Getting my PKM on

After spending day after day gardening and playing in the mud I needed a little time out.  There's so may projects I could work on...like the one on my design wall.  And there's always the quilt on the frame that you can see here.  Nope...I need a cute little project for a quick finish.

It's not perfect, but it was the perfect little project to use up a few one inch scrap fabric strings.  This will find a home sitting on top of my quilting machine.  Perfect for holding my self threading needle for burying threads, and my different size machine needles.   I feel so much better know that I got my PKM fix.  FYI.....  PKM = Pam Kitty Morning fabric.  

Back to the garden...this weeks plan is a new compost over flow bin and a quick compost bin.

~ Lea Anne ~

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Cleaning, Playing and Working

 During a mini burst of energy yesterday I decided the studio need a quick cleanup.  It didn't take long to get side tracked when emptying my scrap bucket that sits on the cutting table.  Quilters have the prettiest trash, don't we?  There must be something to do with them.  Out of the trash they came.  Now what can to do with them?....HMM...an epiphany! And within just a few minutes these adorable little cloths pins were made.  

During the studio clean up the decision was made to take the En Provence off the design wall for a few days.  To be quite honest I'm tired of the mess it has created.  For all you Bonnie lovers, it's still in plain view, folded up nice and neat and sitting on my desk.  I WILL FINISH THIS THING IF IT KILLS ME!  But for now there's other things that need to be done.  At the beginning of the month I decided to take some time off from designing quilts in order work out of my comfort zone.  This years plan is to do a few BOM's and quilt-a-longs. 

The first Free BOM on the list is  Quilt Doodle Designs 2017 Traditional Mystery.  As you can see it's a Dresden quilt pattern and I love Dresden's.  The mystery in this quilt is what will be appliqued in the Dresden's. By the looks of the quilt design I'm thinking there might be a tad more applique throughout the quilt.  The great thing about this mystery quilt is you can work ahead by making all the Dresden blocks. Then just add the free center applique at the start of each month.  If your interested in joining in or collecting the free patterns click here and here.  Now let me warn you the pattern is only free for the month it is released.  When the new clue comes out the previous months pattern is no longer free.  So get now, it's only free for another week.

Now that the studio is somewhat clean I can start making Dresden's.  This Dresden block calls for 16 blades.  The Dresden ruler I own  makes 20 blades per block.  By using the template provided I made my own ruler from Plexi-glass.  I've discussed this several time here on my blog.  You can read more about making your own templates here, here, here and here.

Okay lets pick the fabrics.  This is one of favorite things about quilting...Petting the fabric!  I've been waiting for just the right project for Lori Holt's Calico Days FQ Bundle. This line is so sweet, the little cherry prints are my favorite.

While this line of fabric is absolutely stunning on it's own I wanted a few more prints just so it could be scrappier.  Can you spy the 8 fabric additions that aren't Lori Holt?  If not that means I chose well.  

Let the pressing and cutting begin!  

One Dresden down, 11 more to go.  Cindy's pattern suggests we do some curved piecing to add the center.  Well you know me and curved piecing don't get along.  Appliqueing the center circle to the block is the method I'll be using.  I contacted Cindy asking permission to share my technique for changing her pattern.  She graciously gave me permission to share my technique and tutorial with you.  So as soon as I can get a tutorial ready I'll show you how not to do curved piecing.

See you soon!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Flimsy Friday

So tell me, does this fall in the modern quilt category?  Is it a baby quilt due to the size?  Maybe a wall hanging?  I'm not sure what it is other than bold.  

I had big plans for adding applique and more color in the borders.  You can see the border ideas here and here.   As the quilt came together my vision for the finished quilt changed.  There was even a thought of appliqued words in the borders.    But it all seemed just too over the top.  Now my thoughts are on the quilting.

I could quilt the leaves and words....maybe.  There so much quilting space for such a small quilt.  Definitely a quilting design challenge.  

Getting the print to show up in the pictures was almost impossible.  Photo editing to the rescue.

If you'd like to make this block you can find a very basic cutting tutorial here.  It's just for the block, not the entire quilt.

Thank you for all your suggestions on naming this quilt, you gals are so creative.  As I sit here typing up this post I came up with the name.

Moody Blooms

I'm linking up this post with

Link a Finish Friday 

Can I get a WhoopWhoop

Fabric Frenzy Friday

Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday

~ Lea Anne ~

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Finding time to play

 There's been little time for sewing in the last couple of weeks.  Most of my time is spent in the garden or in the kitchen, but my mind is always thinking of quilting.  In between the batches of preserving food I've played with an idea or two in the Studio. 

Drafting the dresden block was a little easier on paper than it was in EQ7.  After drafting it I needed to make a template.  As you know I often make my own Acrylic templates, but if I can use one that I already have that's even better.

So I pulled out every template in my stash and this one is the only one that fit in the wedge shape.  Glow line tape was added for easy placement onto the fabric.

My test block was a success!  Well...one fabric placement booboo but it can stay in the quilt.  It sticks out like a sore thumb to me, can you see it?

Now the playing begins.  This is my favorite part of the designing process.  I always have a general idea, but there's always room for improvement and improvising.  The circle and petal pieces were left overs from the my last little quilt that you can find here.  Not so sure that the red one is going to make it into this project but it's doing a good job of being useful as a visual aid.

I love the octagon shape that's made when the dresden tips are put together.  It wasn't part of the plan but I could play around with it a little bit more later on. 

For now the playtime is over and it's time to get busy doing the so called "important stuff".

So do you design your own quilts?  Do you play with the design after cutting a few test pieces?  What's your designing process?

~ Lea Anne ~

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No scraps left behind

 The  last quilt (Nostalgic Christmas)  had oodles of double flying geese units.  Realizing after the first block that the scraps from these could be used to make an AAQI quilt.  So I started using the "wings" that were cut off as leaders when sewing the blocks, and then  an EPIPHANY!   Draw another line and sew it before cutting!  NO need to make them leaders!  Hoping that my pictures make sense.   So here's what the pattern called for, one straight line down the middle and sew on that line then cut it off leaving a 1/4 inch seam.

                                                         Adding another sewing line

 Sew on both lines

 Cut in between

Press open

Clip that birdies wings

The picture larger so you could see the ruler...now can I get these sewn together without pulling out my hair!



Until next time "Quilt out of your Comfort Zone!"

Lea

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