Monthly Archives: March 2014

Book Review Tuesdays: Winner = 500 Quilt Blocks

5 Replies

Most of you guessed the mystery book. 500 quilt blocks.

Review

9781416209119_p0_v1_s260x420Title:  “500 quilt blocks”
Author:  Lynne Goldsworthy & Kerry Green
Publisher:  Sellers Publishing, Inc.
ISBN:  978-1-41620-911-9

This book is a great reference book for various quilting blocks. The book has a great introduction section which covers cutting techniques, hand stitches, sewing machine needle sizes, block construction and different techniques, and how to finish your quilt. The book is small in size, perfect for carrying and taking with you if traveling.

Each chapter of the book, covers various blocks based on a specific theme. The chapters are broken up starting with easy blocks and growing in complexity as it goes. For most blocks, there are up to 3-4 variations of the blocks. I really like the variations of each of the blocks and allow you to see how to make tweaks and changes to blocks you may have made or plan to make. A lot of effort was put into the book, as many of the blocks have not only have diagrams but also, photographs of made blocks.

Some of the things I do not like about this book:

  • The book includes templates but the book is so small that you would need to enlarge 200-400%.
  • There are projects scattered throughout each chapter. Unfortunately, I did not like any of the projects.
  • The instructions for making up the blocks are scant, which makes it difficult to make up. You have to kind of guess which pieces are what when sewing them together. Lining up the squares definitely assume you have extensive knowledge.

I will use this book for looking up blocks, maybe to come up with possibly bee blocks, or a sample quilt but it is also likely to stay on my shelf as well. For these reasons, I am only giving this book 2/5 buttons.

images-9  images-8 

Project

I decided to choose the “Broken Wheel” block and it’s variations. Ultimately, I plan to make these into a 20″ pillow….though, I am running a little behind. I did complete the main block, and plan on using 3 of the other 4 additional variations.

BrokenWheel_Block1_500quiltblocks

Fabric: Kona Torch, Kona Pond, Kona Wasabi, Kona Nautical and Kona White.

Winner

First off, thank you so much for all your wonderful guesses and playing along!!! And now onto the winner from last weeks comments….

Screen Shot 2014-03-18 at 11.06.27 PM

and #28 is Daisy over @ ants to sugar!!! Daisy, I will drop a copy off to you when I see you next. Congratulations!!

A disclaimer, all reviews and opinions of the books reviewed will be mine, unless otherwise stated. Please note, I may not respond to all comments due to volume and bandwidth.

I am linking up with Lee over @ Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday (for the pillow project).

Hothouse Orchids – Pantone Quilt Challenge Finish

17 Replies

I have finished my Pantone Quilt Challenge quilt. This mini quilt really allowed me to explore a couple of themes:

  • A color study with Radiant Orchid, where I used shades of Radiant orchid as sashing and across the diagonal from top left to bottom right. The whole clover sunshine line by Alison Glass offered great radiant orchid like prints and great complementary colors.
  • A theme study for Borders and Lines; after reading Quilting: Color + Lines  by Yoshiko Jinzenji, I thought this would be a great opportunity to explore this topic with fiber.

HothouseOrchids_Front

This quilt is all appliqué, which was my first time using this technique. I really enjoyed it. I had a hard times with a couple of decisions:

  • Should I put a thicker border around the edge?
    Hothouse_Orchids_ThickSashing
  • Should I go darker or go white for the binding?

After great feedback from my IG friends (thank you), I chose no thick borders, and I did go with the darker binding.

HothouseOrchids_Back

So, to wrap up…the final details:
Name: Hothouse Orchids
Size: 18″ x 19″
Fabric (front): Clover Sunshine by Alison Glass, Kona Violet (sashing), Kona White (background)
Fabric (back): Ludovika from Ikea
Quilting: Straight line quilting – various width bands with invisible thread.

Linking up and entering the Mini Quilt Pantone Quilt Challenge hosted by Anne @ Play crafts + Adrianne @ On the Windy Side.

2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge

 

This is also one of my Quarter Goals and linking up with:
41031-fal-2014-button

Sunday Stash #9: Off to the moon

14 Replies

I can definitely blog about my new additions to my stash today but alas, my 30/30 Sewing Challenge was a bust this week. That was mostly due to the hubby’s arm:

  • Wednesday – having to get up at 4am to the hospital, kind of limited extra curricular activity
  • Thursday –  7 hours at the hospital for the surgery, I did however get some hand sewing done on my Hexagon quilt for a couple of hours.
    HexagonQuilt_March2014
  • Friday / Saturday – the care giver of two, took over 🙂

Good news though, the hubby’s collarbone is all fixed now and he is moving about. He landed up with a plate holding his collarbone together.
Pinned_Collarbone

So onto the fabric additions, which is far more interesting ;-)..First up, is a selection of the Rocket Age line….perfect for Chair bags/Chair pockets and pillow cases, I am thinking.RocketAge_HawthorneThreads

Also, purchased some miscellaneous fabrics…
Miscellanous_HawthorneThreads

Linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash and Sarah @ Berry Barn Designs for 30/30 Sewing Challenge (need to own my not so good week).