Virtual Retreat Aug thru Dec 2015 Info on first post

[Geneva C.]

"Well, Geneva, what have you been working on?"

Argh!!! :blink: Maybe you remember that great idea I had when I retired in January 2014? You know, the project I decided was "packing" because we were moving. I decided to cut a square and a rectangle of each of my batik fabrics. Then neatly fold the fabric and place in it's appropriate color bin. (This was the "packing" part.) Well, I ended up with 2 sets of squares and small and large triangles to make a 5" square in a square block. I happily pieced them when we moved here, using them as a leader ender project. When I finished the first batch, I found I had 358 squares. :silly: Well, I got them all out last week and have been, well overwhelmed. I can't even see them all. And my 8' x 8' design wall can't hold them all. So I put them in piles of color. "Hmmm... does this go in the blue pile or purple?" I sat in my sewing chair and played solitaire. This always helps me think. Then I just kicked myself in the rear and said, "sew them in color families into 4 patches!" I got into the black, brights, browns and I think a pink one.



Once I stopped gloating over those few 4 patches, I looked back to the sewing table and went :sick: !!!

I made some more yesterday. These 4 patches aren't in any sort of future placement. I just wanted to see them up on the wall. I really like how the center becomes a new triangle of 4 different fabrics. I have a few "rules". When I made the blocks I chose each square and first triangle round without thinking about the next triangle round. Then when I added the 2nd triangle round I worked to make it all look good and be different. The 3 fabrics in each square are all different. Now in the 4 patches, all 12 fabrics must be different. I like to make things more difficult.

So, that's what I've been doing! It doesn't appear that I will be able to put a majority of these blocks into one quilt. I'm thinking of 3 panels or something like that. Do you have any ideas? Please stop by my table here at the retreat and give me your opinion. I'm sorry, in a rush of panic I ate the rest of the Dots. I have some oatmeal cookies though....

Thanks everyone,
geneva

[karen f.]

That's a big job but a great start! You've got beautiful stuff to work with too.

[karen f.]

Geneva,
You've got some really nice looking color combos going on there! Sometimes I just ignore all the rules and work on just the piece in front of me at the moment!
And , yes please pass the cookies, they're probably healthier than the dots anyways!!
Love you guys!
Luann

[Charae H.]

Yummy batiks, Geneva! Love the iPad case, too.

[Charae H.]

Love those Batiks, Geneva.
Luann- you actually 'break' rules??? LOL - I thought you didn't believe in rules/there were any rules!

Here is my latest finished-up-to-the-binding quilt. It's a " Sudoku" quilt using colours instead of numbers. It's for my soon to be 10-year old grandson who loves math and such. Measures about 62" x 62"

[Charae H.]

Love your quilt Terri!!! What a great idea
Dorothy

[Charae H.]

Love the idea and the quilt Terrie. Are there any M & M's left? Eli calls them "em-el-ems". When I tried to correct him, he told me this is the way HE says it.
I was away from the retreat to visit the twins. On man, my heart has been stolen. They are truly sweet little boys.

[Charae H.]

You called me, Ritzy??

[Charae H.]

WooHoo! Come see me Big Red! :woohoo:

[E.M. T.]

Woo-Hoo, what a quilt, Terrie !..Did you do all that quilting??...no wonder you've been quiet !! :woohoo:

[E.M. T.]

B) Thanks Marilyn, but no, I had it long-armed. Quilted by cheque. B)

[E.M. T.]

Terrie, your quilt is going to be very appreciated by the recipient!!
I tried to do a sudoku quilt once, cut all those squares from lovely batiks. I had a grid all layes out and each stack was numbered. I put them all in place and by the time I finished the second row, I knew something wasn't right, but couldn't figure out the what was wrong. So I kept putting them together, no sashing. When it was all sewn up into a square flimsy I took it to the quilt shop and asked what they thought my 'problem' might be. It was there that I learned I had used the 'same' fabric in two numbered positions. When we looked at the bolts of fabric that I'd gotten them from, the sku numbers were identical. They just appeared different as I looked at them because they were so full of colors!! Oh well, it got quilted and binding attached and a child at the hospital became the owner of it. That's here it was going to go anyway, but I don't attempted another. If I do, I won't use batiks.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! Never did find the top for that wine bottle, either.
Luann

[E.M. T.]

Luann, I never thought of using batiks for the quilt. It was probably very nice, but that must have been very frustrating. Most of my sons
(3 out of 4) are colour-blind, so I need to make definite colour choices when I quilt for them. My ``òther`side of the story is that this quilt top has been done and ready to quilt for about 2 years, which is why I finally decided to get it long armed. I knew I wanted different motifs in each block, but my friend did a spectacular job.

[E.M. T.]

Geneva - neat idea re making blocks from all your batiks really like your combinations.
Terrie - wonderful quilt for a 10 year old grandson!

Barb

[E.M. T.]

I think the Sudoku quilt would be a great one for my son who LOVES to do Sudoku :P might just have to make one out of my hand dyes :silly:
Dorothy