Assembly Line Piecing

Hello Everyone,

 

Yesterday afternoon I knocked out ten little Courthouse Steps blocks using an assembly line process.  In this photo, the blocks are all lined up waiting for their next "light" strip.  

 

Now I selected the next dark color that I wanted to add.  I don't select all of the darks at one time for a block.   I wait and see what it looks like before I select another color.  I don't cut "logs".  I string piece, and then trim.

From brown, to yellow, to purple and pink......it all works.  My fabrics have the same look and feel of Reproduction or Civil War fabrics.  I have used hundreds of strips so far, and I keep cutting more.

I trim as I go so each block is the correct measurement.

Someone once told me that reproduction fabrics were too dull.  I completely disagree.

By the end of the afternoon, I had ten blocks completed and ready for another row.

It's going to be a rainy day up here in the woods.  I say it's good quilting weather.

Soon,
Lynn

My Progress

Hello Everyone,

 

I'm on a roll on this quilt.  I'm obsessed with these little 5-1/2" blocks.

 



I'm surprised at how many 1" strips I've used to date.  I didn't know I had so many shirtings, and they are all being used in this quilt.  I want to get another row added today.  The good news is the longest row is now done and attached to the quilt. 

Sewing the rows together is my least favorite part of quilting.  To reward myself for getting another row completed, I will stop and make more 9-patches and incorporate them into the blocks.  Today I get to make more Courthouse Step blocks...my favorite.

I guess I'm obsessed with this quilt since I "dreamed" up a border last night.  Luckily I remembered it when I woke up.  The problem is that it adds a whole new level of detail to the quilt.  I guess I'll be cutting more and more 1" strips!

Remember this little table topper?  I started my new Sweet Sapling line of patterns with this quilt called Cute as a Button. The plan was that a Sweet Sapling would grow into a mighty quilt.  This is the seed that started it all.

I'm already planning my next Sweet Sapling pattern.  I'm wondering what it is going to look like when it grows up?

Enjoy your weekend.  I will be preparing for my class at Quail's Nest in Sonora on Wednesday, then I head to the Golden Valley Guild in Citrus Heights for a lecture on Thursday, and a workshop on Saturday.  The problem is more snow is in the forecast.  I'll either get snowed in or snowed out.  I thought it was Spring???

Soon,
Lynn

Patchwork Math Was In Session

Hello Everyone,

 

Tuesday was Patchwork Math time again for the Independence Hall Quilters.  This is the 3rd time I've taught the class to my guild.  I think I've exposed just about the entire guild to my techniques.  There was a lot of creativity in the room.

 



It's beginning to look a lot like a tablerunner.

Judy got a lot of extra credit since she worked with stripes and has everything going in the correct direction.

It was a pleasure for me to get to know the members better.  Such a great group of women.  They didn't complain when I made them work through lunch.  The clock had not "sprung" forward and I wasn't paying any attention to my watch.  I just kept yammering on and on.  Luckily, Joanne suggested that it was lunchtime.  I was thinking it was 11:30 when it was 12:30.  We took our break and everyone was fortified to make it through the afternoon.

There are only two more Cute as a Button kits left in my Etsy shop HERE. As time permits, I will make more kits and more fat 1/8th fans.  All of the fans sold the first day they were posted.

In my travels over the next two months, I will be traveling to Country Pines Quilt Shop in Susanville and Friends Around the Block in Colusa.  Both of those shops have an excellent selection of reproduction fabrics.  I will be returning with a car full of lusciousness. 

I already have stacks of fabric here to cut......I just don't have the time to dig in and do it!  We have more snow predicted over the next week.  Maybe I need to spend a snow day cutting fabric.....or not.  Snow days lend themselves to quilting the day away.

Soon,
Lynn