Back to square one step #4 completed

This month we added a 2 1/2" strip around the center and made 20 square in a square in a square blocks.  I know that sounds kind of redundant, but it is true.  Now I have to admit that this is far outside of my comfort zone.  When I first started piecing blocks (too many years ago to bother counting)  I learned about quilting by joining a quilt guild.  They were doing a block of the month at the time.  What a great opportunity to learn, right?  One of the first blocks made was a square in a square in a square in a square in a square...... etc.  It started at around 2 1/2" in the center and was supposed to finish at 12.  Mine looked like it was built to cover a small pyramid.  The dome was reaching for the sky no matter how many times I tried to "press" it down with the iron.  One lady in the guild liked to tease me about that block every time she saw me.  It usually started with the words "remember that block...."?  How could I forget?  I tried to forget.  That lady passed away several years ago or she might still be reminding me of that block.  Well I'll bet she is looking down at me with pride at how flat these little blocks lay.  Hopefully she isn't noticing that I lost a couple of points somewhere in my seam allowances.  My days of striving for perfection are over.  Now I am just happy thrilled satisfied with finishing my projects!

The new picture for my blog is of the huge moon in the sky last Friday.  I think that this picture looks like October rather than the end of April.  Can you see the man in the moon face?
 

last saturday for rsc13 green

Since this was our last Saturday of green blocks, I made a few extra.  I have been trying to get a dozen of these blocks finished each week.  I did an extra 4 this time.  It never ceases to amaze me just how many shades there are of every color.  I have made the mistake in the past where I needed a piece to match something in a quilt but didn't take a sample swatch of that color with me when I went shopping.  I end up bringing home something that doesn't even come close to what I needed.  Oh I admit that sometimes I have gotten lucky, but usually it is not quite what I intended.  This is what I love about scrappy quilts!  A little bit of everything seems to go great when it's all mixed together.  I love going to soscrappy's blog to see what everyone else is working on!

Aztec Circle Lord

Some quilts are so difficult to get a good picture of the quilting.  Usually it is because of the busy designs on the fabric that seem to camouflage the stitching.  This quilt that I just finished is really pretty and I was so pleased with the quilting.  I used the Aztec design by Circle Lord to form the perfect flower designs in the squares.  Stitch in the ditch was added between the outer white border and the pieced interior.  Everything else was free motion stitched.  My customer brought the book with it and said she would be happy with the same quilting design as you could see in the pictures in the book.  I started by following what I could see of the pictured design, but then noticed how blocks were being formed as I criss-crossed the quilt with the loopy design.  I couldn't help myself!  I had to put something else in those blocks.  I got my Circle Lord out and after deciding on a complimentary design, I began to play.  It was a fun quilt!

I'm not a very good photographer so I tried different angles to catch the shadows.  Then I turned off the lights so that maybe the flash would create more shadows.  I don't know if any of that helped, but I was able to at least see the quilting in these 2 pictures.  Maybe someday I'll take a photography class like my friend Anita did, but probably not.  I think I would rather piece and quilt!

Customer quilts

My goal for this month was to finish at least 10 customer quilts.  I finished the one on the top on April 3rd.  Then finished a Christmas quilt with red birds.

I'm working on this one right now.  I love the soft pastel colors.  It is an Eleanor Burns pattern called Summer Porch and is in her book "Through The Seasons".  I finished 2 others that I didn't get pictures of and so I am now halfway to this months goal.  For some reason I got 8 customer quilts in just a few days and it really put me behind schedule.  Although we had snow 3 days of this week, I know the warm weather has to arrive soon and I will need to work outdoors.  I would be happy to just stay in and quilt though.  I think I figured out what I'm going to do with my birds UFO quilt, but I just need to put the 4 corner blocks together before I can be sure.  I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with it, but that will make it even more of a celebration when I finally finish!  I have linked up to Link a Finish Friday.   You should visit Richard and Tanya Quilts to see some other finishes.

 

 

Marge Green's trunk show

In my last post I had intended to include the pictures from the trunk show that I went to.  I have known this lady for several years.  Marge Green is a very talented lady.  She does a lot of applique quilts and does them very well. 


There was so many more, but I only took pictures of some of my favorites!  I have linked this post to Linky party Tuesday.  You should go check out what others are doing!



I have also linked this post to Off The Wall Friday.  You should go see the beautiful creations at Nina-Marie's Creations ...Quilts, Art... Whatever.

This is one of my favorites!



This one is a miniature!

RSC2013 Green

Here's my greens for this week.  I'm linking up to SoScrappy's Scrap Happy Saturday.   The ones below are from last week and I decided I would just continue to add each week as I continue to make progress on this fun scrappy quilt.  Now I only need 235 more of these little blocks.

Two quilt shows in April

It is only the second weekend in April and I have already gone to 2 quilt shows.  I went to a quilt show hosted by a group in Blackfoot Idaho with Anita on the 6th and then we went the other direction to a show In Filer yesterday. 

The show in Blackfoot was really tough to find.  There was not one sign.  Not even at the entrance to the building!  Because we weren't familiar with the area, it took us a long time to find it and we ended up being very late for the trunk show.  I took a seat towards the rear of the auditorium and you can see how well that worked for my pictures.  I'm not a good photographer to start with and I was not up for this challenge. 

I can tell you that she showed a lot of absolutely beautiful quilts.

This quilt amazed me.  I am not absolutely positive, but I thought I heard her say she finished it in one week of intensive sewing.  That can't be right, can it?

 This was taken with the super-ZOOM setting on the camera.

I found out that this was the very first quilt show that this group had.  This would explain the lack of signs we were looking for.  Actually it was pretty amazingbecause they had half a dozen vendors there too.  I'm sure thier next one will be fantastic!

The next pictures are from the show at the Filer Fairgrounds.  This was put on by the Desert Sage Quilt Guild of Twin Falls Idaho.  They do a semi-annual show and it gets better every year.  There is so much to see that you need to go both days to get to see everything!  I used to be a member of this guild, but because of the distance I quit going.  They are such a fun group and it's always great to see old friends when I go to the show.  This year they did a group project called "A River Runs Through It".  Small pictoral quilts of areas on the Snake River were portrayed through various members styles.  They were placed side by side on a wall and created a great visual of the river.

You should go to Sew Many Ways Sew Darn Crafty linky party to get inspired by what others are doing!