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!

Steph's rule number 8. Just barely on time!

 The camp that I am currently working at, closes for the week of the fourth, so I was able to get my block done, on time!  I must admit I am not a big fan of paper piecing.  I find it a royal pain.  Maybe it was the pattern I chose...  Anyhow, here is the block!

Again, it is sideways.  The border fabric is really, really bright, but it was the only yellow that did not involve dinosaurs or fish in mom's cupboard of scraps.  So, I will have to put it elsewhere in the future to make it less striking.  Here is a close up on those trees...

and the whole thing...

I am not a huge fan of how it turned out.  Plus, I discovered that somehow, when I squared off the last block, I made it almost an inch too skinny, so I will have to put something on that side to make the quilt up to size.

Steph's forest block 7!

It was intersting finding time to get this done.  Spring is always crazy for me because I am very involved in orchestra, and that is our competetive season.  So, not only have I had at least one performance every week, often two or three, I've also had the extra rehersals for that.  Added on all this, I'm graduation on Wednesday, and so I've had all kinds of stuff to do for that, and My grandmother (not on the same side a Dorine, Anne, and Marie, they're my aunts remember?) passed away.  Which, was a good thing, because she is not in pain anymore, but I had to help a lot with funeral prep, and then I had to catch up on what I didn't do then.  But, my block is finally done!!

I did a simple one this time around.  It looks really funny the picture, but I promise it's better in real life.  I pieced some mountains and sky, and then I did some more curved piecing for the ground, and then realized that it was supposed to be longer than I thought, so I added a river to the bottom, and I thread painted some flowers in my meadow.

I decided that it's an... artistic rendition of a meadow I know very well in the high uinta mountains, we call it five buck meadow, cause if you go inside without permission from the forest service you get a fine, supposedly.

You can't see the mountains at this angle, or a lot of flowers, but mid-summer it is FULL of gorgeous flowers.

Anyhow, there is my block, I really have no idea where it will go in relation to the rest of thw quilt yet.

Forest block #6

So, my teaser for those of you who didn't get it, was a calculus formula... it was using trapezoids to approximate the area under a sinusoid curve.  I have a couple trapezoids in my block, see?

I actually almost don't want to show the other side of the block, I really don't like how it turned out.  But I will show you anyway.

I think the bottom right corner needs something, but I'm not sure what.  Any ideas?  I'll probably hand applique something there, when I decide.  Well, here is the whole thing so far...

I really like how the freestyle turned out!  This was a fun rule, kudos to whoever put that rule in the hat!

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!

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.

Rule 5 teaser!

Here is my teaser...

I enjoyed working on it, but my machine did NOT.  It kept telling me the thread was broken, when it was just fine...

late, and photo intensive rule #4.

So, I am late, but I have had a CRAZY past two weeks, and have had the HARDEST time coming up with something for this rule!  I finally decided to go with something a little more symbolistic for this one.

I built my dream home!  A log cabin filled with love, in the woods.  I was originally going to make the whole unit log cabin blocks, but I must have been doing it wrong, cause I had a difficult time making those as far as they are.  So I stopped there and just added background fabric.  The positive negative is kinda hard to see, but with those hearts, I applique'd them on with the opposite color, so I did the brown with a light blue, and the blue with a brown colored thread.

As far as the applique technique, I actually used my own, where you use a tear away stabilizer.  First you sew the fabric to the tear away stabilizer, leaving a quarter inch seam.

Then you cut a hole or slit in the stabilizer,

 

And then flip it inside out, iron it, and tear away the stabilizer, and you have a perfectly turned edge! 

And here is the whole thing so far...

 

the picture won't flip for me, sorry about that.  But the block is finally done and up!

Steph's forest block #3

This block was really fun for me.  I have been doing hand embroidery since I was four or five.  So I really enjoy doing it.  I decided that for my color I would normally never use, I would outline my little critter in hot pink.  Oddly enough, I REALLY like how it turned out!
here is the little fawn...

I picked out a few pictures of bambi for refference, and then drew it in chalk.  I really like how it looks.  Then, here is the entire unit:

 

and then the whole thing so far:

I am really really enjoying this!

steph's second block

whoops, I never did get around to posting my teaser, so here it is anyway...

This block was interesting for me... I picked fabrics out of the stash that were very very different from the ones I used on the first block.  So, it looks really different, but I do like it.  I decided to make a little pond for my forest, the hexis are rocks on the shore.  I baisically applique'd everything on this block.  I'm finding more and more that I like applique.  Well, here's the whole block.

Late comer: Stephanie

Hello!  My name is Stephanie, and I am from Salt lake, Utah.  Apparently i am the youngest participant.  So... wohoo for me!  I have just recently started quilting seriously, and my Aunts Ann, Marie, and Dorine (the daughters of Dorinda) invited me to join in on the fun!  And, because I am out of school for a few days, I decided to hurry up and get my first block done before I had too many other things to do.  So here it is...

I am doing a forest theme, all out of scraps from my mom's fabric closet.  I know the trees are not very original, but I really did enjoy making them.  I made my flying geese, and then applique'd the background on to them.  I decided that would be my original bit for this block.  I tend to pull out odd things like that freqently.