Churn Dash Block Swap

Sorry I disappeared for a bit. I went to bed with a splitting headache on Saturday, February 3rd, and have been sick ever since. This is an odd cold of some kind. After the headache came several days of sore throat and hoarseness, then crazy congestion and coughing. I spent at least a week dozing in my recliner. Laying flat was not an option if I wanted to breath. Oh well, I'm better, not completely over it yet, but better.

I signed up for a block swap with a new friend I met at the American Quilt Study Guild annual Seminar in Manchester, NH, last October. Some of you may know Barb Vedder and her blog, Fun With Barb. In January she announced a Churn Dash block swap. You were to choose reproduction or modern as a theme for your blocks. By the time I emailed the only opening was for modern. I signed on, and meant to have the blocks done right away. But as always, time flies by and I'm working on them now. The guidelines for the modern swap was to use jewel tone solids with low volume background prints. Weeks go by in my recliner, and I finally pull fabric. Unfortunately, I remembered modern, but not necessarily jewel tones. I used my new Accuquilt Go Big electric cutter to cut squares, half squares and strips (I'm so in love with this machine!). I then sewed a set of blocks that I shared to Facebook. Not jewel tone! While this brown is a nice fit in a "modern" quilt, it doesn't meet the guidelines for the swap. It's ok, I'll save these 9 blocks and perhaps use them in the top I end up making.

Continuing on, I checked my other color choices with Barb, and have now made 36 blocks, and have 18 to go. I'll get to cutting more this afternoon, and have these done and in the mail in time for the March 1st deadline.

As a side issue, the cutting of blocks with the Accuquilt dies requires some calculations. I need 54 blocks total and need to make at minimum two color combinations. So, with the four colors I'm using that means 13 or 14 blocks of each color. The dies include squares (middle block) and half squares (corner blocks) so that was ok. The half square die cuts two with one pass, and up to six layers with one pass, so I had them cut in no time. The middle side piece, with a background and a colored rectangle, wasn't quite as straight forward. I used a 1-1/2" strip die to make strips of the fabric, then sewed pairs and cross cut with my rotary cutter. I could have sewn the strips and tried doing the crosscut with the 2-1/2" strip but didn't want crooked cuts.

I've got my next little project lined up already. It came in the February Quilty Box I received recently. The box always includes fabric, a pattern, usually a spool of Aurifil thread, and another item or two. This month features Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts. I love the geometric designs she makes with her Sidekick and Hex'nMore Rulers. I've made her Gravity quilt and it is out to be quilted. I didn't discover Julie's patterns till 2016, but back in 2014 she asked for people to make blocks for her wedding quilt. You can read about the final quilt - I just love it!

Anyway, included in this Quilty Box is a package of fabric, a Sidekick Ruler, the Rock Candy pattern, Aurifil thread, and the Quilty booklet that has another table topper pattern. The fabric is enough to make one of each topper, or two of either. I will be making one of each as soon as I finish my churn dash blocks.

One final item for this post is I've joined the Quilt Qwazy Queens Blog Hop that will take place March 15 - 21. We will be sharing our UFOs (unfinished quilty objects) on this hop. And a few are going to swap UFOs with someone else! My trouble will be deciding which UFOs to share. I have the individual units made for the Quiltville Mystery that started at Thanksgiving. They just need to be assembled into blocks. Maybe a deadline to show it would motivate me to get it assembled! My day on the hop is Wednesday, March 21st.

Thanks for visiting,
Mary

Happy 2018!

Just a short post to show my first Quiltville mystery block. I'm still working on the steps but jumped ahead to see how it would look. I'm happy with how the colors go together and can't wait to assemble the whole top. It will definitely be bright and cheerful.

I have been sick since Christmas with a cold. Just when I think I may be getting better, I get worse again. And then there's the weather. We've had weeks of frigid temps, going way below zero with the wind chill. And we have a lot of snow piled up outside. More than I remember in several years. I managed to find someone to plow my driveway, but no one wants to shovel. So whatever has to be done is up to me.

Since I am retired, and I've been sick, I haven't been going out. Till Friday when I had a doctor's appointment and had to go out. Snow had blown in around my back door. Well, after prying it open it wouldn't shut. I have a locking screen door but I wasn't thrilled about leaving the back door open. I texted my nephew two states away for guidance. He ended up driving up Friday night and changing the door on Saturday. He thought the old one was probably original which dates it to 1900. I'm very thankful he would drive three hours up and back to do this for me. I never even got to the point of calling around to find a handyman.

Forgive me for the poor lighting on this bag but I just finished it and wanted to share. It is from Sue O'Very Designs and is made with your embroidery machine. The blue top and corners are cork fabric. This zippered bag was so easy to make. It took me a couple hours between choosing fabric and ironing it, then cutting everything. Sewing was a simple step by step process with very detailed photo instructions. The next one will go faster now that I know the process. Love it!

Mary