Mardie is catching up on all her posts...

Most of these squares have been sent off long ago...in fact, I sent of Amy Gardiner's without taking a picture first! With great embarrassment, I present the following: For Camie, Kristin, Jen, Nicole and Amy C.

(Why, Oh, Why is Kristin's square off to the right like that!!! Arrrggghhhhh!!)

Amy, we have books on umbrellas, ballerinas, birdhouses, homes, foreign places and ships anchors! I can't wait to see this finished!

Rose Trellis or (Hugs and Kisses) for Liz's baby Charlotte.
"Miss Kate
 by Bonnie and Camille 

Some other projects from this year:

Baby Charlotte on a simple stacked block baby quilt.
"30's Playtime" by Cloe's Closet

Railroad Crossings for my Idaho daughter Grace's baby, Andy.
Loved this "Oh, Boy!" by Blake Riley

 I am struggling with the blog... I will just publish with love to all. 

Thanks for my Patriotic Stars which keep coming in the mail! I'm so excited!

A little behind...

Kristin,

I hope these snowballs don't melt on their summer voyage overseas. They're not perfect but I sure had fun making them.  You can choose which one you want, I wasn't sure if the one on the left was to busy/foliage-y? Please forgive their late arrival.

Summer Snowballs

I am indebted to Teriney for helping me with this square for Kristin! I found plenty of grey but could find no mustard and she saved the day!

This is another quilt I cannot wait to see finished! I imagine all these grays and yellows will form awesome patterns that we can't see yet!

Kristen and Jen

We moved again in May. I think we are finally in our "forever" home. It's perfect and lovely, but I totally got behind on my squares!

For Kristen 

For Jen 

I will get them in the mail this afternoon!

Also, I will be getting a tutorial up for my block in the next few days. Think polka dots!

Well, I finally have some blocks to share!  I will say that I sewed January's block right away, and then got freaked out by the paper piecing for February and basically froze.  Then I got a big shot of guilt mixed with reckless bravery and finally just went for it.  Whew! And that opened the flood gates. Finally got all caught up and mailed them off last Saturday, so they should be arriving at your homes soon.  Here they are in all their glory.

First up is Emily's Good Fortune block.  I really liked the unusual look of this block, without too much fiddling or the need of lots of templates or y seams.

Then came my nemesis, the Castle Wall.  This block exposed my fear of anything new and of failure, but also gave me the confidence to try out more paper piecing patterns in the future. So thank you, Nicole! It didn't turn out as perfect as I hoped, but I am still happy with it, and I hope you are as well.

Camie's beautiful, cheerful scrappy log cabin block gave me a chance to dig through all my scraps from past projects and smile at all the memories.  I can't wait to see how the finished quilt turns out.

Kristin's block was another bit of a problem.  Not because of the curved seams, those were awesome. No, it was the request for different grey and mustard yellow fabrics.  I didn't think it would be that big a deal at first, just an excuse to go the fabric store.  But after visiting 5 stores, I still couldn't find a fourth grey fabric. In desperation, I asked my local quilting friend if she had any in her stash.  She did, but it was a big dark.  I hope it doesn't ruin your whole quilt!

Liz's blocks were super fun.  Not much thinking, just randomly dividing up the fabric and going to town.  I also loved being able to purposely sew a little squittywompus, and have it add to the block, instead of ruining it.

Flowering Snowball for Kristin

Here is my snowball for Kristin...

I love gray & yellow!

Also, this is the last row I made for the row-along in my guild...

and a pin cushion for a dear friend who loves to sew and makes great pies...

oh, and I finally figured out what to put in my display coffee table - my old wooden spools!

April

I bought all new fabrics for this block and was nearly a total copycat.  What can I say- Becca does great work and chose great fabrics.  Curves were new to me but they were fun and easier than I expected.  I love this color combination!  I hope you like it Kristin.

April Curve Balls

My Darling Kristin,

It's not perfect, but it was very fun and quick!  Hope the colors are close to what you were wishing for.  This is going in to the mail this week.  And, Camie, yours will be in the mail this week, too!  I have an aversion to the post office, which I am trying to overcome.

XO,

Becca

April's Flowering Snowball

which truly couldn't be more appropriately themed for my German spring! we go from promising sunshine to overcast and snowflakes in the blink of an eye.

so here is my tutorial, complete with a pattern and a third party tutorial linky- because sometimes the third party's say it better than i do :)

pattern pieces; only three. you will need to cut 4 of piece A, 4 of piece B, and 1 C. i'll list the color specs toward the bottom of the post.

  here is your layout, you'll start with a corner.

 if curves are new to you, this is a great place to start. these are quite simple, just take your time.

 you'll want to line these points up, go ahead and bring that gray piece (B) all the way so that it's even with the straight edge on piece (A). it will make the curved seam a little more even. 

 i have found it easier to not use pins, but try it out, see what is more comfortable for you.

with one corner complete, attach the middle (C) piece to (A) pieces.

 onto the opposite corner-

 now attach the three pieces together- please carefully line up piece (C) with the corner pieces (A).

you should end up with 12" block. after a couple of attempts to get the colors right- i've decided to change them slightly from what you see here. the yellow pieces will remain, the plum pieces will also be yellow. the B's will remain a light gray and white/low value. piece C will be a dark gray.

i'm looking for rich mustard yellows- not citrus.

 ^^^^^^more this^^^^^

and for the grays, i want the grays to have a presence, but not compete with the yellow. if you could use different fabrics for each of the B pieces and please, if possible, use light gray and white monotone fabrics. think, low volume. for the C piece- darker gray. not black, but something that contrasts with your B pieces.

no need to trim your block once you've finished, just please make sure that it's at least a 12" square. i will mail the template in the morning- if you are stash short and need any of the color requests please let me know and i'll include them.

danke, friends!! Happy chilly April!

(molly flanders tutorial - http://mollyflanders.blogspot.de/2011/06/flowering-snowball_20.html)