Stymied

After almost 2 full weeks of playing, I came home from church today determined to get caught up on some stuff, most notably the February and March bee blocks from the Modern InstaBee that I joined back in January.  There has just been so much going on, I hadn't taken the time to sit down and make these blocks.  But, as so often seems to happen, I was frustrated at every turn.  Both the February and March queen bees want Kona white as their background.

Do I have Kona white?  Nope.

I haven't bought any since I bought the bolt of Moda Bella White several months ago.

And they are not the same - I know, because I mixed them in a quilt and you can tell.  You can really tell.

So, tomorrow I will haul myself off to Joann's or my LQS and buy some Kona White, and get these boogers made.

I hope.

Yesterday at our ECMQG meeting, Diane did a demo and workshop on improv curves.  I've done some improv curves before, but our sew days at ECMQG are really fun, and I haven't been able to stay for awhile, so I dragged my baby sewing machine off to the meeting, and decided to play with the group.  I used 5 of my FQs from the warm FQ Scrap Pack I bought from Westwood Acres Fabric (those scrap packs are so fun!) and played with the curved piecing Diane showed us.  I managed to get my 5 blocks put back together before I left, but they were a little boring so I sliced them up going the other direction and put them back together again and this is what I ended up with.

No idea what to do with them now.

They kind of remind me of the Oh Fransson Crazy 9-Patch and Lattice Quilt  blocks

That I used to make this quilt (which was one of the first "modern" quilts I made and still one of my favorites...)

And this one, which was a charity quilt made from donated fabric (definitely not a favorite, but I didn't choose the fabrics....)

I'm thinking of squaring them up and maybe cutting them up again.  After that I'm kinda stumped.

But I'm open to suggestions...

So I spent the afternoon writing blog posts and surfing Pinterest.

Don't judge me.  {please!}

Progress on the MIAGIA Crazy 9-Patch Quilt Top, Mini QT Received, and Other Updates

These blocks have been haunting my dreams, and yesterday morning I woke up with an urgent need to work on this quilt top. A few days ago, I asked for advice on colors to sash these  blocks made with random donated fabrics.  I got some great comments, both on Flickr and on my blog post.  One wonderful reader actually took my block post and magically (using a new Flickr tool I don't understand quite yet) placed my blocks in various colored sashing so I could see what it looked like.  You can find her photo here.  How cool is that?  I was really drawn to the blue/aqua photo, but I just couldn't quite commit...  Until Mrs. Darling and Sister of the Divide both suggested in my blog comments that I use both.  Aha!  That was the inspiration I was waiting for.

And it's been bugging me ever since.

I have never done cornerstones before and was puzzling it out in my mind when I went to bed night before last (in the middle of a crazy-wild thunderstorm, I might add) and when I woke up, I wanted to sew in the worst way.  Sadly, it had to wait until I got home from work.  I have other projects with deadlines, but this is the one that I chose to work on.  I still have sashing to add to two sides, and then I think it needs some borders to make it a more usable size, although it might make an OK kid's quilt the way it is.  Still, I think I'll add at least one border to tie the whole thing together.  There is still a LOT of that argyle print left.  Doesn't really go with my aqua/orange sashing, but it IS in almost every quilt block.

I've got to get to work on my Make Mine Modern project.  You send your secret partner 1-1/2 yards of fabric you think she'll like plus an item to decorate their sewing room and a handmade item.  I've pretty much known what I wanted  to do for my partner for weeks, but I just can't make myself sit down and do it.  Now I'm wondering why.  Anyway, I'm down to the wire - the deadline to mail is April 15, so I've got to get moving.  And BD #2 will be home next week, and I know I'll be distracted, so I had better get this done.

 In other news, I received my 3-D Mini QT quiltie from my partner, Valery Anne.  It's adorable.  It's stamped, painted, stitched and beaded, with great embellishments, like felt leaves and star buttons, and a cute hand-painted (?) birdie.  Great work!  I have a little wall space in my sewing room and I'm going to make it a home there.

I hope she gets my creation soon, because I'm excited to share.  I think it just might be my most creative work yet.  I showed it to a co-worker, and she commissioned one for herself, so I'm pretty excited about that.

I'm not sure how I managed it, because I really thought I had signed up for the next round, but I must have been delusional, because I actually REMEMBER signing up, but apparently I did not.  So I'm sitting out this round, which is probably OK, since I'm doing several other swaps and I have several quilt tops I want to finish. 

But alas, now it is time to go to work.  TTFN!

Crazy 9-Patch MIAGIA Blocks

The other night I dropped by the Pensacola Quilter's Guild MIAGIA (Make It And Give It Away) sewing night and picked up a ziplock bag full of random fabrics. Over the weekend, I made this quilt top.

Once this quilt top was done, I had  some fabric left over. I've been dying to try Elizabeth Hartmann's Crazy 9-Patch blocks in some more random fabrics, and this was my chance.

Since the fabrics I had left were mostly fat quarters, there was not enough to put the same fabrics in every block, which is really OK with me.  I wanted all 27 of the blocks to be different.  And, the point of this exercise was to see how the blocksturned out with a less defined color scheme.  Here are my 3 sets of blocks:

So, now I'm wondering - whatcolor should I use for the lattice blocks.  Not white, I think.  Not brown either. I really want the blocks to "pop".  I thought about a dark green.  Hmmm.  I'm open to suggestions. Let me know your thoughts!