Monday, January 18, 2010

A wonderful (and productive) three-day weekend

Steve and I had a great time at the beach house!  Good food, wine, long walks on the beach together; and I got quite a bit of sewing accomplished.  I had planned to work on a block for a quilting bee, but an error made me set it aside to deal with later at home.  I had printed off a paper piecing pattern from Quilter's Cache and made a test block, which came out great.  Then I changed my mind and decided to do a different block.  And because the first block printed out in the accurate size, I guess I just assumed that the second block would.  But -- no, it didn't.  Lesson learned.  But I did finish the top for this baby quilt (made with Heather Bailey Fresh Cut):





I love coin quilts.  Simple but very pretty.  And for once I planned ahead and made the back and prepared the binding:





The binding will be the pink jelly bean fabric.


I also finished sewing the pieces of the value quilt top together.  I had pretty much abandoned it on my temporary design wall (flannel sheet) hanging in my daughter's room, then realized that I needed to get it out of there before she came home from college at Christmas.  So -- I pinned each HST unit in place.  Not a bad idea, but then I took the sheet down and folded it up.  It seemed like an okay idea at the time, but as I folded it, I knew that it was not my brightest.  Here is what my lovely, careful constructed HST units looked like when the sheet was unfolded:





What a mess!  If you ever have a big project and need help making it harder than it has to be, give me a call.
In order to sew this mess together I had to unpin and then press each one.  I was worried that they might have stretched out some and was ready to square them up, but they were in surprisingly good shape and I stopped obsessively measuring them.  This may have slowed down my sewing, but I was in the beach house with a whole room dedicated to my sewing and a stack of old DVDs to watch, so I just decided to enjoy the process.





And it's done -- well, almost.  I decided that I want to add one more row at the top and bottom.  That way the large blue squares will be completed and not cut off.  I know -- No matter where I stop, some part of the design will be cut off as it just continues on....  But I just feel like it needs to be done.  I have a gorgeous green Kaffe Fassett fabric for the backing: Paisley Jungle.


In other news, Dee of Dee's Doodles (and one of the sweetest quilters on the internet) honored me with this award:





The Lemonade Stand Award is given out for bloggers that show great attitude and gratitude.  These are the rules of accepting the award:




Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.
Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.
Link the nominees within your post.
Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.


I can't believe how hard it was to only choose 10, although it helped that some people, like Dee and KT  (KT Quilts 4 Fun) and Penny (sewtakeahike), have already received an award.  Here are my nominees, chosen because of their great attitudes and generosity of spirit.  They have all answered my questions, offered resources, become online quilting friends, supported me in blogland, on Flickr, and even Facebook, and/or missed me when I neglected my blog.  They share their love of quilting with others and are always willing to lend a helping hand.


Alison -- Cardygirl
Allison Anderson --  Strandz
Amy Lobsiger -- Mrs. Schmenckman Quilts
Ayescha Baker -- Izzy Inspired
Cathy Underhill -- Cabbage Quilts
Janet Treen -- Quiltsalott
Jackie Kunkel -- Canton Village Quiltworks
Kathleen Levinson -- Magik Quilter
Sarah Fielke -- The Last Piece
Terri Wilhelm -- Terri's Notebook


Online quilters ROCK!


With wishes, true and kind -- Joan

24 comments:

  1. I absolutely love the HST quilt, it turned out wonderful despite the mess you unfolded! You get an A+ for perseverence for sure!
    ~Andrea

    ReplyDelete
  2. My favorite Value Quilt ever! Love it!

    If you use a vinyl tablecloth as a design wall, one side is laminated and the other flannel. When you roll it the laminate will keep things smooth.

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOW!!!! One post with two gorgeous quilts. Heather Bailey and Kaffe are two of my fave designers and you've used their fabrics beautifully.
    Your Value Quilt is "supercalafragilisticexpealadocious"! There is just no other word to express what I think when I look at it. I keep coming back to WOW, but that just doesn't cut it!!!! LOVE it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think the blue would look good completed. It sorts of stand out because of the color but I love the whole thing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congrats on finishing the values quilt top! I love it so much! I had to laugh about your description of folding up the sheet, but all's well that ends well. And I know what you mean - you could keep adding to it forever! I know you will be thrilled with it when it is completed.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such pretty quilts.
    I wasn't sure when you showed it unfolded what you were going to end up with, but it is wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sounds like a wonderful and productive weekend away! Your baby quilt is lovely, especially with those great fabrics. And your value quilt turned out fantastic. Good for you for pressing on! and thank you for the cute award. How fun is that. I do appreciate your gratitude and friendship.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great quilts!!! Of course I love Heather Bailey, but that values quilt is eye-popping, goose bumply goood!!
    Thanks for your kind words!
    Blessings,
    KT

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks so much Joan! :)
    Both of your quilts are just beautiful! Way to stick with it! I love the Fresh Cut line, and it looks so great as a coin quilt.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oooh....Great value quilt!!! I actually think it looked pretty cool in a crumpled "mess" too! Like a modern art quilt.

    ReplyDelete
  11. lovely lovely lovely joan. freshcut is such a good choice of fabrics to use for anything, but your coin quilt looks especially nice...and your value quilt is beautiful. love it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you for the wonderful award! Even with that mess you persevered and it came out just gorgeous!! But I you know I love Kaffe and you did a wonderful job!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am in love with you value quilt! the five diamond lay out you chose is just perfect. I've made two - one with just one radiating diamond and a zig-zag value - but i need to try your configuration - brilliant! so nice to hear you get to quilt at your beach house - we live in the country surrounded by rivers and it's my dream to live on the water one day so that I can take quilting breaks to watch the water and sun set.

    ReplyDelete
  14. They are two gorgeous quilts! I love your choice of fabrics :o)
    The coin quilt looks like an easy quilt to make, I might try to make one too .... Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for the inspiration, you get a lot done. I might borrow that quote"If you ever have a big project...". That one made me laugh!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow! You got a lot accomplished and the quilts are wonderful!!
    I've done the "sheet" thing too and while it does keep the blocks in the place I wanted them it doesn't stay very neat!

    ReplyDelete
  17. What quilts! Your handiwork is what I aspire to. I've just started off on my first full-size quilt project (a wonky log cabin). Thanks for being an inspiration.

    Kristina
    Sweetfern Handmade

    ReplyDelete
  18. You're G-R-E-A-T!!! LOVE (all) the things you got accomplished while at the Beach!!! And, kudos on your blog award too! ; ) Neat-o!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I love that quilt! I had to laugh when You said you make things harder...very cute.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Your value quilt is gorgeous! That quilt is on my to do list. Congrats on your blog award. I haven't "met" everyone on your list, so I'll go do so.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Just catching up with blogland- loving seeing all of your gorgeous work, then you surprised me with your very kind award! Thankyou so much dear Joan...a lovely uplift for me! Thankyou for being there for me!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Ahh Joan, I had to laugh when I saw your 'mess' of hst's, that is something I would do!!! Oh my goodness, your hst quilt is amazing, I love it. What a great place to sew in, lovely that you could have some time away.

    Thank you so much Joan for nominating me for the lemonade award, I'm thrilled. I have really appreciated your friendship and chats, looking forward to what 2010 will bring! xo

    ReplyDelete
  23. Your HST quilt is STUNNING! Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete