Finished (or Not) Friday

Some steady progress has been made this week on the Beach Bums wall hanging.  It's still a long ways from finished however.

The beach towels with the chubby "bums" are all lined up.  Next step is to iron on the palm fronds at the top.  Then a beach bag for each lady is needed, and a variety of small accessories like flip flops and tropical drinks.  It's 45" wide, so you can get a feel for size. 

On Wednesday I got a call to say my quilt was ready to pick up from the long armer.  The binding needs attaching, which may happen this morning.  Then I'll have some binding to work on in the evenings.  Cactus In the Cabin has a black background, with bright pinks, orange, and greens.  The quilting design is just gorgeous. In the photo, the thread looks white, but it's actually bright pink, orange, and green variegated - just perfect and really pops on that black.

The flimsy for this one was done in November last year.  Then it hung in the closet waiting it's turn for quilting.  It's 85" square. 

For more finishes, please visit:  https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

Block play

Yesterday's post mentioned recent block testing I've been doing in between other projects.  My regular readers know that I'm always on the lookout for new blocks to play with . . .  and I'm so easily distracted by squirrels that cross my path.  That makes for a dangerous combination sometimes.  I've been steadily working on the applique pieces for Beach Bums this week but I've also played with some "new to me" blocks.

At Sew Vintage last Saturday we had a little demo of making "puff" blocks.  These are not stuffed with batting and are only 3" square.  The technique was published in a magazine several years ago, and a small finished project was displayed in the quilt shop classroom this winter.  Several of us expressed interest in learning how to do these.  

I cut a dozen 5" squares from each of 2 fat quarters, plus smaller squares from muslin for the back of the puff.  A little machine stitching, plus a little hand stitching and we have a puff square.  In the displayed project in the shop this winter, there were little pearl buttons sewn into the centers, and I had a bag of peart buttons.  I may need to use smaller buttons instead of these big pearls.  We'll see.  These will make some good hand stitching in the evenings - if I ever stay home, which hasn't happened much this week.

Another squirrel/new block is small (6" finished) and paper pieced.  Confetti Star is a free block from Amy Friend at During Quiet Time.  A big thank you to Needled Mom blog for sharing info on the block.  You know I can't resist a star block of any kind.  The first version I tried out was in red, white and blue.  But wouldn't this be a great block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge?  Of course some orange scraps joined the party right away.  

There is no chance that I'll ever run out of scraps - or be bored. 

Lady #2 and more

The second lady on the beach is coming together.  I haven't figured out yet what color her beach towel and bag will be. I've decided to work on the lady and swim suit for each first, and then I'll go back and choose some of the other colors. Her hat and the trim on her swimsuit isn't a batik, but it works. 
 

I shouldn't admit this, but I've been testing some blocks as Leaders/Enders lately - new to me patterns.  Some have been possibilities for Quilts of Valor, and others have been for Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  More on the block testing tomorrow, but I'll share a couple of things today.  This is the Mardi Gras Triangle, which was something I saw on Pinterest.  Mine will finish at 6", but these could easily be made in any size.  I think they would work nicely done in red, white, and blue too.

And there are the Ticker Tape blocks that I'm thinking could be a future Quilt of Valor idea.  I've been seeing this block online, but with different layouts.  Grace and Peace has them going horizontally across her quilt. Her blocks are constructed differently, but end up the same shape and her fabrics are all the same in each block.  I really like how her version looks.  The other version had vertical strings of blue, then strings of red alternating.  The blocks in that version are simply HSTs and squares and very very scrappy.  I'm not sure where I'm going with these, but I have a whole bag full of red and blue HSTs in 2.5" size.  And there are a ton of neutral 2.5" squares in the bin, along with every other color.  These could be very cute done in a rainbow of colors for RSC as well.  

So many possibilities.  And yes, this is one way that UFOs are born. 

Beach Bums ladies

There is nothing actually ironed onto the Beach Bums background yet, but I have a good start on the gazillion pieces that will eventually be ironed on. Choosing colors might be the most difficult task.

The palm fronds are all cut out from the gradient green batik.  There will be 3 of the fronds on each side of the wall hanging, as kind of a frame around the scene.

Lady #1 has most of her pieces now - hat, swimsuit, towel, and beach bag.  There is a martini in a glass, and there will be some dragon flies and flip flops near her too.  I'm planning to stick to mostly batiks for all of the main pieces.  Four more ladies to go.

I won't iron any of the ladies onto the background until I have all the main pieces (body and towels) ready to go so that I can space them properly across the scene.  Maybe by the end of the week I'll have all 5 ladies ready to go, except for the really tiny extras. 

Design Wall Monday - May 11

The mini quilt for May (Year in Spools) is done, and hanging on its little metal stand on the family room fireplace. 

Now that the pattern test project is done and delivered, and the mini quilt is done . . . TA DA!!!  Beach Bums is on the top of my priority list for this week.  The background has been sewn together (about 30 x 45) from the gradient batiks I bought a couple of years ago when I bought the pattern. The palm fronds have been ironed onto the green gradient batik.  I'll get those cut out, and begin working on the ladies on the beach.  There are 5 ladies in swim suits and hats, with various accessories around them such as towels, bags, flip flops, and a martini. Maybe I'll actually have something to show by the end of the week.   

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #19

Another good week of sewing, but not as much orange as I hoped.

Early in the week I got 2 Snail Trail blocks made, as Leaders/Enders while working on something else.  But now that the high priority project is behind me I can focus on more RSC sewing. I've been making 4 of each color every month.

Yesterday I got 2 more made. 
 

And 3 orange Hollow-9 blocks joined the pack.  They were a good reminder that I have a baby quilt of Hollow-9 blocks ready to quilt, by me on my regular machine.  I need to bite the bullet next week and work on that.

Let's go check out more Rainbow fun . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or Not) Friday

One finish for this week can't be shown yet . . . but I do have the flimsy done for the mystery quilt pattern test.  I'll either take it to Mariah later today or can drop it off (hidden in a bag) when I go for Saturday Sampler tomorrow.  The flimsy is 74 x 86, and turned out very pretty.  But I probably won't be able to show a picture until early fall, once the mystery clues have all been shared with the participants.

However, I am excited to show off the other finish for this week.  This is Ribbon, a QOV pattern by Alycia for a sew-along.  I finished binding it while watching Survivor on Wednesday night.  Thank you Alycia for this amazing pattern.

It's not a finish but I did make some progress was made yesterday on the mini quilt for May.  One of the 3 flowers is done.  For general information there are over 60 tiny 1" squares in this kit, so it is kind of slow going.  

For more finishes, please visit:  https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/