To Australia, with love

A mediocre songstress was surprised when someone in the crowd yelled ENCORE following her ho-hum performance.

Twin Tree Block (falling short)

As she performed a second time, the same person yelled out - "and again, till you get it right"

Twin Tree Block (compensating)

That song is the twin tree block and that songstress is me!
By the time I got it right there were over 25 blocks. I figured I should make a few more.  I could definitely use the practice.

Pinned

In process

Trunks

And forty blocks later, we have two lovely flimsies.  I hope they will only see my intentions and not my imperfections.

Flimsy 1 (Thank you Paul)

Paul is the model. In the picture below, Flimsy 2 can be seen on the right, trying to photobomb Flimsy 1.

Flimsy 2 (Flimsy1is photobombing)

In deference to Valentine's Day I added a tree of pink hearts to each flimsy.
Although I considered including a koala or a kangaroo but the idea seemed contrived and was therefore abandoned.


The dismal/depressing wintry landscape of my backyard is the perfect backdrop for these lively greens.

40 Blocks = Two Flimsies

I am taking these with me to Quiltcon in Austin. I understand someone will be collecting the blocks and flimsies for the #BushFireBlocks.

____________________________________________________________________

Here are all the RSC blocks for February 2020. Since I love orange, I made not three but six large ones.

RSC 2020 - Orange Blocks

And two more!!!

In other words, these oranges are so juicy that I could not contain all of it in four large blocks.
It happily spilled into two more blocks.  That is fine. I have a feeling I won't be making as many yellow or brown blocks.


And this is the second RSC project. This time my low-volume fabric has a little more zing to it.

Low-Volume but a bit Louder

I am ready for March.  Will it be pink or yellow?
Will be linking with Angela's linky party, when it goes live...

_________________________________________________________________

Remember that pretty package of cuteness that Bernie sent me?  Well it was a squirrel disguised as a package.

Squirrel!!!

So I dropped everything and made it...

Scrappy & Yummy

No not a quilt...not even a flimsy.

But then scrap vortex is not a sprint. It is a marathon.  I chase a few scraps, corral them into a block or two and move on to the current project.

Thank you Bernie

Will link with Sandra's Dreami Linky party (once it goes live)...


Although I am dying to show you my new finish (another UFO slayed), it will have to wait till I return from Quiltcon in Austin!!!

I am linking with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar.
As usual I look forward to your thoughts :-)

Tara

Picture this - About noon on Superbowl Sunday

Me: I am going to eat my lunch and watch TV. Do you want to join me?
Paul (reclining on the couch): Nah, I am watching the eyelid show.
Me: Ooh that is a good show.
Paul: It was greatly reviewed.
Me: Yup, I watch it everyday.

Later, during the 4th quarter of the Superbowl game
Me: I am done here.
Paul: Sup babe?
Me: My eyelid show is about to begin.

For the Eyelid Show

Here is a quilt perfect for use during a little one's eyelid show :-)
I am calling her Tara.

Scrappy Triangles 

On the Design Wall

Tara came about because I was trying to repurpose the scraps left over from Enchanted Lake and Kinda Brave.

Sew, Press, Trim

6.5" HSTs can be combined in so many ways and there were several revisions.

In the Process

Getting There

Final Layout, I think.

Aha!!!

Added a skinny border to save the points.
OK, I could not save everyone :-( but most points were saved.

Skinny Border

For the backing I had to get slightly inventive. I used a striped fabric and added (cut and insert) a pieced strip of the same to get at 50" square.

Pieced Backing

Tara finished at about 48" square.  Here are some more pictures of the finished quilt.

Aquas & Purples

Black/White Binding

Walking Foot Quilting

Snug as a Bug

Did I label it?

Labelled

It is amazing how much your binding improves after 150 quilts :-)

She shimmers

Sweet Dreams!!!

She glows and shimmers and makes me as happy as a glowworm on a warm summer night.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

_______________________________________________________________________

Me: All the blocks for the #BushFire Quilts are complete.
Paul: That is good news.

Me: But some blocks are a smidgen short of the required 12.5"
Paul: What does that mean?

The first ones

Me: That they do not meet the strict guidelines - at least 12.5". Could be more, not less.
Paul: Will they discard your blocks?
Me: I doubt that.  But if I was collecting the blocks, I'd be upset if the blocks did not meet the specified dimensions
Paul: So why did you not make them larger?

Mix and Match

Background Triangles

Me: Well, the first batch of blocks ended up being slightly smaller because I was still trying the new pattern. The blocks I made later are more generously sized.
Paul: Then just send the generous ones.
Me: I could, but that is only half of what I made. Disappointing
Paul:  What now?

Pinned in Place

Trunks

Me: I could combine one or two skinny blocks with a generous block.
Paul: How? It is not like you can take an average here.
Me: If I sew them into a top the smaller blocks can be compensated by the generous ones and the overall dimensions will match their requirements (48" by 60").

Paul: There you go!

Falling Short

Coming Together

The finished flimsies will be revealed in the next blogspot. Stay tuned :-)

_______________________________________________________________________

Here are some of my juicy orange blocks for the RSC2020. Linking with Angela.

Small Blocks are Done

The big ones are in the works and I promise to have them done along with the BushFire Quilt flimsies.

Big Blocks in process

_______________________________________________________________________

This blogpost will not be complete without a shout-out to Bernie.  I was surprised (very pleasantly) when I received a package from Bernie (Needle and Foot) with a load of yummy scraps, a sweet note and two kisses :-)

Cannot stop smiling :-)

No, I did not win the giveaway but Bernie made a special package for me. I feel so loved.

Kisses to you, Bernie!!!

I don't have to be rich. I just want to have generous friends.
Wish granted!!!

I will be linking with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar.

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.

_______________________________________________________________________

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!!!

_______________________________________________________________________

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 :-)

_______________________________________________________________________

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?