Let's try that color selection again...

Quiltville mystery quilt. I loved the look of Bonnie's selected fabrics. Indigo? Check. Shirtings? Love it. Cheddar/gold accent? Perfect. Chocolate brown? Right-o.

Then I realized that I was going along on the pinks because her palette looked so well assembled and balanced, but I wasn't really feeling it. The more I looked at the blue centers and gold accent corner on those square in a square blocks, the more I didn't want to invite pink to the party. So.......

NO.
YES!

It's green! All these lovely yellow-y greens. Just the ticket to jazz up this design - whatever the heck it is. Thank goodness pink wasn't in the first set of blocks.

Happy Anniversary to my brother and sister-in-law

Now that I know they have opened the gift and I won't spoil the surprise, I can show what I made for my brother and sister-in-law for their 38th anniversary.

Please forgive the terrible picture. This quilt was a little too large to hang from my closet door rod, and it sagged. It was made from my second set of Hearts A-Flutter BOM blocks. I love how it turned out, and I love the quilting job that June Adkins did for me. There's outline stitching and meandering around the applique motifs that let them stand out, and a lovely vine in the sashing.

Quiltville mystery part 1

The first instructions for the mystery quilt have been published, and I'm cutting out patches right now. We will be making 120 square in a square blocks. 120 3 1/2" square in a square blocks. Boy, this Bonnie person likes to work small!

When I make these blocks, I usually cut squares for the corners, sew on the diagonal, and then trim and flip the corners. It wastes a little material, but you can recycle the cut pieces into half square triangles. Bonnie is using the method where you sew slightly oversized triangles on the sides, and then trim the block to size. I balked, because I hate the trim-to-size-later approach. Why don't you just make it the right size to start with? But then I decided to follow her instructions and go with it. Maybe I'll learn something. I'm just hoping I don't regret this. Trimming 120 squares is not my idea of a fun afternoon.

The second thing that bugged me is she is using an Easy Angle and an Easy Square Jr. ruler. I almost never buy a specialty ruler. I have a set of Creative Grids rulers which I adore, because they have the non-slip grip dots on the back and because the marks are thinner, which I think makes cutting more accurate. The 6 1/2" x 6 1/2" is my workhorse. I can use it to square up small blocks, I can use it to cut the diagonal when making triangles from squares. I recently replaced mine because I had used it so much the side of the rotary cutter blade had started to erode the edge of the ruler.

When I finish these segments, I'll add a photo to this post. Back to the cutting board!

Oh, yes, one more thing that cutting out this quilt reinforced for me, something I already knew. When you're doing scrappy, you have to go big or go home. I had pulled 5 different shirtings to use, but when I started cutting out all the triangles, I went back to the stash and got 5 more. The same with the blue center squares. I cut from 7 different blues, but I may go get a few more. If it isn't really scrappy, it just looks paltry and mishmash.


Addendum:
Here's the test block. Yep, it's little.

The best laid plans of mice and men. . .

. . .often get completely obliterated. I had the whole month planned out. I would finish binding the three backlogged quilts, quilting the Linus quilts, starting the mystery quilt and the new BOM. Well, flush that. Flush it all.

My brother-in-law (you know, the one I made a quilt for last spring) is getting married the first weekend in April. This afternoon, my husband said "I guess we need to think about what to get them for a wedding present." The twist is, they're both in their fifties, have worked all their lives, owned houses, and generally bought everything they want or need. So what to get them?

"You could make them a quilt," he continued. Wait, I gave his brother a quilt last spring. "Well, that was for him, not them." I'm not sure I like the way this is going. "I guess a double wedding ring quilt would be traditional."

SCREECH went the brakes in my brain. I have 90 days to design a double wedding ring quilt, buy fabrics, make it, hire it quilted and bind it. A DOUBLE WEDDING RING QUILT. Curved seams, people. And oh, it gets better. "He says no quilts are ever long enough since he's so tall. I suppose he's still got the king size bed."

So I have to make a HUMONGOUS double wedding ring quilt.

I remembered my Shar Jorgensen rotary templates for a double wedding ring. Whew, at least the cutting out won't be hard. I pulled the template set out of the cabinet. Wait, it looks a little bit....small. I consulted the instructions. The rings measure 15 inches in diameter? The arcs are 1 1/2" wide?? The center section is 6 inches across???

I call my mom, who has made several double wedding rings, and read off the dimensions. I can hear her gritting her teeth. "Well," she asks finally, "how many rings will you have to make?" I was hoping she wouldn't ask. "At least 60." She has the grace not to laugh.

Basically, she says what I already know. The small curved seams will be a total and complete pain to sew, it will take forever, and by the time I finish it I will be a raving lunatic. So, I ask her if she still has the pattern she used for mine. It's queen size and contains 30 rings. 30 rings I can do.

She isn't sure because it was in a magazine, but she'll look. In the meantime, I'm doing an internet search and come up with a free double wedding ring pattern from McCall's Quilting Magazine. I check out the dimensions. The rings are 23 inches in diameter. Now you're talking!

So, I'm making a quilt for my brother-in-law. Again.

(But I'm still starting the mystery quilt tomorrow. Shhh, don't tell.)

Addendum:
I decided for the sake of my sanity and respect for the timeframe I decided to do a variation of the wedding ring that my mom once made. The centers and "melons" between the rings are a floral focus fabric and the rings are alternating solids or "sorta solids", as I call them. The corner blocks are darker shades of the ring colors. The solid color one-piece ring arcs gives great quilting space, and the floral makes the quilt detailed enough to be visually interesting. Not to mention that using one-piece rings will save a lot of time.

The lure of the BOM

"Hello, I'm the Calico Quilter and I'm addicted to Block of the Month quilts."

"Hello, Calico."

That's what should be happening right now, if there were a twelve step program for overcommitted quilters. Here I am trying to clean up unfinished projects, and what do I do this morning? Innocently, I start a search for free block of the month projects. (How's that for delusion?) What do I find? This.
It's cute and it's free and it would look great made in my collection of batiks. (What else am I going to do with them? Stare at them? Build a shrine for them? I have been too leery of cutting into them. This will force me to look at them as just another fabric - another, gulp, expensive fabric.).

So off I go to the printer for a copy of the fabric requirements, and to the stash closet, to pull the yardage and create a project box, all the while mentally kicking myself and saying "You have no business committing to another BOM. You know how much time it ended up taking last year."

"But," I answered myself sweetly, "that was because I made two of each of them and I'm only going to make one of this one."

"Yes, but this is not the only one you're going to make, I just know it. You've already been skulking around BlockCentral to see if they've posted their 2009 BOM. Besides, you're going to do Quiltville's mystery quilt, and that starts tomorrow."

"This BOM doesn't start until January 15th."

"Completely beside the point. And, didn't I see you printing out the fabric requirements for that other mystery quilt?"

"But it's a small quilt, it will be quick to complete. They said one day if you're a fast sewer. That's for January 1st."

"What about taking the Christmas tree down on January 1st?"

"But it's so pretty. Can't we enjoy it for a while longer?"

"You're hopeless, completely hopeless."

You see? I need to be rescued from myself.

Cleaning up for the new year

No, not the house.

I'm cleaning up all the half-done projects, the BOMs ready to be assembled, the stacked up quilt tops needing to be quilted, the bindings ready to be applied. They're hanging on me like the chains on Marley's ghost. To be able to start the Quiltville mystery quilt with a clear conscience, I have to get these things off the worktable.

So:
1. Anniversary gift quilt for my brother bound, wrapped and ready to mail.
2. Hearts A-Flutter BOM blocks completed and applique border designed.
3. BlockCentral BOM black/white/tan top assembled and awaiting shipment to the quilter.
4. Teacup and saucer quilt boxed and ready to send to Deb for fancy quilting.
5. Four additional blocks for BlockCentral blue/rust quilt designed to make the top large enough for a queen bed.
6. All blocks for the Debbie Mumm Christmas sampler completed and awaiting additional green fabric to assemble top. I could not make the specified amount of fabric stretch to cut the large setting triangles for the center medallion. I have no idea if it was me or them, but I bought what the pattern specified. The extra fabric is ordered.
7. Two wall quilts sent to the longarmer.

But there's more: two wall quilts and two bed quilts to bind, four Linus quilts to quilt and bind, diagonal log cabin top to complete, Hearts A-Flutter, BlockCentral and Debbie Mumm BOMs to complete. I don't expect to get all this done before I start the Mystery quilt, but I'm making a good faith effort to at least work on them. After I get back from running errands tomorrow, I'm hopping on the binding train again. Please, no more small checks or stripes.

Hand made Christmas card

Isn't this Christmas card lovely? Kathryn of Silver Nutmeg Crafts and Hound Mistress made it and sent it all the way from Wales. (That little "Royal Mail" sticker on the envelope gives me the giggles. Mail - for me! - from the British Isles!)

Can you see the little beading on the cross stitch? I can't imagine how long it took to make. And free for the asking - "if you would like a card, email me and I'll send you one". Just like that - how generous!

I need to find a special frame tomorrow when I'm out on errands. This one's a keeper.