Building With What We Have

As you know I am actually rather enamored of the idea of the Quilts of Valor Foundation.  This is partially because I have been feeling the need to do more "good works" and quilting is a way to do that and still be doing what I want!  (Perfection is still a long way off, I know...)  I also feel more of a connection to the soldiers in question and have thought a great deal about the healing that all of the deployed soldiers need, not just the physically wounded ones.  N. has many patients who need all the support they can get as they struggle to put their lives back together.

So this is my first design and it is almost ready for presentation! 

The design is a Split Log Cabin, that is, a Long Cabin Block that is cut in half and joined to a different block.  In order to do this and have them be square the center is actually a rectangle....the square plus seam allowances through the center.  I saw a quilt done like this online and really liked the look of it.....especially since I had a jelly roll to do it with.

The quilt is actually a bit more than one jelly roll in size....the lighter colors come from a different roll.  It was so easy to put the blocks together with the pre-cut strips. 

The hardest part to put together was the border on the side of course, but I really wanted to give it a sense of being a work table....and that the process of rebuilding is ongoing.  It has all sorts of crazy bias and making things look "random" is actually very tricky.

N. recommended alternating the direction of the blocks, and I really like the way that turned out.  I even tried to set each split square with one going each way.  Of course, many of the squares aren't actually split....they were made as a half as I got down to smaller and smaller pieces that would go together.  The outer row is actually just slightly longer than the 42 inch strip on a full split block.  If you look close, some of them have slightly different colors on the outside of one corner.  Others have matching centers but not matching outsides.  It all worked out though.

The back is also black and has little stars on it.

After a day of trying to figure out why the picture of the quilting (by the lovely Debbie Younkin of Fort Collins near mom's house) I have given up.  Some day I may have the presence of mind to figure out why everything else works but that pic won't.....sigh!  You are just going to have to trust me that it looks GREAT!  It is a whirlpool style all-over design and it works really well.

And so we don't get too bogged down in things I OUGHT to be doing, here is the last pic of the "Presentation Case" which is simply a coordinating Pillowcase.

All in all, this has been a great experience that I plan to continue.

Now I need to go bind "Not a Wallflower" and if I am really ambitious I will post pics of the pillowcases I made for the 1,000,000 Pillowcase challenge (and you can find info about that HERE!)

In the meantime, make something that makes you smile even if it is a mess (or some order, if that is more your style.....mine is mess in case you were wondering. heh) k.

Building a Temple

As part of Darsha's Summer Challenge for Cursed Quilt I decided to make a block of the Seoul Korea Temple.  It is a fairly odd shaped building, so I was a little worried that it wouldn't convey the sense of the building but I really think it does.  Not bad for my first representational block design.

If you don't know what this is supposed to look like click here There are lots of little details that could be added in, but as maybe you can tell, my favorite part is the cool wavy bushes in front.  (After my time teaching here in Korea, if you had asked me to describe the temple, that is perhaps the only detail of the exterior that I could have given....well that and the super steep street you have to walk up to get there.
The structure of the Temple is done with "foundation piecing" and that was an adventure to figure out.  The great breakthrough for me (although why it took me so long to imagine it that way I haven't any idea) was to divide it into columns around each pillar.  The tiny pieces that make up the doorway were pretty tricky too, but despite my lack of experience, applique' with the machine is really pretty straight forward.  I was emboldened to use the tiny tiny pieces after watching my mom make some dainty little bugs for Miss Emily's flower garden quilt....The wavy bushes are also applique' and are a little hard to see in the pic.  Sorry.

I worked on an almost literal "million things" this summer and have tried to take pics as I went, but that means I have a terrible backlog of  reporting.  I intend to put them all up, but we know all about good intentions and where they lead!  The projects include tie-dyeing 39 shirts, hand quilting a whole lot (Grandma Hunt did MOST) on "Not a Wallflower" for Senn, a whole cloth butterfly hanging for Mom's Birthday etc.  I also made pillow cases to go with Wallflower, went windsurfing with no wind, prepared my first "Quilt of Valor" submission, and contemplated but still didn't bind the tree.  Poor neglected tree.

Happy sewing, reading, cooking or whatever else it is you are doing.  Be happy. k.