Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Bits and Pieces: on-going projects

I've been working on several on-going projects.   I like the fact that I can work on one project for a bit and then switch to another project.  There is no pressure to complete something right away.  I may feel overwhelmed when I finally get all the pieces finished and want to get them sewn together.  Hopefully that won't happen.

My most important project is the wedding quilt, with a self-imposed deadline of June ( to complete the top).  I will tell you the entire story when I finally finish all the blocks and get them sewn together. Below are the blocks I've made so far.  The blocks are free pieced. I work from photographs.  I make a pencil sketch for guidelines and notes. Then work in sections, referring to my sketch for the order in which things need to be pieced to make that part of the block.  The tricky part for me is to remember that the fine details I might see in a photo need not be included.   Some  of these blocks have fused accents and others have applique.  The lettering is all free-pieced.  I used Tonya Ricucci's Word Play Quilts as a guide for making them.
























7 down... 8 more to go... Think I'll make the deadline?



I am doing the Bloggers BOM. I am making 4 of each of the blocks. I am playing with different  colored fabrics while attempting to keep the background fabrics similar. I've found this project to be a challenge, because what looks like a contrast between fabrics close up often isn't when one gets it sewn together and steps away. I've kept all the blocks anyway.  Selecting fabrics is a constant learning process.  Here are the last few months of BOM's. Sorry - photo colors are very washed out.























I am in the New'Bee Swap through www.15minutesplay.com.  This is the block for Janet.  She requested we make fabric of contrasting colors from our scraps.   I chose red and aqua green, which are complimentary colors in Joen Wolfrom's 3 in 1 color tool.  I started by pulling out all of my "red" scraps and "bluish" scraps and then weeding out the shades that weren't really red or aqua.  That was a challenge. I was happy to have something to compare colors against.  I just discovered a three part posting about choosing color and fabrics by Laura Nownes.  Check it out.  I've linked to a list of all her posts, so you need to scroll down a little to January 2012 for these posts.




there is more... but this is enough for today.