have done.  Its getting harder to pick fabrics for each as I've been trying not to repeat combinations.  But I think I'm going to need to let go of that!   :)

 Block 27 - Samaritan Woman.  10 inches

Block 28 - Anna   10 inches

Block 29 - Priscilla   10 inches

Block 30 - Joanna    15 inches

I thought I'd show you a pic I took (before the above blocks were made) of the blocks laid out in their approximate locations.  I needed to see how my color placement was working out.  Not too bad.  

The angle distorts them.  I assure you they are all square.  LOL!

Aeroplane Bag

I've been ignoring my blog again!   Instagram has kinda taken over as the place where I post pics of what I've been doing.    :) 

I bought the Aeroplane Bag pattern by Sew Sweetness over a year ago.  Just got around to making it.

I made the large size bag. Its a carry on size.  I did have challenges with this bag.  Lots of stiffness and bulk to put under the needle.  A few ugly spots by the zipper.  

There are two zippered pockets inside.

 I used it on my recent trip to Texas.  I had a weeks worth of clothes & shoes in it.  Worked great.  Only thing I didn't like was that with no wheels I had to always carry it.  

I will be sticking with my regular carry on for plane travel and use this bag for car trips.

My bff and I both made the bag. Here's a pic of both.

Pretty, huh?  :)

Design Wall Monday - Primavera

Urban Beads is done and off my design wall.  Piecing a back for it now so I can have it quilted. 

I decided to put my Primavera blocks back up.    I rarely work on this quilt.  Its a really old project (it was a Design Wall Monday post in 2010!).  I want it done and out of my head.  So I decided to not do any more of the applique blocks.  Instead I'm piecing blocks to fill in spaces.  Already made some sawtooth stars. 

 I have to rearrange what I have made so far and then do some math to figure out how much I need to piece.  I also have to do all the embroidered bits to the blocks I have.  Just thinking about it makes me want to pull them all down again!   Focus, Cindy!

Linking to Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Women of the Bible Sampler Blocks 24 - 26

And here are the last 3 that catch me up.  These are all 10 inch blocks too.

Block 24 - Dorcas/Tabitha

Block 25 - Crippled Woman

I completely changed the construction of this block.  Directions called for all half square blocks to make design.  I wanted to eliminate seam lines and some sewing!  This was much faster and it looks the same.  And it allowed me to fussy cut that center.  

Block 26 - Mary Magdalene

Huge shot of color with this one.  Not sure what I'll think when I lay it out with the rest of the blocks.  I may end up remaking this one.

I've stopped taking the blocks out to arrange and choose fabric/colors.  Handling every two weeks was starting to cause more fraying than I want.  So now I'm relying on coloring a black & white pic of the final layout.  Its not perfect but its better than nothing.

Women of the Bible Samper Blocks 21 - 23

I can't believe how far behind I am in posting pics of my sampler blocks. I thought it was just the latest two but I have 6 to show!    Gonna break that up into two posts.  Just cuz.  :)

Block 21 - Hannah

There wasn't much orange in the fat quarter set of Mimosa fabrics I bought. I debated using them as I don't love the shade of orange. But then I thought what else was I going to do with them.  As busy as this quilt is going to be I think they will meld nicely into the whole picture.  I also changed fabric placement again....making the background light rather than dark.

Block 22 - Delilah

Block 23 - Shiprah & Puah

All three of these blocks are 10 inches finished.  

More tomorrow.  :)

Strip Pieced Mariners Compass block

I took a class at Quilted Strait yesterday on how to make a Mariners Compass block via strip piecing. I have avoided this block as I didn't want to mess with those long triangle templates nor do paper piecing.  Robin (Robin Ruth Design) has created a method and ruler that totally rocks! 

She has two rulers, Skinny and Fat. I bought the Fat one.  It makes compasses in 16 sizes: 6 - 36 inches!  So great. 

I  managed to take a few pics in class.  Here you can see how the ruler is used to make the cuts that make the points.

  

This is after all the piecing is done. Still amazes me that I pieced this without templates.  

This is my final compass block.

I've done a fair share of curved piecing in my quilting life but this is only the second time I have sewn a complete circle into a circle.  Is it ok to say you're proud of yourself?   :)

Not sure yet if I'll turn this block into a pillow or make more for a quilt.  

 I am thrilled to add compasses to my block repertoire.  

If you ever have a chance to take a class from Robin, do.  She is an excellent teacher.  Everyone one of us in class was successful in creating gorgeous compasses!

Linking up to Sew Fresh Quilts: Let's Bee Social.  :)

Small Indian Blanket

I finished my small Indian Blanket top the other day.  I love this pattern so much and wanted to see if a smaller version would still look good to me.  And it does!   Happy dance.  

Now to get a back pieced and get it to my long armer.  

Design Wall Monday - Urban Beads

I finally put the rows together on my smaller Indian Blanket quilt (which I'll post tomorrow) so I have been sewing my Urban Beads blocks into rows. I have 9 rows done and 3 more to go. I'm hoping to finish those rows today. We'll see how the day goes! :)

I'm loving the saturated colors of these In The Beginning modern solids.  Yum!

Ok. Back to sewing. 

Check out what others have up on their design walls here. 

Pineapple and Fox

I made a couple of small blocks that I thought I'd share.  One is a block I made for an online friend.  She recently lost her Mom and many of her online friends are making blocks for a comfort quilt. Pink and green with white and 8 inches were our guidelines.

I made this little fox:

The pattern is called "Lil' Fox" by Artisania.  You can find the pattern here.

The other block I made was just for me!  :)

I saw this pineapple mini on the Dear Stella blog (free pattern).  It was a last minute "throw in the box" project for when I was on my Yaya vacation earlier this month.   Its only 8.5x11.5 inches.  I love fast little projects like this.   I think I'm gonna hand quilt it in a diagonal cross hatch.  For now I'm just enjoying looking at it!

Women of the Bible Sampler Blocks 19 & 20

I just got back from my annual girls get-away. So much fun!  I didn't finish any tops this year because I was piecing curved blocks and that took most of my sewing time.  I did finish these two sampler blocks from the series.

Block 19 - Rahab

Rahab is a 10 inch block.   

Block 20 - Potipher's Wife

Potipher's Wife is a 15 inch block.

I switched fabric placement again in both blocks. I want all my backgrounds to be lights so every time they aren't I change them!  :)

Downton Abbey Mystery Quilt

The mystery is over.  I finished all the blocks.

Blocks from weeks 4, 5, and 6:

Each week we could choose between two story paths.....or two blocks.  Or do a combo of each.  I never did a combo.  The result of all that choosing is the final layouts will look different for each participant. 

This is the one that best fits the blocks I made:

 I never really loved the fabrics so have chosen to not take the time to finish the quilt.  I'll put the blocks and left over fabric in my give away box.  

I had fun with the mystery.  Ebony did a great job with directions each week. The Facebook group was also fun.  I'm glad I participated.  But now back to my other projects and fabrics I adore!