Grandmothers Choice....

I'm feeling much better now that I'm caught up on my BOW.  Here are my versions of the last two blocks.

Block #14 Brides Knot: Invisible Woman

And Block #15 Centennial: New Zealand's Victory

Here's a pic of all of my blocks so far.  

As soon as the holidays are over I'll be heading to cash in that gift certificate and buy me some special fabric to start sashing these blocks as I go.  

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Clue #1 finished

I had quite a productive day yesterday.
I was able to finish all my 4-patches for Easy Street  mystery.   

They measure 3" finished.
Just love making these little blocks.   It's so easy to get those back seams to swirl when

the patches lead with the seam allowance heading toward the needle.   But more importantly those points turn out to be just perfect every time.

And I also got this weeks Grandmother's Choice block made.    This is block #13 and a pretty easy one at that,  

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Grandmother's Choice #10

Another week and another Grandmother's Choice block finished.  This block is week #10 and is called "Little Red Schoolhouse" and it should have been fairly easy to make.
But..... that wasn't the case for me this time.
I had a lot of senior moments and had to frog more than once.   Once I had the block finished I realized that I had printed the pattern as a mirror image.  The other day I was playing around with the properties on my printer and checked the mirror image on and played with a few printing projects....then forgot about it and left it on.
So along came the time to print this blocks paper-pieced pattern and I started right in with the sewing.
Things were going along just fine.....
Until I realized I had the windows upside down.  {so I warmed up the seam ripper}  Fixed the windows and resewed to the door.
But when I did that I sewed the *door* to the wrong side.  {seam ripper getting warmer}
Then I sewed the whole bottom section to the roof upside down.  {that blasted seam ripper was getting much to warm at this point}
My final seam resewn and this is what it's supposed to look like.   Well.... except it's backwards.
 But oh well ..... it is what it is and I'm leaving it this way.

This is what the pattern is supposed to look like. 

 

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Grandmother's Choice #10

The more of these blocks I make the happier I am with them.  I'm so glad I chose the American colors of Gold & Purple with a bit of black & white.
This weeks block is another nice easy one.  Here is my rendition of #10 New York.   And if you would like to read what Barbara shared with us this week just click Here.

Just for fun I thought this week I would show you the Block Base block.  

It's #1383 and looks like this..... I usually open each block in EQ7 and will audition the colors until I'm satisfied.  Most of the blocks I've made by paper-piecing.... so I'll print my patterns on newsprint and start cutting my fabrics.  I get along great with this system until I run up against that dreaded Y seam.  haha

I'll try to remember to add the original picture from Block Base each week ..... if I can remember.  haha

And If you would like to check out some of the other blocks that have been made and posted in Flickr..... Click Here. 

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Catching up...

Since we were gone most of last week I got a bit behind on my blocks.  So the last couple of days I've been focusing on getting them made and pictures posted in Flicker and EQ.

This is the second block from the Block Base Sew Along.   I'm making these blocks to finish at 4" so these pieces were very very tiny!!  
I did use foundation piecing to get them done but even then it was very tedious and slow.   We have been assured that the next block will be a bit easier.  lol


And now on to the Grandmother's Choice blocks.  These are a weekly block so I needed to catch up with two.

The first one is #8 Rocky Road to Kansas...
It is similar to #2 Amethyst except this *star* is strip pieced (or stripe fabric used as I did).  I just wasn't up to all that sewing so I took the easy way out.  lol

And the second block I made to get caught up was #9 Brick Pavement.  It was so enjoyable to just sew a simple block and not have to worry about Y seams or complicated points and seams to match up.  This block was straight and simple and fun!  A very nice breather.

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Grandmother's Choice.... #7 Alice's Flag

One more block made and this one I combined piecing and applique'.   First I pieced the star and then turned under the edge all around and applique'd it to the pieced background.    
I don't know what I was doing with that little bottom point though.  I guess I thought the star needed to look like it was dancing.  haha   It's a happy little star isn't it?

Please go to Barbara Brackmans Grandmother's Choice blog to read about the history this block represents.  I could try to condense it here but I just don't thing that would do it justice.   Take a few moments and read THIS.

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Grandmother’s Choice block….#6

Today I decided to get this block made so I can relax the rest of the week without it nagging to get done.     Each week I look forward to a new block to come out on Saturday morning on Barbara Brackman’s blog:  Grandmother’s Choice.    She has done such a wonderful job of pulling together these blocks for us.  But even more important I think is the wonderful history she is sharing with us all.  If you haven’t been to her blog yet please go check it out. 

Here’s my rendition of #6 Aunt Eliza’s Star.   Even though this would have been a simple block to piece I chose to paper-piece it.  I’ve fallen in love with paper-piecing so if I can do it simply then I’m all for it right now.  With the BOM from Carol Doak and now my Christmas Bows & Boughs all being paper-pieced I’m sure getting a lot of practice.                   

Design Wall Monday…

The other day I said Bye Bye to the Walk About as I took it off the design wall so I could concentrate on other things.  It just wasn't exciting me much right now so I've folded it up nicely and put it away in the UFO tote (maybe to be seen at a later date)

This is the latest block I've been working on.   #5 New Jersey of Grandmother’s Choice.  These are 8” blocks and I’m so enjoying making them.  I made this one by foundation piecing.  After the difficult block last week I needed something more comfortable.  haha  Instead of looking at the Walk About I’m now putting all of my blocks up on my wall.   It helps a lot to have them all there so I can asses what colors I should work with next.   Looks like the bluish purple could be my next choice.  
If you would like to see some fabulous blocks just check on the Flicker group.
And head on over to Judy’s Design Wall to see what others have been working on.

Grandmothers Choice

This weeks block is called:   Kansas Sunflower.
Even if you aren't making these blocks I really recommend going to Barbara's blog and read about the history of the Suffragettes.  

Criminy!
This one was hard.
I definitely muddled my way through it.... but it is not my best work at all.  I may try it again now that I've kinda figured out what I was doing.
Or then again.... I may just call it good. 

Those little white star points are small.  Very small.
And once again.... Y seams!!   And throw in a bit of applique' and this block has it all.  

At least now that I have it together I think I can do a Y seam without looking at the directions.
Perhaps!!  ;o) 
One thing I have definitely learned... if there are any more blocks like this I may be looking for a substitute block to make.  hahaha 

Thanks for stopping by....Linda

Design Wall Monday....

 My Design Wall is kinda full....(that just shows that I haven't been sewing much this week) .... and I wanted to show the third block in Grandmothers Choice series that I finished yesterday. 
So I decided to pull off one of the rows of Walk About and then I slapped up the three blocks of Grandmothers Choice.



This one is named: Union Square

These are so fun to make.  It takes me longer to choose the fabric than sew the block it seems.   I'm loving these so far.  Here's a link to Barbara's blog telling about the history of the women's fight for the right to vote.  I really don't know which I'm enjoying more.... making the block or reading the history. 

Now I think I'll grab my cuppa and head over to Judy's Design Wall and see what other quilters have been up to.

    Thanks for stopping by....Linda

Well it's Saturday so that means that the next block in Grandmother's Choice has been posted. 

 Here's #2 with my fabric choices.  The block is called Amethyst.   EQ7 has it listed as Priscilla so I printed the templates from there.
And it has the dreaded Y-seams.  I've sewn them before but I kinda forgot how for sure.  But I didn't want to come all the way back out here to get on the computer to find out how to do them right so I just muddled around and finally got the block all together. Believe it or not .... it doesn't look too bad.  lol
But I do think I'll study up on them a bit the next time just to make it easier on myself.  ;o) 

There's a Flicker Group set up for everyone to post their pictures of their blocks each week if you'd like to take a look.  Quite a selection of fabric choices.
   
Thanks for stopping by....Linda

  Grandmother's Choice Block of the Week. 
This first block is called Grandmother's Choice and the following is quoted from Barbara's blog.  

"The quilt pattern in the logo design was given the name Grandmother's Choice by the Ladies' Art Company about 1890". 

# 1.... finished.
There will be 49 total blocks measuring 8" finished with 2" sashing and cornerstones.
She also shows a 6" border so I'll wait until I have most of the blocks finished before I decide on the fabric for that.
I'm linking my block to the Grandmother's Choice Flicker Group if you'd like to check out the great blocks already being posted .

And then you can head on over to Judy's Design Wall Monday post to see what other quilters have been up too. 
 
Thanks for stopping by....Linda

Sometimes something comes along that just nags at me until I give in.  When I first read about this project I was definitely tempted....but quickly talked myself out of it and moved along.

And then I read Denise's blog and Cathy's blog.  And between the two of them I just had to go back and check out the details.
   
Sooooo I've pulled my fabrics.  I really like the looks of the Purple/Green/White.   But then I thought about how each country has it's own colors and I decided to use the colors that represents the United States.  This is what Barbara has on her sidebar.

   America's primary suffrage color was gold, often contrasted with black or dark violet. The shade is close to the yellow-orange we see in 19th-century quilts, the color the dyers called chrome orange and we call cheddar.




 

 
These are the fabrics I've chosen so far.   I'll throw in some black occasionally if I need to and when I have more time I'll rummage through my scraps to pull more golds.  

Happy Labor Day weekend.  Hope you're having fun and staying safe and happy.  
I'm going to go sew   
Thanks for stopping by....Linda