Men in Black

What to do when an UFO (unfinished object) menace strikes?
Summon the Men in Black :-D

Men in Black

It began in 2014.  The basic premise was layer fabrics, cut, shuffle, stitch and repeat.

Blocks from 2014

Once the blocks were made, I struggled with the layout.

I made a flimsy (no pictures of Flimsy #1) and then had second thoughts.
Some blocks were removed to arrive at a better layout. And then it was put away.

Thank you Sandra

On the banks of Lake Ontario

I took the flimsy with me on my trip to Niagara/Buffalo.
These pictures were taken by Sandra in July of 2018, on the banks of Lake Ontario in Canada.

Fast Forward to December 2019.  It was time to just finish it. I pulled it out and Paul saw it.

Paul: This looks interesting.
Me: It has been interesting since 2014.
Paul: Why not finish it?  
Me: I cannot decide on a quilting approach.
Paul: Wavy lines, I guess. You are such a one-trick pony!!!
Me: Ouch.

Paul is the only person who can say that and get away without a scratch.
But he was right. It was time to do something different.
I marked the quilt, painstakingly and quilted it with my walking foot using a variegated blue/turquoise thread.

Marking 

Slowly

My new reading glasses prevented blindness as I stitched the charcoal binding with a dark grey thread.

Thank you reading glasses!!!

Finishing at 45" by 53", it qualifies as a crib size quilt.

Finished at 45" by 53"

Pieced Backing

It is labelled and will go to one of the charity causes supported by my guild.

Labelled

Manly 

Finished Yay!!!

UFO Conquered

In essence, this was a UFO and had been bothering me.  So when I completed it, I chose the name - Men in Black.  Thanks to Paul's needling, I put more thought and effort into my quilting.

Quilting Detail

Thank you walking foot

Not a one-trick-pony!!!

What do you think? Too much? Not enough? Tell me already.

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After I completed my big RSC block, I had some smaller green scraps left over.
When I saw Mell's design on Instagram I had a lightbulb moment.

January is Green

3.5" square color blocks framed with 2.5" strips (low volume fabrics) will result in 7" finished blocks. Yippee!!!

Blocks in the works

Here is the result of that.  Thank you, Mell!!!  I will be making these along with the big blocks :-)
Sharing at Angela's linky party.

RSC2020 - Project #2 Blocks

I think I need to increase the volume of my low-volume fabrics by about 17%.  What do you think?


If you are interested in Melanie's design, you are in luck.  Mell has a very detailed tutorial on her blog.

Angela has already announced Orange as the RSC2020 color for February and I can barely wait to finish this blogspot to dive into my orange scraps.

February is Orange!!!

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Australia is burning and the Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild is leading the effort of making quilts for those affected by these bushfires.

Four designers have provided tutorials for making 12.5" square (3 trees and 1 new shoots) blocks. The links are on the WMQG page, link above.

Although some trees are short and more rounded, when I think of a tree, I picture a rectangular block. But two trees next to each other, or better still overlapping may end up in a square block.

The idea crystallized while I doodled during a boring meeting at work.

Doodling or Designing

This is not the first brilliant idea resulting from a dull meeting. I am sure it isn't the last.  So here is the block I designed :-)

Twin Tree Quilt Block 

Designed by Me!!!

Yes, I am supremely happy with it.  I am making more of them.

My Twin Trees Workshop :-)

If you can and wish to contribute to this effort, please please read the FAQ document on the Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild website.  They are rather particular about what they will accept.
Use #BushFireBlocks on Instagram.

I will be sharing with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar.
As usual, I'd love to know your thoughts and deeds :-)

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And one last thing - I am going to Quiltcon in Austin.  I will be there all day Sunday enjoying the quilt show and exchanging hugs :-D

Are you coming?