March came and went…

And I obviously blinked for two long, because two months passed without me really realizing it. Sure, there’s been a lot going on, but I really dislike being late, behind, or non-productive.

The NGAQB blocks for March are finally done, and I’m really in love with them.  Andrew Youngman, or Mr. March as he’s known to the group, gave us a photo of his favorite vacation spot with his  husband, Key West Florida, as inspiration for the color palate for the blocks. He wanted the Inverted Star pattern, available on Craftsy.com, from each of us, with the outer border in navy blue.

A View from Key West Florida, Photo Courtesy Andrew Youngman.

 

Two things caught me about this photo when I first viewed it, the amazing movement of the water, and the naval ship in the background. I wanted both of my blocks to show inspiration from this, while trying to stay close to the neutral-dark color palate in the photo.

 

These will get posted out to Mr. Youngman this weekend, hopefully he’ll enjoy them muchly. I can’t wait to see the full quilt put together from everyone’s blocks. It’s going to be beautiful, I just know it!

And now, on to April and May!

Casseroles and Housewarmings

Our niece, the one that just graduated college, started her new job a few weeks ago. Part of starting the job was moving  to the other end of the state, more than three hours from her hometown. She left everything behind, family, pets, and fiance to take this job and get started with her Spanish education career. Luckily she, within her first week, found an awesome  apartment. I only thought it fitting that when we went to visit her this weekend, that we have some sort of housewarming present for her.

Being a new teacher out on her own, I know she doesn’t have a lot of time outside of school, kids and grading papers. Food, something that she could heat and eat, seemed like a logical choice. It’s just a hop, skip and a jump from there to making a casserole and casserole cover. I’ve been wanting to make one for a while now since I fell in love with the ones that Ryan Walsh Quilts makes as presents.

There are a lot of different tutorials on how to make casserole covers.  I used one I found on Making it with Danielle that had pretty good instructions, and easy to follow pictures. I stayed as close as I could to the directions with the exception of the handles. Instead of the suggested cotton webbing, I made my own cloth handles out of 2 1/2 inch strips lined with batting. Turning 90 inches of two inch cotton handles…nightmare. But I still like the look better than the cotton webbing.

The cover fits snug to a 9 x 12 inch dish, but could accommodate something slightly larger or smaller. Along with the cover, we sent Chicken and Broccoli Lasagna. I’ll share that recipe later in the week.

January Block for NGAQB

The first block of the year for the No Girls Allowed Quilt Bee is going to Sandy G. His request, a paper pieced Lone Starburst block. Thankfully the pattern for the block came with a full tutorial on The Peony Teacup.

Paper piecing, yes I said it, the dreaded paper piecing. It’s usually the bane technique of the traditional quilter. And I am certainly no exception. Before this month, I had one experience  with paper piecing and it wasn’t pretty. Backwards, upside down, wasting material. It’s just a concept that didn’t work for me. It, of course, had nothing to do with having little to no quilting experience at the time (Yeah, right!).

Lone Starburst Block, Light Variation

With great trepidation I downloaded the file and printed out some of the pattern. I read through the tutorial a couple of times and finally mustered the courage to give paper piecing another attempt. This time, the experience was completely different. If anything lead to the revelation that paper piecing can be fun and have awesome results, it was the preparation that was suggested in the tutorial.

Pre-cut, stack and assembly-line the blocks, it’s really the key to remaining calm and happy. I do it when I’m doing traditional piecing, I don’t know why I didn’t think to do the same with paper piecing. Overall it’s made the whole experience more enjoyable, and I don’t dread this technique at all anymore. I can personally say that I’ve had so much fun making these blocks I can’t seem to stop. I’ve decided that for each of the blocks I make to send away this year, I’m going to make some to keep here, and then I’ll get a total of 2 quilts out of all the work.

Lone Starburst Block, Dark Variation

Sandy requested that we make one block in light fabrics, and another in dark. It’s a neat concept, and I can’t wait to see how he treats the blocks after he has them from everyone.

If you’re interested in trying out this block, the PDF pattern is available for download here, and was made by The Quilting Climber, who also has a tutorial, and helpful information for printing the pattern for use.

Men and Quilting

2014 is going to be a pretty exciting venture for me in the world of quilting. Ryan Walsh (of Ryan Walsh Quilts) invited me to be a part of a block swap spanning the entire year. Each month the entire group will be doing two blocks each for one member of the group. I’m excited about the number of new designs that I’ll be subjected to, as well as getting to meet such a great group of individuals and learn from them.

Starting now in January, the No Girls Allowed Quilt Bee (NGAQB) will be active on the internet. Posting pictures, sharing stories, doing everything we can to cause a kerfuffle, but most of all we’re raising awareness that “We’re men, and yes, we quilt“.  Be on the lookout for the #NGAQB hashtag on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. I’ve also created a set of links on the side of the page that will direct you to each NGAQB member blog in case you’re interested in checking out what they are designing for the swap, or what they’re up to in general. Make sure you take a peek at the blogs. Each of these guys have some amazing pieces that they’ve made, and I’m super excited to learn from all of them.