For this Marin Autumn Retreat, I took another weekend trip to Tie-Land.
Working with the last blue shirt and two-dozen ties, I used the ‘string block’ method to make a four blocks for the pillow top and plan four solid blocks out of wool trousers for the backside.
My goal is to complete 8 pillows, so I’ll need to cut the last 23 ties very judiciously to make this work. 
With the long weekend, I’m contemplating my addition options for the round robin block. It’s déjà vu because my friend & I split a long strip-pieced fabric swatch for our starter blocks. I’m working on hers with a couple months of borders. Here’s my chosen color palette.
I’m looking forward
to reintroducing purple. My other quandary is how to work with the trapezoid shape. I could square it up & turn it on point. I do like it much better with less green, but I’m not ready to cut it yet.
For this installment of BAM-a-lot Blocks, I have a fun, stripe-n-square block that was last bordered only on two sides. My choice of fabrics included colors I thought would meld (orange and plum) as well as a bright teal and lime, plus an orange mandala print that’s similar to the multicolored small print already in the piece.
My first thought is to bookend half a mandala on 
each side, however, that seems a little too expected. Since it shines like a sunset sinking into a brilliant azure sea on the dusty purple horizon, I place it on the ‘top’ border centering it on the vertical and ponder the left half of the equation. Continuing the stacked blocks might work, but I decide to echo the stripes instead and save the blocks for the right side. I’m running out of that plum for the bottom. There’s just enough, with an orange squeaked in there to finish one last strip.
Here are my very first Block Challenge fabrics:
Not really colors I’d ever pick out, but they kind of remind me of my house!
Recently, I visited a local Modern Quilt Guild with a couple friends.
One of the projects that drew me in was a small group round robin block. All the fresh fabrics were jumbled like Halloween candy on the table. As we were late to this group, my friend & I split the strip-pieced swatch in the foreground. I thought I might slice it up and reconstruct the block like my red striped pillow from last year, but I changed direction and put on a 
skewed border instead. I’d like to work more on the corners, but I like the wonky feel for my first BAM-a-Lot Block.
(NOTE: this is MY starting block for others to add sections or borders around.)
It’s one thing to enter a quilt in an open exhibition, quite another to enter a judged show.
Before the San Mateo County Fair, I’d spent a couple more weeks of hand quilting. Finishing the top of the hearts, I decided the squares on point could use a little attention. I’m ambivalent about quilting another zigzag around the burgundy border; the squares will turn into diamond along the top and bottom, so maybe I’ll just leave it for later.
The tricky part is quilting the internal hanging sleeve. Luckily, I find a flat mirror from my kit that just fits and I set to work quilting the front, then flipping it over to mock-quilt (there’s no batting) the striped side. Easy peas-y!
I’d entered my heart quilt in our biennial quilt exhibition this Spring. Of course, after a month of deliberation and trying to fix my pesky prairie point border, I gave up and took it apart the week before it was due. Spent an evening cleaning off all the little bits of thread. Fun!
Once I laid everything out flat again, I set the points to the correct depth, pinned them on, and pillow-topped the border again. This time, all went as planned and I could begin quilting.
Yup, I’m way beyond part 2!
Another quilting retreat and finally, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Everything is relatively square border-wise, though on corner is still a little wonky ~ Ah well!
On to the next burning decision: to “prairie point or not?” After a little research, I find a tip for continuous prairie points and augment it with pairs of points to create a scrappy look befitting my design. They are remarkably easy to assemble (though I hit a snag sizing them), and I zip up the points and painstakingly press throughout Friday night. It’s maddeningly tedious work, but every time I set a strand of triangles to a border, my excitement bolsters my resolve to continue throughout the following day. After the dinner break on Saturday, I finally ‘pillow-top’ the border.
Finally emerging from my cloud, I decided to make Valentines.
Upon discovering this 2-sided paper and cupcake embossed card stock, I knew I had a winning design.
Enjoy my ‘cupcake’ Valentine inspiration!
Sometimes when your weather turns gloomy with rain, it’s best to try new things… specifically new quilty things… and specifically new quilty things in cheery colors!
Took another ‘last-minute’ workshop where I learned ‘origami with fabric’ techniques. I chose to work with a spunky turquoise, lavender and butter floral that I added to my stash this autumn. E gave me some matching turquoise and I played with the colors for each folded design. The edged Prairie Points and Square-in-Squares came together very easily, while the Harlequin tucks and smocking were both interesting and time consuming. Stay tuned… these will make a vibrant purse!