Worked on Block Lotto...

One of the quilt groups that I really like is the Block Lotto, a blog that I discovered and has raffles if you enter one or more of your blocks.  This Lotto is open to all quilters at any level of experience.  You can make the blocks and enter them when you want or like I've been doing, just making my blocks and working on making my queen size quilts.

But I am ready to enter the game now.  I've done the January Block and February block, and just have the march to go.

On the first of each month, the new block and guidelines are published.  Participants make blocks and post photos of them.  Each block made becomes a chance to win a set of blocks at the end of the month.

• You contact by email at jeansophie (at) blocklotto (dot) com or by posting a comment on the block lotto blog indicating that you’d like to join the group. Once we’ve connected, email me with your real name and mailing address and URL of your blog, if you have one.  Register on the site using <firstname><dot><lastname> for your username, for example Jane.Doe.
• Make blocks.
• When I'm ready  to post a photo, email me and let me know and jean sophie adds author privileges to my account and I sent the pictures.  I also send in any blocks that I want to enter for the draw.  The more the blocks, the more draws for people to win.  See here for who's made what and how many draws there will be.  You're name will be added to the list on this page to show that you are tered for the draw.  
• Winners are chosen by using an online random number generator.  After the winners are chosen, they have 48 hours to confirm their mailing address and decide how many of their own blocks they’d like to keep.
• Once the winners get all the blocks they have the chance to make an entire quilt with that block. 

Here are the blocks so far that you do to make the quilt size you want..... The blog tells you how many you need from each one to get it done.

I'm entering next month...  Want to try it at least once.  Can't wait to see what the next block is.

Here's all the blocks I've done so far... 13 different beads on a string

Had extra so I did a table runner.

Table Runner
New FO Challenge

Chevron - needed 5 of them.

I still have to do the Irish chain (I think 5 of them) but that will come with time.  I need to get more green.  The colours are really wild for this quilt, and very different.  But I love the look.

I made the beads a little differently then with the interfacing, or with the appliqué.  I did the following:

Turned material with circle mark
inside out.

See the clippings?

Make the circle pattern on the backing.  Mark the centre by folding the material crosswise and then counter crossways.  Iron it, and this will mark it.  Then fold the circle pattern the same way (marking its middle both horizontal and vertical.  That way you can match up the centre.  Once you have that, you can stitch the marking, cut out the centre, and clip the ends, so it's easy to turn inside out like the pattern above.

Once you have it inside out, you place the centre colour over top of it and pin it in place like you see in the next picture.  

Once you have pinned it, you sew around the the circle on the background.  It's sets the dot.  It's that simple. You can see the affect to the right.

The great things about this way of doing the beads is that you can do any back drop you want.  You can do bricks, stars, what every and then decide to put in a circle at a spot.  Just sewing the material that you will turn inside out to make the hole any where you want.

Sorry the directions are not that clear, I'm trying to get use to taking pictures every step of when I do something to help people understand what I'm trying to explain.  It will come with time.

So it's been quite the spring break, with me trying to catch up with all my Blocks of the Months.  So here's a quick list:

• Vice Versa - Caught up.
• Doodle - Caught up.
• Debbie Mumm's Stars of honour - Caught up.
• Globe Trotting - Caught up.
• Secret Santa - completed.
• Craftsy Block on the Month 2012 - caught up and more (did Jan, Feb, March and another month.)
• Block Lotto - Did January & February, need to to March.
• Down the Rabbit Hole - need to do flying geese, but all else is caught up.
• Building Blocks - did 8 out of 12.
• Material Girl's Layer Quilt - did 1 - 4, need to complete 5 - 12
• 2014  NewFO Challenge - table runner - still on track.
• Fraser Valley Quilt Group Star Quilt - Need to do Januarys, but February & March done.
• Thangles quilt - did  3 packages and at least 10 different blocks.  It's coming along easily.
• Aurifill - did one, working on it now, to make a quilt for the end of the bed.  Love the look so far but it's for a queen so it's taking a long time.
• Sycamore Quilts Applique - finished January, part way through February, but haven't started March at all.  This quilt takes time for each block.
• Pairie Flowers block - did two this month.  At the half way point. 

Need to consider - to get busy...

• Garden - paper piecing - started one.
• Wish upon a star quilt  (seems people are having trouble with this).
• Open Gates Quilt - haven't even started.
• Tell it to the starts - haven't even started.
• Open gates quilts - haven't even started...  this one looks difficult.

All together, feeling good about this break, catching up and all.  Unfortunately with the next month (April) need to do all of these.  

Pictures of yesterday's quilting Catch Up Day....

Here we go.....

Globe Trotter centre piece - the one she started with....

Centre Piece - January

Debbie Mumm's Stars of Honour has been caught up - two block patterns, one I needed 5 blocks, and the other I need 4 blocks of.  Next one is coming in May.

In reds and browns, but I have golds in the corners.

Caught up with the Crafty 2013 online free course.  You need to look this one up because I can't link to it unless you are logged in.  This one I used all Batiks and bright colours because some of the patterns are very modern.  Loving how it's turning out.

April

March Block 2

February block 1

February Block 2

March Block 1

Can you believe the colours?  It will look fantastic when it's all done but I'll have to have stashing with white to make everything balance.

Get to cross off some things now off that list from my last blog entry...  Still some to go but I'm quite please.  Have my FVQG meeting on Tuesday and I have two completed quilts to show.  But I don't have a 1/2 completed quilt to show for the New FQ challenge - quilts UFO's to complete....  Something for Sunday  ;)

Things to do before the week is up

Going back to school soon and not all my quilts are caught up.  So I decided to make a list and check it off to see what I've done so far and what I need to complete:

We can all dream can't we?  ;)

1. Stars of honor from Debbie Mumm 
• 3 of January (already did two)
• 2 of February (already did two)
2. Center piece of Globe Trotter - need to finish.
3. Down the Rabbit hole Flying Geese - need a lot of them.
4. Material Girl's Layer Cake 3 and 4
5. Material Girls' Layer Cake 5 and 6
6. Material Girls' Layer Cake 7 and 8
7. Material Girls' Layer Cake 9 and 10
8. Free Motion Quilt along 
9. Crafty 2013 Quilt Along February (2 of them)
10. Crafty 2014 Quilt Along March (2 of them)
11. Aurifill's quilt for the end of bed
12. Aurifill January
13. Aurifill Feb.
14. Aurifill March
15. Block Lotto January
16. Block Lotto Feb.
17. Block Lotto March
18. Quilt Doodle March
19. Vice Versa March
20. sycamore-rose-block-1
21. sycamore-rose-block-2 - half way there
22. sycamore-rose-block-3
23. Quilt along Block 2 - all four of them.
24. Quilt along Block 3 - all four of them.
25. Galaxy of the Stars - March's block (2 of them>
26. Galaxy of the Stars - 4 stars in the corner.
27. Thangles' quilt #2
28. Thangles' quilt #3
29. Thangles' quilt #4

Will try to do as much as possible today and Sunday, but I don't see it happening...  ;)
Today alone, I did #25, 10, 9, 1, 2, and 5.  Was sick at home, and didn't do much except for sewing.  Need to work on the Aurifill to catch up but at least I have the following caught up:

• Doodle Quilt
• Globe Trotters' quilt
• Vice Versa quilt
• four thangle quilt blocks.

So I feel good about it.

Busy catching up with the BOM's and my homework.

OK, my plan today was to catch up on the Layer Cake block of the month. So here they are, the 1st two.

Square 3

Square 1

Square 2

Square 4

Star 3

Also I had to finish my homework on the "Galaxy of the Stars" quilt from the FVQG.  I had to do paper piecing, not one of my favorite.  And to top it off, the pattern was off, so we had to add .5 to the pattern on the outside section.  They need to be 12 1/2 inches, and some areas were off, but it turned out OK in the end.  Check it out.  Love the colours.  I love how this quilt is turning out with the batik.  How can you go wrong with batik.

2nd Star 3.

Also I was interested in continuing on with the Thangles quilt.  So I finished with block 2 and 3.  Here they are, it's my Apple Quilt.

This one is bigger then the others

Nice to mix and match.

So that's what I did today.  I did cut up another layer cake, but you need two for each square, so I'll have to continue on.

BEST MOMENT:  finishing the galaxy squares for the guild.

WORST MOMENT:  having to undo the galaxy squares a couple of times to get the material to flip over correctly and cover the area needed.  But it will be worth it in the end.

Girls Day out...

Today I joined 4 other ladies to just work on crafts, to talk and share how life is going.  It was quiet, enjoyable with friends that don't need to continuously yack, yet we could talk about anything under the sun.  Being so ADHD I brought about 4 things with me but really, didn't do a lot of crafting, although I did enjoy myself tremendously, and did relax, the key to all this quilting and crafting.  So I know, it was a great time of just being happy.  Isn't that way a girls day out is, a sharing of happy thoughts, and happy times.  

So what did I work on?  The next Prairie Flower quilt block, and my Ladder Hooking hot pad that I started on Saturday, with a course I took at Wineberries. I'm half way though.  It was traditionally developed in England during the 1900's to make wool rugs but now you use fabric.  It has a large needle with a hook at one end that you use to hook the fabric through the netting.  It's a little hard to explain but this is the book we got with patterns to make rugs and pot warmers, which is what they recommend to start with to get use to the process, and I understand why.  You need to make an even top, and that does take practise.  After the first pot warmer, I'm looking at making a rug, nothing like starting small right?  ;)  Look below and that is what you use for the enter process.  In the end you have that pot warmer that you see there.  Mine is just as colourful as this one.  Really, I enjoyed it.  I signed myself up and a friend for her birthday gift.  She loves doing quilts, and this was her gift for her birthday.  Something new to try.

I also want to share is what I did yesterday.  I didn't take any pictures last night because it was too dark.  I've been working on a new BOM called Globe Trotting.  It's here at this link, and really, this one is a little more difficult. I was working on another BOM with Pat Sloan, and both are great but this one is my first mystery quilt so you don't know what the quilt will look like until it's completely done.  I'm using some great material that I got from WineBerries in Surrey, BC, some Kauffman material that is absolutely stunning.  Here's what I got so far.  The pictures don't do the quilt justice.  You can't see the gold thread, how shiny it is in person.  But it's in green, purple and tan, and the patterns do justice to what's happening.

March's block

Feb.'s block.

One section of the center block, still working on it.

As I said, this one is challenging, and full of piece work so I'm loving it.  Can't wait for the end.  When done, I promise to get a good picture of the quilt so you can see the colours....

Another thing I did yesterday (I only sewed for about 3 hours) is a quilt learning experience that I found on Crafty when I joined online from my IPad.   It's like a BOM, but the course is already completed in 2013.  Every month there are two new blocks, so I can work ahead in this one to get the work done.  I found some material that's batik, with the wildest colours.  But the pattern is modern, and some I have never seen ever, so this will work out well for me.  Below are the three blocks I did yesterday.  As you can see from my list of things I want to accomplish this year, the Crafty was one that I wanted to complete as soon as possible. 

January

Now don't judge, because although the colours are a little wild, they'll look great with a white stash along each one, and maybe stars in between, but I definitely need to have some space between each one.  I'm also looking at practising my freehand on this one.  There is a course to join for that on Crafty, but I have already joined a Free Style quilt group, and I'm learning a lot (Building Blocks Quilt Along) with their videos and the emails every two weeks.  I'm happy with my process there.  

Another reason I like this crafty class is that I can do the blocks when ever I want.  There is a number of different styles for this course, and many are new for me, so that will keep me entertained.  

One for August

I'm still sick with this darn cold, and at the end of the girls day out I started to cough too much, and my fever came back, so tomorrow, I'll take it easy, stay home and catch up on my blocks of the month.  The question is, will I every catch up????  ;)

Continuing on with Prairie Flowers - a year old Block of the Month.

Can you tell that I'm not working this week?  That I'm on Spring Vacation?

I started this quilt close to two years ago on my birthday.  I used my mother's birthday money to get going on this block of the month, and I've been working on and off with it ever since.  But it's on my list of quilts to complete this year and I'm bound and determine to get it done.  So another one done, and I do enjoy the hand stitching.  It's on flannel but the  applique is button stitched on wool.

That's six done and six to go.  You won't believe the finished edging.  There's baskets in each corner using HST's, and applique vines all around it.  I don't even want to think about it for now, it's a huge job in the end.  So here are some of the completed squares, of course Lynxy needs to check it out.

Four here....

Two more here.  Need to add beads to the sunflower one.

Started another one now, block 8 - Wild Morning Glory.  Love the fact that these are easy to transport and tomorrow I'm on a ferry to Vancouver Island, and I'll be taking it with me to work on.  I find it very relaxing.

Practise makes perfect....

Well, my valentine quilt is finally quilted, and I did the changes that I said I would do, I added more flowers.  But now someone has suggested buttons added to the flowers to make them more 3 dimensional.  And of course, I agree.

Take a look at the quilting though, been working on my free style quilting and I'm very excited about how it turned out.  If you can't make it out, it's tiny hearts here and there.

Look at the flowers

Notice the hearts?

Tried to get them almost everywhere

Did not quilt the red, but the back is great.

I also completed my Secret Santa quilt.  Just sewing around the edges for that one.  It was one of my 2014 NewFO Quilt challenges (a quilt that is started but not completed).  The challenge asked that we keep them updated so I have.  Here is that one. Purples and blues.

Look at the free style quilting

Flannel is so comfy...

But that's not the best part of this quilt.  I also pieced the back, using techniques learned in "Quilt Improv" by Lucie Summers.  Excellent book.  I highly recommend it.  I'm interested in doing each quilt in the book with any scraps I have after all of this.

Colors are blues and purples.

The piecework.

Lynxy, of course, has to try out the quilt for the Cat approval.

I like to thank my Secret santa for this wonderful gift, something that will keep my safe and comfortable for a long time.

Using Flickr as part of a Quilting Blog

One of the things that I am enjoying the most is the fact that I get to share pictures with people from all over the world of the great work I am doing producing a quilt.  Not all the pictures are great, and I am trying to be honest with the mistakes on the quilt, but what's even better is seeing others' work.  I really enjoyed seeing that others are doing what I'm doing, and others are having as much fun as me.

Flickr is a collection of what you've accomplished, not just sharing vacation pictures, but sharing the stages in making a great quilt.  

One of the groups I've joined as well this year is a quilt group that sharing their unfinished quilts, and then updates people on their blogs of when they completed them.  It's progressional, but you also get to see what others are starting and to see their grow.  

Join a group, and make sure you join their Flickr Group as well, to meet new people and to see what others are doing as well.  It's worth it!

See the side links to see what Flickr groups there are.

Visa Versa March month complete

February's Quilt block.

If you've never did a block of the month from Generation X Quilters then you're really missing out.  I am having so fun doing this quilt and I am really enjoying the colours that I chose.  These are the first great pictures I've taken for this quilt, they really show the colours.  I redid the last block because I didn't like how the colours sat together.  I had the two darks on top and the two lights on the bottom.  This looks so much better.  I realized I had to watch where things went so I needed to place everything ahead of time, to make sure it looks great in the end.

March

This month's quilt looks so much better because I was aware of the colours.  I took my time, and made sure all the pieces were the correct size, recutting once each half quarter was completed.  Take a look at the size.  Perfect points on the claws, and perfect placement!!!

In the end the quilt will look fantastic with that pink background and the other colours.  So excited about it!!

You can't really see it from the pictures but the centre sections are green, dark green.  Seems I can't get the camera to do a good shot of that, but you can see it in person.

Waiting for April's now....

Having time to quilt..

Just started Spring Break here in Vancouver and as usual I started with a cold.  Was sick as heck on Friday night, went to bed at 9:00.  Was coughing all day and night on Saturday, not getting much sleep and having a fever but we had concert tickets for Colin Raye (great singer - go to his site to hear some of his stuff), so I didn't get much sleep that night.

Didn't feel like sewing on Sunday, but I really wanted to catch up on my BOM projects, so I cut a number of projects.  And yesterday, early Monday morning, I cut one final one and then started sewing.  What follows is a number of my BOMs completed.  Here they are below.

 The first one was from the Doogle Designs.  The March Block.  The Christmas tree to go with all the winter blocks.  But I made a mistake at the very end.  Can you spot it?

Doogle.

Down a Rabbit Hole.

The second one that I worked on was "Down the Rabbit Hole".  It's the centre piece of the block, quite large, with flying geese that are suppose to go around it.  I have some of the flying geese done, but not all of them.  I need to complete those before I continue on with the rest.  Notice the piecing that I had to do, in order to get all the colors around?  I never really do such light pastels, so this is quite different for me.  But I love the effects of everything that going around.

I only have one block to go and this quilt will be done. I'm really excited about that.  Just piecing or placing it all together.  But like I said, I still have a number of geese to do to put it all around the center block.  And because the center block is so light, I put green around it (about an inch border) to pop it.

I still have some material left but it doesn't go so well with the rest of the patterns, so I'll make an exception to my 50th quilt and make a pillow with those.  ;)  

I started the Debbie Mumm Year Long Quilt Along called Star of Honor.  It's a beautiful quilt with a BOM every second month to complete.  You have to do each  block of the month 4 times.  I got some material last week to complete all the quilts (over $250 worth but it's for at least 5 quilts thank goodness) and this was one of them.  I got a 6 pack (6 fat quarters) and it will definitely not be enough, but it's a start.  I can add as I go along.  This quilt is quite funny because it's in red, white and blue of course, but with some brown.  It is truly a man's quilt and will go to my husband as a gift.  He loves all american stuff.

Notice the little stars in the background?  The center piece has gold in it.

One of the other quilts that I had for a long time.  This is not a BOM but a kit for a BOM that was done in a store.  It is called Apple Quilt.  The kit uses Thangles, a piece of paper that lets you make those half squares.  Normally when you make the half squares you have to resize them once you are done.  Cut them back into proper shape.  But with Thangles, the shapes are almost perfect, which is surprisingly easy with the Thangles. Take a look, no cutting mom!!!

Each kit lets you make two or three of these stars.  They're not that large, they're about 8" so I'll need a lot to make the kits, but in one of the kits I've made three so far, and I can easily make about 4 - 5 of them. Love the colors, it's with an apple theme, with greens and reds.  Great bright colors.

Here's how Thangles work...

It's so easy to do and quick too.  

I got so much to do still, but I'm well on my way on my list to do.  Will keep you updated.