Monday, January 3, 2011

My first finish of 2011 and design wall Monday

Well Motorola gave us Monday 1/3 off rather than New Years' Eve, so guess what I did today....yep I sewed.

I have my first finish of the year.  Ok, so it was an easy one, a baby blanket but a finish none the less right?  I'm pleased with this.  This my first EQ quilt that transformed from bits and bytes into a tangible quilt!

And that's not all!!   I also had some fun with string blocks, working on my son-in-laws quilt.  I'm really liking it so far. After the pastels on the baby blanket (normally I like bright fun colors for baby quilts, but that was  a nice change of pace) and the more traditional RRCB (scrappy traditional piecing) it was good to get back to something a bit more modern and out of the ordinary.  Still have a bit to go, but like the progress so far.  I'm trying to see how I can work the Y-seams into the border....I still have a few rows to go and then at least 3 borders.  I have fallen in love with string blocks. (yes I see the one block that is not in the correct position, but they aren't sewn together so I'll make sure I fix that for the final design)


And that's not all.....I put all the blocks together for RRCB.  I have the picture below but have not sewn the center together yet.  I want to wait and see what the border looks like.  I may make two quilts, one with the pieced blocks and one with the string blocks., it's still growing on me and not sure which way I'll go.   As is, it's one big quilt!


Ahh, why can't all Monday's be like this???

21 comments:

  1. Love the baby quilt. SOft and cuddly - sometimes we have to go outside the comfort zone as we aren't always sewing for US. And it is a good learning tool. You really have been pedal to the metal! The B/W/R string is going to be terrific. A design wall and photo really helps with those "whoops". And the RRCB is just fantastic. Yes it is a HUGE quilt - that's why I am leaning toward breaking it into 2 quilts. You have done well my dear.

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  2. EQ6 is great when checking out how one color will go with another. Like the baby quilt and it's design! You really had a Movin' Monday!

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  3. Your RRCB is wonderful! I like the gold frame that the triangles create. The neutral string blocks really make the prickly pear blocks stand out. And arent strings fun? You can't make just one!

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  4. LOVE that black/white/red!! And your RRCB looks great--the neutrals are dark enough to really work with your colored blocks. Great job Sue!

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  5. Congrats on your first finish!!!

    Love all the quilts you posted about. I'm not doing the RRCB, but I agree with you, make two quilts. Its beautiful, but sort of busy at the same time. I like your idea of using the strings in one.

    blessings,
    jilly

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  6. Love the baby quilt. Well done on your first finish. Love the other quilts too!

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  7. Wow! your RRCB is totally awesome!! What a beauty.Cant wait for Friday to see how it all pulls together with the borders. Love the string quilt too. Strings are addictive!

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  8. It is wonderful - great job!!!!

    sao in Midlothian, VA
    www.shirleyannesheart.com

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  9. The baby quilt (as well as the other quilts) are beautiful!

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  10. congrats on the baby quilt - was that as hard as it looks?
    your b&w strippy and RRCB are coming along nicely - I like the way your soft hst colors make the pieced blocks 'pop' from the background. sweet!

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  11. You are a sewing machine. Congratulations on the first finish of the year. I really like what you've done with the strings -- how clever of you to "outline" them with the red and white.

    And, oh, my goodness. You rrcb is fabulous. And it must be huge cause on the picture you really can't see the yellow? and white triangles much at all. I really like that block -- is it called prickly pear? I may want to try that block on its own. I've been reading all about this mystery but didn't want to start it as I am no where near done with Carolina Christmas.

    Congratulations and pats on the back for a very productive Monday off.

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  12. Oh! Your RRCB is absolutely gorgeous!!! I vote to keep it all as one quilt~~it's just stunning!! Excellent job!

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  13. You did have a good Monday! The baby quilt is adorable and your RRCB is lovely. Love your gold or yellow instead of the red as the constant.

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  14. The baby quilt is adorable and so different from the usual. It's really neat that you designed it yourself on EQ. Your son in law is going to love his quilt it's awesome.
    I really love your RRCB, I need to get going on mine. The gold is great in my opinion, it contrasts just enough and keeps everything from being busy, it's calm and soothing but still graphic.

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  15. Isn't it great to have a free day to sew? I love the B&W strings, and your RRCB! And congrats on the PhD finish!

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  16. Super work on the baby quilt. I love your strings, it is inspiring as is the RRCB.Congratulations Sue and thanks foro sharing. I love your blog.
    hugs
    Nan

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  17. Great finish and the string quilts are fantastic looking! I wish my 1/3 off was productive but I spent it house hunting instead of sewing. I was making up for it this evening though. I swear I was just itching to sew while I was on my conference calls at work. :D

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  18. Your quilts are absolutely gorgeous!! I love the variety of types of quilts that you do -- I especially love the giraffe quilt:)

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  19. Sue, I've been following your posts on Quiltville yahoo and your blog. I'm new to the yahoo group and wanted to ask you a couple of questions: do you machine quilt and what machine do you use and how many hours a day would you say you work on your projects (both quilting and piecing)? I'm trying to get my productivity up and am blown away by what you've produced. Appreciate any info you could share. Thanks so much.

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  20. Sandy, tried to email you directly but couldn't figure that out....so I hope you see this. I do everything by machine. Someday I may do something by hand, but just really haven't had the urge to do that quite yet. I machine quilt, I'm not the best quilter, but I have a lot of fun with it and it's good enough for me. I have two machines, a Bernina Artista which is my work horse and a Pfaff Creative Vision (Amanda). I do 75% of my work with Amanda and the free motion quilting on this machine is just wonderful!. I spend about 8-16 hours a week sewing, more if I'm lucky! The end of the year is always for fun easy things for gifts and to see progress, so that might be why it seems like there is so much going on right now. Soon I'll get to more serious sewing (my husbands quilt and the Baltimore Album quilt) those will slow me down considerably. I'll add some easy things in as I go as well, the cyberquilters monthly projects and the rainbow color challenge. When I sew I take a lot of breaks, I'll sew for 45 minutes and take a 15 minute break. It really helps me to keep it going and stay fresh, clear the mind....

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I would love to hear from you, comments and questions welcome!