I've made more progress on my secret sewing that I can't show you. ;-) I even managed to sew together some of the y-seams without a problem. I hope the rest of the mini goes together as smoothly. I can show you my small progress on January's Mighty Lucky Quilting Club piece. I've drooled over quilts using this technique, so I'm glad to have been pushed outside my comfort zone to try something new. Here's my first bias tape curve. I didn't have a specific plan, so I went with abstract. I'll be playing with how different widths behave. (This one is 1/2".) It was great to see some other examples in person at the Silicon Valley Modern Quilt Guild meeting last week as a number of our members are participating in the club this year.
I also enlarged the Bee Hive Double Star block pattern by Christa to an 18" block and assembled this mini quilt top. Not my normal color palette, but I'm very happy with how this came out. I especially love the placement of the matches fabric which I'm happy to finally be using.
I'm planning some grey crosshatch quilting and I think I'll use the grey cotton and steel fabric for the binding.
I finally finished stitching my last few rows of baseball snowball blocks together. If my brother was the same height now that he was in 2004 (when I "gave" him this quilt while he was in high school), and not 6'5", I'd totally be done with the quilt top. As it is, I need to have him come over and try on some quilts so I can decide how much border this quilt needs to be complete.
The good news is that I shared pictures with my brother, and he's still interested in this quilt. I find it a little bit busy and think that some solid borders will do it some good!
And speaking of quilts for my siblings, my sister is expecting her first baby in a couple months and I've got a Wizard of Oz themed baby quilt in the works. Right now I'm working on fashioning an Emerald City out of the Wondrous Woods Kona Fat Quarter pack. Look at all that excellent color!
I've been thinking about color a lot lately. I'm making some notes for an future blog series on color and I'm excited to participate in Lorinda and Trina's Color Play Friday this week. Look for my post on Friday and see each of our different takes on color inspiration from the same photo.
Thanks for visiting. What are you working on?
I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
Cheryl
Great works in progress, I love your version of Christa's block.
sarah
Post authorThank you, Cheryl. It's such a great block. I just made one for a bee block, too. There are so many ways to change it up!
Lisa
Beautiful work. Regarding the bias tape. At first I didn't want to do this challenge but then I saw some wonderful quilts made with this technique so I've picked up a couple of tape makers....but I haven't yet done the challenge. My eyes are bigger than my time.
sarah
Post authorWhat a great statement, Lisa! My eyes are always bigger than my time. Thanks for visiting. :-)
Bo Brackmann
I am anxiously waiting for that Wizard of Oz quilt!! Love those greens!!
sarah
Post authorThanks, Bo. I hope it comes out as good as it looks in my head. ;-)
Wanda Dotson
Love the greens. Are you designing a quilt or are you going to use a pattern?
sarah
Post authorI'm designing it. I found a panel that has sky and poppies and the greens will be the Emerald City. I think I can't avoid it being appliqué which I'd rather not do. So I'm thinking on that. I'd also like that section to not be a million layers. ;-) The rest of the design will be simple borders. I don't have a firm plan yet.
Wanda Dotson
Dorothy didn't have a plan either in her dreams.
sarah
Post authorHa ha! So true. :-)
Anja @ Anja Quilts
Congrats on getting the baseball quilt done! I like your polka dot bias strip. I'm hoping to get working on mine this weekend.
sarah
Post authorThanks! Good luck with your bias strips. They were pretty easy, I found. I used the adhesive mentioned in the directions (sorry, they aren't in front of me at the moment) and had a pretty good time with it. I did press the strip in place once it was stuck down if it was popping up a bit. Others who used pins seemed to struggle more than I did.
Kate
Those emerald greens are gorgeous, they will make a wonderful city. Congrats on getting the baseball quilt assembled. It's a fun quilt, bright and bold.
sarah
Post authorThank you, Kate. Maybe today will be the day that I will dive in and start building my city. :-)
Bethany
I also signed up for the mighty luck quilting club. I was pushed out of my comfort zone and found the technique very interesting. I look forward to seeing what else you come up with!
sarah
Post authorThank you, Bethany. Just today I saw someone's under the sea use of the technique which may be a solution for a WIP I'm stuck on... There may be some bias tape fish in my future. ;-)