Crafting - a new challenge in 2012

** I wrote this post back in September and forgot about it. I think because there was a photo missing. Well, here it is, several months later and I'd like to start blogging again in 2013 - so much going on, so much to process, so much to write about. So, here you go, a post to start off 2013 which was written with good intentions and edited today.**

At some point this spring, one of the members of my knitting group, the much loved Bluenail of Ravelry fame, took it upon herself to start a quilting bee of sorts within our knitting group. What a grand idea, right? Every month one person distributes her fabric and instructions. At the end of the month, we pass in our quilt blocks and move on to the next person. Sewing up the quilt and quilting it will be up to the individual, but a lot of the work is already done!

Now, I have attempted quilting before...

Rather... Let's start that again... I have attempted piecework before.  Many years ago, during a visit to a much loved discount warehouse in Calais, Maine, I purchased fabric and eventually pieced together a quilt top of my own devising. This is pre-internet days, so my technique was, well, poor, but my heart was in it. I made the top and then nothing. Nada. Did nothing else with it. The top taunts me whenever I come across it in my closet. I sometimes think about making it into a quilt, but the fabric is incredibly dated.

Then, after the mogrunt was born, realizing that I had a lot of fabric left over after making his birthday banner, I cut out pieces to make him a zig zag or chevron quilt a la Denyse Schmidt. I started sewing it together but soon realized that things were awry. I eventually used these pieces for my quilting bee month... I'll show a picture below.

While I did do quite a bit of sewing in the lead up to the Mogrunt's birth and afterward, I hadn't again thought about quilting. And then the quilting bug struck Bluenail, and next thing I knew, we were all on board. She's contagious like that.

The first square I made was for Bluenail's daughter's rainbow quilt. Each of us were given a bag of coordinating fabric and everyone got a different colour. My bag was, well, here:

We were given the task of making a 12.5" quilt block of any design. I went for a log cabin style block, charting it out on paper first. I was happy with the result, though after seeing some of the other blocks, felt a little quilt-envy. Nevertheless, I was still pleased with the project and realized that I needed to pay attention to how the fabric was cut as well as the measurements - i.e. centering designs etc. (The picture looks strange because it's actually flipped on the side.)

The next block up was for UberWench and we were to sew her a chevron block based on this pattern

 

It's a little wonky at one end, but I was pretty pleased with the result.  I hope that UberWench liked it as well.  I love the contrast of the skull fabric and the Little Golden Books fabric (my special addition for UberWench's block). I love this pattern so much that I would seriously consider doing it again.

The next block was a simple four patch for Val, which I don't have a photo of for some reason. I had a lot of fun making it. And for some reason, I think I made two - did I Val? I really can't remember.

Next up was a log cabin variation using this pattern. for Cate G. I was intimidated and procrastinated as much as I dared. Finally, I sucked it up and made the block.

 

 

 

Which turned out nicely, I think.  Then I moved on to Ann's block which was fun:

 



 

Then we all moved on to my "block" which was likely a bit of torture for everyone. I asked that they sew strips from those aforementioned triangles, making a zig zag:

This is an example. I haven't yet taken a photo of all the strips together. Here's hoping I get to do that this week some time.

 

 

 After my month was Terra's month. And she gave us her packets and instructed us to do "whatever we wanted" which was kind of neat. I had just completed a 9-block square for another project and liked the simplicity of it.
 

 

So Terra got a cute little square. I took the time to align my quilting square on the fabric before cutting it - having learned the lesson on my very first square (with apologies to Bluenail - I wasn't entirely happy with how one of the strips in her log cabin lined up). Let's ignore the face that the I may have sewed the squares in the wrong orientation when I sewed them together. Of course, having done this, I now want to make a quilt of just squares. My niece is graduating this year and I would like to make her a quilt for her graduation. Of course, that sets a precedent and I'd have to make at least two more, if not four more over the next few years as my two nephews and two other nieces go through school. Yikes.

 

Next up is Nicole's quilt which is in a star theme. I'm looking forward to the challenge!