It’s true.
I’ve not wanted to sew or paint or cut paper or much of anything this year, in light of recent events. However, I sat myself down and looked at my Quilty Project 2015 list, even though I knew it might depress me when I counted how many open projects I have to list already for 2016.
March is always a good month to learn new techniques.
That said, I jumped into an intriguing workshop today: Paperless paper-piecing with Cristy Fincher. (more about Cristy here) We used her Folded block template.
There are some super fun ways to piece fabric and Cristy’s glue-basting technique is quite ingenious. I don’t tend to like pins, so this was especially perfect for me. (Look: no-pin sewing!)
After years of focusing on the same quilt, I’m happy to say that there are already 8 projects on my WIP list for 2015, including a sampler. Hmm… It’s a good thing that the annual Spring retreat is this month. I could use some time to focus on sewing.
Saturday morning, N and I made progress on our Improv Charity Blocks from Cheryl Arkison’s workshops. 
There are now twelve 15″ blocks total: her 3, my 3, Cheryl’s 3 and the 3 we just made. I sewed the top together and next we will look for red backing fabrics.
Top finished. Check!
With furious sewing and quilting over the past few months and weeks, I finished the 2014 Hoffman Challenge. True to form, I ran into some strange issues I didn’t experience previously.
Unlike the Magenta version, the Indigo fabric has colorful orange/pink filigree in the background, instead of subtle purple or blue. Thus, I spent much more time fussy-cutting:
Hoffman Challenge, Part 1: Earlier this year, I stumbled on the annual Hoffman fabric challenge. My friend, E thought it might be grand to enter and I decided to give it a whirl myself.
When I saw the multi-color mandala wheels, I knew exactly what to make. (wait for it…) A Carpenter’s Wheel!
Finally, I’m inspired to start a new quilt for myself.
I’d been reflecting on my favorite Gramma-Great quilt: the pink and white Carpenter’s Wheel block. All those diamonds are so enticing! However, I’m not ready to attempt Y-seams just yet. As luck would have it, my colleague pointed me to the magic-8 method for making half-square triangles and from there I searched how to assemble the block using these triangles instead of diamonds.
Last year, I purchased fabric without any intended project. I’d stumbled upon a delicate birdie print that I used for the wheel plus two coordinating solids.
While I knew that my great grandmother was an avid quilter, I hadn’t seen her handiwork in many years. On a recent visit with my mother, she pulled out several quilts that I easily remembered from childhood. Here’s one that was on my parents bed.
It’s called Carpenter’s Wheel.
This seems to be a favorite block design. Using two colors make a flat block, but with the large ‘corner’ triangles around each block, the background seems to change. This quilt is especially amazing because it’s hand pieced & hand quilted. We have several more in various fabric combos and it’s interesting to note differences.