Building Block Angst

It took me for ages to finally settle on fabric for this Block of the Month over at Gen X Quilters. I hemmed, I hawed, I dithered, I vacillated, and finally had to have a serious talk with myself! It's only a quilt!  The premise of the BOM is to make a modern looking quilt choosing solids or a variety of tone-on-tones.  First I gave a cursory glance at the old stash and made a dash for the LQS.  Yes, even though I made a resolution to Stick To The Stash I indulged and bought the recommended tone-on-tones, 20 FQs, only to get home and decide, naw, not what I had envisioned.  Back to the stash it was!  I actually found 5 one yard pieces only to have two of the reds bleed when I, thank goodness, tested them for colorfastness.  It's not that I am clever, but these pieces were at least 20 years old.  What to do?  My LQS came to the rescue and had a small Valentine's Day sale that I ended up getting the stack you see at the top. 

That is January A and January B, February A and February B blocks you see.  I am finding the Vice Versa BOM fun since I settled on fabric.  I haven't worked with solids in ages knowing I had a limited amount in the stash.  I went through a phase back in the mid 90s where that's all I worked with.  I find them very unforgiving as you see every imperfection, any mis-stitch seems to stand out.

Anyway, I played around with the instructions and made the blocks a bit different, more loyal to the name Vice Versa.

Is anyone else doing this BOM?

Talk to you later~

Building Blocks

In my attempt to get my UFOs finished I could not resist a few Quilt Alongs and BOMs I came across.  It seems they were everywhere at the new year!

I joined  Amy's Sugar Block Club (I keep wanting to call it sugar bowl) over at her blog, which I just discovered,  Stitchery Dickory Dock.  Each month you get a star block along with a recipe for a sweet which I have managed not to make so far and I hope I can keep it that way!  It's not that the recipes don't sound very good, but, just trying to cut back on anything that contains a lot of sugar.

I've had this stack of oriental-themed fabrics since 2005 and this seemed the perfect time to cut into them  That and the fact that I am trying to use what I have on hand.  I love the results.  That red and pink January block is just so pretty.  And the february one isn't too bad either.  It's not too late to join!

Busy, busy

I've spent the last few weeks of the new year trying to get organized in the sewing room.  There's been a lot of rearranging, purging, and reacquainting going on.  I've discovered I have waaaay to many unfinished projects and that I need to dedicate more effort to completing them. 

I used some old fabric that has been in my collection for twenty years!  It's really amazing the progress made in the quality of quilting cottons since then
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Also sewed up a stack of Conkerr pillowcases to be donated locally.

And finally, I made this table runner (using Jovial line) back in 2011, had it quilted along with a top I sent out, and then injured my back before it came back.  I'm embarrassed to say it sat in a box in my sewing room for the past two years.  But it's done now!  I've earmarked it for my sister-in-law for Christmas. 

More next time about some sewing I've squeezed in.~

Binding!

I finally did it and opened one of two boxes that have been collecting dust in my sewing room since November 2011. Yes, you read that right.  Over two years.  Unopened.  I had sent out two quilts and a Christmas table runner to two different quilters and before they came back I injured my back. Ugh. I just could not bring myself to open them.  But this is the year to Finish projects. Not too happy that I have to use my little Janome.  

Working on the Christmas runner today, talk to you later~

New Slate

Belated Happy New Year wishes!

I am so looking forward to a fresh slate that the new year brings.  We lost two beloved pets within five days of each other in 2013.  One, my almost twenty year old Tonkinese cat was a steady companion over the years whenever I sewed.  She was a birthday gift right around the time I began quilting sticking with me while I sewed on the dining room table, then a spare bedroom, and finally in a dedicated sewing studio.  She passed on the end of September and her presence is sorely missed. I finally got back into my sewing room in November to find out my Twenty year old Bernina needs a new part for the even-feed foot to work.  Still waiting on that part to come in. 

I was able to finish this simple quilt before my Bernina kinked out.  Not as much quilted as I intended but I called it quits just to get it finished and bound.

I'm going to cut this short ~ it's good to be back ~ and see if I can really post (thanks, Natalie!) from my new iPad. Later....

Book Review and Giveaway

UPDATE:  Sorry for the delay, I was feeling a bit under the weather for the past few days,
I put all the eligible names in a hat and the first name drawn was Lisa Lisa, second name was Sandie, and the third name Crafter1953.  Thank you to all who commented!
 

 I received two paperback copies from the publisher last month of Jennifer Chiaverini's newest Elm Creek Quilts book, The Giving Quilt in exchange for a review. [The paperback version goes on sale April 2.]  I also have three sets of pins to give away, one with each book and a set by themselves and as this is a quilting blog and the book is about quilting,  I think a fat quarter might find its way into each winner's package! So let's get started.

This is the first Elm Creeks Quilts novel I have read so I can't compare it to Ms. Chiaverini's other books.  I don't really read this genre (historical women's fiction) that often. Briefly, Elm Creek Manor is hosting a free "Quiltsgiving" retreat for a group of volunteer quilters where quilts will be made to be given to Project Linus.  The novel delves into the lives of five of the participants:  Pauline (my favorite character), Linnea (a librarian), Michaela (a college student), Jocelyn (a teacher), and Karen (a quilt shop clerk).  The reader learns of the adversities each character has had to overcome.  The staff of Elm Creek Manor is not addressed much but I get the idea the reader already knows them from prior books.  I enjoyed reading about the quilting retreat whether it be about the participants getting to know each other, the extensive sewing time, and my favorite, being served three meals a day of delicious food without having to cook a thing!  I must say all the characters sounded like nice people, a few I'd like to spend some time with as long as we don't discuss politics.  An off-putting fact for me was that all the characters were left-leaning and a few promoted their views rather heavyhandedly.  For example, talk radio gets bashed while left-leaning NPR is promoted.  Another character instructs her budding journalist students "...to shine the light of truth upon injustice and inequity, and to never ignore an opportunity to make their community and the world a better place."  Somewhere along the way the purpose of the media has been lost or I should say taken over by people who want to further their agenda and not simply report the news.

I think the theme of the book is how we all encounter difficulties in life or as Jocelyn says, "Life wasn't fair, and sometimes goodness wasn't rewarded, and sometimes the wrong people won."  But no matter how bad your situation is, there is always someone having a worse time than you.  Helping other people ends up helping ourselves through the positive feelings generated by our actions.  We all have different motivations for charity, as different as we are as people, it seems. I think the book does a fine job of exploring this idea.

More info about the quilt pattern made in the book and Ms. Chiaverini's other books can be found here.  

If you're interested in winning a book,  just leave a comment and answer the following questions:  what quilting fiction (if any) do you read? What are your favorite books?  How you ever made a quilt to donate to Project Linus?

Sorry, I can't send international on this giveaway.  I'll pick 3 winners on Wednesday, April 3.  Please make sure I have a way of getting in touch with you.
 Almost forgot, here are the pins,

Thanks for visiting.