Long overdue recap

I wanted to recap the rule completions and was terribly dissappointed to discover how many months I've missed.  I'll go in reverse order:

Rule #7 was  3D, no special technique, and was completed by 9 participants so far.

We had 3D stairs, a barn, a hollow cube, mountains, a house, honeycomb waffle design, a window, vertical aligned tumbling blocks, and baby blocks. I suspect there will be more as participants find time to catch up.

Rule #6  was completed by 9 participants to date and included a structure and free-form curved piecing:

Most everyone curve pieced the background, landscapes, or the ground.  One did a road, another a pathway, and another a border around the block.

We had colorful houses, wonky houses, cabins, an outhouse, a barn, a doll house, birdhouses, and a bird's eye view of 3D houses.

Rule #5 was completed by 14 participants to date and included a pieced circle and threadpainting:

Circles appeared in the following forms:  crazy & stripped pieced, a circle in a square, moons, suns, New Year's Eve ball in Times Square, red ball, scarecrow head, birdhouse hole, silo roof, balloons, sawmill, rock wall, and a leafy tree top.

Threadpainting appeared as follows:  raw edge applique, decorative swirls, tree branches, Santa & his reindeer, ball shadow, decorative ball details, rose vines, giraffe tail, scarecrow hair hands and feet, bushes, tree branch twigs, a painted sun, balloon strings, trees, and a ladybug.

Rule #4 was completed by 13 participants  and included positive negative and needle-turn applique':

Pos/Neg:  Picture frames (still in progress), barn front, African hut door, heart, checkerboard background, gate, mittens, pinwheels, rock wall, Xs & Os, doves, leaves, and 3D ellipses.

Carrie's Scrappy Anything Rule #5

Well, it's almost the end of May and I am finally done with Rule #5! Woo hoo! Darn tax season for setting me so far behind {grin}.

Sew, here is my rule #5 block:

Close up of one side...this circle was pieced into the background fabric (sorry for the yellowy photo):

and the other...

this is the one with the embroidery...and raw edge applique...

and now pieced with the rest of the top...

The circle blocks came from the new magazine Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol 3. The top block is #292 called "Rubber Band Ball" by Lorraine Olsen. The bottom block is #228 called "Stepping Stone" by Janice Averill of Iris Quilts and Dyed Fabrics.

Onto rule #6!

~Carrie

Desertsky Susan - Rule 5

Or at least, I think it's 5.  I have taken a part-time job, and I'm losing track of everything as I try to catch my balance.  Here's the block on it's own:

Here's the circle and the freehand stitching, both abominable:

Here's all five steps, as far as I've completed each one. There is still work to do on the CQ block and the block on the bottom with the flowers.

I may turn rule 5 so the dark is to the outside, depends on what comes next on that side.

Barns Rule 5

Here is proof that I pieced the circle.  The top part of my moon was pieced this way while the rest was part of the paper piecing.

Here is the whole section.  My circle doesn't look perfectly circular because I placed the silhouette of a tree off center in it.  I do like it though.  I added thread painting in two places including the tree branches (also added to rule 4), and some outlining on the barn.  Originally I had a yellow background behind the barn which I loved, but I felt it needed a little more of something so I changed to a grassy green pasture look.  There are a couple of trees pieced in front of the mountains (they blend in a little) and an unexpected little river runs below them.  It is actually sky fabric but turned out more rivery.  I think I like it.

Here are some close-ups of the thread painted branches.  I'm no perfectly satisfied with them and may still work on them some.

This tree maybe needs a few more branches.  I also added one more badly needed black line on the barn roof.  It looks better now.

Late...Rule #5

I wanted to create a starry winter night with Santa, so the moon is my circle obviously. Then I machine embroideried a santa with his sleigh flying through the night. The words say, "He's making a list and checking it twice." I used a tutorial youtube from hgtv to make my circle. I found it to be simple and turned out nice. In the future, I will be more likely to play with cirlces now that it's not as challenging as I anticipated.

Here is all the rules so far together and my interpretation of winter country traditions. Now on to another season.

Marie's Optical Illusion Rule 5

I'm finally finished with my block #5.  This was definitely a learning experience for me.  I had never machine pieced a circle before so it was fun to try and it and succeed.  The last time I needed a circle in a quilt I ended up appliqueing it because I couldn't get it to look right.  I won't be intimidated by circles any more.

I also haven't tried free motion embroidery before and it is fun, but I can see that I could use a whole lot of practice to get very good at it. 

I made two different blocks and put a circle and free motion embroidery in both of them.  In the bottom block the embroidery is the lines on the ball.  By the way, that's my version of the New Years Eve ball at Times Square.  The embroidery in the top block is the shadow of the ball.  I'm not sure if it looks like a shadow or a real amateur trying to do free motion embroidery.

These blocks took me a lot of time.  I think my creativity nearly exceeded my ability.    My inspiration came from "3 Dimensional Design" by Katie Pasquini.  The quilts pictured in her book are very large quilts and I'm trying to make very small blocks so it is rather difficult, but I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. 

Here is my quilt so far. 

Now I guess I'd better get busy and see what I can do with Rule # 6.

Stephanie's nerdy teaser

Like I said, really nerdy!  I'm feeling rather nerdy today because I was doing math assignments that we're not supposed to know how to do yet (I had a fabulous algebra teacher in middle school, so I already know most of the curriculum for the class, yay).  So I decided to post a nerdy representation of my block!

Enjoy working on all of yours!

Granny Annie's Garden Rule 5

To the left is my Rule 5 and to the right is Granny Annie's Garden now.

I'm not sure where I'll go from here. I joined the Dorinda challenge to commit to doing techniques I would not normally do. I have no need for an appliqued bedsize quilt. I love what I've done so far & think it would make a great wall quilt (I have just the right spot for it too!) I may do that but continue to complete each rule making mini quilts or combining a few into another wall quilt. I need to think on it all a little more. Sure is fun though! We'll see..........

Once late always late..#5

So I had a hard time getting excited about this one.. I cheated again.... I didn't machine piece my circle (but at least I included one). I tried the machine freestyle embroidery with the tail of the giraffe. Dont look too close though its pretty scary looking. Lets see how late I am going to be with the next rule... Bets anyone?

Still a Mystery: Barns

I wanted to show my progress and explain why it isn't done.  I've finished building "Bud's Moo-tel", but have way too many ideas for the upper half of the new section.  Some barn details and some foilage/trees will be thread-painted in once the section is complete.  The circle is the part that I have too many ideas for.  I originally planned to have a setting (or rising) sun over the trees on the top right.  My new idea is to have a day sun over some mountains brightening some fields in the distance behind the red barn.  I have even contemplated doing a large circular section with an entirely new scene in it.

Sorry I'm so indecisive, but the mystery, even for me, is still the best part of the journey.

 

Betty's scarecrow 5

I made a pieced circle for the scarecrow head.  I used the tutorial you gave about using freezer paper and a glue stick.  I traced the bottom of a spray baste can for the size.   The hair, hands and feet are free motion thread painting, also the face I did free motion.  A bit of thread painting on fabric for the bird nest.  I started with the head and kept putting fabrics around until I was a little larger than what I needed.  Then trimmed to size when I was done with the appliques.
I bought the April/May issue of the Quilter Magazine.  It has a patten for the branch with the birdnest.  It turns out is was too large for my block so I sketched it smaller.  I hope that isn't illegal.  I am giving the magazine credit for the design and I am enjoying the rest of the magazine!

A bird has made a nest on scarecrows hand.  That was my idea but I am sure I am not the first person that has ever done this same thing.  Cat wants the bird but dog is keeping guard!

I have sewn my two sections together.  I edited my post so I could stick the picture in.

Bird Block #5

I'm finally back home, so here is my finished block 5! It's getting harder and harder to get a good, undistorted picture. I had to stand this up on the back of the recliner to get the right angle on it!

As you can see, the circle is the hole in the birdhouse. The free motion embroidery is the twigs. I was planning to do the leaves in free motion embroidery too, but I had so much trouble that I gave up and just machine appliqued and embroidered them. The birds are from a Pam Bono design using a diagonal corner technique. I'm really happy with them!

Here is everything put together. I gave up trying to get a good angle. Since you've already seen all the individual parts, I didn't worry about trying to get it square in the photo. Can't wait for the next rule!!

Lyn pieced a half circle to make the top of the silo. She created a zig-zag pole fence on left to add a different look. The blue at the top is the start of the lake she is adding. She embroidered the brown bushes at the top.

Pam's Woods Mystery Rule #5

I will post my tease first even though I am late with it.

This is the sewn circle. I really had to think about this one. This has been exciting.

I did the thread painting on the sewn circle. I don't know how well you can see it in the pic.

Here is my rule #5 completed. I also did some thread painting with smoke coming out of the chimney. It shows up a little better than the yellow on the circle.

This is all of my rules combined. It was a little scary for me to add the blue for the sky, but I am now glad that I have done it. It will give me a little more liberty on the rest of the blocks and might be able to put some water or a stream in there now.

Thanks again to the daughters of Dorinda for hosting this fantastic mystery. Also, thank you to everyone who is posting their blocks. I get so excited everytime I see a new one. Everyone's quilts are going to be so wonderful.

Moira's Rule 5

Here is my completed rule 5 block. The two topmost balloons were the ones that were pieced. All of the other balloons are fusible applique. My free motion embroidery are the strings tied to the balloons. =) the block was added to the left side of the quilt so far.

I plan to add a couple of butterflies to the quilt yet an will overlap them over several of the blocks already made.

Autumn Country Rule 5 Full Release

When this rule was released, I knew what I wanted to do. The river from the last block was the perfect segway to the idea. The next thing was deciding how to do it. I first cut a piece of freezer paper the size of the rule and roughly drew in my idea. Then I googled pictures and found the one I liked best and with my ruler and a cup, drew the sawmill onto the paper. I put in the trees and the bridge very roughly, and then went through my patterns and fabric to see what would work.I made the first circle using one of the ideas from the links on the release, and made the second one using a different link. They both turned out to look the same. Overlapping them worked very easily, and then I put up the walls. This fabric looks like rocks, but is so pale that it barely shows up at all. I fashioned the roof and appliqued it on, then satin stitched the paddles. When I attached it to the river, it looked strange, so I used a smocking stitch to make waves, so the fabric bunches a little, but the tucks smooth it to the opposite riverbank.

The little trees above the river are done with the free-motion embroidery, and the large trees are done the same as the trees in rule #3. The pine trees are paper-pieced and I staggered their placement like those in rule #1. So I used lots of techniques to put this together.
And here are all 5 blocks together. I have some rough ideas where to go with future blocks, but will have to see what the rules are, in order to pull it off.
This is so much fun. I am having a blast creating this picture. And that is what it is turning out to be, a picture.

Full Rule #5

Here it is!

These dimensions seemed very large to me, but all the more space to be creative with!  I really enjoyed learning this circle technique.  But my machine hated the embroidery thing.  It is an embroidery machine, but usually you program the design into the computer and then it does it itself, so I guess it just didn;t like me doing the work for it.  Here is a close up of my circles, and the embroidery.

And the whole thing...

It's starting to look like a good sized wall-hanging.  I like it a lot.  It's not my usual style, but I do like it.  And yes, I did move the number four block, I couldn't sleep cause of where it was.

Granny Annie's Garden Rule 5 Tease

I'm posting my circle as my tease. It will only be 1/3 of my whole Block 5 but it's going to take me forever to finish the block as that is alot of space to cover. First time I've ever sewn a pieced circle - not perfect but I'm happy with it.

Marie's Block #5 Teaser

I haven't made much progress on my Block #5 yet, but here a teaser of what I have done so far.  I'm still in the drawing stage.   I'd better get busy--it's going to take me a while to finish this block.