Saturday 19 March 2016

Happy International Quilting Day!

Guess what's on my mind today?

Not too hard to figure out!


Trimmed tiny little HSTs to one inch ! I'm trying to catch up a little bit on the 365 Challenge. They are taking longer and longer to sew as precision is the key word here. Speed and precision don't go together, well, not for me anyway.


Did my usual blooper. What's a day without a blooper ... (or is it What's a day without orange juice?) Anywho, had to redo part of this one.

I love this fabric and all I have is 7X5 " of it.  I want to use it in the 365 Challenge but where? The block finaly showed up today. Look!

I like it and I still have enough for part of another block ... maybe. (This picture shows its natural colours better.)

So here they are.This what I made so far on my Quilting Day morning. (Actually, did most yesterday hehe!)





Of course, there's more to come.

Then I jumped from February 19, Tea Leaf (bottom middle in the above picture) to February 23 because it sounded so hard to make. Being still early enough in the morning for my concentration to be foolproof (yeah right!) (at least, I got the blooper out of my system) so I started to cut the necessary fabrics.


With the little one inch pieces, I'll make flying geese units. Don't believe me? Actually, neither did I !! Took my time and drawn a line on all of the little pieces. Yes, of course being so small, it's easy to eyeball it but, 1/8 of an inch on these pieces is like half an inch or more on a 3.5 piece.


So no eyeballing for me.  I sew a hair away from the drawn line so when the fabric folded back, it would reach all the way to the edge.
Sometimes my hair is too thick, lol, and I had to sew again, just closer. I checked every single one before cutting.


If you think these are "dogears" that I've cut off, you are wrong.  These are the "bonus trianges" we get when making these tiny flying geese. Some of the extra HSTs I have kept but not these.  Gosh! I've seen dust bunnies bigger than these triangles lol.

So here are the littlest flying geese I have ever seen. The corner HSTs need to be trim down. They make the geese look even more smaller than they are.




Corner HSTs trimmed down. The red 9 Patch trying to bomb this picture is a regular 3.5 unfinished 9Patch. (Its not completely sewn together here.) The geese are 1.5 X 1" at this point. They must be flying really high in the sky to be that small. Much like this one.


This is a hawk flying above my head this morning.  Because I was outside, Mr. Hawk wouldn't dare come close and my little friends knew this, I guess, because they decided to drop by to say Hi!


Yes, having peanuts and sunflower seeds in my hand sure did help but it sang for me before leaving with a mouthful. So cute. The day is so gorgeous, it's hard to stay focus on sewing. (Yes, we still have snow here!) Annnnyyyywho!


Here is February 23, Capital T, with all its 33 pieces inside a 3.5 block.


I love it.  Heidi, who organized the 365 Challenge, always have a little bit of history for each block. So interesting.


Here's the little broken dish I made with the extra HSTs from the flying geese next to it.  Cute, right? Now what am I going to do with it?  Dunno!  :^D    It was just fun.

Here is block #2 of the Westering Women.  Now THAT was real easy to make after Capital T.  LOL!

Also, I have done 4 more Double 9 Patch.

Need two more like that and most of the fabric is already cut (as you saw in an earlier picture, the 9Patch) so that should get done today. (After that, all these blocks will go into the UFO pile as I don't know what to use for sashing. Every piece of fabric I have tried so far leaves me so not impressed. Twice, I have found and bought some fabric thinking it was the right one, only to see the lack of umph! when I put the blocks on it.)

Then, if there's still some daylight left, I would like to start on my OMG project. No, it's still not started. Yes, I do realize we are the 19th of the month. At the moment, my project looks like this.





Half pin-basted. Yep, well, I'll get to it ... soon.

This is what I used for the backing. It's denim thick. It should make a good rug and I get to use my older fabric. Yay!! (Yes, but you do have to finish it.) I know, I know!  Procastinator :^D

So this is all for the moment. I wish you all a wonderful quilting day.

Joining Cynthia for Oh Scrap! on Sunday.


Until next time ...  keep that needle going!  (I'll try to do the same.)

;^)

12 comments:

Ellen said...

Wow...you've got a lot going on! I was tempted to make and keep some bonus triangles from some blocks I am working on but honestly....they are just too small. I sometimes get quite bogged down with all of the little bits. :) Your bonus triangles did turn into a cute little block though!

Lisa J. said...

Those sure are small blocks Chantal. I think they would drive me crazy. Love the little bird.

PaintedThread said...

Such itty bitty blocks! They look terrific.

Jealous that you have chickadees that eat out of your hand. I will have to try and entice them again in the fall.

gayle said...

Well done, you! Your Challenge blocks are looking great!
So are your other blocks, for that matter - you've been busy busy busy today!

Lin said...

All I can say is WOW! xx

CecileD said...

Tu avances bien avec tes jolis blocks mais comme ils sont petits ! Petits rikiki !!!
Dis-moi combien de temps restes-tu la main en l'air avant qu'un oiseau y vienne ? Je suis impressionnée ....
Bonne international quilting day ! :)

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Wow! Great progress on all your blocks. Your quilt is going to be lovely. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

I just finished trimming some blocks for a project and ended up with some 1 inch bonus HSTs - maybe I will be making Broken dishes blocks with them! I don't usually work with pieces that small, but you make it look easy! Love that you can feed that chickadee out of your hand! The ones in our yard are very skittish.

cityquilter grace said...

love your little blocks! i am about 7 days behind and getting ready to move but first thing will be to set up my machine and get current...they ARE fun but ARE a challenge!

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

I really enjoyed reading this post. Those pieces are so incredibly tiny. My dust bunnies are bigger than your blocks too! And bonus triangles the size of dog ears. You are tempting me to make a few of these blocks!

SueR said...

Hello Chantal! I am so tickled to see that you are doing the 365 Challenge! I only discovered it about two weeks ago, and I have the first 13 blocks done. Had to laugh, I'm counting my pieces too. Must be a Dear Jane thing, lol. Go girl!

Vivian said...

I've done my best to side-step the 365 challenge, (and not participate) but your post with all these delightful blocks is pushing me to at least save the patterns. Your blocks are lovely and GREAT use of your fabrics.