Spoonflower Sparrow

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Block Lotto has a new home!  It has it's own web address now: blocklotto.com!
The February blocklotto block is a quilter's choice block.  We were to make a block that incorporated a heart theme with the color scheme of pink, cream, grey and orange.  It really seems like a crazy combo, but I think it works pretty well!

For my block I drew my own paper foundation pieced pattern:

This is obviously the right half.  I'm happy to share the pattern with anyone who'd like it.  I don't know if you can just save the picture here and print it or not.  But I can email you the 2 halves as pdf files if you're interested.

When I finished the heart, I decided it needed a little border.  So that's not in the original pattern.  It took a bit longer than I anticipated to put it all together.  But if I make a second one I think it will go a bit faster.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  What do you think?

Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle Contest

So I've found this fun contest!  It is called the Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle Contest from the blog Quokka Quilts.  The idea is that we've all seen the blogger's choice fat quarter bundles at the Fat Quarter Shop and wouldn't it be cool to make up your own bundle?  So each participant chooses 15 fabrics from the Fat Quarter Shop (3 solids and 12 prints) and posts about their bundle on their blog.

So here's my bundle:

The fabrics from the top left are: 1. Kona Cotton Black by Robert Kaufman Fabrics 2. Kona Cotton Snow by Robert Kaufman Fabrics 3. Bella Solids Silver Yardage by Moda Fabrics 4. Heart Garden Black Daisy Tiling by Robin Zingone for Robert Kaufman Fabrics 5. Paparazzi Black on White Wandering Florals from Paparazzi by Red Rooster Fabrics 6. Remix Red Fun Dots from Remix by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman Fabrics 7. Paparazzi Black Allover Flowers from Paparazzi by Red Rooster Fabrics 8. Black and White Black Random Pencil Check From Black and White by Michael Miller Fabrics 9. Celebrate Seuss Black and White Stripe from Celebrate Seuss by Robert Kaufman Fabrics 10. Alien Friends Red Geo Master by Hoodie for Timeless Treasures Fabrics 11. Rivoli Natural and Black Geo from Rivoli by Alexander Henry Fabrics 12. Celebrate Seuss Red and Black Wonky Dots on White Cotton from Celebrate Seuss by Robert Kaufman Fabrics 13. Alien Friends Black and White Bubble Dot by Hoodie for Timeless Treasures Fabrics 14. Alien Friends Black and White Nettie Dot by Hoodie for Timeless Treasures Fabrics 15. Alien Friends White Kiss Me by Hoodie for Timeless Treasures Fabrics 

I also decided that I would showcase my bundle by using the virtual fabrics to fill in a quilt I've designed. If I win I promise I'll make a real one!  Let me know what you think. -Andrew

I got pinned!!

I know it's silly.  But I was so pleased when I realized that someone had pinned my quilt in Pinterest!  If you aren't familiar with Pinterest.com, it is a social website where you can "pin" pictures of things you like and share them with other people with similar interests.  I just recently learned that I can look at the stats for my blog and see from which sites people are being referred.  I noticed that some were coming from Pinterest and when I followed it back, there I was on someone's "Quilt Inspiration" board.  It made my day and I just had to crow about it! -Andrew

The Super Hero Quilt

Back in October I wrote a blog post about a paper pieced quilt block that I was interested in (see it here.)  Since then I've done a couple more blocks which were my contribution to the quilt that the Block Lotto members put together as a thank you to our fearless leader Sophie.  You can check it out at Sophie's blog, Sophie Junction.
Here are the 2 blocks I contributed for that project:

Well I decided I wanted to try designing my own paper pieced star.  This is my first drawing, that I made on my iPad.

Then my partner Chris played with the block and came up with a color scheme.

And here is my first attempt at sewing it together.  The points don't all line up as well as I'd like.  But I think its a pretty good effort for my first try!

The first picture on this post is Chris' vision of the whole layout for what he calls the "Super Hero Quilt" because of the color scheme.  I think he did a great job!  Whatcha think?

FMQ Challenge

This year I'm working on learning free-motion quilting (FMQ) on my old Bernina Record 830.  To that end, I've joined the 2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge over at SewCalGal.

January's challenge is leaves.  Here's my first attempt:

As you can see I was also practicing my pebble making, too!  Looking through some of the other peoples' blogs, I'm feeling kinda pitiful.  I think I'd better keep practicing!

The Red and White Quilt

Here is my finished red and white quilt!  This is the quilt I made from my Block Lotto winnings in March.  I copied the layout from a post by another lotto member, Prayerful Threads.

I'm really pleased with how my black and white binding turned out.

A word of warning to anyone who won the red and white D4P blocks and hasn't yet washed them... they bleed!  I know Sophie has warned us before to at least throw a color catcher in the wash with the quilt the first time you wash it, but did I listen?  NOOOOOO!  I didn't listen.  Am I sorry?  YESSSS!  I did some reading online and found this blog entry: Stop the Bleed!  Here I discovered that Dawn Ultra Dish Washing Liquid does a pretty good job of trapping dye.  So I applied Dawn directly to the spots that bled and washed the quilt multiple times.  (Just be sure you don't use more than about 3 tablespoons in a load or you'll have a lot of suds.)  I did eventually get most of the red out.

Now that it is finished I'm going to give it to my partner's mom for Christmas.  Luckily we weren't doing Christmas with his family until next week, or I wouldn't have had the binding finished in time.  Hope she likes it!   -Andrew