First new quilt project of 2013

When Gina and I started quilting together we would select a pattern and then both make it using our own fabric and setting choices. We haven't done this in a great while. There always seems to be so many other projects we are each working on. So to start this year we decided to go back and pick one pattern to work on. We selected the Value Dance Quilt from the Stitched in Color blog. 

I don't normally do this, but for the new quilt project I have pre-cut all the pieces to make the blocks. I will say it takes up a lot less space once everything is cut. The scraps (the bottom two piles of fabric in the picture) are also more manageable. I will not throw them into the scrap box until I am sure I won't need them for some other aspect (maybe a border) for this project. 

The circle of life for quilting project boxes

 Yup, that is me with an empty quilt project box. Fear not, it will only be empty for a few hours. The project that previously claimed this box as home (pictured below) was dropped off at the machine quilter's. She just got some new funky geometric quilting designs that I think will work wonderfully with this quilt. I still have to make the binding for this quilt but other than that my work on this one will be done.
Next for this box will be projects for the March quilting retreat. I am already starting to pull fabrics and patterns to take with me. 

How to spend a winter day.

As we are fast approaching the start of the semester and I will have to work next Sunday I decided to take today off. It was a good day to stay in as it was -2 degrees Fahrenheit this morning.

So the first thing to do on a day off in the winter is start a new book. Pictured is what I started reading this morning - I found it on a list of the best selling books from the UK version of Amazon. Only a couple of chapters in but so far I am really enjoying it.

Another thing to do on a winters day is make winter comfort food that also helps to warm up the house. So I made Chicken Supreme and mashed potatoes. The oven helped warm the house and the boiling of the potatoes helped humidify the house. (I multi-tasked by reading while watching the potatoes so they did not boil over).

On the quilting front, I picked up a few free quilting magazines that were being given away at this week's quilt guild meeting and spent some time today sitting in my sewing room looking through them. After being inspired by the magazines I started going through my patterns and fabrics and started planning my next quilt (likely a Bento Box with a bunch of vibrant multi-color fat quarters and maybe some black fabrics for contrast).

Posting on the blog is also a good use of time on a day off in winter!
OK, back to puttering around the house.

First finished project of 2013.

Can't believe it - I actually completely finished a quilting project in one weekend! This pretty much never happens, mostly because I still sort of dread machine quilting. It also helped that I did not use a traditional binding finish. So here it is a completely finished tumbler block tablerunner, all quilted and completely done. Maybe the light therapy light and all the sunshine yesterday is working!

Use it up!

I decided to join the 'No Buy' challenge in the Stashbusters' Yahoo quilting group this year. What this means is no buying fabric 'just cause'. You are allowed to by fabric in order to finish projects - after first shopping your stash to make sure you don't have something that will work. I have participated before, but I am a bit rusty having gone to the AQS show in Paducah last year.

To help use the stash Damon bought me a fabric cutting machine for Christmas - the Go Baby Cutter and I have two cutting dies - the Tumbler block, and one that cuts 2 x 3.5 inch rectangles. You can see in the picture some of the Tumbler blocks I cut last night. You can get about 6 layers of fabric on the cutting dies so it goes pretty quickly. I made a dent in my red and green scraps. These scraps will likely become a table runner. One thing I have not heard from other owners of the Go Cutters is that it seem to build up static electricity (our house is a contributing factor because it is so dry). 

Happy New Year!

This first picture is of Mom's Christmas gift quilt. Obviously I couldn't post the picture when I finished it as it would spoil the surprise. So here it is now. It is made of half-square triangles using Thangles. The original plan was to intersperse the neutral colors throughout the quilt, but I felt they stood out too much so I used them as a sort of inner border feature. Considering I had to change my design plans mid quilt project I am really happy how this came together.

The second photo is of the ongoing Feathered Star quilt I am working on. I completed the middle star a while ago (I think at least a year or more). I decided to frame it with the paper-pieced blocks you see here. I just finished making those blocks in December. I attempted to put them together and attach them to the star two days ago, but messed up the layout in the piecing process and ended up ripping all but the first row of blocks apart again to get it fixed and as originally planned.
 It still needs something more. I haven't decided if I should put this on-point or not. I am also thinking of adding another border - possibly diamond shapes. Given how cold and snowy and icy it is at the moment is seems appropriate to be working on this icy looking quilt at the moment.