Quilting By Design

     Today’s topic of discussion is one that is a little more on the lighter side. Nothing to really think about (maybe), nothing to learn, nothing to do but read, and, hopefully, just a little something to keep you kick-started with whatever quilting projects you may be working on at this time.
     So, out of idle curiosity, I suddenly find myself wondering what types of projects you have in process right now, as well as, how many. Now, I am not referring to UFOs (UnFinished Objects you’ve let go for awhile); I am referring to WIPs (Works In Progress) that you have been actively working on within the past two (2) to three (3) months.
     Ready to confess? Let me go first!

1. Rose Stained Glass Wallhanging (for my mother for Mother’s Day; my own design),
2. A sampler called “Surpassing Life’s Challenges“,
3. A commissioned quilt that I am designing and is made from antique handkerchiefs,
4. A charity quilt that I designed as a Mystery Quilt (it just needs bound and labeled),
5. 2 photo memory quilts that I am making for each of my sons.

     Those weren’t given in any specific order (and I think I remembered them all), however the one I am making for mom does have a deadline of Mother’s Day. The commissioned quilt is second on my list to finish (would like to have it finished by the end of May), followed by the charity quilt (which would take me about 2-3 hours to finish, as I hem the binding by hand). The sampler is a BOM (Block of the Month) quilt and so there is no hurry for it and the memory quilts are to be Christmas gifts, so I should have plenty of time for those.
     Sounds like I am doing fairly well on my quilting projects, does it not? Not too many irons in the fire, right? Well, remember the title of this topic? The operative word is “CURRENT”! Perhaps one day soon I will address the topic of unfinished projects that need a little (or a lot) of attention.
     Now that I have confessed, let me hear about what you are currently working on?
     And please, do not let these current WIPs become UFOs!!!!!

Here’s a picture of the first square I’ve made for the winter quilt, as well as other unsucessful patches for other things. I’ll use them though- waste not want not.
As you can see, the orange block looks flower-like. I based the block on a 6 inch snowball pattern. I made the snowball of yellow fabric. Then I added layers of folded orange fabric squares from the center out( sort of like doing a crazy quilt technique)
As long as the folded fabric overlaps the base edges, I can catch all the raw edges of all layers when I stitch around the entire perimeter of the snow ball. I then cut off any excess and add the four corner triangles to the snow ball flower to fininsh with a 6 inch square again.
And there it is, a crazy patach looking flower that does not have to be pieced as all the overlapping edges of the petals are folded edges. This gives the block 3 D interest and incidentally makes forming the patch very fast.

By using a 6 inch block , I could use 5 and 6 inch charm squares to form the petals. This is radiply putting a dent in to my stash.

patchwork, patch, patches, snowball, charm quilt, quilt