Ok, so I had a very busy weekend.  My beautiful niece made her First Communion on Saturday.  We made the hour & 45 min long drive out to PA for the mass.  It was lovely and we had a great luncheon afterwards.  My back was less than thrilled on Sunday after 3 1/2 hours in the car, so after initially heading back out to PA for Mother's Day with my mom, I turned around to give my back a well deserved rest.

After a nice, long nap, I got back to quilting.  Since I spent yesterday laying low, I was able to get some sketching done, I worked out some of the details of the Floating Sampler BOM I'm starting in June, and I worked on the quilting motifs for my block swap squares. Today you get a twofer: my favorite blog posts and motifs.

This Week's Favorite Blog Posts!

Here are blog posts from this past week you should definitely take a look at.

Happy Quilting
Melissa ran a really great Celebrate Mom event.  She had 6 guest posters write about being a mom and quilter.

Monkey Do
Katy is starting a quilt along June 1st.  I'm considering doing joining in.  She's using Rachel Griffiths Impromptu pattern.  You'll need a layer cake and 6.5 yards of fabric if you're interested.

Motif Monday

Last Monday I left you with this image of my block swap blocks.

MLK Block Swap

I want to thank all of you for your input.  I ended up with some straight lines, some curves and an undecided background.  I printed out the image and started drawing on it.  Here's what I've decided on.

MLK Block Swap Quilting Designs

Tree:  I wanted something geometric to go inside the tree.  I'll probably make those lines curved to flow better with the other blocks but you get the idea.
House:  The brick work will get a ribbon around the main elements, shingling on the roof and an attic window.
Basket:  An echo of the basket is going to be fancied up with my curly tulipy design.
Pinwheelish: The design is inspired by this motif, except rectangles instead of the triangles.
Heart:  I have a heart feather in there but I may change my mind.

Stay tuned for more information on the Floating Sampler BOM.  Subscribe by Memorial Day if you'd like a sneak peek.

Quilt. Create. Enjoy!

Anna

PS: I did get some FMQ done yesterday, but more on that tomorrow.

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I do believe I'm over thinking things.  I started the evening with a great plan.

1. Make dinner.
2. Get through a bit more of my Craftsy class(es).
3. Practice quilting on the new machine.

So I managed to get through 1 & 2 mostly without a hitch.  I do not like to watch too much of the class without some practice so it was time to move on to #3.  That's where the problem comes in.

What am I going to do?  What's my plan?  I don't want to just start quilting, do I? Ocean? Blocks? Vase? Feathers? FMQ sampler using some of Leah's designs?  So many choices!

I know!  I'll do a vase with flowers in it...NO...with feathers coming out of it.  Phew!  That wasn't too bad...let draw it up first.

Medusa

I like this, but it's not what I want to do tonight.  I'll save it for another day.  Hmmmm...I really want to do an ocean floor scene.  Pebbles, kelp, fish...I should sketch it out.

Kelp Forest

Ooooooh!  I like this!  The scribbles will be an ocean currents filler design.  I've got the little anemone in the corner.  Hmmmmm...this looks more like work than practice.  Let's see, how much time do I have left for a new plan.

What!  It's 11:30!  It can't possibly be that late. Humpf!  I should really go to bed.  I have to be up really early tomorrow.  Great, lots of design done, but no actual quilting.

New plan:

1. Cut 1 yard of fabric into 6 1/2 inch squares.
2. Make quilt sandwiches from the squares.
3. Keep sandwiches by sewing machines and use them as small practice pieces.

I hope to execute the new plan sometime this weekend.

Quilt. Create. Enjoy!

Anna

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Today's post will be short and sweet.  It's been a long day with work, mass and choir practice.  I am exhausted!

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Sorry for the one week hiatus.  I was in Dallas and, unfortunately, I didn't get to any quilting stores.  I enjoyed a migraine on Saturday and had some family stuff on Sunday.  All the weekend "stuff" had me thinking on other projects - more on that another day.

I'm nearing the end of a block swap.  My quilting group does a mini retreat every year for MLK weekend.  During the weekend, we choose a paper pieced block.  We've been doing it for 6 years now and there are 9 of us in the swap.  Had I to do it over again, I would do one thing:

Set a background fabric!

We could have each purchased just 1 yard and it would have served us through all these years for the block backgrounds.  As it stands now, there is nothing unifying these blocks.  I will definitely be adding a sashing to break up disorder.  It will very likely be black.

All that to tell you this.  The next couple of motifs will cover some of the blocks we in the paper pieced blocks.  Here are the blocks I've made for the swap.

The 6th one will be a very simple court house stairs.

By the time we swap the last set of blocks, hopefully by summer, I'd like to have my game plan all laid out.

With the other blocks being all over the spectrum of color and only black sashing to unify, I'd like the quilting to pull it all together.  Right now I know more about what I don't want to do than what I would like to do.

1. No stitching in the ditch.  I don't want to just outline each of the designs.
2. Each block's design should have an element that tie them all together -  a curl, a loop, a heart, a feather, etc.
3. No all over design.  Some quilts work great with an all over.  This won't be one of them.  There's already so much not to like about this quilt.  I want the quilting to turn it into something I love.

The heart is my favorite and has the most quilting space so I'll start with that one.  I'm going to sketch out some designs and post them next week.

Do you have any ideas?

Quilt. Create. Enjoy!

Anna

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