Post-It Note Tuesday - 2/2/10

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Pinwheel Quilt Plans

I have a confession to make. I'm not very good at following directions in my quilting. My excuse is that I have a job where I follow directions all day long. (It seems like an e-mail doesn't go out without being read and re-read and re-read for additional edits.) By the time I finish for the day, I'm interested in doing the exact opposite with my evenings -- that means, working with fabric and batting instead of words on the computer screen. It also means I tend to make things up as I go along.

The p.s. i quilt Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along will be a challenge for me in following directions and precision. Already, though, I'm "tweaking" the instructions for my own purposes. I need to make a baby quilt between now and this summer for a friend of mine. So, instead of working on all of the blocks in Rachel's quilt, I have picked out my 12 favorites that look like they can be done in 10 inch by 10 inch blocks.

My layout will look something like this:

I love the printed cotton Rachel used (and take a look at the fabrics planned by some of the other quilt-along participants)! My fabric choices are much less organized:

I'm choosing these fabrics (1) because I love the feel of the different textures (and think the baby will, too) and (2) this friend is part of a group I've been quilting for the past 10 years. I want the new baby quilt to be connected by fabric to the 3 other quilts I've made for this family and for our other mutual friends.

Looking forward to working on this project! (For more Fiber Arts Fridays, click: Alpaca Farm Girl.)

Tell Me Thursday - Groundhog Day?

This part of the tree skirt should look familiar. I've actually finished piecing all the diamonds. It took me a little longer than I'd expected because of the holidays (and because there was a debate about whether there should be more white spaces between the "arms" of the 5-pointed star design).

I was all set to put the red velvet edging around the circle when I took a closer look at the fabric stash. One of my main goals in making this skirt was to create something special for our family from the red velvet used above in the diamonds. That's the red from the bridesmaid dresses from my in-laws' wedding. Come to find out, the vintage fabric stash from my husband's grandmother had TWO different kinds of red velvet -- one of which was much more orange-y than the other. So, I will not be using the red velvet that I had planned for the outside edging of this quilt and will, instead, be headed to the fabric store this weekend to find something that is more of the same blue-ish red of the diamonds above.

While I was taking a break from the "top" of the skirt, I started working on the backing. I've been having lots of fun this past year making quilts with multi-colored backs. As I started looking through the stash for more fabric for the backing, I decided it would only take a bit more work to make this tree skirt reversible. Hence the creation of the peppermint swirl below:

I've finished piecing this and laying out the batting. Now I just need to get that final bit of fabric and figure out how I'm going to quilt this sucker.

Is it Groundhog Day?

I know it's almost a month after Christmas, but I'm still working on the never-ending tree skirt. I'll explain more tomorrow:

Check out one of the distractions here in West Texas -- playing with the prairie dog: TexasRed Books. Click here for more Wordless Wednesday.

Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along

I did my first pinwheel block as part of my little Project Linus blanket. Now Rachel, over at p.s. i quilt, is having a pinwheel sampler quilt along.

I'm so excited! She's going to be showing us how to make her beautiful sampler quilt, where all the blocks are variations on the classic pinwheel pattern.

I have another friend who's got a baby on the way this summer, so I'll be making a smaller variation of this quilt and trying to pick the perfect fabric to make it work for a baby boy or girl. Hope you can all play along with Rachel and I'll keep you posted on my progress!