Miss February and Miss March

While at the Post Office today mailing a package to my sister I had the quilt square with me and had the guy weigh it just to see if I had been using the correct postage. Well I had not, I was something like 50 cents off. So I hope that the past two months received their squares because they were never returned, and if you had to pay for the extra postage on your end, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be that tacky :-)


*Robyn

Blue & Green

I took my husband with me to Joann's for this block to help me pick out "boy-ish" fabric. It's when you don't want a floral fabric that you realize that most everything has some sort of flower on it!

I took this one with my phone at night so the colors look a little weird.

The best I can do

Ok I finished the quilt squares.  We had a real hard time with this..................don't know why.  I do hope they are ok.  Rochelle will put them in the mail tomorrow along with last months.  (Sorry we didn't get them in the mail yet)

The First Block

Well, here goes. Being the first block up I hope it is what you expected. The green is a true green. The lighting changed the color of the blocks in some of the pictures I took. I had fun doing this block as always. Hope your son loves his quilt. :)

Dalana's Block

A Little Hint

Just a hint for those of you who haven't started the latest block...(but of course I have because I'm a little bit of a dork).

When I saw the triangle pattern again, I thought back to Rose's block in February, and her method of making the split color squares by drawing the center line and sewing on either side before cutting in half. It sure works for this design as well.

Just thought I'd share, because at least for me, the less I have to line up together, the less mistakes I'm capable of making! (and less use for the trusty seam ripper...haha).

For Abigail

I'm sure I'm the last one, but it's in the mail!Now your work begins. :)

The Eccentric Star - Finally!

Again, I apologize for being so flighty with getting my quilt block explained to you!

Quilting is VERY new to me, but I think I finally have this block down.

* Cut 4, 4-7/8" pieces each of blue and green material.
NOTE: I am not good at the "scant 1/4 inch seam", so I cut mine 5" and you can trim down later if you need to.
*Cut 1, 4-1/2" piece of either the blue or the green

* Cut each 4-7/8" square on the diagonal

You will now have 8 triangles of each color and your 4-1/2" square of your color.

*Place a triangle of each color right sides together and sew a scant 1/4" seam.
*Press seams. My colors were dark, so I pressed them open.
At this point you can trim the squares to 4-1/2 inches, if needed.
You will now have 8 squares.

*Arrange the squares as shown (I picked one color to be the white in the pattern. It made it easier to follow how to arrange the pieces), with the solid color square in the middle.

*Sew pieces together in rows - with scant 1/4" seam.
*Sew rows together - with scant 1/4" seam.

And there you go!
You'll end up with a 12.5" square (giving me my "scant" seam allowance). If it ends up a bit larger, don't worry - you'll give me something to work with!
I think I have to get over my "scant" issue or look for that quilting pressure foot.

I was surprised at how easy it was to do and it only took me about 1/2 hour.

If any of you have already done it and did it with the smaller size - PLEASE don't worry about redoing it. I know how frustrating that can be. I'll boarder it and use it!

Update for the Eccentric Star

As a couple of you noticed the square I chose was a 9". A larger 12" block would be better. Am I correct in calculating that you just have to increase each block by a full inch? since the seam allowances are already accounted for?

That would mean that you should cut each into a 4-7/8" square. I don't know the length of the strips as the directions say, but if you cut a long strip 4-7/8" wide and then just cut the strip down into 4-7/8" long, that should do it.

If I'm completely off, someone let me know.

I promise update with pictures soon. It's my project for this week. - I'll update on this post.

It's still March isn't it?

Rosanne's Block

Sorry it is late... it will be in the mail box on Monday!! April snuck up on me. I hope the grey I chose is ok - it is kinda grey, black and white. I think your quilt is going to be so cute!! Can't wait to see the finished product!

For April

I'm sure you are already looking forward to April's square and I first must apologize for not having my own step by step and pictures, but I lost fabric ruler - you know the clear plastic one with all the great lines on it (I'm obviously not a seasoned quilter and don't know the vocabulary). And there is no way I want to try and hand cut the pieces!

Abigail, this also means that your piece is coming, just a little late. Sorry.

Here is a link to the block I want to do for April - The Eccentric Star
I'm making it for my son, Logan, so I'd like greens and blues (the center block can be a square of either the blue or green fabric you choose). Since it will be for a boy I hope it won't be too hard to find non-flowery fabric.
As soon as I get mine done I'll do another post to show you, but I hope the link will let you get going whenever you're ready.

Thanks, Logan is already asking about his blanket. :)

Beki's Square

Definitely more of a challenge than the first one. It was fun to get to go get material with Rachel and to see her do hers. Would have done mine too, but chose to have time with all of the family instead of working on my block. So got it done today after I got home from work. Hope it works for you. Can't wait to see the finished product!

awesome quilt display

Check it out....AWESOME quilt display!!!!!----Beki


http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/seeing-red-and-white/?emc=eta1

Finished!

For Abigail

- Rachel Graham

I lost a couple points but it measures 14.5 inches :)

ps- Rose I am anxious to see how the churndash blocks are coming together!!!

Robyn's Block

I had to go with your yellow and gray option because it is my absolute favorite color combination. So don't be surprised when you see a repeat of these colors when my month rolls around!

Address

Where is it that we send the blocks this month???

Rochelle's (aka Georgia's) Square

Dalana's Block

The quilt square for the month

I have had such a busy month, with tax season, a visit to my son in Louisiana, eye surgery, and normal work and additional procedures for my foot but I finally got around to doing this quilt block.  I hope it is ok and is what you wanted.  I haven't seen any other post to see if I am on target or not. 
Georgia

Let's Invite her to join us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lfaSmDxVZQ

inspiration quilt

here is my inspiration quilt, but in place of aqua, yellow.

March Block - Duchman's Puzzle

alright! here goes march! i found this idea in the dec 2010 American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

Materials:
16 - white 4 inch squares
4 - 4x7.5 inch rectangles (color #1)
4- 4x7.5 inch rectangles (color #2)

General Instructions:
Finished block is 14.5 inches square
sew right sides together unless stated otherwise
1/4 inch seam allowances on everything

1.) cut all your pieces

2.) Mark a diagonal line on the wrong side of each 4 inch white square

3.) align a marked white square to one end of a rectangle (note the direction of the diagonal line)
3.) sew ON the drawn line and trim the excess leaving a 1/4 seam

4.) press open the attached triangle, pressing the seam in one direction toward the triangle

5.) in the same manner, place a marked white square on the other end of the rectangle. stitch, trim and press as before...
...and now you have a FLYING GEESE UNIT! the unit should measure 4 x 7.5 inches.

repeat steps 3-5 so that you have 4 flying geese units in color #1 and 4 flying geese units in color #2

6.) next, using our flying geese units, make FLYING GEESE PAIRS! with which ever colors you are using make sure that the same colors are on top/bottom each time. in my case, grey on top, red on bottom. press the seams in one direction. the unit should measure 7.5 inch square.

...a flying geese pair!

7.) now our flying geese pairs are going to become a DUTCHMAN'S PUZZLE BLOCK! the placement looks like this: oh, and press the seams open.
tada! the final block should measure 14.5 inches

now, for color choices. i want greys, true reds, and yellows. here are a few samples from my stash to see what i mean. you can use any combination of colors with each other. i used red/grey, but it could be red/yellow or grey/yellow. i want a variety of combinations and variety of large/small print. it does not all have to be small print (like most of my examples)!

I am so excited to see what you guys come up with!
let me know if you have any questions!

Beki's Quilt Piece

OK, Rose, I hope this is good. It was fun putting it together, even though I had to use old dull scissors. Rachel said Bandanna was your favorite pattern. (At least I think that is what I remember her saying---my fuzzy old brain). This was fun. Thanks for an easy fun one!

abigail's block

so here it finally is. i have had it done for a week or so and just never had the chance to get it posted! roseanne, i hope you are ok with some mess-ups and crooked lines! things not being perfect makes me crazy (and panic sometimes) so quilting is going to be a funny experience for me while i am learning! but i am really excited now that we are started.

i am also getting really excited because i am in charge of march and i have the pattern decided and now i am trying to pick colors....can't wait to share!

Dalana's Block

Dalana's Block...

Up here in Little Rock for the weekend and Rachel and I worked on it together...

Well, Rachel did most of it!

I just wanted to be with these CUTE girls- who could blame me?!

Georgia's Second Square! (Rochelle's Square)

That's what we will call it...since I did the cutting but my mom did the sewing.  I'll work up to that!

Rachel L's Block

For the first one, it looks alright. Hope it works well!

I inherited the fabric from my Mother-in-law. I do not have a fabric collection.....yet.

Mine's done

I ended up not picking the best evening to put this together (a bit of a crazy afternoon/evening) and ended up just waiting until all the kids were in bed to finish. But, it's done. For my first quilt block ever it wasn't too bad - and I'm excited to do more!
Can't wait until next month.

Churn Dash Quilt

I found this quilt pattern in an old quilting book that I had. It uses 12 churn dash 12" blocks.

I thought I would share it with you guys, hopefully my quilt will turn out something like this...

Obviously, the colors will be a little different.

It has some sashing in between the blocks and a couple of borders around the edge.

I am loving all of the blocks so far!! Thanks everyone! :)

Introduction - Finally!

With 3 of my 4 children - the one not in the picture is another boy a bit older than my youngest

NAME: Roslyn Beckstead

WHERE DO YOU LIVE: Georgia (that's were I met Rachel G. and we miss her!), but grew up in New York, schooled in Utah, then Houston and back to Utah where my husband continued his schooling.

HOBBIES: I LOVE cross-stitching, to read, garden (any working out in the yard), run, and bake.

SEWING EXPERIENCE: My mom taught me to sew when I was little, but I didn't do much to improve my skills. I have made simple patterned clothes, but don't ask me to do anything different from the pattern. If your body doesn't fit the pattern, sorry. :) But I can sew a pretty good straight line, so maybe I'll get a hang of this quilting thing - I've never made a real one and the king size jean quilt has been in strips in a box in my basement for 4 years!

WHAT IS YOUR BEST FEATURE: I really like my hair and hope to never go gray because I don't ever want to color it. Also, my eyes after a good cry are a really cool bright green (they are a bit of a dull hazel normally).

WHAT CRAZY THING TO YOU WANT TO TRY: I'm not much of a "try something crazy" person, but I always wanted to go sky diving. After having children . . . no more desire.

WHAT MAKES YOU PANIC: I'm pretty easy going, but if my husband is out of town - every creak, bump, noise, or moving light outside sets my heart racing. Especially if I've watched anything that isn't a girly movie.

Life has been crazy, but I'm excited about the quilting group and promise to stay on the ball. Again, sorry this is late getting on. It's been fun reading all the other introductions.