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Sunday, September 25, 2011

Autumn Country Rule 11 Reveal

I am about 2 weeks behind in my sewing. Life has gotten in the way of fun. Other priorities have taken up my sewing time. But it is all good. Now I have my other 2 projects to catch up before our next release.
The Yo-yo's were really fun and I plan to add 1 or 2 more later. The button in the center holds the yo-yo in place, so the fabric is free. This is a new trick for me. The tree on the left will overlap onto the last column on the right side.
This is also the end of the river and the road. We will see where it goes on the left side of the quilt. It may end where it is, or another column may be added to balance. We shall see.

Scarecrow rule 11

Here is rule 11 with 2 yoyo's.   For the scarecrow I cut the fabric picture out of a panel.  One of those printed panels that was for making a stuffed scarecrow.   They had a picture on there to show how it should look when you assemble all the parts.   I thought it was nice that it had the word 'scarecrow' right above his head.
This was just too easy so I put extra batting behind the scarecrow part and tried to trapunto it. I watched a video on youtube.  It didn't come out as well as some I have seen already done.  Maybe I should have used more batting or thicker batting.  Yes , this block is quilted.  I am doing the whole quilt qayg.  ( I still need to quilt row 10 and attach it to quilt then I will be up to date!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Rule 9 finished!

Finally got to quilt and do something for me.....probably should have been doing homework, but decided to play "hooky" for a few hrs and get rule 9 completed and added to my quilt top. Made three 3D pinwheels and used buttons to embellish the blocks.

Now the only problem is, that the quilt top is about the size I typically give as baby quilts, and that is what I had planned to do with this quilt at some point. But I know that there are still more steps coming.....not to mention the two that I'm behind on at this point. I'm thinking I'd like to stop adding to this one at this point, with the exception of a border. But then take the remaining steps and start working on with them to make another quilt. I hope that's ok with everyone!

Meanwhile here are a couple of pics of the panel that I added, and the quilt top as it is now. =)





website with folded fabric blocks

http://www.3dfoldedblocks.com/

Here is the link for the folded quilt blocks.   Click on the "helpful stuff"  and they show how to make them.
The link was given here on one of the clues.  A couple of people were wanting to know how it is done.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Scarecrow rule 10

I have put rule 10 together.  I made the D9P small.  I started with 2" squares so that 4 blocks would fit into the 9.5" area.  Of course that was a little bit too small so I just added borders around it.  I am getting so I can make things fit!  lol.  The d9p blocks are to the right and next to it is my folded insert.  That is the block made entirely with folded fabrics and sewn around the edges of the block to hold it all together.  Yes,  the edges are kinda thick.   I had a piece of the curved pieced strip left over from a previous rule so I machine embroidered a scarecrow on it and made good use of it.  The other two blocks have machine embroider/applique scarecrows and the fence is also embroidered.  Near the middle is  fussy cut (2 pieces) of fabric sewn together.   Next thing I need to do is sew it to the quilt and get busy on #11.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Bird Rule 11 Reveal



Well, ladies, here his my rule 11 reveal. Good thing it was scheduled today as I will be without my computer for a couple of weeks. This one is kind of funky but fun.
Whooo can tell what my bird is? The center of the eyes are buttons. The needles on the tree, the texture of the bark, and the beak and feet are machine embroidery.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Scarecrow , rule 9


For rule 9 I put together 2" and 4" blocks.  The 4" blocks have little scarecrows from the wizard of oz in the fabric.  For the 3D technique I made sunflowers.  Two of them are yoyo's .  Two of them are made with the new Kanzashi flower makers from Clover.  One is a folded yoyo technique that I followed a tutorial on a blog. Each flower is attached to the block with a button.   The scarecrows are simply a piece of printed fabric that I cut to fit  the remainder of this row.  

Here it is sewn to the first 8 sections.  All sandwiched and quilted up to this point!


Scarecrow 7 & 8


 I have finished rules 7 & 8 and also have sewn them to the previous sections.  I have pretty good starts on 9 & 10 so , hopefully will have them ready in the near future.   The scarecrow in rule 8 is paper pieced.  I had the fabric with the scene of sky and house so I wanted to use it as bg.  I continued the tree from the previous block that was on the left.  Lots of summer sunshine!  The tree trunk is pieced with the bg fabric and the branch is applique.  Bird is fussy cut.  The illusion block is kinda big and sits out in the middle of nowhere.  lol.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Rule 9 - Granny Annie's Garden













Finally finished Rule 9. Not doing a quilt so made a "banner" for over my living room picture window. It measures 96 x 12 inches (no wonder it took me so long). Too wide to get a picture of the whole thing so here is the right & left sides plus a closeup of one of the blocks. The center block is the multi sized blocks - there are 2, 3, 4 & 6 inchers put together to equal the 12 inch.

Need your input AND Rule Authors Revealed

I thought I would take an inventory today of the rules submitted and who conjured them up.  I did have a purpose in delaying the reveal of the rule authors.   Some rules were a challenge and I thought it better to reveal who submitted them after they were finished and the cussing was over (ha ha). 


Jan-RR1:  Tamera (Shangri La) submitted,  "Use a paper-pieced method to make at least 4 flying geese"
(I used Tamera's rule that month and the paper-pieced technique was used in release #8)
NOTE:  two other participants --Cathie and Mary-- also submitted rules regarding flying geese but neither of them were ever able to submit a bock.


Feb-RR2:  Betty (Scarecrows) submitted, " A rectangle big enough to showcase the theme of the quilt by fussy cutting a theme fabric, or using an applique, or an embroidery, or a photo"
NOTE:  we did use applique in technique #4 and embroidery in technique #3.


Feb-RR3:  Susan (Civil War) submitted, "Use a color or fabric you would never normally use."
NOTE:  Dorine's (Birds) submission was used here because I classified it as a technique rather than a rule.  Dorine said, "applique combined with embroidery."  I used the other half of Dorine's technique submission in release #4.

Feb-RR4:  Deana (Barns) submitted, " make positive/negative blocks".
NOTE:  Stephanie (Forest) submitted the technique on this one, "You must applique something on the block".
AND SO DID:  Sherrie (Tropical Beach), "use some applique, either hand or machine".
ALSO:  Marie (Optical Illusions) contributed greatly by defning our applique technique this month with, "needle-turn applique". 

Mar-RR5:  Marie (Optical Illusions) submitted, "machine pieced circle somewhere."


April-RR6:  Ann (Autumn Country) submitted, "place a house or cabin that fits your theme in the block, not a log cabin block but an actual building."


May-RR7:  Tracy (Country Holiday) submitted, "make something flat that looks 3D (example:  tumbling block)"


June-RR8:  Felicity (Africa) submitted, "include the color yellow or add a flower of any sort"
NOTE:  Moira (Use it Up/Baby Girl quilt) submitted the technique this month, "add a paper pieced section to the quilt."

Felicity's #8 rule submission is not yet shown as she is behind.  She is awaiting the birth of a new baby and has had a difficult pregnancy.








July-RR9:  Carrie (Scrappy Anything) submitted, "Use different sized blocKs that fit together.  For instance, use a 4" finished block and 2" finished blocks as their measurements fit together easily."

Carrie's picture does not depict her "rule" because she is also catching up.


Aug-RR10:  Pam(Woods) submitted, "Make 4 disappearing 9 patches."



Sept-RR11:  Annmarie (Grannie Annie's Garden) submitted, "incorporate one or more yo-yo into your block".

Grannie Annie's Garden doesn't have her yo-yo yet because she is catching up as well.
















Ok, so here is the big question for all of you!  I believe that all "active" participants have had their submission used.  I still have plenty of rules left to use because several of you submitted more than one, and 6 inactive participants submitted rules that have not been used as of yet.
The 6 on my inactive list include:
Ann Marie's Star in a Sar (2 blocks)
Birdie's Starry Night (3 bocks)

Carmen's Faborite Things (3 blocks)



















Donna's 30s (1 block)

Kay's Green is the Thing (1 block)

Lynne's Scrappy Stash Forest (3 blocks, actually 4 because she didn't like her 1st #3) I had to show several photos because she worked SO HARD on what is completed.  Can you believe her "hexagon" trees? 



Your choices are:
1) I can just draw from the remaining submitted EXTRA rules of active participants only.
2) I can draw from all the remaining rules including the 6 inactive participants.
3) ALL active only participants can submit new rules to use in the remaining drawings knowing that only 3-5 will be selected.
4) We can allow Dorine, Moira, and Stephanie, (and Lyn's "winter"  because she never submitted a rule),
and Sherrie if she makes another appearance (she started late)  to submit new rules BECAUSE they are all still active participants and they submitted "techniques" according to my classifiation rather than "rules".  They didn't really get the exposure they deserved.  They were also duplicates of each other:  applique, paper-pieced, and embroidery.  This choice means I will ONLY draw from these 4 ladies' new submissions.

Please email me, Deana, at atticw@hotmail.com with your choice selection.  Please just indicate a # 1-4.  Majority will prevail.  I will accept your votes up until October 1st. 

HOW MUCH LONGER?  I anticipate that we still have 3-5 more rules.  I plan to complete the column we just started and break up the last row into 2-3 releases.  Many of us are trying to catch up, so I don't really want to do LARGE sections at a time.  Smaller is easier and looks more appealing.  I plan to get the quilt to queen-sized/top of the bed ready.  You can then add borders to make the quilt drape down over the sides.  I have decided to NOT use rules and techniques to complete the quilt borders.  I would like to, however, complete the borders together with 2 week goals or something to encourage us all to complete this project.  My borders will take some time because I will be piecing or appliqueing them -- all four sides different from each other.  I know that some others in the group intend to do fancy borders that will take some extra time as well. 

SOOOO, will we finish this year?  I think not, but early next year. 

One member has inquired as to whether we will do it again next year.  Please email, comment, or post your comments regarding this idea.  If we are going to do it again, I want to start early (Feb) and advertise early (Dec/Jan) because women get more excited about a new project with a new year.

HAPPY QUILTING!!!!!!!!


Thursday, September 8, 2011

Rule Release #11

Wow, are we really on the 11th release in the 10th month? 


Rule:  incorporate one or more yo-yo into your block

How to sew a yo-yo

Projects to look at with yo-yos


Technique:  any technique you choose


Size:  We are going to build another column to go on either side of the quilt.  Block #11 will need to be 17 1/2" wide ( 17" finished) by 20 1/2" tall (20 finished).  This should bring the quilt width to the right size to fit on top of a queen-sized bed.

Due Dates: The next rule will release October 8th.  You can begin showing a full release of #11 on Sept 17th.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Finally, Steph's rule number 9!

I guess I should give you a quick personal update first...

This summer was loads of crazy crazy moving around and fun and LOADS of frustration, and obviously, I was WAY too busy to do my quilting, plus, I did not have electricity anyway.  Then, I moved in to my new dorm.  Wow, college is crazy!  And... I didn't bring up my sewing machine at first, and then I worked all Labor day to get stuff done, and only finished one block.

Also, I am using some of my mom's scraps... meaning, it would be a challenge to fit bins of scraps in my little apartment... so I don't get to do anymore until fall break.  But it's okay, because I wanted a lap-size quilt, and when I get to do #10, it will make it the size I want it.  So I will be done then anyway, unless I REALLY want to try the #11 rule... hehe, that might be a temptation.  Anyhow, here is my block!

It is my, VERY artistic rendition of my most favorite view in the world.  (From the camp I work at over the summers)
So, here is a close up on the water...
I made the reflection as part of the block, and then I applique'd on some blue organza, and tacked it down with the ripples.  I am rather pleased with the effect.

And those bow-tie blocks?  Those are 3-D.  I am not a huge fan of things sticking out of my quilt, so I did some research and found this pattern, and it is SO much easier than a regular bow-tie block!

Well, there you are!  I am getting closer to being caught up!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Checking In

This is Granny Annie here. I've been MIA for awhile but getting back on track. Just looked at everyone's finishes - some awesome quilts are being created. It's taking me forever to finish Rule 9 but the end is in site. Hopefully 10 won't take as long as 11 is due out this week - Yikes! Hope everyone is having a good Labor Day weekend. Hugs, annmarie

Friday, September 2, 2011

Deana's Barn Rule 8

Here is a close up of rule #8 attached to rule #7.  It is hard to see where I seemed them together. 
I paper pieced the warn out, thread bear barn for the paper piecing technique.  I added yellow and a flower -- the yellow field and another sunflower.
Here is a photo of everything that is finished up to this point.  This is the first I've shown the fence, birdhouse, and trees completed in rule 6.  As a reminder, rule 6 asked for free hand curved piecing and a house.  I built a birdhouse and curved pieced the ground.

Below is what I hope the fence/birdhouse section will look like when it is finished.  I want to add all the flowers in a way similar to the photo below.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Birds Rule 10 Reveal

Here is my finished rule 10. I loved working with the D9P. I'd never seen that technique before and think I may well use it on my next baby quilt. It's amazing how simple and yet beautiful it is. I did my whole block with it and used four and a half 9 patches. I made my folded insert an integral part of the 9 patch and created abstract flying birds from that. I really like the outcome.


I added the finished block to the bottom of the quilt and really like the way it looks. I still need to do something on the right side to balance out the dark blocks on the left, but I'm sure something will come up that works for that. Can't wait for the next rule.





Autumn Country Rule 10 Reveal

Reveal Day!
This has been a really fun rule. The D9P's are a fun and easy way to take up space. I used many of my scraps, sew it is really scrappy. I put 2 sets on each side of my "windows"
The quilt is getting so big that it is hard to get a good close-up view, but you can see that it does not follow what I have been doing with a scene. I think this will be the bottom of the quilt, so it does not need to be scenery.
It is definitely bright and "autumny".