Gridsters

Bee Blocks for Gridsters • December 2017

December 18, 2017August 2, 2026 Elizabeth E.5 Comments

Four of us got together to do the last block of 2017 for Afton, of Quilting Mod.

She’d asked that we do a cake from Patty Sloniger’s pattern (for Michael Miller Fabrics), and Afton mapped out our plan of which stand for which cake. I had a different cake from Lisa, Leisa and Simone, but our stands were all the same. Luckily.

The quilter who made the cake on the left was the first to finish, but whoops…she had to redo the cake stand.

One of us had to leave early to pick up kids, so I don’t have that quilter’s block, but here are three of the cake blocks finished. In all the fun, I never took a photo of my block by itself, but I’m the stacked layer cake on the lower right. The pattern went together without too much drama, and we shipped them off to Afton. That’s the end of the Gridster Bee for 2017, but we’re gearing up and are all ready to go for 2018.

This is the last sew day for all of us together, as Lisa (in blue sweater) has moved away to another state. She and I started our little quilt group of twenty years, and it is odd not to see her around, or to be able to pop up and borrow some fabric (she lived close to me). I wish her all the best in her new home, and hope she finds lots of quilters to hang out with!

Gridster Bee Blocks & Catch-Ups

October 27, 2017August 2, 2026 Elizabeth E.8 Comments

Simone, the Queen Bee for September, visited Grand Teton National Park over the summer and wanted a block to commemorate her visit. I can hardly wait to see this one.

Leisa’s mother used to live in Ghana, a missionary for the LDS church. While she was there, she sent Leisa a box of fabrics that she’s turned into African Queen blocks. In case you want one, the pattern is by Anne Batiste, but her website is no longer there.

I also saw Leisa’s block in my latest Quiltfolk Magazine, issue #4:

I have to admit, even though it’s a bit more than I’d usually pay for a single issue, I do enjoy this publication, as it generally focuses on the regular people of quilting, not the big Brand Names of Quilt Stardom. A nice change, which exposes me to a wider range of our quilt world (and lets me find an African Queen pattern!).

Here’s another I really enjoy–Uppercase Magazine. This issue hit it out of the park, in my view, so if you decide to subscribe, make sure you start with #35. Neither of these publications have advertisements, they are subscription based only, which is why they cost a bit more: the advertisers aren’t subsidizing the costs. I like advertisements okay; it helps me know what my favorite companies are doing. But I also like not having advertisements, too.

If you join up with Jeanine’s mailing list, she’ll give you a deal on a new subscription, plus you get her cool little missives. Never heavy, only intriguing and fun, filled with art and creativity everywhere. I’m sure you can sign up to get those all by themselves, if you want. (And no, Uppercase doesn’t pay me.)

Okay, as long as we are in the panting-over-something-but-don’t-know-if-I’ll-get-it phase, look what came in my mailbox this morning:

You get one box at a time, filled with stuff to make two Di Ford blocks. I’m not even a Di Ford aficionado (although you might persuade me) and I’m tempted. They are only making 400.

This news comes from someone who has the complete set of Frivols, yes, boxes 1-12. It was my retirement gift to myself. I still haven’t made ONE of those quilts, although I still like seeing the boxes. Soon.

My box fetish comes honestly from my mother, who always had a cupboard full of empty boxes for gift-giving, and a stack of them outside in the garage next to the freezer, just in case we needed one. I’m sure there are other box-hoarders out there, besides me, right?

Coming November 1st: my final quilt in the Four-in-Art experience. Although I’ll not be a part of it, the art quilt group still continues on, however, as Endeavourers, with Janine and Catherine at the helm.

They had such a nice response that their slots are full, but having run a few groups, I know that the line-ups change all the time. If you are interested in joining them, drop either one of them a note and ask to be added to their waiting list. It has been a wonderful experience to make art quilts these past five years, and being a part of a group is wonderful.

See you November 1st!

Creating · Gridsters · Quilts

July’s Gridster Bee Block

July 24, 2017August 9, 2026 Elizabeth E.18 Comments

Here’s the block I made for the July Gridster Bee, for Carol. It was a fun make, made easy by this tutorial from Sara Noda. (She also has a blog post on her completed flag quilt.)

I also dragged out my hexagon quilt, and got started again. Here is Rosette #7, isolated (above), and below as it looks sewn into the quilt. I took the blocks and quilt rosettes with me on our recent family trip — since we had a lot of driving time — and was able to get the rosettes sewn together and one more completed.I’ve totally revamped Rosette #8, because frankly, everyone on the Facebook page was having real troubles with it, so I thought I would have a go at creating my own hexie arrangement. I’m choosing fabrics for it now.

I also picked my classes for Road to California 2018 (above)…

…and my classes for QuiltCon 2018, too. Anyone else going? Are we in the same classes?

And in case you think you only need fabric to create quilt patters, Sabrina Gschwandertner acquired a collection of old instructional films on the textile arts and has been creating quilt works of art. I will spare you the mumbo-jumbo about quilting from the LA Times, but here’s the article if you want to read it.

Film Quilt2 — *(PS Ignore the random “A” up on the right side)*

I actually wanted to see the movies, after reading about her and seeing images of her work. Now it is lost forever. Will we feel that way about the millions of YouTube videos? I doubt it. There is something about the tangible presence of film being cut up, the scarcity of that resource being destroyed to begin again. But I do like looking at her works. If you are in LA, the article has info about how to see this in the gallery, but the show closes soon.

And today is six months since my shoulder surgery. I’ve seen the surgeon for the last time, finished my formal PT. Now just the challenge of walking, getting back into some semblance of shape after sitting around, and doing the PT exercises on my own.

LASTLY, thanks to all who entered the OPQuilt Summer Book Giveaway (snazzy title, don’t you think?).

Here’s another:

Amy Friend’s Intentional Piecing, a look at using fussy-cutting to make spectacular quilts. She has a range of stellar projects, plus some fun paper-piecing designs to sew into various quilts and hand-mades. It’s signed by the author.

Again–leave a comment letting me know if you are interested in receiving this book in the giveaway. I’ll notify the winner by email.

Update: Roxanne was our winner from the last giveaway. Thanks again for all who entered!

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Gridsters · Quilts

Piggies! (and other stuff)

April 7, 2017April 6, 2017 Elizabeth E.13 Comments

Thanks to all who entered the Paintbrush Studios giveaway for the Painter’s Palette Solids. I used the Husband Random Number Generator, and he picked Lisa J. for the scraps and Susan H. for the Paint Chips. It was fun reading all your comments!

Piggies_front

I’m sure you’ve seen piggies flying across my screen on Instagram…piggies and more piggies. It’s because I was Queen Bee for this month’s Gridster Bee, and all my beemates were quick and sent them right out. So I honored them by sewing them all up into rows and getting the quilt top done. (Don’t you hate it when you make blocks for bees and they all seem to go into someone’s bottom drawer, never to be seen again? That happens, even to the best of us.) Piggies_2

I made a few more piggies, but imitated the heart in this curlicue pigtail from Carol. Piggies_1

I started to run into troubles because some piggies were facing left and some were facing right, and some were going uphill and some were going down, so my advice is have fun making them go left and right, but keep count, so you know how many you need of each. My husband made the suggestion to have the half-rows facing each other, so I did that in the middle of the quilt.

Another suggestion, from Mary, is to sew the grass on last, instead of first (like I wrote it in the tutorial). She’s right. I thought it wouldn’t matter much after the trimming, but it does. So that’s why I added the scrappy strips of green underneath the rows of pigs.

And last, arrange your piglets up on the wall, decide on the balance/color,etc. THEN start tilting them uphill or down. I also alternated the uphill/downhill at the start of the rows. It wasn’t that hard, if I just worked sequentially.
Piggies-signature blocks

I started sewing the back together, then realized I was missing a beemate’s signature block. It’s come to a halt while I wait for it to arrive, but it will be great to have them all. Flowers2017

These white flowers (smallish, about 1 1/2″ across) are all over my bushes out front, and the whole yard is blooming. We’ve had a lovely rainy winter, so everything in the yard is very happy. So am I, to see these! fabrics spring 2017

And I did a little spring shopping at our local brick and mortar quilt shop, finding some backing for the En Provence mystery quilt (still in process) on the sale shelves. April Gridster Bee 2017b

April Gridster Bee 2017a

For April’s Gridster Bee block, Nancy of Patchwork Breeze drew up her own design, and asked us to make it up in some bold large-scale prints. This was a paper-pieced block in some places, and just plain pieced, in other places, and I think they turned out great.
new york beauties book

This book will open your eyes up to color and piecing possibilities for New York Beauties, coupled with Flying Geese. I love it. You can find the author, Carl Hentsch on Instagram. I’m in love with another one of his quilts:

Hentsch_Color Block