3.28.2016

OMG: April--Library Quilt project

Last year I decided I wanted to make a quilt for my local library.  I'm a member of our Friends of the Library group, and books and libraries have always been important to me.  2015 marked the Library's 25th Anniversary, and I would have loved to have made the quilt for them last year.  But it just didn't happen.  One of the main reasons is that I didn't have very many kids' novelty  fabrics to use for the book "covers" of the Books-for-Baby quilt pattern.  I was fortunate enough to receive a ton of scraps and larger pieces from other quilters at the end of 2015 to be used in the project.  Last week I finally got some fabrics that I want to try out for the other parts in the blocks (I ordered them from Connecting Threads).
So for April, I'd like to complete at least four blocks towards the quilt.  I haven't even made a test block, yet!
Here's one of the layout ideas I had come up with in EQ7 for the quilt:
I'll be working on other projects throughout the month, of course, but using this as my OMG goal will motivate me to actually start working on the library quilt.

OMG: March--Rising Star Quilt finished

March is always a busy month with both kids' birthdays within four days of each other at the beginning of the month.  And then throw in Girl Scout cookie delivery and booth sales, and spring band concerts, and I don't seem to have much time for anything else.  Especially blogging.  While I have been keeping up with my weekly QALs and working on my OMG goal for the month, I haven't been blogging about them.
This month's OMG goal was to finish my Rising Star Quilt.  I really can't remember when I pieced this block.  It was years ago. But I've finally turned it into a mini!
When I pulled out the block to work on this month, I decided it needed a border.  So I went through my stash (on newly rediscovered purple yardage), and chose a dark purple floral that seemed to go with the other fabrics.  I debated contrasting corner blocks, but in the end I just went for the purple border.  I also thought about different binding choices, and decided to use the golden yellow from the star.  In my stash was several yards of a purple and green plaid fabric that I had forgotten about, so I used that for the backing.  In the end, I machine-quilted it (instead of hand-quilting) in three different thread choices: my favorite Connecting Threads marigold from January's finish, a new Connecting Threads jade thread, and a dark purple Coats & Clark from my thread stash.  I marked the quilt for the purple crosshatch stitching, and then just eyeballed it for the other two colors between the purple--using the marigold where the lines crossed the yellow fabric, and the jade everywhere else.
I took the quilt outside to get some photos, using my forsythia bushes as a backdrop.  Once again I was reminded just how hard it is to photograph purple.  I either had too much sun or too many shadows.  And lots of dried out grass.
Here are some photos of the finished quilt:



Now to think about April's goal...
Q1 FAL List

3.01.2016

OMG: March--Rising Star Quilt

I need a simple goal for this month, so I'm going to try to get this one block mini quilted and bound already.  Another one of those ancient UFOs I have in my crafty closet.
I'm sure there's a name for the block, which I can't remember now (edited to add: I think it's Rising Star, so I'm going with that).  Unfortunately I don't think I have any lilac thread, so I may have to use my marigold thread, and maybe a green from my stash.  I have a purple fabric from my stash for the backing, but I haven't quite picked out the binding yet.  This would be a pretty easy one to handquilt, so I'll have to think about that between now and Friday (when I will hopefully get some time to work on it).  
The first quarter of 2016 is almost over, and I only have one completely finished quilt, but two new finished quilt tops.  So I haven't been unproductive, just not able to get things basted and quilted.