WIP Wednesday

I've finished three quilt tops this month, a pair of socks and a pair of mittens.  But when I look at my WIP list for February, it doesn't feel like I've made much progress!

 The next "must finish" on my WIP list is the American Valor quilt for the sailors of the USS George Washington.

Just needs two more borders!

Wednesday is the next "Crazy for Wool" class at High Country Quilts.  All those tiny little half-square triangles need to be put together into 2 1/2" pinwheels.  Eeep!

I had a little trouble with my January Strip Club project.  My background is a lovely, verrrry soft ivory.  With a right and a wrong side. Yep, you got it.  I put half the blocks together with some of the background pieces wrong side up.  I tried to convince myself no one would notice, but finally decided I need to remake those blocks.  Luckily I have lots of both background fabric and leftover jelly roll strips!

I'm teaching Strip Club for March, which means I need to have the sample completed by the February 24 class.  It's my chance to break into my Moda Half Moon Modern jelly roll!  The background is Kona ash (of which I cleverly bought an entire bolt, so I don't have to frantically shop around for this hard-to-find color!).

I bought the Tula Pink pattern at Tula's Mom's shop in Stewartsville, MO.  EVERY one of Tula Pink's fabrics in one place.  Heaven!

Finally, when those are done, I can start on my February UFOs.  First draw is a 30s repro quilt:

I'm pretty sure I got to looking at the applique' and decided this would be a long-term UFO.  Maybe I'll just put a couple of the applique' flowers in the border and call it done!

Next up is a quick-and-easy one, Livin' Large:

The 10" squares a leftovers from my 2011 "Celebrate Spring" wall hanging.

The Front Range Modern Quilt Guild is hosting our first Guild retreat later this month.  As a treat (if I get all my WIPs done), I am taking my first "Another Year of Schnibbles" quilt.


The project is "ISTH," (insert snappy title here):

 And I think it will be a perfect excuse to cut into my extensive collection of Heather Bailey's "Nicey Jane."

AND, last but not least, a new challenge,  the Modern Triangles QAL:


 I scored this beautiful collection of A Stitch in Color Collection by Malka Dubrawsky for Moda Fabrics at my favorite etsy shop, fresh squeezed fabrics.  The Kona solids are from the stash.

Good thing there are more than two weeks left in February, huh?

2012 #12 - Flower Patch

The 12th quilt top of 2012 is a Sunday is for Scraps project from January.  The pattern is "Flower Patch," the August feature quilt in the 2011 "Quilts" calendar from Current.  The designers of the quilts in the calendar are Barbara Groves and Mary Jacobson -- that's right, "Me and My Sister Designs!"

Most of these floral prints are from a collection of "state flowers," and from Hoffman's "A Year in the Meadow."  The background is my favorite Kona lightest blue.

I didn't make the pieced border because I am in a hurry to deliver this to a friend who is temporarily living in a nursing home.  Now if I can just persuade one of my long-arm quilters that I should be at the top of the list!

Another Mystery Monday

Here's an oldie but goodie. This mystery was a class at Quilt Colorado 2010, taught by my favorite mystery writer, Debbie Caffrey.  It's the first mystery I made with scrappy fabrics, and I was chagrined when I found out the quarter-square triangles that form the opposite sides of the "star" were supposed to be the same fabric.

My friend and classmate, Barb Shie, convinced me no one would know that if I didn't tell (and now I've told!).  But I agree, with my floral fabrics, there is no need for the fabrics to be the same within each block!

Here is another view:

The 1 1/2" sashing with cornerstones was kinds of a pain, but I really like the pieced border.  This quilt went to Washington where it will be a fund-raiser donation for my DG's preschool.

And even though I finished piecing this quilt in 2011, I didn't include it in my "count" (I forgot all about it as it was buried in the "needs binding" pile). So I'm thinking it's OK to count it as #11 for 2012?

January Color Palette Challenge

Last year I followed a blog that assigned a "monochrome quilt" challenge each month, a single color with a background color.  This year a real colorist, Vicki Welsh of Field Trips in Fiber will create a color palette for quilters (or painters, knitters, crafters!) each month.

Her January inspiration, some antique English tiles:

Vicki writes, "This is a photo that I took in the V&A Museum in September. These are tiles from an English ship made in 1882 by Architectural Pottery Company, Poole, UK."

Aren't they lovely?  My own interpretation of this color palette is inspired by a favorite Vera Bradley handbag:

I was surprised how close the colors on my bag were to the antique tiles.

I used my colors for the February Fat Quarter Fun group at Ruth's Stitchery.  Our pattern this month is by Cheryl Witt of sew-be-it in Billings, Montana.

"On the Slant" is a really fun design and it was interesting to see what colors my classmates chose.  Here is my finished top:

And a closeup.  The solids are all Kona cottons ranging from lightest blue to navy.  The border is "Japanese Chrysanthemum" by Philip Jacobs for Rowan, Westminster Fibers.

I'm amazed how well the border fabric goes with the solids. Usually I would choose the print first, then select other fabrics to go with it.  This time the border came after the top was mostly pieced.  The only thing I would do differently (always second-guessing) is to put the light yellow in the very center, so there would be less of it.

By the way, this is quilt top #10 for 2012!