Bunny Blocks

Yesterday I cut another pile of 1.5 inch log cabin strips and then decided that I needed to straighten up my space  in order to work more efficiently. I had the Fancy Forest pieces cut for the blocks and they were taking up a whole table because I had 2 blocks laid out for piecing.  I finished the 2 blocks but it took the entire rest of the day and an hour this morning.

I wanted to completely outline the ears due to the value of the background not having enough contrast with the white inside ear fabric. I started with the yellow bunny and the ear section didn't line up at the connector corner points. I fiddled with it and never got it right. I decided I would scrap it and start over but first I put the turquoise bunny together . I had cut some of the connector corners the wrong size and didn't find my mistake until I was ready to add the ear section to the eye section. I fixed it and the rest was  easy  easier. Making the turquoise bunny showed me how to fix the yellow one and I didn't have to scrap what I had already done. 
For the rest of the blocks, I will check the size of the cut pieces as I lay them out. I knew I should do this already from my experience with the first Fancy Forest quilt.

My plan for today is to cut more strips for the log cabin blocks. Doing this is also helping me to tame my scrap basket and that is a real plus. Working through that with a purpose is better than to dump it out and try to sort it, which gets discouraging very fast.

Christmas Log Cabin Quilts

Once again, I am thinking about making Log Cabin Christmas quilts for family. This time for all the great grandchildren. I made 9 Log Cabin quilts with red white and green fabrics for Christmas 2000. I  made one quilt for each married couple and one for each grandchild. You can read about those quilts here.

Now I have 7 great grandchildren, maybe I should make a couple extra quilts.  That would be 9 quilts and if I start now I should be able to get them done in time for Christmas next year. I think that I should make 9 identical blocks and let them find the blocks in their quilts, as I did the first time.  Maybe I should just make some extra identical blocks and if more GGkids come along I can use those blocks in quilts I make later.

I got these boxes down from the closet shelf.  The top box is 2 inch strips of all colors; I will pull out what I want and cut them down to 1.5 inches.
The center 2 boxes are Christmas fabrics, some are strips and some are pieces.
The bottom box is 1.5 inch strips. I will pull out the colors I want  and then I will put these boxes back on the shelf and make a new box(or boxes) for the strips I want to use. I like having a lot of the fabrics I used before. When  I made a family quilt in the past, I included something somewhere in the quilt from everyone else's quilt.




I found these seven blocks in my "odd block box" and I will use these as a start.  




















The first time I made the Log cabin Christmas quilts, I finished ALL of my UFO's, yes, every last one! Log cabin blocks are labor intensive and become boring after a while. Sometimes I needed a break from them but I would not allow myself to start any new projects. So, when ever I needed a rest from the log cabins, I worked on a UFO project. I think I will do the same again and first up will be the Fancy Forest 2 quilt.

This is a good time to get started because the weather is such that we will not be going out for a few days. I do regret that I might not be able to get to the quilt shops to take advantage of the Christmas fabric sales. I will keep an eye on the weather and we'll see if there is a chance to get out. Of course, there is always the Internet.

Merry Cristmas

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Fancy Forest 2

Yesterday I started sewing the Fancy Forest Fox blocks. I had some of the pieces cut before we moved on October 1. I had everything put away in a box waiting for the background fabric; I finally bought it this week. I cut all the strips for the background and I am moving forward even if I have second thoughts about my fabric choice.

I revisited my rules for myself about making these blocks (after I made some mistakes in cutting).
One rule was to lay out the pieces for each block on a flannel board before I started sewing it together.

This helps me to understand why the instructions say to sew things in the order given. I can also see before I sew if something is not the right size, like cutting that 2 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch blue background strip 5 1/2 inches (yes, I did that and I saw it before I sewed onto it the connector corner ear squares).

















These 4 Fox blocks went together quickly and with no problems; however there is a problem with my background choice. It is too close in value to the white in these blocks.
I photographed them in a blue flannel board and maybe the blue shows through on the white ,in the photo, making it seem closer in value that it is. This is the only block that the white and blue are next to each other. I am going to continue using  the background as I have already cut all the strips for the blocks and sashings.  I will think about what I can do To make a definition between the white and blue when I get ready to quilt it. I don't think this is going to hang on the wall and baby will probably not care.