I'm not sure where the week went! It was productive, both quilt- and otherwise.
I made a Valentine mug rug for my UMW (United Methodist Women) secret pal. I included it in a gift bag with a book, a mug, and some cookies.
I decided I'd make 30 Jacob's Ladder blocks. I found out I'd made enough brown HSTs for 33 blocks, so I went ahead and made more four-patches. Dear readers, do you have any suggestions for settings? (I don't want to make all the alternate blocks for Cathedral Stars .) Should I make sashing and cornerstones? I have some red-and-brown print fabric but not enough for sashing or for borders. Thanks for your advice! I wrote that the NLCQG charity project this winter is HeartStrings blocks and that I said I'd quilt five flimsies made from guild members' blocks. Helen gave me two assembled flimsies at the February 2 meeting. I quilted them both this week. Stash for backing and binding: 5-3/4 yards.
Yesterday I went to the Gurnee Salvation Army. I found, and bought, a nice wool challis Coldwater Creek jacket. Then I went to the Community Thrift Store. That's a commercial entity (there are signs that say, "We are not associated with any charity"). The merchandise isn't any nicer than Sally Ann and the prices are usually higher. Still, I've gotten some good stuff there over the years, not the least of which was a set of very good quality everyday dishes. This time I got 7-1/2 yards (1-1/2, 3-1/2, and 2-1/2) of quilting fabric for $10.50, and three all-cotton bandanas (gotta replenish the stash I used for the mug rugs). The blue check fabric is dated 1990 and the gray kite fabric is dated 2013. (No date on the garish floral.)I'm joining the linkups for
Monday Making
Oh, Scrap!
Design Wall Monday
Your blocks look great! Looking forward to your final layout. I never find good fabric in thrift stores but you definitely scored. Thanks for linking up with Oh Scrap!
ReplyDeleteLook at Bonnie hunter's Lazy Sunday. It has alternate blocks but it's a nice layout. Mine is on my blog if you search for it.
ReplyDeleteAh! I hadn't thought about that one. Thanks for the suggestion.
DeleteBonnie Hunter's Tumalo Trail in the Scraps and Shirttail II book is set to X's. It uses 1/2" sq 9 patches in place of the sq you have. Lori1R likes it but gave uop onit cause of the sq's. I will get her to sew little pieces sooner or later.haha :) Lorri2R
ReplyDeleteI made Tumalo Trail. It turned out very nicely. The corner nine-patches were no problem for me since I often work with 1.5" squares.
DeleteFabic is getting very pricey, so getting a deal is so great! Love the Jacob's Ladder.
ReplyDeleteI keep looking, but I have YET to score any good quilting fabric at our local Goodwill or Salvation Army stores ... I have found a few shirts ($4.99 price range) but nothing else. Good job to you for your finds!!
ReplyDeleteI like your blocks as is.... no sashing. The brown and red look so nice together. You did find some nice goodies at the thrift shops!
ReplyDeleteI'd go with no sashing, just play with the orientation of the blocks and see what develops.
ReplyDeleteI think you could have some cool secondary patterns using just your Jacob's ladder blocks! Turning them so they create "rings" out from the center would be very cool.
ReplyDeleteYou can look at some of the settings for log cabin and duplicate it with your blocks although there won't be so much light/dark. The other thing to try is see if a secondary design comes up with turning every other block 90 degrees. Good luck.
ReplyDeletehttp://vtquilter.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html
ReplyDeletecheck out this layout. top row first one lean to rt, next to left all across
then second row the opposite forming a diamond grid type pattern
love your blocks!