In One Piece

Woo Hoo - I have a whole quilt top - my first ever!!! Well, kind of. I still have to do sashing. The pattern calls for about 6 more, with checkerboards and all kinds of stuff. Not sure I really want to do that much. And of course, I have that color challenge thing going on.

To back pedal a bit, When last I left you, my middle section was 1" shorter than the sides. I hemmed and hawed a bunch, but finally gave in and put Jack to work.

I ended up detaching the center 4 blocks, removing the sashing and re-doing it to add 1/2" to the top and bottom. Then, I reassembled the middle section, and Voila!, everything matched.

Here it is:

Now to pick out sashing….Yikes, I’m beginning to understand the concept of UFO…

I Got BOM’d

If any of you haven't seen the 2012 Christmas Quilt Show - head on over by using the linky button on the left. We have some amazing creative people out there. I don't know about you, but seeing some of those quilts has added about  67 new projects to my list....

Which brings me to my current project...

As I mentioned previously, I am fairly new to all of this.  I was like a kid in a candy store – “I want that, and that, and that,that THAT!”.   One of those “That’s” was learning to applique.  A wise woman (in a quilt store) said “if you want to learn to applique, you should join our BOM class.  I did, so I did.

The quilt is Stitcher's Garden designed by Lynda Howell.  Finished design

Block 1 – Yeah, I am on my way. 

Fast forward 10 months – and I had fallen pretty far behind.  Since each block was a QAYG and a new technique, I found it a tad difficult to keep up, especially when more than 1 block a month was required.  But I was determined to catch up. 

My biggest difficulty was (and is) picking colors, as I couldn’t envision the finished quilt because:

1. I never thought about auditioning or choosing fabrics at the start (this particular BOM runs continuously, and people join throughout the cycle.
2. I had no clue what I was doing
3. I kept finding gorgeous fabrics – I couldn’t help myself.

 

So here is my first audition (on the bed) 

That helped a ton – I started picking colors and moving forward.    2 months later, I had converted my hallway wall upstairs into a design wall. Much better than the bed, and guests are with invited to use my upstairs bathrooms in the hopes that they will tell me what colors will work.  

 

Second audition (on the wall

 

Still not sure I like the position of the blocks, but it’s time to start picking sashing

 

Final Placement, Sashing in Progress

I think I like this arrangement best – It moves the concentration of yellow around.  But Yikes – what is that big greenish block at the top.   Jack (as in – Jack the Ripper” )   will have to be doing some work on that block. 

So, little by little, I have been trying to figure out how to add sashing that will combine all the blocks I made.

I am happy to be joining the BOMS Away linkup.   I think it’s going to keep me from turning this into a UFO.

Thank you for your patience…

Thank you to all of you that stopped to leave comments about my entry to the 2012 Christmas Quilt Show.  If you haven’t had a chance to check it out,  there are some amazing creations.  Use the Linky Button to the right, and you will zoom on over!    I promise you it will get you into the Christmas Spirit.   (I am entry 22) 

As you can tell, I have been playing around with the look of my blog.   It’s basically trial and error (mostly error).  

I promise to leave it alone and focus on some actual blogging!!!  As my boss would say,  “I let perfection get in the way of completion.” 

Coming tomorrow:  a new post about my BOM experience.   As a sneak preview, here is my helper:  Jack