My fabulous quilt!

I LOVE IT!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

 

 

The Back!

Top finished in 2003

Quilted in 2011!

I am glad I had it in my pile of tops!

It came handy! 

I can not be happier with the final result! I love this quilt. I keep taking it to all the rooms is the house.. See how it looks in different light and every corner of the house lights up! Makes me smile and I really can't stop smiling!

Thank you all for sending me your wonderful blocks! I have had the best time working on this quilt. So much so that I started another one in a slightly different version.. It will be a while before you see that one anywhere.. It is also going to be a true scrap quilt..

Just like her big sister.. 

Okay.. 

Now I am loosing it!

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

And since I can post pictures, here are some more!

Here are my Plaid Dotty blocks.

They are the same blocks but on different backgrounds.  I took the one on the wood floor and didn't like the look so i moved stuff off the white design wall and put them there.  But now I don't know which one I like better!  I am really in love with these blocks.  There are a significant number of pieces that came from the local Purple Cow Resale shop from their 99 cent shirt rack!  The purple block has a sleeve of two of the shirts in there!

And I finished up Margaret's Virtual Bee Blocks.  These were so much fun I just kept making them and making them!

After I took a step back and really looked at them from a "Margaret" perspective, I realized that my blue block slash doesn't exactly read SOLID now, does it?  Sigh.  I decided to toss it out, but I really loved it so much with the others I have to include it in the mix.

I can see a lot of possibilities in a quilt here.  Dark with light slashes, light with dark slashes.  Green with orange slashes.  And I love that yellowish gold set too.  Oh, my, I am lusting again!

glen

Back in business

I think I am back in business for a while now.  The invoice on the computer work said (and I quote): Itty Bitty Viral Infection Thingy removed.

How's that for a sense of humor?

As a reward for you all here is my Virtual Bee Warm/Cool blocks or as I like to call it, The Quilt From Bias Hell.

As it hangs there, what you don't see is the puckers and stretching out that I will have to repair as there is no way the Quilting will smooth things out! LOL.

It looks wonderful.  I really love it.  Nothing like I started out with but it sure will be a striking quilt when all is said and done.

glen:  thanks to my 11 friends who contributed their Quilting Souls to add to my Quilting Journey!  I would never have done this without you gals.

challenge notes

 

UPDATES!

OK,

STRIPES, DOTS AND PLAIDS Challenge Players, 

So far 16 of you have sent in your stripes dots and plaids!  

NOTE:

please include your name, email and a readable return address on your envelope...

I have rcvd a couple envelopes from people who I don't know...

I have your address but no email...

Aunt em quilts? no name attached... 

Lisa G, New zealand? email please

S. Wood, TX..email please.

IF YOU SENT ME YOUR BLOCKS ALREADY,

please send me an email with your appropriate info...

Because if you win the second set of blocks, I need to know how to contact you. 

DIFFERENT CHALLENGE:::

 ****

DESIGN A BLOCK CHALLENGE:

Don't post your BLOCKS.

Once I  Have all the submissions, I will do a post with all of them...

Let's keep them a surprise...

Remember, your sending me VIA EMAIL the IMAGE with ALL YOUR INFO.

Do not physically send me the block...

I've had a couple submissions so far...

fun to see what you are coming up with!

Get creating!

I'm off to complete the cloud quilt...

Happy Monday!

Staccato

Finally settled on a name for the quilt. Had several wonderful comments about the purple underlining and decided to use it. With this part done I have to wait for the rest of the purple fabric to arrive. Then on with my intuition.

Dots Plaids and Stripes, Oh My!

Here are my two dotty-plaidy-and -stripey blocks. Didn't think I had many of these fabrics, but I dug around and found some golden oldies, which played nicely with some new purchases.

This was fun to create out of scraps...

...and this was a good opportunity to try to free-piece a house block. I hope these are ok, V!

Playtime quilt

I took some time to work on my playtime quilt -- this is what it looked like when I first posted about it...I have since added more blocks, and took away a few that I thought were too dark and boring...

A majority of these 9x9 blocks were originally a 20" block that I cut up.  Yesterday I decided to sew them into 18x18 blocks by sewing the 24 blocks together in sets of four.  Then, wanting to make it all BIGGER, I added some horizontal strips that I had pieced together.

 

That done, I wanted to make it WIDER and so I added a vertical strip with the same fabric as the horizontal strips, by making thicker cut strips this time...

This quilt top needs to be way bigger.  I'll decide how to do that my next go around.  I'm thinking it needs some more blocks, or some black and white wild borders, or maybe some red....or purple, or even orange.  Maybe I'll add some borders on the individual 6 blocks...that might be cool.  Yes, that might be just what I need to do. I'll have to see where my thoughts are when I get back to work on it, but it will grow!  It's way too soon to start sewing it together, no matter how much I want to piece it together already!

Scrappy Bee 5 Piece

5 five piece blocks will be in the mail to LeeAnn tomorrow. I can't show a photo as my camera is currently in China with darling daughter #2 as her camera was stolen two weeks ago at an exhibit her class was attending.

This was an interesting exercise for me. I still consider myself a newbie in quiltland and in my wanderings I tend to choose tradition blocks to do in nontraditional fabrications. I question whether my layouts in this fabric creation mode will be pleasing to someone else. One of the important things I've learned creating the January and February blocks is that my stash tends to be monochromatic in two or three colorways and a lot of my scraps are boring: what was I thinking when I bought that stuff?

15 min play block 6

15 min play block 6
Originally uploaded by alibobbles

I'm having alot of fun playing, this one was a few play sessions as my scraps are getting fairly small. I'll have a fresh batch soon as I am in the process of cutting out a new quilt. A few curves crept into this one, not sure how but they are there and I went with the flow and left them in.

Too many stripes!

I thought I would make one block with stripes and one block with dots.

Yikes!  I got started with the stripes and now I can't stop!  With no SIZE parameters given, I just keep going.

I'm not sure I can get all these into just one block.  If I do, it's going to be about 18" square, or rectangular.

Victoria,  how big can we go?  Or can I send two SETS?

Love, Sara

My 2 Stripes, Plaids, and Dots blocks

I used pieces ONLY from my scrap box.  What fun - and like a previous poster, I noticed I don't have very many plaids.  I think it's from my beginner days, when I avoided plaids and stripes because I was afraid they'd accentuate my mistakes.  With liberated quilting and making fabric, it's not a problem. So I guess I'd better stock up on some more plaids. (What? Add more fabric to my stash?)

February SCRAP bee blocks

Here are the 5 blocks I made for LeeAnn..

Definitely a challenge-- the scrap blocks i usually play with are much smaller than this and I had several failed attempts before I figured out how to make a 6.5" block with only 5 fabrics.  My favorite is the bottom center one.  Hope she likes them too!

Curved piecing in a bigger scale

I just finished piecing the green borders on my bed of roses throw. This entire quilt is free pieced -- no appliques, no paper piecing, and most of all, no patterns. I used a curved piecing technique combined with lots of free-piecing abandon to get the various greens on. Yes, there are some ripples. I'm trusting that some more steam and lots of quilting will take care of those. But I wanted to show those of you playing with some curved piecing that it can be done on a bigger scale with bigger pieces. this measures about 40 by 30 inches.

Old Stripes, Plaids, and Dots

I have been suffering lately from my chronic illness so I've fallen way behind with everything. It would appear that I neglected to post the two blocks I made in response to Victoria's dots, stripes, and plaid challenge.

This challenge appealed to me immediately but I wasn't really in a position to dig through my current scraps (or stash) to create blocks. As luck would have it, I found a section of strata I had pieced a long, long time ago - maybe even ten years ago. It fit the bill though, being comprised of dots and stripes and one plaid. I cut the strata up, rearranged the parts, added to them, and ended up with these two blocks - which look like a single vertical panel in this photo!

I'm looking forward to making a dotty quilt for myself one of these days. :- )

play zone

CAUTION: PLAY ZONE

I had some made fabric strips hanging here for ages in my studio.

Today I thought I'd play with them a bit, based on the play I did the other day....

My daughter, who is still home from school, decided right off the bat, 

that she likes the First picture top right, but add the dots...

It was so very obvious to her!

hahaha!

Although I think I agree with her,

I am feeling these might get sewn together and cut apart, one more time...

I find PINK the hardest color to work with... 

I have a big aversion to it.... it just all looks to sweet....to me.

More play needs to happen to get that GUT feeling...

So friends, 

Whats your gut feeling 

telling you today?

DO you listen to it?

Do you ignore it?

Any of these strike your fancy?

More shades of white

March blocks for Jessica in the SCRAP Bee.
No, I couldn't make just ONE.
Putting them, and some extra scraps, in the mail early because we are going to Florida for most of March.

I found that when I went looking in my stash for mostly white fabrics with only a spot of color, I couldn't find many!

Sara

last 17 blocks

I have about 40 blocks completed now and seem to have used part of every scrap I have here at home.  Did not think that would ever happen.  Here are the latest 17 blocks.  I am going to put them together when I get 56 blocks unless I change my mind.  They are not in any particular order just on the design wall.  Some I really like and others make me want to puke because they are so ugly...but I like it when they are together.  We shall see what they make.

White blocks for Jessica and a peek for V

Betcha can't make just one!



Here's a corner of a trade for V. She's always pushing us to be our best!

March blocks for Margaret

What happy fun this was.  I began by thinking that I would make 2, but it quickly turned into 4.

Now to get these to the post office.   It is always exciting to see what becomes of all the blocks.  I hope that you will enjoy these, Margaret. 

Play day

 So far... two for Margaret!  the colors made me so happy today! Not quite done yet though....

 Then I played with my own stripes dots and plaids.. I seriously need more plaids!

 I made these, and thought I was done, but then I had another idea....  because I found a fat quarter of yellow plaid!  That is the equivalent of finding $10 in your pocket after you've done the wash... ;-)

Don't you agree?

 So for the moment.. this is my challenge block...  

I rcvd the last blocks (Thanks San-dee!) for my BEE quilt! Tomorrow, 

I will sew this together, and decide

if I want to make more blocks.... Maybe I don't need this one to be king...

It seems finished to me... one good complete thought...

do you agree?

Quilt in a day challenge

My friend Hilary and I decided to try to make a quilt in a day (LOL). We piled both our stashes onto Hilary's spare bed and took over her study. Beginning with very rough plans we chose, cut and sewed in very manic play! We had never tried anything like this before, so I think you'll be amazed by Hilary's quilt. Thanks, Victoria for your encouragement. These are Hilary's first blocks...

Day 1

Day2 King sized (well...almost!) and folded to fit the viewing area!

More for Margaret

Having too much fun with the scraps I got from Kim and Nicole! Can't stop now.

DESIGN A 15 minute BLOCK challenge

While you all have been PLAYING, 

I tried through your comments to ask the 

"WHAT IF" 

questions to you to encourage you 
to continue trying new things...

What else can you do to it?

What else can you try that is DIFFERENT from the way you usually work?

What if you slice up those strips?

What if you try warm colors, with cool colors?

What if you mix solids and prints,

What if you just use solids?

What if you cut it and made a new shape with it?

What if you made it a medallion?

If you always sash your blocks, What if you didn't sash it...

What if you tried on point, what if you made fabric filler instead of sashing?

What if you...

 What if you didn't think of each piece as a block?

**

As we are working on our Intuition quilts,
most of us 

went beyond the block, 
which I think is a good trick to try to do...

Breaking free from a monotony of a 16 block quilt

can open your sense of seeing, while

working toward making a whole top at once...

Then again, there can be something really nice

about just making BLOCKS.

So for this challenge,

Let us focus on those 15 minute Blocks.

Many of us has made the blocks, and sewn them together

Period.  End of story.

But perhaps that little "made fabric" block is just the start of 

something bigger and grander?

Without abandoning your free thinking and movement 

like we did on the intuition quilts,

How can you take a 8" block and make it into a 12" block without 

"just doing what we always do, and sash it, and call it a day?"

The CHALLENGE: 

Make one 8" block of FABRIC from your scraps.
(Click for tutorial on your 15 minute blocks)

 You can add to it, any which way you like,

Cut it, sew it again, cut it again, add bits, turn it rotate it, 
build on it.

You need to KEEP PLAYING to make it into a completely 

different block of your own design.

Then think about what will happen in the EMPTY SPACE..

Will you make more fabric to fill it? 

Will you border it with made fabric?

Your possibilities are endless and in YOUR HANDS!

Everyone on the site has a chance to make a UNIQUE 

block that you have designed YOURSELF through 
your play with your 15 minute block.

Requirements:

Using the made 8" fabric 15 minute block technique to start, 

show me a 12" completed UNIQUE block.
we should be able to tell where the made fabric is in your design...

You will have until MARCH 29th,

(my Birthday ;-)  to design your block.

At that time we will do a "SHOW"
of all the blocks,

And a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place 
Winner will be chosen.

Just a little encouragement to challenge you all

to think and create like the artists, I know you are.

$40  CVQ gift card for 1st place
 $25  CVQ gift card for 2nd place
and
4 fat quarters for 3rd place


CVQ = Jackie from Canton Village Quilt works, 
Thanks Jackie!)

Don't post them on the site, 
I will do a post of them  after the 29th

Send me an email with your image, 

name, address and email address, 
blog if you have one included with your

submission by March 29th.

 (you are EMAILING ME the IMAGE of your block, 
do not SEND ME (via post office)THE actual BLOCK) 

Don't rush,
don't do what you always do,
just play, 
ask a lot of questions, 
try new things...


See what transpires!

&

Have fun!

Victoria
bumblebeansinc at gmail dot com

Intuition Quilt: Post #4

This is it ... not going any bigger.

Never thought that first intuitive block would end up cut & used this rather traditional way!

Oh, well ....

Blocks for Margaret and Victoria

My try at What If I . . .

After being inspired by Victoria's post, What If I . . ., and Kathleen's post about her medallion quilts, I went into the studio this morning to begin a new project.  I set myself a challenge of creating fabric from only the first six fabrics I pulled from the top of my scrap box.  After playing with these lovely six fabrics, I came up with this.

 These fabrics came from a couple of quilts I am making as gifts.  I am glad they were the ones I pulled, but I really started out with no preconceived notions.  After I got this piece of fabric done, I cut it into uneven quarters. and started auditioning other fabrics to add.

First I tried dark blue batik.

Then I tried an ochre batik.  This was my favorite.

I put the cross pieces in and decided to use the same fabric for the first border.  I put the corner pieces in because I wanted to use more of this fabric.  It is from my favorite dress of all time.  I am going to use more of this fabric because I like it so much.  Then I found some 2 1/2 inch cool birds and decided I had to add another border so I could use them.  That is where I left things until tomorrow.  Who knows what might happen then.