Monday, January 26, 2015

Choose Your Own Block-Along, 1/26/15

All 100 City Sampler blocks are done! Yes, I powered through the second half of them this past week, motivated by putting away all the Christmas fabric. I knew if I put it away before the blocks were done, it was highly likely they would never be completed.

This is the very last block in the book, along with mountains of fabric. Scrappy sewing is a messy business. See why I was motivated?
I arranged all the blocks on my design wall using the design I had visualized. And it worked! The colors start in the upper left corner with very low-volume red and white, gradually add more color, along with green, then kind of swap in the middle and work their way back to very low-volume, this time with green and white. Oh, and the quilt has a name--Christmas in the City. Perfect, right?
I'll take the blocks down later this morning, carefully pinned together in rows, and set them aside for a quilting retreat at the end of February.

This is not a block, obviously, but I'm one quarter of the way through with the Coastal Ripple afghan.
And I have started an epic project, the New Hexagon Millefiori Quilt, using the fabulous book by Katja Marek. I'm using my stash of Denyse Schmidt fabrics, collected over the years.

I sure hope I don't run out...
Here is the center of the first rosette.
I purchased the acrylic templates from Paper Pieces, which make cutting a breeze. Too bad I forgot about the whole mirror image thing. I only had a fat 1/8th of the stripe and it is really the perfect fabric. But half of the pieces aren't cut properly for the left side of the diamond. So another fat quarter is on the way. Bummer, because I really wanted to use only the fabric I have on hand. But even Mark agreed that a replacement fabric purchase was in order. And...lesson learned.

What have you been working on in the past week? Here is what Rene' has been up to.


14 comments:

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Carla said... #

This looks so great Cindy. The layout is fantastic. What have I been doing? The millefiorie of course : )

Nicole said... #

What a great layout for the Christmas quilt. Very nice job, and I look forward to seeing it quilted!

Terri said... #

I love your Christmasy quilt. Usually I don't like sampler type quilts, but the unusual layout of this one is great. I love the low color blocks are still patterned, too. Very nice quilt. Thanks for sharing it.
Hugs

Archie The Wonder Dog said... #

The blocks look fantastic - I love the arrangement!

Christals Creations said... #

Looking forward to seeing the next project on the go. :)

Rene' said... #

Your Christmas in the City is perfect! Your layout is genius! You are right in that scrap projects are messy. Love your new projects. I'm impressed you are tackling the hexie one.

Needled Mom said... #

I LOVE the Christmas quilt! The block arrangement is fabulous. Have fun with those hexies.

The Colorful Fabriholic said... #

Your Christmas in the City layout looks terrific - good plan and it worked really well!

Celtic Thistle said... #

Brilliant layout Cindy, and an excellent name for your quilt too!

Andee said... #

Really going to be an awesome quilt! Loving it!

Vicki said... #

Love your top! The gradation is perfect. You are a busy lady.

Michele said... #

I love your top too and it is going to be gorgeous when it is all done.

Cathy said... #

Your Christmas quilt is amazing!!! I've loved watching you work on it.

Blogger said... #
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