Thursday, June 27, 2013

Curve should be a four-letter word

Tonight my studio was block central. And the curves almost did me in, wonky or not. 

Let me explain. I signed up on the wait list to join do. good stitches back in February or March. In May, I was invited to join the Believe group. (If you're not familiar with do. good stitches, click here. In a nutshell, quilters come together through Flickr to contribute 2 blocks each month for charity quilts. It's very cool and seems to be well-organized, as well as churn out a steady flow of charity quilts, which is fantastic.) Needless to say, I was excited! 

Here are May's blocks, which I never got around to posting. 


The June block request was for a wonky bullseye based on a block in the book "Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop for Quilters." Doing more curved piecing has been on my to-do list. Wonky curved piecing--even better, right?--it hides mistakes! Here are my blocks:



Nowhere in the directions for this month's blocks did I see the requirement that the block had to be flat, so I think I'm okay. This was tough! Add to that the color combo--a very cool gray, yellow and white palette was requested--but my stash is a little short on those colors, so I was afraid I wouldn't have enough! (Yes, it's a little ridiculous that someone who hosted a Shades of Gray fabric swap would be short on grays, but a) I used all of those up and b) they were only 5" squares!)

By the second block I was having more fun, and I definitely want to do some more curved piecing--will be looking for a class at one of my local quilt shops or perhaps Craftsy? I know there's room for improvement! If you tackle this block, here's my (learned-the-hard-way) advice: don't be stingy on fabric. Cut generous pieces for each curve and just deal with the waste/scraps. More wiggle room/room for error makes piecing these much more pleasant! I have seen a few of the other members' bullseye blocks on Flickr and I can't wait to see this quilt put together!

And the last blocks of the night, my Bowtie blocks for the Great Lakes Modern Quilt Guild. I volunteered to put together the online guild activities every other month when we don't meet. I posted this month's project last weekend and thought it might be nice to offer a visual aid, so here we go:

The assignment: Bowtie blocks using white solid/print/text backgrounds and warm colors. Confession time: I purposely picked warm colors because I gravitate toward cool colors and wanted to make myself work with something different. Thanks go the guild for unknowingly forcing me out of my color comfort zone! :) 
Can't wait to see everyone's at our meeting in a month! 

Back in April I showed my converging corners blocks for the guild meeting. Here's a quick floor picture of everyone's blocks together--looks great, doesn't it? One lucky person won these blocks and will be bringing back the quilt to show when she finishes it.





p.s. Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

4 comments:

  1. I love all your blocks. The fabrics are fantastic. I love your circle block. When I did mine I discovered a gentle curve helps them to be flat. However, your curves look gentle. I don't understand why you had problems. They look fine to me.

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  2. I agree that wonky curved blocks are harder than they look. I used mine for a drawstring purse and it hides some of the bulkiness.

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  3. Curves can be tricky! But worth it. I am in love with your bowtie blocks and am glad you challenged us with these colors!

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  4. All of these are really fun, and I think your curved block is an exercise in courage--bravo to you! I am, and always will be, a fan of bowtie blocks--there's just something *mmm* about them! Finally, your last quilt, your log cabin, is beautiful. So much to see in this post!

    Elizabeth E.
    opquilt.com

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