Scrappy Holidays

Since I got back, I have been tackling my scrap collection (which is enormous and embarrassing, but somewhat organized by color). I've been cutting scraps for three different types of scrappy blocks, and three sizes of hexagons.

We've been pretty caught up on Dr. Who these days, so in my mind of think of the scrap hexagon quilt as "Amy Pond's quilt" (watch The Girl Who Waited and look closely at her bed if you're curious). I've been taking the effort to cut all the way down to a 1.5" square to make a "postage stamp" quilt. I'm not sure why this amuses me so...but it's a pretty neat effect.

Another Spiral

I can't stop making these things - I was eager to try one with the solids left over from my Sol Lewitt phase, so last night I got the top stitched:

Embroidered Delights

I have had my (sadly neglected) embroidery machine humming this week. One of my favorites is this castle from a whole collection of "Dark Fairytales." The photo is a little light - this is stitched with black thread on a dark charcoal background, very subtle in its loveliness. I absolutely adore the Urban Threads site - they really have my number with their embroidery designs. I'm thinking that after I get all of these stitched out, I might assemble them into a bound, quilted (& embellished) book format. Plenty of time to let the idea stew while I finish the embroidery...

Extermi-Knit!!

I saw one of these in a terrific little knitting shop in Nottingham. Holy geekdom, Batman! I could not resist it; accordingly, most of my after-dark work has been knitting for the past couple of weeks. (N.B.: This is a hush-hush project, so if you talk to my boys before Christmas, please don't mention this!)

Chocolate Cherries

I've been wanting to make a pink & brown quilt for a while - I love that color combo - and I stumbled onto a great pattern that was actually shown in those colors. I spent the day at my friendly neighborhood FLQS cutting all the pieces for the blocks. (No triangles, no waiting.) Here's a first glimpse at my progress:

Group Quilt

We have entered that delightfully hyperkinetic time of the year when most of my projects are too super-secret to post about, so I'll take the next few weeks to catch up on a few things I've been working on that are appropriate for all audiences. I'll start with the block I made for the Newington Schoolhouse Quilters' Group Quilt, which I am coordinating this year. Usually we ask everyone to contribute blocks of the same pattern using a general type of fabric, but this year I decided to try something different: I bought eight yards of one great fabric (a fun, bright, multi-color polka-dot), and gave everyone who wanted to participate a 10 x 18" chunk. They had to use that fabric to make any block they wanted, which will then all be sewn together into a single quilt. Here's my color-wheel block, featuring my favorite-for-now hexagons; I hand-pieced these cute little one-inch hexes, then machine appliqued the whole ring onto the background:

Tonight the blocks were due, and when I brought them home from our meeting I couldn't help slapping them all up willy-nilly on my wall. Spoiler alert for NSQ members: they look SPECTACULAR!! (If you drive past my house over the next couple of days you can probably steal a peek in my window...but you'll get a better view and an offer of a drink if you knock & come in!)

Block of the Month Top

Before we left in August, I got all caught up on the first nine blocks for Planet Patchwork's Oh My Stars block-of-the-month program. I used a very fun "sewcial" day this week to finish the last three. Unfortunately, these three were fairly error-riddled, so I had a few false starts before realizing that I needed to spend the time proofreading before actually sewing them. (Lesson learned, I guess - no major damage except for some mild profanities unleashed on my fellow stitchers... ) I did manage to finish the last of the blocks before the Sunday Night Football game ended, but it was too late to sew the top together.

This evening I added a few more applique flowers, then assembled the top (!). I really love this type of gridless pattern, and I especially like the way the large-scale green print looks all chopped up into little pieces - it makes me think of a circuit board. I may still add a border, but I don't really like the simple one used on the original pattern, so I'll let it stew for a while before deciding. It's time to move onto holiday stitchery anyway.