Hello. My Name is ...

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... Michele, and I am a second-year member of the One Block Over Quilt Bee.  I haven't really been AWOL, I've just been working very hard mostly away from home and filling a lot of orders in the studio.  I tend to get all quiet and worried when I haven't been able to keep up with sewing projects that have deadlines and I don't allow myself to even look at the blog unless I'm up to date, so I have no idea what's been going on here since, let's say, Victoria listed her block tutorial.   
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However, the schedule is turning around.  I pulled open Michelle's Parisville envelope and strung the night away while watching TV last night.  Sadly, though, even though I pieced conservatively, I ran out of long enough strips of fabric to finish the third and fourth panels.  To make things easy for Michelle, I just ordered a fat quarter set which hopefully will arrive by the end of the week.  Ooohhh, lucky, lucky!  I just noticed she closed for the week; I must have just made the cutoff.  There are always good prices at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics.  

Victoria's package for the Christmas Flower block is waiting next in line on the cutting table ... Andie, your's it right behind hers. 

February and March...Finally

Although everyone's blocks got sent in (or hand delivered) at the end of their respective months, other projects (like getting ready for our local guild show, yippeeee!) kept me distracted from posting. Argh! But finally, here's sharing with the rest of you!

First, Michelle's...


These crazy ladies with their unbelievable hairstyles made me laugh. I fell in love with some of the other fabrics though and really like how the block turned out.

I used one of my decorative stitches in the applique, too! (Thanks for the suggestion, Michelle!)


And Victoria's....


I agree with some of the rest of you. First time paper piecing was tricky. It took a round or two to really figure out the tricks. Hope V doesn't mind that one of the petals includes a fair amount of WHITE. Thought since it was Jennifer Paganelli fabric (one of her favorite's), maybe she'd forgive.

Inspired by my newfound paper piecing skills, I decided to try it on a bigger scale with a round robin at the Metro Mod guild. Bigger was a whole new challenge, but I like how it turned out!

(The body of the quilt -- with all the vertical rectangles -- was done by another quilter in the group before it came to me. I added the top part.) Thanks V for another skill added to the quilting repertoire!

Excited to work on those new star blocks! Checking the mail with anticipation. :)

Two Months Catch-up

You'll feel sorry for me when I tell you that I wasn't able to make Michelle's February block, nor Victoria's March block because I didn't have a sewing machine for more than a month. I was in a Florida beachside condo for a couple weeks, and then in Tampa spending time with a ten month-old grandson. Poor me, huh?

But as soon as I got home, I got to sewing! Michelle, your block was especially challenging to make because the strips were in short supply! I had to piece three strips to get the lengths needed for string-piecing. Here's a picture of the wee pile of scraps I had left over. The largest piece was the 2" X 4" print on the far left. 

This is a big block at 18-1/2" X 18-1/2" unfinished. I hope the seams aren't too noticeable.

Decorative stitches on my 830 Bernina Record are limited, but I think this one looks nice.

I was merrily decorative-stitching away when the sewing machine dramatically slowed speed. I couldn't figure out why until I opened the top of the machine to see that a cone of thread I had set aside got caught in the fly wheel! Lots of snipping and "arghs" later I was able to finish the decorative stitching.

Michelle, this is your block and leftover bits that were mailed to you today.

Victoria, thanks for the fun of picking green print scraps from my stash. You'll notice that I was sure to include a palm tree print (see at top right) that's sort of my trademark. With a blog name of "Flourishing Palms," I take every opportunity to work in palm trees.

Two additional tips when making this block:

1. If you have a Sara Nephew Clearview 60-degree Triangle, it's great for trimming the six triangle units before sewing them together. 
2. It's helpful to put a piece of lightweight paper beneath the center circle, before appliqueing it down. The paper adds nice stability. My old Bernina doesn't have a blanket stitch, but the number two utility stitch looks nice.

It will be so fun to see these blocks made into quilts! Michele, Michelle or Victoria... whose quilt top will we see first?

Linda in Iowa

This Flock of Geese Flying North

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Oh, Victoria!  Here come the geese!  Not having made a many-pieced quilt block before, I have no standard for perfection but the magazine photo, and .... you  may have to adjust a little.  It was great having all these geese blocks to sew.  I really love making them.  So therapeutic.  However, I can see that allowing a number of different sewists to make your blocks creates a large chance that seam allowances can differ! 
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Before sewing almost every seam, I marked out the 1/4-inch in hopes that it is as close to your work as possible for me.  Thanks so much for pre-cutting all the fabrics!  What a job that would be!  Happy Easter everyone!  We had a lovely morning at church today, and light lunch at Waffle House, and then the home chef, my husband, has our big dinner planned.  So, while the others were napping, I finished up the block and readied it for its flight home.  Can't wait to see the finished product. 

Fun Geese

All those fun geese are flying your way Victoria!  I can't believe you've made 8 - plus all the cutting that went into ours and yours.   It will be awesome to see the results of all the work!

Geese Galore!

I love flying geese, but, Victoria, I have to admit...your's nearly drove me crazy! Maybe it was not knowing the exact finished size, maybe it was not having cut the pieces out myself, maybe it was just my frame of mind the day I decided to piece them, but lordy, those little units threw me for a loop! It looks good now, but you will see when you get the block there was some "unsewing" and "re-sewing" that had to take place to get it as square as it is, which I still feel is less than my usual caliber of work.

Looking forward to getting Jacquie's April package!