May Craftsy BOM

For better or worse, I think better, Amanda helped me decide that I needed a little different direction than just purple, orange and green.  I added in a bit of turquoise and navy to lighten things up.  After all, I do have a scrappy gypsy soul.  I think (and Amanda, too) either a white or cream sashing with turquoise cornerstones. 

It's ok, it's supposed to be wonky.   After the June BOM's I'll take another picture to see how they mix in.   
PS   I think these are the messiest blocks I ever made, my sewing room is a disaster.   
PPS  I hesitated to add my funny little blocks to soscrappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge, the others are so awesome, but I did anyway, so go here to see the awesome ones.  

Growth is Painful, Really Painful, LOL

I think that I'm just a piecer, the fancier things, not so much.  I'm sure that my tree started out straight, but I managed to make it tipsy.  

I know now I won't be part of the hexi craze in blogland.

My first 4 months of the Craftsy BOM.  I think I must have read the color wheel wrong.  Not liking purple, green and orange so much.   Oh well, we live and we learn.  Good thing I'm doing this with Amanda, or it might go in a box for 'later'.

Craftsy BOM March

I really like this block, but I still don't like making string blocks.  I think I've given it the good old college try, but I just can't make myself enjoy making them.  I do love string block quilts though.  
This block also fits in with Soscrappy's pumpkin color for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
You can see more orange here.

This block didn't turn out so well.  I know that I'll lost at least one point, but I just don't enjoy making them, so it'll have to be good enough.   Wish I did though, cause I sure do like how string blocks look.  They appeal to my scrappy nature. 
I'm making these along with Amanda of Amanda's Musings and she has finished at least January and February.   Her blog is here and Crafty BOM is here.

February Craftsy BOM

January Craftsy BOM

January Craftsy BOM is done, I'm a late starter. 

Holland Quilt Finished

Ready to go in the washer and dryer and get clean and crinkly and then hopefully to be delivered shortly.  Hope they aren't shy about color.

The back, of course. 

Craftsy Block of the Month

I signed up for the Craftsy Block of the Month class and have been rather bogged down, as I didn't know what colors and I didn't really have enough solid fabric (except for tan, which I used for the Quilt of Valor mystery and I wanted something with a bit more pizazz).  It's not a solid, but the lavender is going to be my background color and orange and green my other colors.  I tried to look online and pick something by a color wheel, and I wasn't too successful.  As far as I could figure, I think these 3 colors are supposed to go together.   I don't have a good eye for color, but I know I like green and purple together, and adding the orange is ok with my gypsy soul.  
Can someone tell me why I'm doing this (lol).   I still have several other projects to finish, and instead, here I am starting 2 new quilts, this and the Granny Square.  I don't know why but it reminds me of a joke that I heard a long time ago.  "A Chinese gentleman was expressing his puzzlement about tea preparation.  First they boil it to make it hot, then they add ice to make it cold.  Next they add sugar to make it sweet and lemon to make it tart.  Americans are crazy people."   I think quilters must be crazy people too, I told you I didn't know why it reminded me of the joke. 
I went to Michael's today.   My x-sister-in-law used to say you could find everything at Michaels.  Not so much.  No zippers, no zipper pulls, no color wheels.  I did get some ribbon, but that was all.  My daughter and I are making cases for her new Kindle Fire, which will come the end of November, and my new Ipad.   This is the one, Craftsy again.   We will be sizing it down a bit, and hoping for the best.  
I finished meandering my Holland quilt this morning.  My binding is all prepared and I do the binding by machine, so I'm hoping to finish it today, wash it and hopefully deliver it in the next day or two. 

Step 5 finished, Alycia Quilts, Quilt of Valor Mystery Quilt-a-Long .    Also, my Holland quilt is basted, so won't be too many days before I have a finish for September.

One Down

One down and only 71 more to go.  Maybe more, since my block only turned out 9 inches.

Holland Quilt Flimsy

My Holland quilt is a flimsy.  Hope they like colorful and scrappy.  I think it might be kind of fun for a little one to crawl on, lots to see.

Quilt of Valor Mystery Step 4

Note to self  **Read Directions**.   I didn't and so had about 2 hours of ripping to do.  It said to trim the block and I had a gap but thought I'd fudge.  Wrong idea, too big to fudge.  Anyway, glad that I'm still able to learn lessons, lol.   Step 4 of Alycia Quilts, Quilt of Valor Mystery Quilt-a-Long done.

OOOPS!

It was taking forever to cut out the 2 1/2 inch squares for my 72 blocks that I plan to use to make a queen sized granny square quilt.  OOps, I think I need 936 colored ones and I miscalculated and did 2499 colored ones.  I also cut 864 white squares.  I didn't have enough of the fabric I started with so I had to improvise.  I still need fabric for the sashing and cornerstones, but think that I may use a small print with a white background since they aren't going to match anyway.   I figure it's ok, if I run short of squares I'll cut more from something, and if I have too many I'll use them on something else. 

Hancock's of Paducah has been doing better about complete orders on their clearance, but this time I only got 2 out of 4.  I had ordered two possibles for the borders on my Holland quilt, but only got the two on the right.  The Holland looking fabric will be for the large border and the pretty gold and blue fabric will be for the small border.  I may add another even smaller plain border to kind of quiet things down a bit.   Next project though will be to do step 4 of the Quilt of Valor Mystery Quilt-A-Long.  It shouldn't take too long and then it's on to doing the borders on the Holland quilt.  I'm hoping to finish it in the next few days, I'm anxious to give it to them and to see the baby.

Strange

I bought a package of embroidery patterns for the Howes quilt (the family that I'm making a quilt for) and I liked the first few so well that I decided to use the rest kind of willy nilly.   I decided to make a taggie for the baby, looked on Amazon and it seemed that the parents liked good sized ones and the most expensive ones were lined with batting.   It's about 19 x 19 inches.   I did the remaining embroideries from the pack and then started getting 'strange'.  It is made from fleece, and the odd little tail is made from velvety cottony fleece.  I wanted a handle but was afraid of danger to the baby, so I did a straight handle that is soft and feels nice.  The odd looking thing at the other end is the same fabric rolled up so that the baby can feel the outside and the inside of the fabric.  I told you it was strange.

The other side.  The odd looking half circles are satiny feeling shoulder pads that I found when looking in my dresser drawers for something to feel interesting to the baby.  Again, I didn't want to cause injury so they are secured, but the baby can put her little hands in each side.  I scrounged for what ribbons I could find and the pickings were slim.  I even resorted to 2 pieces of elastic, they filled in a spot and have a different feel.  The center has the feel of the embroideries, plus it is quilted and the borders are unquilted.  Strange, strange, I don't know if I'll get the courage to give it to them.
Maybe my time would have been better spent getting started on my Granny Square quilt, lol.

The backing fabric (a Lands End Sheet) and the label.  The blues are actually a bit darker.  
Notice I put the finish for September 2012, it shouldn't be a problem as long as the border fabrics hurry and get here from Hancock's of Paducah.

One of the four embroideries that I did for each corner of the borders.