FBP - Week 16 - Alaska Homestead

Starting to get a little caught up with my Friday Block Party blocks - this one is Alaska Homestead from two weeks ago...

I organized myself a little and cut the strips I thought I would need to finish up my blocks that I'm behind in - and put them in a little container I got at the dollar store.  It sort of looks like a little sock drawer divider - with 8 spots for me to put strips.  I labeled each spot: 1.5, 1.75, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4.5, 5, 5.5.

Along with the little chart I made to describe the patterns it made this block at least get put together very easily.  I'm skipping the blocks that are not 10.5 and the ones that have more colors than I'm using now for the quilt.

http://fridayblocklotto.blogspot.com

Tomorrow I'll get the May Block Lotto pattern - so hopefully will get caught up with FBP and BL - then I can switch to do planning things for the Liberated Virtual Round Robin.  I had planned on starting it in the summer - which to me is June - but I'm getting the feeling some people think it's summer now!  It's going to be a fun project.

April 2011 BlockLotto: Modern Clover

If I were lucky enough to win the blocks I would use the on point setting idea from Lyn Brown.

Directions:   

• http://blocklotto.blogspot.com/2011/04/well-be-in-clover-in-april.html

Example Blocks:  

• http://blocklotto.blogspot.com/search/label/April%2011%20photos
• http://blocklotto.blogspot.com/search/label/April%202011%20photos

I had a lot of WOW collected for BlockLotto, but then Sophie threw me for a loop (or is it threw me a loop?)  and said cream was to be used for the background.  After going thru some boxes, I found the fabric I needed.  These were easy to put together.  I like the bolder (rather than light) colors for the flowers.  Would be nice to add a third fabric in the flower for a non-BlockLotto block.

The directions Sophie provided are so clear!  A long time ago I made some Eleanor Burns Tulips (so old she doesn't seem to carry the pattern now) where we folded pieces of fabric and sewed down each side to applique the stems on.  Sophie's way of cutting slightly smaller squares of background and then sewing them to the full size stem fabric is much slicker I think!

While I was sewing I started my small tumbler project as a leader and ender. I picked a color and matched it with some muslin - so I have 19 pairs of those sewn up too! It made it so nice to pick up a pair of those to sew when I was at the end of a doing a certain part of the modern clover blocks - it feels great to think I'm working toward a quilt instead of just using up scraps of material....

World Wide Swap

I signed up a couple of months ago for the Liberated Quilters World Wide Swap.

Yesterday I mailed my contribution to my partner - and today I received my box!  It came from a different person.

She was very generous - it's a medium sized box full of in-progress blocks, strips and some fat quarters too.  Most of the fabric is in harvest colors: purple, gold, green.  Very pretty colors my husband really likes so I will think of something to make for him with the pieces.  She had written me to ask what my favorite colors were so there is a little bag with different red pieces in it - and a few pieces with yellow and red too - very nice.

I hope I will be clever enough to use these treasures!

: )

Expenses

Spent $10.14 for postage today....

$5.20 for the World Wide Swap.  I used acucutter to cut 180 small tumbler shapes in different fabrics (also traded my cut pieces with others in my Friday class) and then cut more than that number in plain muslin fabric.  I think it will be a good leader and ender project.  At first it seemed like the cutting was really easy, but it took a bunch of time as I had to pick out fabric and fold it up again after I did the cutting.  I hope the lady who receives the box will enjoy it.

$3.12 to send blocks and fabric to charity project .  She is collecting 8.5 inch red and white blocks so I made L O V E and 2 D4P blocks - I put in some charms in red and white that I didn't have a chance to sew.

$.64 to Texas to send BlockLotto D4P blocks.

$1.18 to Australia to send BlockLotto D4P blocks.

Total $10.14