WIP Wednesday: Jewels in the Mud

I'm having total writer's block.  I was going to talk about how you can mess around with color on modern patterns to make them appeal to more traditional palettes, and how very traditional patterns can be made more modern by using strange color combinations...and I was going to say something about how those "ugly" muddy colors (to me) are kind of heinous on their own but they can make gorgeous colors glow...but I don't know how to make that all pair up to sound good and how to segway into "hey check out this sample I'm making."  I guess it's just one of those brain fart days! 

So here's what I'm working on now...a traditional pattern...

I am really fond of churn dash blocks (why, I don't know), and I really like this pattern, but those colors.  No, no, no, no, no.  Do not like.  So I decided to tweak the colors, because eff the (quilt) po-lice.  I was processing some batik shipment and I saw a bright pink batik next to a Joel Dewberry stripe that's a funky grey-blue-green, and I loved it. So several fat quarters and some stash diving later...

 ...I was on my way to getting my blocks cut.  Y'all can keep your EQ and your iPhone apps...I'll keep my crayons and (usually, but not this time) graph paper.  I tweaked the coloring and distribution enough that I needed to redo the cutting instructions, so that's why there's this. 

So then I started cutting and I was feeling pretty good about the color combos.  Right now all of the churn dashes are cut, and all but 10 of the shoo flies are cut.

I promise my ironing board cover was clean once upon a time. 

I haven't been this amped about a quilt in a while.  I mean, I have been excited about quilts of course, but I am psyched for this one.  There will be more blocks with the gray-green-bluey-taupe exteriors than the pink-coral exteriors, but I think that's what will keep the eye moving and give it places to rest. 

The top block has the Joel Dewberry stripe I referenced earlier...and the bottom block is definitely more magenta than purple, but that's the price I paid for using the flash I guess.  Three blocks down, 27 to go!

WIP Wednesday: Vaudeville

Holy crap, I worked on something.  This is out of the book Sensational Small Quilts...and while sensational, it's by no means "small." 

The sample in the book was red and cream, but blah, so I did purple and cream/tan to go with a vaudeville themed black and cream print I have for the border (no, I don't have a picture right at the moment).  But I am doing it scrappy style so maybe, just maybe, my purple scraps might shrink some.  And they have.  Woo!

All the blocks are done, and all I need to do is finish assembling the rows.  Three down, three to go!

I have to have it sideways on my design wall, so it really isn't wider than it is long.

Tina keeps trying to lay down on keyboard so I guess I'm done...

THANKS TINA :-)
(yes, her under bite is so bad her tongue sticks out.  Poor sweet girl.)

WIP Wednesday: Seasonal Projects

Well...I'm kind of back at it.

The past couple week have been wild and just plain crazy, but things are starting to regulate some.  But there's no rest for the wicked and seriously, the holidays are creeping up on us before we know it. Yes...Christmas in July.  It's an odd little world we quilters live in that we think about Christmas projects in July, but then again, these things take time, so we have to think about it.

So I just finished a smaller than expected Christmas table runner, and I have a Halloween lap quilt in progress, and I'm cutting for a fall table runner too (though, this one is a little more intensive piecing wise than the Christmas one).

Nothing totally exciting, but it's just a little something.

WIP Wednesday: The Power of Three

I wasn't kidding when I said I was pulling out some OLD projects.  This. Is. OLD.  Well, old for me.  It's from 2008-2009.

I remember I was working on this for a sample, and I getting frustrated with it, and put it aside.  I put it aside for so long that the fabric sold out, and as I said, "well, shit," I shoved it aside again.

Some very, very valuable lessons have been learned since then:
#1.  Keep the pattern with the project when you have to put something aside.  Lord knows you won't remember how it goes together six years later.
#2.  That 1/4" seam ain't no joke.  Learn it, live it.  Because when you have to put something away, having that 1/4" mastered means you won't spend an hour and a half ripping apart, and reassembling shitty blocks.
#3.  Take some damn notes as to which fabric is which.  Because you won't remember which pieces are which after they have chunks cut out of them six years later.

Grumble, grumble, grumble; gripe, gripe, gripe.

So this is The Power of Three by Quilt Woman.  My sample was out of the Za-Za-Zing line by I-Don't-Remember-Who.  And yes, since all I have left of this pattern is the cover, I will be assembling this by looking at the picture and winging it.  How hard can it be?

 

LOL

Actually, after about an hour of figuring, I think I have how it goes together down.  And if not?  Well, just like skinning cats, there's more than one way to assemble a quilt.  BAM.

SO here's what I have so far.  This is going back away for a few weeks until I can finish up the (several) projects I have to finish within the next 3 weeks.  

Don't worry, I took some of these apart and redid them, because WOW  o.0

Did I mention half of the blocks I found were in various states of completeness and missing-pieces-ness?  Thankfully I at least kept the extra fabric with it. 

WIP Wednesday: Witch Hazel's Medicine Cabinet

...of the handful of you wondering...YES HALLOWEEN ALREADY.

We got in Halloween fabric, Spooktacular by Blend Fabrics and obviously I loved it and obviously I had to make a sample from it.

CUTE.

I made this pattern up a few years ago, but that just goes to show how good I think it is if I feel inclined to make it twice.

I like it so well because there's so much room for focus prints without being just giant squares.  These are only 9.5" squares.  I've got all the colors arranged.

Just the bottom row is 100% done.  More work to do on the rest...maybe I'll have it finished in a week or two!

WIP Wednesday: Granny Squares

This is another long term WIP.  After seeing a granny square how-to on another blog (I can't remember which one, it was several months ago) I thought it would be a good way to eat up more scraps.  The one I saw had a 100% white background with each block divided by sashing, but I thought it might be neat to have the block separated by background colors.  So, each block has a different background color in a solid fabric, and then the squares for the interior of the block would be scrappy. 

So I made some, put it away, made some, put it away....and neglected to take notes on how I needed to trim the squares.  Now three of them so far are about 3/4" too big.  Those I will be ripping apart, trimming and reassembling probably last thing.  But this time I was smart enough to write down a note about trimming those pieces and put it in the box for next time. 

Nice, but WRONG by 3/4"

But here's what I have so far.  I think there are 25 or 30 total that need to be done. 

I'll finish the rest one of these days.