Go Teal it on the Mountain #6

And another couple of beauties in for this quilt.

Squishy season is definitely upon us. There’s a couple more en route, and rather than go out to the mailbox only every couple of days (I get very little mail otherwise), I’m now excitedly checking it every day.

These two are from Lynda in the US, who’s made a couple of really distinctive and beautiful blocks. You can’t see it so well in the photo, but the moon in block 2 has shadowy ‘craters’ in the fabric design – such a clever choice!

We now have 9 blocks on the design wall. Still a good few required, but we’re almost 30% done!

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Go Teal it on the Mountain #5

Two more in the mailbox today 🙂

Right about now, the postie is rolling his eyes and thinking: “She’s off again, it’ll be envelopes from all over for a couple of months now”. He’d be right, but hey, it’s a nice change from bills and flyers.

This first one is from Jean in California. She tells me it’s inspired by trekking in the Sierra Nevada:

“I wanted this block to mimic how a mountain range looks in the fading light of day. How the foreground hills have deeper color and the farther, distant mountains are taller, more rugged and their color is more muted, almost blending away into the sky.”

I think she’s achieved her desired result pretty well, don’t you?

The next two are from Sue in Washington state. Sue always has the most beautiful fabrics and perfect piecing. The block is called Hill and Valley. Perfect choice!

I know there are more on the way; once I have a few more I’ll be able to see whether there are ‘holes’ in the layout calling for darker or lighter blocks, or a focal point, etc. When I get some more, I’ll post a photo showing them all on the design wall so you can see them collectively. I also still have to make the teal ‘ribbon’ block, and I have a few mountain ideas I’d still like to try out.

But if there’s anyone out there who’s said they’d make a block or two, and who fancies giving a Delectable Mountain block a go, let me know, as I’d really like to have one in the quilt. If none of you makes it, I’ll do it myself. Or maybe we’ll have two 🙂

Back to the embroidery frame, I have an SAL coming up!

Go Teal it on the Mountain #4

There was a squishy in the mailbox this morning!

It’s from Lynn of Tialys; two gorgeous blocks for Go Teal it on the Mountain. She always chooses such beautiful fabrics and I love love love these two blocks.

I admit the first one is my favourite: I really like the contrast between the white peaks and the teal ombre sky, but the Husband loves the second one because of the animal print. The first thing he said when he saw it was “Squirrel!” (looking straight past the much larger deer). Clearly being married to a quilter has alerted him to distractions of that sort, and I really think he’s become more observant about quilting and block designs. He can even name some of them…. remarkable!

In other news, I’ve finished quilting the first side panel of Colours of Happiness. I’ll need a short break before starting the next panel as I’ve managed to impale the tip of my index finger on the less pointy end of my needle while pushing it through a thick seam, and the split in the skin won’t heal unless I stop stitching. Give it a day or two and it’ll be fine. Meanwhile, I can mark the next piece up. I’m also feeling a bit ordinary right now, I have an infection, so a little down time wouldn’t hurt. If I get too restless doing nothing, I can always go and sew some more bits for Days for Girls.

There are more GTOM blocks on the way, so watch this space for more teally lovely work!

Go Teal it on the Mountain #3

And the next one.

A bit of straightforward appliqué this time. The pieces are applied using blanket stitch, strengthened with an inner line of straight stitching. I lightly spray-basted the pieces to hold them in position while I stitched them down, rather than fusing them to the background. This allows me to trim away the excess fabric at the back, which prevents the block getting too thick and stiff. I used tear-away stabiliser behind the pieces to stop the blanket stitch ‘channelling’ and drawing up the background too much.

I like this one a lot. The moon is a white on cream brocade print which looks like the cratering on the surface of the moon. I blanket stitched down the edge with cream, and then used a silver metallic thread and cream in the bobbin to do the inner stitching line. It gives the moon just a tiny hint of sparkle. Doesn’t show up in the photo, of course, but you can see it in daylight.

I’ll also have to make the usual teal Ovarian Cancer ribbon block to go in the centre at the bottom of the quilt, but I might wait a bit and see how many blocks I get in before I make any more.

Perhaps I’ll go a bit more abstract next time…

 

Go Teal it on the Mountain #2

A little light relief from pink, then….

I’m really happy with the photos I’ve seen so far of the Ovarian Cancer team blocks for Go Teal it on the Mountain. (While I’m at it, shall we just shorten that to GTOM?) I’m not planning to show them till the blocks arrive, but I know some are on the way already, so you won’t have long to wait.

It was time to make a start on my own blocks. I like the crispness and accuracy of paper piecing, so that’s what I chose to start with.

A quick sketch of the idea, and then onto quilting graph paper. Designing a paper piecing pattern isn’t hard; the trick lies in deciding where the dividing lines between the sections need to go. One helpful point is that if you don’t make the block symmetrical, you won’t have a thousand seams all meeting in the same place, and your block will lie flatter. Anyway, I drew out the design, put in numbers to show assembly order and marks to ensure good alignment when the pieces are sewn together, and cut them out. Then I photocopied the pieces and added seam allowance around the outside. I always add more than ¼ inch, to allow me to trim out and to ensure the piece isn’t skimpy. You do need to remember that the finished design will be a mirror image of what you’ve drawn, since the fabric is stitched onto the back of your pieces. If you don’t want this, you have to trace all the lines and markings through onto the reverse, and make sure you work on the same side of each piece. It might help if you use a different colour on the reverse.

There are a thousand tutorials for assembling paper pieced blocks, so I won’t go there, except to say I like a dab of washable glue stick to hold the first piece in place rather than a pin, that I use an old, dull needle so I don’t spoil my good ones, and that tweezers are less dangerous than stitch rippers for fishing out those little elusive bits of paper in the corners 🙂

Here it is, assembled. The photo doesn’t give the true colour of the ‘sky’ so the contrast between it and the snow caps isn’t very clear. Three are darker and one is lighter than the sky. It’s the first of several different blocks – I have to wait and see how many I’m getting from the rest of the team, but I imagine I’ll be making at least three or four…

More soon.

Go Teal it on the Mountain: and so it begins…

If it’s September, it must be time for another fundraising quilt.

This is the last one we’ll make for Ovarian Cancer Australia, so let’s make it a good one. All future quilts will be made for the benefit of the Trudy Crowley Foundation, as discussed already with the fundraising quilt group. The Foundation is being set up following Trudy’s all-too-early death from ovarian cancer on Tuesday, in her memory and to continue the fundraising work she began so effectively. It’s the same cause, just closer to home, and a more personal motivation for me.

As you can see from the title, it’s going to be called Go Teal it on the Mountain. Well, you didn’t really expect an ovarian cancer quilt without Teal in the name somewhere, did you? The plan is that every block should feature some sort of mountain idea, whether it’s a simple version constructed of a triangle on a plain background, something a bit more elaborate, or even something pictorial. The design drawing shown here gives you some idea of the variety of shapes, sizes and layouts that are possible. I’m being as un-prescriptive as I possibly can here, so go a little mad if you’d like to 🙂  As always, the colours are shades of the Ovarian Cancer colours of teal and cream, from dark to light, fabrics plain or riotously patterned, and little bits of other colours are allowed so long as they don’t conflict or ‘read’ too strongly. It doesn’t matter if you do cream on teal or teal on cream, as a little variation will make the quilt more beautiful.

Here’s the list of people who have already put up their hands to contribute:

Lynn Hutton; Sue Brown; Carla Morris; Cathy Foote; Sandra Dorey; Robin Murphy; Gun Adrian; Emma Zocca; Lynda Swink; Tracy Pursley; Nanette Gilbert; Kathy Reeves, Jean Swenson, Jenny Ladbrooke and Margaret Creek.

If you’d like to join in and your name is not yet on the list, please let me know in the comments or send me an email. If you are no longer able to participate, please also let me know.  We have 30 blocks to make, and so far, 16 contributors including me, so you would be welcome if you’d like to participate.

The sizing follows the previous quilts. The blocks will finish at 12 inches square, and I’d ask you to give me an unfinished block of AT LEAST 12½ inches square, preferably a bit larger if possible. This will ensure that when the blocks are quilted I still have plenty of leeway for trimming out. It will, as usual, be assembled by the Quilt As You Go method. All participants need to do is send their block, and I will provide batting, backing, quilting and assembly.

This time, I’m asking for blocks to be with me by mid-December. I’m making a trip to Melbourne in February, and I’d like to be able to carry it with me to hand over in person to the lovely Emily at OCA. Hopefully that’s enough time for everyone to get their block or two sorted out. As always, I’ll be posting the incoming blocks as they arrive, to keep everyone’s creativity flowing.

So here we go. Time to bring out your teal stash, dear fundraising quiltmakers 🙂