First before I get side tracked several have asked why the name “I’m So Dizzy” for the black/red/white quilt – if you look at yesterdays entry with the photos of the blocks if you really look at some of those blocks don’t they make you dizzy?  Maybe an optical illusion or something – but I am one of those people who get dizzy on rides that go in circles but yet can read when I exercise (treadmill) read in the car ect and not get sick.  Motion sickness – anyhow – look at the blocks with the white and black prints – those are the ones that make me dizzy – hence the name

Quilt group last night – first Thursday night of the month – the very prolific quilting group – here is the show and tell – I give up on names for most, I just can’t keep track although I will try to do better.

Natalie’s quilt – this one is being added to each month, the group selects two names of borders and then the participants add the borders until they have as many on as they want.

Dee’s quilt

Lori’s

CJ’s experiment with various stitches and things from her machine.  It will be turned into a tote bag she says.

CJ’s baby quilt – CJ has a blog at this link.  She also does long arm machine quilting for clients. Info at her blog.

I think this one is another one that is growing by the month and I think it is Lori’s.

Another of CJ’s

Another one that is growing and I don’t remember who did this one.

Renee’s quilt growing by the month also.

I can’t for the life of me remember who made this large top – wonderful use of scraps.

Another by Renee, she is in the process of binding it right now.

Hey I did good this month, there are only a couple that I don’t know who did them and that is probably because I am horrible with names and I am still trying to remember who a lot of these ladies are!  We had a fun evening and a showing of quilters tonight, must have had close to 15 people there at least – big group for us.

Tomorrow is my smaller quilting group – there will only be about 4 of us as one works every other Friday and can’t always make it and another is out of town.

Before I forgot  – on my sidebar I added a Google Translator to make it easier for those of you coming from countries other than the US, I know I always find it helpful when I see it on sites that aren’t in English. Thank you Vivian for having mentioned it on your blog that you were doing that also – it reminded me that I had been thinking of it also.

Name for this quilt:  “I’m So Dizzy” (I think)

I spent most of the afternoon cutting the strips up into pieces to have all ready for machine piecing tomorrow and the weekend – in between doing other things of course.

All the strips ready – 21 groupings ready for 21 more blocks –

What was left over – I had to dig in the stash to find one white/black to finish out with some light pieces – it mixes in pretty well – it is on the end of these leftovers – not a whole strip leftover in any of the  colors.

The 21 finished blocks – so if I put 6 rows by 7 rows I will have a quilt that is about 60 x 70 I do believe.  Not bad for an investment of $9.60 !! I still can’t believe how good that sale was that year.  I will need to find a print for a backing – especially if I decide to try out my skills at machine piecing as I am thinking right now.

I have had several beginning quilters ask me how I’m I making these colorful black/red/white squares.  I am sure there are pattern instructions out there somewhere in blog land but as I’m not even sure if there is a name for this I’m not sure where to direct you.  These have been in recent years referred to as “Modern Blocks” why? I don’t know – surely quilters have been making these for years.  Maybe it is because of the newer designs used in fabric?  I sometimes think it is just that the new designers of quilting blocks want it all to sound fresh and “modern”!!

So here is a tutorial for those of you who want to know how to make these blocks – if you know how to use your sewing machine, or hand piece you will learn it quickly.

1- For each square you need 3 colors – cut a 2 1/2 inch block for your center from one color, from the second color cut 2 – 2 1/2 inch blocks and 2- 6 1/2 inch strips.  From the 3rd color cut 2-6 1/2 inch strips and 2- 10 1/2 inch strips.  I use the assemble line process so I stack them up in order they will be used.

2 – grab your center block and one of the 2 1/2 inch blocks from the next color and sew your 1/4 inch seam, for assembly line you leave it in the machine – sew as many blocks as you have assembled – I have 5 of them here I think. (this is also referred to as chain piecing)

3 – when you are done with this group cut apart and stack them in order so your pieces will flow for the next section. Now you sew the next 2 1/2 inch square to the other side. When you are done, cut them apart and stack.

4 – now I take them to the ironing board and I press the seams open – you can press to the side if you want to.  For hand quilting (I don’t know if this will be hand quilted or machine quilted) it is easier to quilt through seams that are pressed open.  Please forgive the scorched up board I really need to get a new one or make one.

5- now take your 6 1/2 inch strips of the same color and again do the same way – sew one side, cut apart and then do the other side.  Take to the board to press your seams.  When doing it this way I sew without using pins – it goes faster and it all lays flat.

This is what you now have.  A Square with in a Square

6 – now take your 6 1/2 inch strips from your last color selection and repeat the steps you have already done finishing with your 10 1/2 inch strips last.  My completed block with the seams pressed open.

the front, when you are done with your blocks trim them straight.  Make as many as you want to make – it just depends on how large or small you want your quilt.  Now you have a Square within a Square within a Square!

What I have so far – yikes! I am running out of room – I think in a day or two I will need to get the big portable design wall out.  I am making more than I thought I would have and I still have about half of my strips left to make more blocks out of.  I think I will need to just stack them up from now on until I get the design wall out. This is not the final order of the blocks – I will play with it and move things around until I am satisfied with color placement.

I hope this has helped you beginners out there in blog land – I am not the best at step by step, if you have questions – ask!

WIP Wednesday – what is your works in progress.  Go on over to Lee at Freshly Pieced and see what others are working on.

For me it is Joseph’s Coat, Star Crazy and the nice neat modern red/black/white blocks that I showed yesterday – I plan on getting in a little work on all of them today if I can squeeze it all it!!

Joseph’s Coat – I finished up the last of the  segments sewed last night and have them all laid out on the floor to make sure they are right.  The last diagonal row is the one that is just laying in place and needs to be stitched together still.  When I get this row sewed on I need to measure the bottom for the width and see how many more rows need to be done.  By counting the melons though I think it is about 84 inches so I need a little more to get it to around 100 inches.

Now I have them stacked up in segments and I will start to stitch the row together.

Star Crazy – I have it cranked down and I’m ready to start quilting again.  Do you see the blue/brown star there on the end (the right hand side) the middle of that star is the half way point!!

Another view.Yes I still have a mess under the frame – I started to clean it out last week and have not gotten back to it – been too busy on all of these projects.

I was busy today.  It was cloudy and not as nice of a day – I stayed inside other than leaving first thing this morning for exercise – then back home.

I got six more blocks done.  I like them just as they are and will be sewed block to block, row after row.  Final order will most likely be different than the order they are in now, I will run out of room soon.

Assembly line work, I get all the strips cut the correct measurements for each block – stack them do some seams and then press and start over again.  I worked six at a time today.

This many done.

Star Crazy moving along today as well – I finished up this “row” and it is ready to give it another crank down.

I’ll show the next area to be quilted tomorrow.

Wow it was nice yesterday – I think it got up to 64 degrees out here in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains.  I didn’t do near what I planned to on the quilting front as I was outside clearing out some brush instead.  But towards the end of the day I did get busy and got the sewing machine going on some of those new blocks that I am working on.

Six blocks done.  Right now I do not know how they will all come together.  If I will just put them together row by row, maybe some sashing in between – maybe not? someone suggested the Bento Box quilt pattern – cut each block in quarters and mix them up and sew them back together again – hadn’t thought of that one.  We will see.  I don’t know how many blocks I will end up with, I’m horrible at math and hadn’t even thought to figure that one out!

I also got some hand piecing done on the Joseph’s Coat quilt – 5 more segments to piece and then I can start to put the row together.  I have gotten this bunch pressed and put back in the box – I will work on the rest of them today I hope. (not all of these done today of course-this is from a weeks worth at least if not going on two weeks with as busy as I was last week out of town).

I didn’t get around to quilting on the frame until late, not much progress to show on that one.    I will work on the Farmers Wife quilting on Thursday night at group and on Friday morning – maybe I will have some progress to show then.

I missed last week for sharing so this week I have 3 projects that I will be hopping around with.  Go on over to Judy at Patchwork Times and see what everyone is working on.

As if I didn’t have enough projects to work on I have started another – yes I know I said I was going to work on only two until I finished them – not going to happen!  I get bored too easily I guess.

My new project – name to be decided on – working with the red/black/white strips.  Thanks for your opinions on the strips yesterday.  All of the strips are from the same set called “After Hours” from Connecting Threads.  It is weird how that one set of strips didn’t seem to go with the rest but with the way I am using them – it will work out. These will finish at 10 inches I believe although with my usual inaccurate machine piecing they might be trimmed to 10 inches and then finished at 9 1/2

The strips if you didn’t see them yesterday:

I will also get in some hand quilting today on Star Crazy, this is the area I left off on yesterday.

And Joseph’s Coat – hand piecing,

Surely 3 projects rotating should keep me occupied.  The Farmer’s Wife quilt is a hand quilting project and that will be my take along to quilt group project for now – so I guess I better change that to 4 projects.  This is the next area to start quilting on Friday:

So what are you working on today?

Thinking ahead – hmm should I start another project or continue on the ones I have been working on.  How come we are never satisfied with working on one project at a time!!

I got some 2 1/2 inch strips from Connecting Threads several years ago that I have not touched.  In truth I have barely looked at them since I got them.  I paid very little for them – a very big after Thanksgiving sale several years back – this whole lot cost me right under $10.00!!!!   Black, reds, and whites – what to make?  I have 56 strips, I divided them up into color groups for now:

Black

Red – question on color – should the 3 strips on the left side of the red group be considered red or white?

White:  question? should the 3 strips on the left of the white grouping be considered white or black?

Of course there is also the question of what to make!!  I need to give it some thought – I’m not rushing into it

Once again I felt like I was going to get a cold only to wake up the next day thinking maybe I wasn’t after all – I wonder at times if mental and physical exhaustion can make you feel like you are getting a cold?  Two good nights sleep and although I still feel a little sleepy I no longer feel like I am getting a cold   that makes me feel better all by itself!  Back to exercise and regular routine this week.

Last night I sat at the quilting frame and got back to quilting and you know it made my sleepiness go away for awhile.  As the quilt gets rolled up on the frame the extension of the area I quilt seems to become smaller – I do believe that roll at the bottom makes it harder to reach out therefore I quilt less width of space and the cranking of the quilt will go faster but needs more turns to get as much done if you know what I mean.  I got done with the areas of the top of the black star and the areas on the sides of it last night.

The straight lines of the border section will take little time today and then I go back to the center of the quilt and work my way to the right side.  The weather though looks to be very nice today so I wonder how much time I will sit at the frame today.  It is very sunny but quite chilly still this morning – maybe 60 degrees though by afternoon.

Whenever I show a photo of my quilting and my hand held thimble is shown laying on the quilt I almost always get a comment asking what is that “stick, flat thing” on your quilt so I will leave a link again  – it is a hand held thimble it works and it is the only thimble I use for hand quilting.

A little work has been done on Joseph’s Coat at well – these pieces are for the red diagonal line are just laying in place, segments  hand pieced but not attached to the row.

The top of the row – I was a little confused this morning when laying these out to see how it was looking and how much left to do on this row – instead of laying the segments out at the top of the quilt I started at the bottom and it just doesn’t work that way – you have to lay them in the correct order for it to come together right! Luckily instead of starting to take pieces apart I thought maybe it will work out if I start them from the top instead of the bottom and it did – thank goodness!  You see this top segment has 4 red pieces for it to lay out right– all the rest of them have 3 pieces  – when starting from the bottom I had one red piece too many.

I ended up ordering a few more colors of bali watercolor batik for the flow of some of the next colors to look right.  I hope to get the fabric this week although I don’t need them yet I want to make sure I have the color flowing right in the colors to come.

I guess even though I am only buying when needed to make a project come out right I really shouldn’t even start the year out saying I am not going to buy fabric for the year – it just never happens!!  I am trying to keep myself under control though!!

I think little sis passed her cold on to me this past week I have no energy today even though I slept 8 1/2 hours last night!  Off and on today I have been doing a little clean up though in the sewing room – I haven’t felt like quilting today.  Too busy sniffling!

I have a fairly clean table top now – you should have seen it before – I guess I should have taken a before and after shot!  Those 3 tiny things on the table – chocolate – I need them for energy

Recently some book shelves that we used to store some books  in the bedroom entry way have gotten cleared off – we have been boxing books and passing them on to Goodwill type of stores – since we have gotten our Kindles last year we have not been buying hardbacks and softbacks much and decided we needed to de-clutter – passing books we will not read again to others.  In the meantime – I now finally had some room to move quilting books out from under the quilting frame to the shelves.

Most of these quilting books had been stacked on the above shelves.  They don’t fit standing up so have to be stacked but now they are at eye level so I can find them easier.

Plastic bins that you see there have numerous print outs of patterns from the computer – why I keep printing them out is beyond me – I haven’t looked through these in ages and the same with that pink ring binder – I just glanced at that when I stacked it and the first pattern I saw I immediately thought how pretty it was and why had I forgotten about it – maybe because there are so many “have to makes”.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with that big pile of tote bags that I have stuck under the quilt frame as well – why do I tend to collect up so many – I do believe some of them are going to Goodwill as well!  That little shelving unit is going out! I need to organize the rest of the mess this week – would be nice to have it cleaned up under the quilting frame.