While I was in a quilting mood this weekend, I put the Waves of Strips quilt aside and started quilting a baby quilt for a college friend who’s expecting her first. This one basically a whole cloth quilt that is entirely FMQ. You can see the start of the quilting here: → Read more
I’m behind in everything quilting and knitting related yet again. What else is new. Actually there is news: I started a new job last week and I’m loving it! But that doesn’t help the knitting/quilting time problem of course . . .
I did manage to get a little sewing done over the last few weeks or so though, and have been trying to finish a few of the projects that are this close to done. One of them is the Waves of Strips quilt that the Promise Circle made the blocks for, for my month as the quilter. And I’m happy to say the quilt is almost done now!
As promised, here’s a tutorial to make your own equals quilt block or equality wall hanging.
These instructions make a block that is 11.5″ unfinished, so will finish at 11″ once sewn together with 1/4″ seams.
If you’d like to make it into a wall hanging like mine, trim the block to 11″ before quilting and binding.
Instructions are after the jump. Enjoy!
A few weeks ago the Supreme Court heard two cases about gay marriage and Facebook supporters turned their profile pictures into red-and-pink equals signs to show their support for marriage equality in the US. I feel strongly about this issue (as do most people I know here in NYC) and changed my profile picture right along with them.
As I followed along the news and tried to predict what the court might decide, I found myself thinking more and more about the issue and about the equals sign that had become its symbol. And since I’m a quilter, I decided to explore my feelings in fabric form.
Read on for what I did and why:
Um, where did February go? Oh right, to work stress and trying to escape it via reading Game of Thrones. Oh, and to pouting over not getting to go to Quiltcon. Ahem.
I got very little sewing or knitting done in February so is it any wonder I didn’t post all month? Definitely not.
Today though, today I went to Quilt Fest of New Jersey (with my friend Sara who drove me, thank you for inviting me Sara!) and was so inspired by the quilts in the show that I’m itching to get back to sewing. The quilt pictured above was one of my favorites for its density of detail, tongue-in-cheek humor, and unusually logical use of embellishments. It’s called The Lunker and was made by art quilter Janice M Jones of Methuen, MA. I took a photo of her artists statement and you can read it here if you’re curious.
I took pictures of many of my favorite entries and made a Flickr group out of them, which you can find here.
A few months ago my friend Nancy and I participated in a text print charm swap on Flickr in the Big 10-inch Charm Swap group. The idea with this and all other similar swaps is to buy a bunch of one fabric, chop it up, and send it to the swap mamma. When everyone’s done this, she sorts through the stacks and makes new stacks with one of each person’s prints in them, and sends them back.
What’s awesome about these types of swaps is not only the cool fabrics you get back (and the fact that they’re already cut to size!) but also the people you meet. The ladies in the 10-inch group are lovely all around!
Here’s the stack of charms that Nancy and I got back:
I’ve been feeling vaguely sick, like I was fighting off something, for over a week now. As of yesterday, I’m officially in the “pretty sure I’m sick” phase, complete with an earache and sore throat, and now my stomach is unhappy too. Looks like I’ve caught the horrible flu that’s been going around the city.
Sigh.
The good news? I’m not too sick to sew/knit or use the computer (at least not yet).
The 4-day weekend finally gave me a chance to catch up on the bee blocks I owed for the Promise Circle of Do. Good Stitches, which I fell horribly behind on at the end of the year.
Here are my October blocks, only 2 months late (oh the shame):
I’ve had this quilt idea in my mind for a few months now, and when it came time for me to lead the Promise Circle of Do. Good Stitches I thought it was high time I worked it out!
The idea is to make free hand “waves” that travel diagonally across a quilt, with the waves alternating between pieced strips and a solid. This would be a good block to use with a Jelly Roll or just with scraps, as you can piece within the strips to get the length you need. Read on for the full tutorial. → Read more
I actually finished this right around when Sandy hit, but it’s taken me this long to take a proper picture and actually write it up for the blog. Arnold and I have been sleeping under it every night for about a month now and I can safely say I love it!
Here’s a bigger version of the shot above: → Read more
Out to Sea Charm Plus Toddler Quilt
Big Twirl Baby Quilt
Pixel Christmas Tree Wall Hanging
Recent comments
Thank you Anna! I still haven't sent out March or April blocks... »
It looks fantastic! I love how this came together! (...I got so... »
Thanks for the tutorial, Ivete! This quilt looks great, and the wavy... »
So envious that you got to go to the quilt show, but... »
Ivete - your beautiful LynneBobSquarePants blocks arrived and I have to say... »