More Blockheads

My classes have been a frustration for me lately, and I hope you won't mind if I moan about it for a bit. (If you want to skip the moan and get straight to the quilting, scroll down about 4 paragraphs.)

The switch from face-to-face teaching to "alternate delivery systems" has frustrated me to no end for the past two weeks.

And it's not the coronavirus I'm frustrated about, although that is certainly the cause. My frustration is more with myself for being so dense about technology that I am unable to complete tasks that should be quite simple. Whereas some people have a natural aptitude for figuring it out, I can do that to a point, and then I come up against something that completely stymies me. At that point, I have spent untold hours - yes, hours - trying to figure it out.

I have definitely spent more time on my classes in switching over than I would have had we been doing things the normal way. I have done it for so long, I was on auto-pilot.

Okay, end of moan. I really do want to learn all that cool technology, and would be a willing student. I have made progress and have done some neat-o things: used some new programs, participated in virtual meetings, had a personal video chat with someone from the campus labeled a "super-user." Talk about natural aptitude! Gracious! But he is a good teacher, patient and helpful.

Now on to sewing. I continue to focus on single blocks for sew-alongs that I'm doing. Blockheads 1 from back in 2017 were all 6-inch blocks, and all I did at the time was to print out all the weekly patterns. I decided when BH3 started that I would do the corresponding weekly block of BH1. Good plan, but I have been hit or miss as far as executing it

Here are two blocks I made this week. The fabrics are from a variety of lines by French General.

The week 5 block is a Lisa Bongean creation, and we know she loves tiny pieces. This was no exception. I starched the fabric before cutting and I'm sure that saved me lots of headaches. I still had to "unstitch" some bits - and it wasn't because of the pieces being tiny. It was my fault in not trimming each unit to the correct size. All 4 of those corner units should have been trimmed; I did not, and the result was sad, to say the least. I removed the corners, trimmed them to the proper size, reattached and now I am a much happier gal.

The week 8 block is from Betsy Chutchian. Still small pieces, but fewer of them. My seam ripper and I got friendly again, because I cut the two side rectangles a half-inch too short. I love this block, and would make a whole quilt of them. Basket quilts have always been pleasing to me, but - all those triangles!

I'm growing a bit antsy. All the sew-alongs I am attempting to do have me wishing for a "right now" project. I want to sew a whole quilt, not individual blocks for the next however-many-weeks. Sampler quilts are nice, but getting to the end takes awhile. I need to see some finishes!

 Now you know how I am weathering the coronavirus pandemic. We are staying relatively secluded; drive over to Frankfort to walk the bike path; take drives; watch The Great British Baking Show binge-fashion on Netflix. I'm listening to a book when I sew, but sewing gives over to teaching far more often than normal, so the both the book and the stitching take a back seat.

Ah, well, my troubles are miniscule by most standards. I hope everyone is staying safe and being smart about distancing!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Slow Stitching

It's been awhile since I shared my hand stitching, so today's post will fix that. I have been slow to finish the applique blocks of week 4 in Blockheads 1 and Blockheads 3. I prepped the blocks several weeks ago, worked on them sporadically, and finally today finished the BH1 block.

You mustn't inspect too closely. I certainly did not do my finest work here, that's for sure. But a finished block is better than no block at all, regardless of how finely executed the workmanship.

 

The block still needs to be trimmed down. Won't take but a sec to do that. Don't you love that it's so simple? Made for quick work.

Below are my first 4 blocks in BH1. I am using all my remnants of French General fabrics. I don't see how I can possibly go wrong with great fabrics like FG. Love them all!

I will link up with Kathy for her Sunday party, Slow Sunday Stitching. Hope you will pop over there to peruse the pretty contributions.

Have a great Sunday!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Big Blockheads Plans

In keeping with my optimism to stay till the finish of a Blockheads sew-along, I am diving in on this BH3 version currently in week 6. And I am doing reasonably well. I will need a bit more time to finish the applique block of week 4, and I made an extra block for week 5, but will get to work on the one for my BH3 group, and I have the current block to make. I am hoping that tomorrow will see weeks 5 and 6 finished off. (Keeping all that straight??)

I sorta' started off at a disadvantage, though, when the fabric I chose to use was a fat-eighths pack from years ago. I wrote about the limited fabric in this post. An out of print line, and only fat-eighths. Good grief. Could I have made a worse decision? But get this! I believe I have solved my dilemma.

Yesterday, DH and I took a pretty drive across a bit of southern Ohio to McArthur Quilt Shop. Pretty day for a drive, too! Such sunshine! I had some hope that I would find a fabric for a project, so I figured I could also look for suitable fabrics to substitute in to the pack shown above.

Before we left, I dug into the stash and found a stack of potential add-ins for this grouping. Those are stacked at the top of the picture. The only one I bought new is the brown on the right. I feel as thought these additions will work just fine, and I will be sure to check that some of those from the stash are pink and not peach or orange. I'm feeling pretty good about how this is going to work.

Now, the title says big plans, and so far nothing I've described here has been out of the ordinary.

Since BH3 started in mid-January, I decided that I would work on BH1 from 2 years ago, and do those blocks week-by-week as well. That is going very well, and I am staying relatively caught up - about the same as for BH3. I am using my stash of French General fabrics for BH1 and I believe I have enough of that to make things work. Fortunately, if I should run short, I know I can easily get more.

Aaaannnddd...what about BH2? I really did get that one started on time, and I had two quilts going at once - one in a bright historic fabric grouping, and one in a muted floral calico grouping. By week 8 of that sew-along, I threw in the towel. I was entirely unprepared for the unexpectedly large blocks, and I was running out of fabric, especially neutrals - same story for me, right??

So, I figured, why not go ahead and see what fabrics I could find - first from the stash, and then in McArthur - to at some point try to finish both of my BH2 quilts? Sure! Why not? Every quilter needs to have about a dozen quilts going at once, right?? *good grief*

This picture is the grouping of bright historical prints. I am willing to bet that it is hard to tell which is newly added and which is from the original pack. The blue, red, and cream fabrics folded at the top left of the picture are the new pieces. I think I got pretty lucky with these finds. It gives me renewed interest in getting back to work on those blocks.

My muted floral grouping also has some new additions - they are the five fabrics folded across the top of this picture. Again, I am feeling pretty good at how these appear to work so well.

With that, I believe my fabric shopping trip was successful. I found "fillers" for 3 quilts. I will give my best effort to stay caught up. I know I run the chance of the classes and grading to cut into my stitching time, but I believe I can always get caught back up if that should happen.

So, yes, I do have big plans. We shall see if I can accomplish them! If you'd like to see some of my previous Blockheads efforts, here are a few links - BH3 week 2, BH3 week 1, BH2 week 2.

Oh, guess what?

Last night, I cut out a baby quilt.

Yeah, I know. Too many quilts going at once! But I do love it so.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Blockheads 1 and 3

I have spent this entire day working on Blockheads. I did the easy one first - from Blockheads 1, week 3.

The tub of French General fabrics contains a wide variety of lines, so I am trusting that my final quilt will all meld together. The three blocks above are not as cohesive as they will eventually be. I hope, anyway.

Then I tackled the week 3 block of the current Blockheads 3, quite a complex block, to be sure. Took me quite a while, but I eventually prevailed, and not once did I need the ripper! Win!

 

 

I am making 6.5" blocks for this Blockheads round. The reason is because of the fabric I am using; my Collection for a Cause fat eighths pack limits me to small blocks. I think I will begin looking around for comparable additions.

Short and sweet today.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Personal Challenge - Doing BH1

Back on the 15th, the day Blockheads 3 began, I posted about my less-than-stellar track record with completing sew alongs. I also posed the possibility of going back to work on BH1 (1 block made), as well as BH2 (8 blocks made in two quilts/total of 16 blocks made).

You see where this is going, right? Yes, I am going to try to catch up on those previous Blockheads. It will be my personal challenge. After just two weeks, it's fun. We shall see how far I make it. Any progress is better than no progress.

The first big hurdle with any newly-hatched plan was deciding on what fabric to use. Since I had been (and still am!) in the middle of a scrap-busting effort, I thought I should use scraps. The scraps I have dealt with in just the past week or so have barely dented that massive scrap collection upstairs. I have bits everywhere. And most of it is stuffed into giant tubs, quite unorganized and haphazard.

One place where I have maintained some order with my scraps is with specific lines of fabric or designers. After finishing quilt tops with those lines or designers, I put all remaining fabrics and scraps in a labeled tub to be stored under my cutting table. I have a tub of Larkspur, one of Roman Holiday, French General (all lines), American Jane (all lines), Snowbird - you get the idea. It occurred to me that dealing with scraps doesn't only mean cleaning up messy, unorganized bits. It also means actually using the leftover, moderately organized fabrics stored in those tubs.

And that, my quilty friends, is how an idea was born!

I pulled out the French General tub and went to work. I love all the fabrics by this designer and they all work so well together. Having seen lots of finished BH1 quilts online, I know this will be a beauty when finished. And I certainly don't have to worry that I will run out of fabric.

The first block, Whirlygig, went together fairly well and it didn't require any 'unsewing' - always a bonus.

The week 2 block is called Aunt Dinah, and it was equally easy to finish. Maybe having enough fabric is key in this whole sew along business. In the past, often I have stopped because of limited fabrics in the line I chose to work with. Hmmm...

And another quilt is underway in Jayne's Quilting Room. What a way to kick off January of a new decade! I am happy to be doing it, and look forward to seeing all the blocks come together.

Okay, Peeps, what have I put off for nearly the entire month? My 2020 quilting goals. Well, I have finalized my list, and plan for that to be the topic of tomorrow's post. Talk then! Ta-ta!

Happy Quilting, Friends!