Colorado Star - progress / Swap / Featured

It feels like I'm on slow motion when it comes to quilting... Must be the heat and humidity these days... 

Perhaps I'm not that slow after all; it's just me who feels like that...

Earlier this month I was busy cutting 2 inches and 2.5 inches squares for the Postage Stamp Quilt 2012 - Charm Swap & Challenge. A few days back I connected with my swap partners in the US and Australia and I hope to get the charms in the mail today.

I had a little 'stocktaking' of my UFO's earlier. It took me awhile to decide on which UFO to 'attack'. The Colorado Star quilt is my oldest UFO - from April 2009. Not that bad - huh?! :)

Can't remember how many blocks I had already done, but it was not enough for two couch covers. 16 blocks are required for one couch cover. Yes, not more than 16! The blocks are 18 inches squares (sewn into quilt), that's why not more are needed. 

When I had enough blocks - 32 - I discovered four of them were not the right size; they are almost 1/2 inch smaller than the other blocks I had made earlier so they can't be used for the covers! :( Don't know what happened at that time, but I've surely scamp (?) the work and not paid proper attention to the 1/4" seam allowance! Excuse! Excuse! I was a newbie at that time! :)) I can still use those blocks; I'm going to make a table topper to match the couch covers.

I've been featured - again! :) Well, not me, but a bag I made from a pattern in the Australian Homespun Quilting magazine. Take a look here - top right - Dec 2011 issue.  I'm sorry I don't know how to enlarge it... If I had had the magazine here I could have scanned it, but here the magazines are in the shelves 3-4 months after publishing date in Australia. I guess the magazines are sent by ship since it takes that long... You can read more about the bag here.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention I've made a Friendship bag for a swap. I can't show it now, because it is a secret swap.

I've been cooking too, which you can read about here and here.

Blogger's BOM #4 and NYB blocks

Canton Village Quilt Works - Blogger's BOM block #4 is done!

Block #4 is designed by Pat Sloan over at The Voice of Quilting.

I'm not sure I like my color choices - only myself to blame for that!!!

Next block - #5 - will be designed by John Adams over at Quilt Dad.

As you may remember, last year I tried my hands on New York Beauty blocks. Piecing those blocks are not the same as piecing squares together; they have scary curves!!!

These are the first ones I made... I'm far from happy with them; they are wonky and no way they turned out the size they were supposed to be; 6.5 inches square. :((

I decided to make them different, by omitting the two curves at each side of the center/points, cut the two pieces a little bit bigger for so to trim the block to the right size later. This is how they turned out;

Still a bit wonky, but I should get some good practise working on those, before I proceed to the more complicated ones - like those I made first... :)

To those of you who makes those blocks; do you prefer hand- or machine piecing?  

Cut till you ..... what?? Drop??

The festive season is already history, and I have finally packed away all Christmas decoration. Well, not exactly - still some Santa's to be packed away, but I have been busy with other - more important (lol) - things over the last days. When I say 'more important', I have 'tortured' myself in the garden, did quite some weeding, trimming branches and cutting grass. I'm happy we did it 'in time', because yesterday we had some wonderful thunderstorms.

Gardening is important, but can you guess what is 'more important'?! If you read my previous post, I'm sure you'll get it! :)

I've been cutting squares - 2 inches and 2.5 inches - for the Postage Stamp Quilts 2012! I have saved strips over the past years, but never got around cutting them into squares. When The Curious Quilter announced the PSQ 2012, I decided to attack the treasure boxes! Since then I have cut, cut, cut! Phew! :)

2.5 inches squares

2 inches squares

I have yet to count how many squares I already have. Hopefully I have enough for a swap.

If you want to join the Postage Stamp Quilt 2012 - be sure to sign up before January 18th.

Last year - Christmas present in advance - my dear friend Johnny gifted me a 10 kilos (22 pounds) box of different fabric swatches. (Closing-out sale at a quilting shop). 

After I signed up for the PSQ 2012, I thought of cutting some of those swatches. I haven't had a close look at all the fabric swatches, but what caught my eye are two bundles... 

This is one of them; swatches in cream, purple, two different browns and two different greens. It consists of 39 pieces, where the smallest piece is 7" x 12,5" and the biggest 13" x 13". I want to make something out of it, but what? Perhaps if I add some tone-on-tone cream it should be a reasonable sized quilt?

Here's the other one; roses.

27 pieces; smallest 7" x 14" and biggest 13" x 16". If I add some creamy fabrics to these too... 

Any suggestions what I can make out of them?

I was going to add a few more photos, but the I-net connection is shit, so I'll save that for another post - coming soon.

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Postage Stamp Quilts 2012 - Charm swap & challenge

Would you like to have some fun this year?

Do you have a lot of scraps?

Have you always wanted to make a Postage Stamp quilt?

If your answers are YES, hop over to Mary - The Curious Quilter - for much more information!

I plan to participate and would love it if you do too!