PLAYCATION WEEK 16

 It's Tuesday at 1pm!  Time for Cheryl Arkison and her Quilter's Playcation 2024.

Here is this week's improv block.  

ROLLED IT FORWARD

 I finally got that first section of the quilting on my Coordinates quilt done and was able to roll it forward to the next section.

Of course there was a bit of fussing to do to get the top lined up to continue the parallel quilting lines.

BACK AT IT

 Finally, I got back to work on the quilting of my Coordinates quilt.  It's been on the longarm for quite a while, languishing.  I had a lot of other things on my mind, was preoccupied and a bit stressed out.  So, it didn't get the attention it needed.  

But, I'm back at it and making progress.

WORKING ON THE BLUE SLABS

 I'm making more blue Slabs and adding them to the wall.  When should I start thinking about joining them together?

Not yet.

BACK TO THE SLABS

 I got out the blue Slabs I made last Friday with Cheryl Arkison on Sew Squad.  And, got busy making more.

I put them up on the wall as I made them.

Love it!

And then, since it's Tuesday at 1pm, it's time for Cheryl again!  It's the Quilters Playcation 2024.

This week's block is about pointy things.  This is week 15.

MONDAY CLEANUP

 First thing up in the studio, I started cleaning up.  I've finished working on the scrappy Checkerboards but the two scrap buckets were a mess.  They were all mixed together. 

During the Brave Patch Monday Sewcial I started sorting them back into their buckets.  I didn't think I'd made a dent on them, but I was surprised that they fit much better now - not overflowing anymore.  So, I guess it worked!

I also put all of the fabrics, mostly greys, away that I had used on the Sunrise quilt.  So the studio is looking a lot better and the cutting table is cleared off.

CHECKERBOARDS TOP

 After lots of missteps, backups and restarts, I finally got the Checkerboards 15-17 top done!

Yea!  It's about 70" by 87".

BABY QUILT FINDS HOME

 While at the birthday party yesterday, I gave my cousin some baby quilts to donate to an organization she is familiar with. 

I also gave one to another cousin to give to her brother's brand new grand-baby.

She sent me this picture today of the happy recipients with their quilt.

70 and 91

 My cousin Clayton was born on my Mom's 21st birthday.  He says they've never celebrated their birthdays together.  This year was Clayton's 70th, so we figured it was time to remedy that.

A lot of the family got together at cousin Ron's in Lacey for a big birthday celebration.  It was so nice seeing everyone.  Ron and Marva have a beautiful home and everyone had a great time.

The April birthday kids.

SLAB WORKSHOP

 I signed up for Sew Squad so I could go to a SLAB Workshop with Cheryl Arkison.  And it was so much fun.  

I took out my Blue Scrap Bucket and got to work.  First Cheryl had us sort our scraps.  She started with color first, but I already had mine sorted by color.  Then we sorted by size.  I had a lot of narrow strips, so I sorted those into their own pile.

Then we started with sewing the little pieces into a bit bigger pieces.  And we were off!

Here's what I had after the workshop:

IMPROV WEEK 14

 Here's my interpretation of Cheryl Arkison's week 14 of Quilters Playcation 2024 improv block:

MORE THAN HALF WAY

 I'm making quicker progress now that the squares and blocks are a little bigger.  I got the top half of the Checkerboard quilt top done - all except one seam to join the two big chunks together.  And, with the bottom half half-way completed I'm more than half way done.  But, then I'm probably going to take off some of the border I've done and re-do it.  Two steps forward, one step back.

THIRD MONTH OF SEATTLE BOM

 I made this month's blocks for the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild's Block of the Month for 2024.

CHECKERBOARDS

 I've been working on this scrappy Checkerboard project for a while now.  I've got the left side pretty much together.  Almost every seam is a partial seam.  There's a lot of head scratching and figuring and constructing more pieces to make every thing fit together. 

It can be exhausting, but it's also very exciting.

PLAYCATION NUMBER 13

 Here is my improv block that I made with Cheryl Arkison's Playcation Adventure.

CHECKERBOARDS

 While the Sunrise quilt was monopolizing the design wall I haven't been able to do much else.  

But, I started making checkerboards (4-patches, 9-patches...etc) from two of my scrap buckets, Magenta and Purple.  And I added some greys.  I was surprised that I don't have many grey scraps.

So, when I took the completed Sunrise down and folded it up, I was able to arrange the checkerboards I've made so far up on the design wall.

I think I need to make more and I've run out of bigger scraps.  But, I do have lots of fabric.  Don't worry.

END OF FIRST QUARTER

 I've been making a Sunrise block, pretty much every day since January 1st.  If I missed a day, I caught up the next time I was in the studio.  Today was the last block needed for this quilt top.  The Seattle Sunrise Q1 quilt is a top!  It's 70" by 84.5" and needs a good pressing.

I was also sewing the cutoffs, from trimming the blocks to size, together and it formed a really long piece, probably over 100".  And I also started just randomly sewing some of the other cutoff parts together because there were so many.  I think these pieces deserve to be a quilt of their own.  There's still a lot of scraps and I'll keep working on those.

Here's what the daily block would look like before I trimmed it to size.  I made them oversized because as I added the curves the blocks would become weird shaped.  

I kept really good records of the time of the sunrise each day, the colors I saw and the conditions.  I made some forms in excel.

I have three more sheets for the rest of the year.  I've been saying that when I finished this first quarter I was done.  But, I thought of an idea that I'd like to try.  So, I'm going to keep records about the next quarter and make blocks for it.... I think.  I just don't want to be tied to making a block every day.  And, I don't want to get way behind either.  So, we'll see how it goes.

WEEK 12 OF PLAYCATION

 I tuned in at 1pm to Cheryl Arkison's Instagram to play along as she revealed this week's improv block for the Quilter's Playcation Adventure 2024.

I didn't measure anything until it was too late and ended up having my block be 'sideways' .  Cheryl's block was square, mine are rectangular.  So it works out just fine.

BIRD WATCHERS BOM

 Wonderfil Threads is offering a free Block of the Month, Bird Watchers.  They will have patterns for Foundation Paper Pieced (FPP) and another for wool applique.

I downloaded the FPP pattern and made the first one.  It is a 12" block.

PLAYCATION WEEK 11

 I tuned in to Cheryl Arkison's Instagram account at one pm today for Week 11 of her Quilter's Playcation Adventure.

This week was another easy block.  But, I altered it a bit.

SQUARES FROM THE SCRAP BUCKET

 I've been making 4-patches, 9-patches and 16-patches from the scrap buckets.  

These are from the Purple, Magenta and Grey buckets.

This picture of my design wall also has part of the Sunrise blocks in it - ignore those.

COLOR BOX

 I signed up for a monthly delivery of Windham Fabrics Artisan Cottons.  They are Shot Cottons.  

I will receive a Color Box monthly until I have all 60 colors.

Here's the first one!

WEEK 10 OF PLAYCATION 2024

 It's week ten of Quilter's Playcation 2024 with Cheryl Arkison.  This improv block was fun, quick and easy.

ROOTED #2

 I put the last few embroidery stitches into the Month Two block for Rooted by Sue Spargo.  It's finally done.  It took a while.

However, I just received Month Seven.  So, I'm a bit behind.

SECOND MONTH OF SEAMQGBOM

 I got the second month's blocks made for the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild's Block of the Month 2024 - SEAMQGBOM2024.  Lots of Flying Geese.

WEEK 9 PLAYCATION BLOCK

 I finished up my Playcation block that I started yesterday.  I might have more scraps now than when I started it - but, they are a lot smaller.

I was messing around with making a collage this morning.  I came up with this and like it.  I was thinking I might take this to the upcoming Irene Workshop and replicate it in fabric.  I love the colors.

SEASONS ON DISPLAY

The Sewing Machine Service store in Renton asked if they could hang one of my quilts in the store.  I dropped off Seasons last week and when I stopped in today to get my new zigzag throat plate, there it was.

Then I dashed home so I could tune into Cheryl Arkison's Playcation 2024.  It was about using up some scraps from the previous weeks.  I didn't exactly follow directions, and went off on a tangent.  So, it took me a lot longer than it should have.  I didn't finish it today.

 

MONDAY PURPLES

 I finished the basket.  It turned out great.

Then I made this 10" block out of 100 one inch squares for a quilter online that asked for a bunch because she needed 3000 of them or something.  Then I find out after, that she has more than enough and doesn't want anymore.  I'll put it in my orphan block stack.

SUNDAY AGAIN

 It's the end of another week.  Here's my Sunrise quilt so far - nine weeks.

Then I got out the Bernina 1230 because with the exchange of feed dogs on the B770 I don't yet have a zigzag throat plate - it's on order.  So, I got the 1230 to use the zigzag because I had a yankering to make a basket using the colored rope I bought at Quiltcon.

I wanted a big basket, so I started the bottom with some white rope that I covered in some purple fabric - wrapping around and around and around.  I didn't get very far though.  I had bugs to work out, remembering how best to do this.

PORT TOWNSEND TRIP

 Darrell, Jelly and I headed out early for Port Townsend.  Darrell needs a lot of hardwoods for upcoming projects.

First stop was on Bainbridge Island to visit with Pia the Peacekeeper.

Then, after I dropped Darrell at Edensaw, Jelly and I went to Fort Worden for a damp morning walk.  There were lots of trees down from the strong winds and rain last night.  We crawled over and around three that were across the road on the way up.

It wasn't raining in Port Townsend, but it had rained all the way until we got here.  And it was raining as soon as we got back out to the road home.

It's nice to be home.

WEEK 8 OF PLAYCATION24

 Its nice to be back home.  It's Tuesday and time for another Quilter's Playcation 2024 with Cheryl Arkison.  

HOME AND UNPACKING

 Got in late last night.  Plane landed a bit early at 9:30pm.  I had to wait a bit for the luggage to come down.  Then I Ubered home.  Jelly greeted me at the door.  Darrell was sound asleep.  I was a bit wound up and it took me a while to fall asleep.

This morning, I unpacked and started laundry.  Then I gathered all of the stuff I had accumulated at Quiltcon and lined it up for a photo.

I know I didn't really need anything, but it was really fun!  All of the fabric needs to go back downstairs to be pre-washed before I use it.

Then, I got to work catching up on the Sunrise blocks.  I had six to make, including today's.

Here is eight weeks completed: