One Piece at a Time

Design Wall Monday January 10,2011

Now that my challenge quilt is all done and delivered I can start getting My Tweets (2011 BOM) up and running.

My design wall this week shows the pattern Miss Kelly which will be the center appliqué of My Tweets (minus the purple border of course). The block up there with Miss Kelly is a Block 1 preview. Getting impatient yet?

Here is a shot of the fabrics I have set aside so far for flowers.

Here is a shot of the fabrics I have set aside for birds and leaves.

There will be MUCH more information throughout the week about the My Tweets BOM including the first tutorial of the year…”How to sew a bird”.

Head on over to Judy’s blog and check out what others are up to.

Oh…and if you wouldn’t mind…please vote for Ambrosia by clicking the Vote button on the right side of the site.

Also, check out the new FLCKR group for My Tweets and a search module on the left side of the site.

Miss Kelly winner will be announced after I have had just a little more coffee and done my voting for today.

Fabric Requirements

Florabunda Fabric Requirements found here.

If you are not paper piecing the sawtooth borders then 4 yards of blue should be good. If you are paper piecing then buy a little more. The requirement for white background fabric is 4.5 yards.

Hope that helps

Florabunda Block 12…I Can Hardly Believe It

This is making me a little sad but here is Block 12. I hope everyone joins along next year for My Tweets, my 2011 BOM. Next week I will have the center block and the finishing directions all ready for you.

The pattern has two formats. The first is a full size pattern (12” square you can download here) that you can save to a USB drive and take to a copy place to have printed. The other is a ¼ size drawing (download here) that should print on a regular printer. You can make 4 copies of this one and tape it together for a full size pattern.

For all you who like to share pictures you can join our FLICKR group at

http://www.flickr.com/groups/florabuddies

Have Fun and Happy Friday…now I am off to sew my fingers to bloody stumps.

 

Florabunda Block 11- Alternate Colorway

I’m sorry this is a little late in coming. Here is the alternate colorway for Block 11.

I’m in the process of getting Block 12 together for everyone and it’s making me a little sad…to think that Florabunda is almost over.

I’m off to wrack my brains on challenge 3. I will post more on that later.

Florabunda Block 11...Gosh we're almost done

As promised here is Florabunda Block 11.The pattern has two formats. The first is a full size pattern (12” square you can download here) that you can save to a USB drive and take to a copy place to have printed. The other is a ¼ size drawing (download here) that should print on a regular printer. You can make 4 copies of this one and tape it together for a full size pattern.

For all you who like to share pictures you can join our FLICKR group at

http://www.flickr.com/groups/florabuddies

Have Fun and         

Happy Friday

Florabunda Block 10

As promised here is Florabunda Block 10.The pattern has two formats. The first is a full size pattern (12” square you can download here) that you can save to a USB drive and take to a copy place to have printed. The other is a ¼ size drawing (download here) that should print on a regular printer. You can make 4 copies of this one and tape it together for a full size pattern.

For all you who like to share pictures you can join our FLICKR group at

http://www.flickr.com/groups/florabuddies

Have Fun and         

Happy Friday

Florabunda: Sawtooth Borders

Sometimes when I am doing a large amount of appliqué I need some good old fashioned piecing to balance things out. Maybe you feel the same way? If you do, here is a small tutorial on how I am doing the borders of my Florabunda blocks. You might have noticed from my preview pictures that each block in Florabunda has a sawtooth border. Since you need a set of these for each block now is a good time to start thinking about getting these sewn. If you have nine blocks done you probably have enough of an idea what looks good with your color scheme and can decide what fabric to use for your borders. As I mentioned before you will need about 4 yards.

A couple of months ago I did a tutorial on sawtooth borders where I showed how I make them using 1 ½” x 2 ½” rectangles. You can read about this method here. If you use this method each block will need 24 blue rectangles and 24 white rectangles. In addition to these you will also need four 1 ½” x 1 ½ “ in both blue and white.

If you have some familiarity with foundation piecing you can create your borders using this method. Here I have drawn the long and the short border on graph paper.

These drawings can be transferred to freezer paper (or you can just use your graph paper) to create the borders.

Using your preferred method, create two long and two short borders that look like these.

Now it’s time to cut my appliqué block to the proper size. My short borders are 1 ½” x 12 ½” so I can cut my block to this size using my square ruler.

After this is done I attach my short borders and press the seams toward the center.

Next I attach my long borders and press this seam to the center as well.

I plan to add these borders as time permits. You can add one to each block with out having to decide how you are going to sew it all together yet. I will wait until I have all my blocks done before I decide on the sewing order. Sometimes you just need to see how all the colors are playing with each other before you make a decision.

Florabunda Block 9

 

As promised here is Florabunda Block 9.The pattern has two formats. The first is a full size pattern (12” square you can download here) that you can save to a USB drive and take to a copy place to have printed. The other is a ¼ size drawing (download here) that should print on a regular printer. You can make 4 copies of this one and tape it together for a full size pattern. This pattern is swirly so you will have to align the leaves that are cut off. I couldn’t figure out a nice way around this…sorry.

For all you who like to share pictures you can join our FLICKR group at

http://www.flickr.com/groups/florabuddies

And here is the alternative color scheme

Maybe I should Change the Name to Manic Quilt Blogger

I know, I know...it's my third post of the day...maybe I have had a little TOO much caffiene.

The number one question I get asked here is about my fabric selections. For next years BOM I am using the "Happy" fabric line from Moda and Me and My Sister Designs. This fabric just came out so there is plenty available at The Fat Quarter Shop. I am also using some other fabrics from the same designers that coordinate well. To make things easy for those of you that want to use that fabric I have made a list of everything I have ordered so far. You can download it here. Unless otherwise noted I have ordered half yards.I will also be pulling fabric from my stash for this quilt but it will all coordinate with the Happy fabric. The purple I used for the birds in Miss Kelly (the BOM center block) is from Maywood Studio, it's one of thier Shadowplay fabrics and I can't find the number (sorry). I'm sure there are plenty of tone on tone purples that will work.

Another Note, if you are using Miss Kelly for the BOM you will need a larger background square than is stated in the pattern. A 34" square should work great.

I know this BOM isn't starting until January but I wanted people to get the fabric while it was still available.

Ok, OK I'll go away now. Maybe I should have a glass of wine instead of an iced tea.

Introducing the 2011 Block of the Month: My Tweets

I know I know, it’s still August and I’m already talking about next year’s BOM. I just wanted to give people a head’s up so they could plan, if they happen to be the planning type. Also, since questions about color and fabric are my most asked questions,  I wanted to tell people about the fabric that I will be using so they can order it if they are interested.

So, here’s the scoop.

I will be offering an appliqué BOM next year starting in January. I’m calling it “My Tweets” and each block will have a cute bird theme. The small blocks will all be free on my blog and there will be instructions for completing the quilt with the 12 small blocks plus an appliqué border. If people want to make the medallion setting (the one shown above) I’m asking that they purchase the pattern for the center. This helps me keep this blog going.

I wanted to find a fabric line to use for this that was bright and cheery but not exactly like Florabunda. I absolutely love the “Happy” fabric line by Me and My Sister and Moda. Seriously, how can you not love a line of fabric called “Happy”? You can see pictures of it by going here or here.

Kimberly from Fat Quarter Shop has graciously sent me a Fat Quarter Bundle and I am busily working on finishing the center block in “Happy” fabric for you all to see. I am also planning on designing some fun free projects using that fat quarters from the bundle that don’t make it into the quilt so none go to waste. If you don’t know about Fat Quarter Shop, please go check them out right away. I’ve added them to “My Favorite Websites” section. They are my absolutely favorite for online fabric ordering. Every time I have ordered from them they have gotten the fabric to me within a few days. They have a very accurate estimation of how much fabric they have (none of this backordering and waiting 3 weeks only to find out your fabric isn’t coming kind of thing) and wonderful customer service. So go visit them and order a bundle or two (you know you want to).

For the background blocks I am using Bella Solids Bleached White and you can order it from Fat Quarter Shop by clicking here. You will need 8 yards. For the small squares in the sashing and the binding you will need 2.5 yards of a coordinating blue fabric. I am going to use one of the blues from the “Happy” collection. The yardage for this fabric line will be at Fat Quarter Shop in September and I will let you know when it’s in and what other quantities I am ordering.

I am so excited about this I can hardly sit still (maybe that’s from the coffee) and I am drawing birds on everything. So mark your calendars and come quilt (tweet) with me in 2011.