Catch up...

Once again, I let my swap obligations pile up. I took the opportunity this weekend to catch up, and I feel so much better. These are all off to their recipients, yay!

Whew....

I may have bit off more than I can chew. I am now involved in THREE quilting bees/block swaps. This may not sound like much, but two of them require two blocks each, so that's a minimum of five blocks a month. Even thought this is a little bit crazy, I love the bees. They give me a chance to use fabric I had not yet tried, learn new techniques, and work in other styles. Plus, I know that no matter how busy I am, I have to make time for a little bit of quilting. Unfortunately, the holidays really threw me off. Plus, in DC, the inauguration made everything crazy until only a week ago. Then, add in a new job, a barely sleeping baby, and a crazy crazy toddler, um, yeah. I was a little behind. Fear not. I am caught up. They will all be going out on Monday. Here they are, in all their glory. First up, Alissa's blocks for Block Party. If you want to hear more about these blocks, check out the Block Party blog. Next up, the January block for Sew Connected 2 Now the December blocks for the About.com Birthday Block Swap Finally, the About.com swap January Blocks What a relief to be all caught up!

November Block Swap blocks

For Deb, the Autumn Tints block in 30's prints: For Angelina, a Tuscon or Sonoran Desert inspired block:

Mailbag

I made a trip to the post office today to send out a few swap packages. First, the easy lap quilt for the bend-the-rules swap. My fellow swapper chose the fabric, but the layout and quilting are all mine. I like the simplicity of this pattern, and it really was quite easy. To complement the linear design, I channel quilted lines parallel to the strips. I also hand-quilted a number of asterisk-ish designs in three of the bars in cream pearl cotton. Hand-quilting is hard! I found it very difficult to emulate the rocking motion that everyone speaks of. I think this may have been because the pearl cotton is so thick. It took quite a tug to get it through the layers of fabric and batting. I would love to hear any hints on quilting with this type of cotton if you havy any! Here's the handquilting: Here is the front: Here is the back: I also sent out the blocks for the about.com birthday block swap: peggy asked for a butterfly block: stacy asked for a batik star block. another paper-pieced beauty!

block swap september

Here are the blocks for this month's birthday block swap. For Becca, a brasstown stars block in black and batiks: For Faye, a basket block on point: This was my first attempt, but it came out a little smaller than it should: Because it wasn't quite big enough, I made her another one: A picnic basket! I sent Faye both, on the chance that she can use both. Hope everyone likes their blocks!!

July Birthday Block Swap

I am participating in a Birthday Block Swap at the about.com quilting forums. The concept is pretty neat. 24 quilters participate, and each month it is two quilters' "birthdays." All of the other quilters then make the birthday ladies a block of their choice. So, I send out two blocks every month, and then, when it is my "birthday" month, I will receive 23 blocks of my choice. Some quilters choose a general theme, such as gardening or birdhouses, and let everyone run with it. Others choose a particular block in a particular color. For me, this is a great way to force myself to try "traditional" quilting techniques, such as complicated piecing or applique, that I wouldn't normally. I think that over the course of the year I will definitely make a lot of mistakes, but also learn a lot in the process. Here are the first blocks, for July: On the left is my contribution to a "garden" theme. The background sky and ground are pieced together using curved piecing. The veggies are appliqued on, using light fusible and a teeny-tiny zig zag stitch. I love how bright the colors are, and I think the cross-section view is neat. On the right, the birthday gal requested blue stars on a white background, quilter's choice of pattern. I used this pattern: http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2008/06/star-quilt-along-week-7.htm from the crazy mom quilts star quilt-a-long. Her tutorial was great, and I love the star pattern. This quilt will be going to someone who lost everything in Katrina. I hope she likes it!