HOORAY - I AM UP TO DATE

I have been steaming away at my sewing machine this week, and it has paid off, because I am right up to date with all the blocks now, I just have to make the one that was loaded today. To say I have a BIG smile on my face is putting it mildly!!!!

Wyoming Valley - week 5

Cathy's Star - Week 14

Flyfoot - Week 18

Northumberland Star - Week 33

Hope of Hartford - Week 37

Castle in the Air - Week 35

I have no idea how I got it back to front

Fool's Square - Week 39

Double Quartet - Week 36

Nelson's Victory - Week 38

Mosaic 3 - Week 32

Blindman's Fancy - Week 43

This one drove me half nuts, what on earth is 11/16 all about cos it didn't fit for me!

I will give it a good press and hopefully it will lay flat, darn thing...

Game Cocks - Week 44

Flight of Swallows - Week 41

Yep I know the colours are not as the block on site, but my birds are

entirely surrounded by sky - that's my story and I am sticking to it!!!

Carolyn's Star - Week 46

This one and the other similar one are very pretty BUT -

never again...

That's my Baby - Week 47

Album Star - Week 40

I really like this block may use it again...

Cross in a Cross - Week 45

Baton Rouge Square - Week 42

Indian Square - Week 48

another really good block, proves that to KISS is the thing to do...

So there we are ladies, I am all up to date, bar today's block.

YIPPEE

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Major Catch-up!

September was a busy month, with an out-of-town visitor and two weeks of travel -- so I fell woefully behind. But I'm happy to say that I'm now almost caught up! Here they are in order:

Northumberland Star -- week 33: I hated making this block, and I don't think there's enough value contrast between the red and the brown.
Rally Round -- week 34: I decided that the 9" blocks are now going to be made with Asian fabrics. This one was a pain to make, too, mostly because I did the little triangles wrong the first time -- but I really love the way it came out!
Castle in the Air -- week 35: One of my favorite blocks. Maybe it's the name?
Hope of Hartford -- week 37: I LOVE this block!
Nelson's (spotty) Victory -- week 38: easy to make, but I don't see much potential for it in a scrappy quilt.
Fool's Square -- week 39: I sort of like the "transparency" effect in this one but other than that I think it's sort of clunky...
Now I'm just missing weeks 29 and 36 -- maybe by next weekend I'll be done with all of them.

Week 35, Sort of

Here's my week 35 block that I messed up by not paying attention. I made some parts that aren't even part of the pattern, and then I made the right parts but with the wrong fabric pieces. So it's a very loose interpretation of the Castes in the Air pattern.

Back-up to Catch-up

Well, here I am again. The Big Behind. I've been sewing up a storm but not on Friday Blocks. I'm determined to do all 52 blocks during the year so in an effort to catch up yet again, I am going backwards until I get to one I've already made. (I just took a peek and realized I'm 10 weeks behind! Aaack!)

Week #35-Castle in the Air
Pretty straight forward block made with scraps laying on my cutting table.



Week #34-Rally Round
That center part was a pain to do. I like the block, though, just not enough to make
a bunch for a whole quilt top. Maybe a table runner...hmmmm



Week #33-Northumberland Star
I agree with QP that the pressing directions on this were bad. My poor presser foot struggled to get over those seems. I decided right at the start not to try to keep the plaids going in one direction. Good thing! It was hard enough to keep all the parts in the right position. I would have gone crazy trying to match plaid direction, too. Although I like this block, I can't imagine making more than one.



Week #32-Mosaic 3
A truly uninspiring block. I almost skipped it but I wanted to try the flying geese method. It's actually pretty slick. This block took all of 15 minutes to make, a record for me.



I've been reading all the posts as I go backwards and I love all the fabric choices and helpful hints. It also makes me feel a little better knowing I'm not the only one that gets behind. So with 4 done, I have 6 more to go. If you don't hear from me in a week, send the paramedics. I'm probably drowning under a sea of scraps!

Castles in the .... what????

I was pleased with the way this block turned out...points weren't too bad, square-in-a-square was pretty clean, finished at 12 1/2". I used one of the Kahala prints (traditionally sewn wrong side out) and a brighter blue print from Spud's shirts because I'm making each of the kids a pillow using the fabric from his 'trademark' Hawaiian shirts.

This FBP block was not bad at all, so I took a picture and then downloaded it to my desktop.

Holy Guacamole! HOW could I have missed THAT??? Two of the triangle blocks are reversed! RATS!! Oh, well... more quality time with my seam ripper. I'm spending enough time with that tool to give it a name! Any ideas?

All Caught Up

Now I'm all caught up! Here are week 34 and week 35.

Building Castles in the Air and Piglets in a Square

Here is my block for week 35. I used some of my batiks and I made it following the instructions on the quilter's cache site. I like it, but then I saw Rosa's block. She had set the centre outside units all in the same direction. It created a friendship star block (to me anyway) which I just loved. So I set out to make another block using her setting.


Because of the square within a square in the centre of the block, I thought I would make this one using a fun fabric and fussy cut the centre. I have several other blocks with fussy cut centres, but they are in a 9 inch size. So I made this new block to measure nine inches square. I turned the corner units around because I thought they took away from the friendship star look. I like it. But now I think I have made an entirely different block. And look what happened to my little piggy in the centre. When I sewed the corner squares on, I took off one of his ears.

I quickly needle turned another tiny ear onto the block. Now he looks better. Think I will leave things alone for now - until next week at least. My piglet seems happy in his new block.

Castle in the Air

I managed to get back into the groove and actually did this week's block!

The photo lies, it really is square.

I love how the points all worked so perfectly. Its wonderful to be able to make the block as neatly as I want to :-)

Stormy skies

Looking out of my window at my castles in the air, these are the colours I can see - sunny blue, clouds and rainstorms! I enjoyed this week's block - nice and simple!

Ros

week 35

Another 12" block this week -- castle in the air