March Moda Blocks (2015)

I got my sewing machine back from being fixed and decided to start by finishing my Moda blocks.  These are my blocks for our Moda group this month. 

I reversed the values on the one on the left.  The original block had white where the blue is and cream where the lighter brown is.  The patches that are cream here were multiple different colors in the original.  Since I'm working with just shades of brown and blues, I thought it would work better the way I did it.  I'm sure it could have been done using the original value placement, but I opted for this way instead. 

The one on the right was supposed to be paper pieced, but I did it with "flippy corners" instead of paper piecing.

So far, the machine is working fine, but I haven't really put it to the test yet.  It was sewing straight stitches fine before I took it in.  The problem was with decorative stitches.  I'll probably be testing those out next.

February Moda Blocks 2015

Our blocks for this month at Moda U were "rolling squares" (on left) and "red cross" (on right).  The directions for both blocks had paper-piecing components.  The rolling squares blocks had paper-pieced square-in-a-square units, and the red cross block was completely paper-pieced. 

They went together pretty easily.  My points match pretty well, but they aren't exactly perfect.  For me, they are definitely good enough.

Last embellishments

I finally decided what I wanted to put on my "tag" on my present block.  I considered my name, or "from Santa", or some Christmas-y word.  I decided to just go with the year.  That seemed simple enough and would show up pretty well, too.

Finishing Touches

There were a couple of my Christmas blocks for our guild Christmas sampler that needed some embellishments.  My original plan was to add buttons and beads after it was quilted, but I decided that I didn't want to wrestle with that.  I decided to add applique and embroidery instead.  Here are the finished blocks.  (Original pics can be found here and here.)  The Santa looks sooo much better with eyes.  The snowman looks about the same because I had basted on buttons and beads in the original picture.

Bubble Gum and Penny Candy

I finished this little quilt a couple of weeks ago, but somehow I forgot to post a picture of it.  This is the finished quilt from the 30s Playtime fabric.  It is machine quilted and hand bound.  The quilting follows the stitching line, but continues on into the border and through the sashings, to make an all-over grid pattern.

I decided to name it "Bubble Gum and Penny Candy" because of the bubble gum pink border and sashings and the fact that it was made from a Moda candy.

February Guild Block

This is the last of our Christmas blocks for our guild project.  The pattern was called, for no discernible reason, pigs in a blanket.  It did say, however, that it was called poinsettia when made in Christmas colors.  We are encouraged to have the top finished for our next meeting.

My original plan for putting the blocks together was to alternate them with another block.  Actually, one of the blocks we were supposed to make, but repeated 15 times.  I made the extra blocks, got them all laid out, and then I really didn't like it.  It was too busy.  So, now I have 15 identical blocks that I don't need for this project.  But I've already got a plan for them, so it's all good.

There are a total of 16 blocks for the quilt.  I really don't want to just do a 4 x 4 layout.  I've come up with a layout that I think might work. 

The plan is to sew the four blocks in the center together and sew a thin dark border around them.  The setting triangles will be a light colored fabric.  The corners will also be filled in with a light background print fabric.  Maybe a border around that, I'm not sure.