June color challenge

I managed to whip together a little something for this month's Color Palette challenge. The inspiration photo was beautiful, and just this weekend I realized that I have the absolutely perfect fabric to match this palette:

Seriously - could there be any single fabric MORE perfect for this palette??

This delight has been in my stash for years - my husband wears a terrific summer shirt from this fabric, and I have been saving the remaining yardage for a "one-block wonder" kaleidoscoping quilt. Obviously I don't have time to complete that project in the two days remaining in June, but I also found a bag of six inch circles that I cut from this fabric for some mysterious quite-unremembered reason. I used a few of those to make a cute little coin purse.

Coin purse (from "Fabulous Fat Quarter Bags")

I don't think I mentioned the exciting news that my project for last month was drawn (randomly) as the winner, for which I received some beautiful hand-dyed fat quarters from Vicki Welsh. Thank you so much, Judy and Vicki, for organizing this terrific project - it has been a real skill builder for me!

Stitchery on the road

To pass the time on our drive to South Carolina, I did a little English paper-piecing using a fun tile pattern from the Jinny Beyer book I got for Christmas last year. The colors were selected for the May Color Palette Challenge.

May 2012 Color Palette Challenge photo

I started with some spot-on perfect fabric that I had in my Strategic Reserves (used as the hexagons), and added a few bright batiks and some white for the background triangles. Although I wish the yellow batik squares were bright orange instead, I really like this blockless tiling pattern. I am considering making one of these in slightly larger scraps, with a pale neutral hexagon as the background, and unplanned darks as the squares and triangles (in which case, I think the pattern is called "Jack's Chain").

English paper piecing! Each seam is 2" long.

I'm really looking forward to June's challenge...another great photo:

June's Color Palette Challenge photo

Table topper: Check

Finished the table topper for my mother's friend! The embroidery in the middle is a very elegant design, and it stitched out beautifully -- once again, I'm very satisfied with the folks at Urban Threads.

http://www.urbanthreads.com/product_details?product_id=3742&category_id=6

Odds & Ends

Working on a few ongoing projects...

Here are the yellow (yay!) squares for the Rainbow Challenge project I'm working on, along with May's Free-Motion Challenge motif. I like the concept of the "double stipple" but I probably should have practiced on paper a bit more first. It's OK, but I think this pattern could be really jazzed up with some loops or leaves crossing the first wide stipple. Also, it's harder to do a large-scale stipple than a small-scale, because I really have to move my arms to get those large movements across the piece. Gotta practice that some more.

Also, I finally finished one of the April blocks for the Craftsy block of the month. (I'll get caught up on all of these in June.) I liked the English paper piecing method so much that I'm drafting some paper templates for Penrose tiles. Many thanks to Karen for showing me how to invisibly applique these hexes onto the background!

Still to finish this week: Mom's table topper (top is stitched, just needs flannel back & a bit of quilting), architecture challenge, and Color Palette Challenge project. Plus, I need to prepare something to take on vacation with me.

Bones

My 10-year-old's birthday gift:

Love dem bones!

Starting a project for my mom

My mother asked me to make a circular table topper for a friend of hers; she wanted something that comes across as "Irish" although not necessarily completely shamrocky. I found a terrific fabric with a sort of Celtic knot pattern on clearance:

I decided on a very simple layout using the 9-degree wedge ruler, alternating the print with a fabric that has six gradated shades of green. Cutting complete:

Sewing to follow. I'm thinking of embroidering a nice celtic knot for the center circle. I'll just back it with some flannel so it will be floppy enough to hang nicely over the table edge. I hope it fits what my mom had in mind.

Finished mold quilt

In the nick of time, the mold quilt is finished, and I am completely in love with how it turned out:

"I Do Like a Bit of Gorgonzola" (38 x 50") April 2012.
(Color Wave pattern, Fons & Porter Love of Quilting, Nov/Dec 2011)

I'm looking forward to working on May's color challenge, which is a bright and delicious feast for the eyes: