Green Piece Tree Medallion

It seems this quilt has been so long in the making. 

The center medallion is an applique tree in rich autumn colors, with two thin borders.

Now the quilt only needs two outside borders; one thin and one thick.  But I think the applique blocks might make the quilt a little too busy.  What do you think?

The center medallion is needle-turned applique, and measures 20" square.

Oh, and here are the scraptacular quilt blocks I made today.  Here is a link to the Quilt-Along.

Cheers,

Dionne

Feb Greenpiece

This month looks a lot like the previous months. These flying geese leave no left-overs, so nothing to add to my scrap basket~!

But the star blocks are quite nice!

Here are the applique blocks and the alternate colors.

Cheers,

Dionne

January Greenpiece

This month the centers uses the pieces we saved from last month. The rest is just a duplicate of what we did before.

Assemble on point.

For two more blocks!

And the alternate colorway:

Cheers,

Dionne

Greenpiece Month Seven. Two piecing alternatives.

Make Flying Geese Blocks:

Place two 2 7/8" squares of color 1 or 2 at opposite corners of a 5 1/4" background square, right sides together. Stitch 1/4" each side of the center diagonal lines of the color 1 or color 2 squares. Cut apart between the stitching lines. Press the color triangles away from the background triangle.

Place a 2 7/8" square of the other color right side down on the corner of the background triangle and stitch 1/4" on each side of the diagonal line of the color square.



Cut apart between stitching lines.

Press triangles away from center. Makes four flying geese units with colors one way and four with colors opposite. Each unit should measure 2 1/2" x 4 1/2"

Now make unit for center of star.





Take a 4 1/2" background square and place 2 1/2" squares of color 1 or 2 in opposite corners, right sides together.

Stitch on drawn lines. Trim 1/4" from stitching line and press triangles away from cneter. Place 2 1/2" squares of same color on remaining opposite corners of background square and stitch. Trim 1/4" from seam lines, press. Each unit should measure a 4 1/2" square.




Now arrange center unit, flying geese units and 2 1/2" background squares to make the block. Sew pieces into three rows, sew rows together to make two blocks.

Alternately you can assemble this block on-point.


The applique blocks can be set in wool or in cotton. Wool is pictured here.

The alternate colorway is in thirties prints.

Cheers,

Dionne

GreenPiece - Month Six, half way there...

Yes, it's true, we're half way through the year already!

This is so exciting because the blocks are looking really nice. The two blocks we're making this month is SO much easier than last month!

Start with four 1 1/2" strips in red, brown and taupe. Sew one taupe strip to one dark strip.

Cut strip sets each into eight 1 1/2"segments. Sew segments together in rows and make a 16 square center that should be trimmed to 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"

The blocks are made with four flying geese, four 2 1/2" corner stones and one 16-square center. This month there are two lovely applique blocks as well. I particularly love the ginko pattern.

Here is the same block in a an alternate colorway:

Cheers,

Dionne

Greenpiece, Month Five

This month you only need three colors: Background color, Burgundy and Sage Green.

The first picture shows the optional applique blocks you can make each month along with your blocks. Applique can either be wool or cotton. My final quilt won't have any applique at all except for the tree in the center block.

Cutting:

Background Color - 8, 2 1/2" sqrs for corners

2, 2 1/4" sqrs cut once diagonally

2, 5 1/4" sqrs cut twice diagonally

Burgundy - 12, 2 1/4" sqrs cut once diagonally

2, 2 1/2" sqrs for centers

Sage Green - 4, 2 7/8" sqrs cut once diagonally

6, 2 1/4" sqrs cut once diagonally

Piecing:

1 - Center Units: sew the small green and small background triangles to the center squares.

When you sew, be sure you match the long side of the triangle to the edge of the block. Pinch fold the centers to make sure you have them aligned well. You should have 1 Burgundy/Sage Center Unit and 1 Burgundy/Background Center Unit.

2 - Corner Units: sew small burgundy and small sage triangles onto the cornerstone background squares (2 1/2" background squares). Sew the long side of the triangle to two corner edges of the triangle. (see example in 1st picture). Be sure to center your triangles well on the side of the squares or you won't have a nice even quarter inch seam (see example in 2nd picture) You should have 4 Corner Units with burgundy and 4 Corner Units with sage.

3 - Inner Units: Sew the long side of the small triangles to the short sides of the large sage triangles. You should have 8 Inner Units.

Assemble Blocks:

1 - Join Corner Units and Inner Units. You should have 4 Unit A with double bugundy flying geese and 4 Unit A with a sage chevron.

2 - Sew large background triangles to the opposite sides of Unit A. Make 4, two for each block - pairing the different colorways together.

3 - Add remaining 4 of Unit A to opposite sides of center squares. Pair the sage chevron colorway with the center block with burgundy/background Center Unit and the double bugundy flying geese with the burgundy/sage Center Unit. You should have two Units.

4 - Assemble the rows on point. Makes two 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" blocks.

Cheers,

Dionne

Greenpiece, Month 4

Month four uses four fabrics: cream for the background color, burgundy, green and light pink.

I like the star within a star look to it.

UNITS:

- Four large flying geese in Burgundy/Background, Four large flying geese in Green/Background

- Four small flying geese in Burgundy/Pink, Four small flying geese in Green/Pink

- 10 2 1/2" squares for the cornerstones and centers

- 8 1 1/2" squares for the cornerstones

Flying Geese:

1. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the four small 2 7/8" squares.

2. With right sides together place 2 small squares in oposit corners of the large 5 1/4" background square. Stitch 1/4" on either side of the drawn line.

3. Cut on the center line and press the small triangles away from the large triangle. You will end up with an angular heart.

4. Place another small square on the remaining corner of the large triangle (heart shape unit) and stitch 1/4" along either side of the center line. Cut and press.

End result:

Two large flying geese units that measure 2 1/2" by 4 1/2"

I think it was Eleanor Burns who first introduced this method. But I've been using it for years. The final blocks for the BOM are 8 1/2"

Cheers,

Dionne

August Greenpiece

So I had no time to actually complete this months BOM. With all the travel, for work and for pleasure, I didn't have a chance to finish. So this month I'm sharing with you the examples.

This Moda sampler uses more than 54 different fabrics. Thank goodness I don't have to purchase them all myself. Just one minimum purchase price at the beginning of the year and all the fabrics are provided. I like it, feels like I'm getting the blocks for free every month!

So we also have a chance to share our work. I didn't have anything to bring this time, but the following is a quilt is made from bandanas. The bandana centers are red and the border corners of the bandana make up the border triangles. She added the blue and white squares to set off the borders, then added the double border as an afterthought because it just didn't look finished without them.

Isn't this a pretty little garden. This quilter took flowers from her guild swap, attached them to several different yellow blocks. She cut the blocks from corner to corner twice then sewed the blocks back together in a random order creating quite a nice scrappy look. The leaves were appliqued on last.

Cheers,

Dionne

Sample My BOMmy Heart!

It's month two of my first Block Of the Month. Yes, I've been quilting a million years and I've never done a BOM before. Unless you count the Thangles BOM; which I don't. And besides my LQS discontinued that program anyhow.

Now there is so many more patterns to choose from. It's amazing to me how many BOMs are out there. Literally something for any taste, preference. You can do piecework or applique; from brightly colored monsters to a Halloween balitimore quilt. The possibilities are endless.

The problem, for me anyhow, was that all the BOMs back in the bad old days of quilting were always traditional Samplers. I never cared for the Sample quilt - or a cross stitch sampler for that matter. It was just something that didn't appeal to me. The design wasn't uniform, too much chaos.

Oh what a control freak I was! It makes me laugh now. How the times have changed. Samplers appeal to me, now. They are much like the way my life has turned out. A little of this, a little of that....

It seems I've created a life like a patchwork: friends, family, good times and bad, all these memories held together by the efforts of my stitching.

Of course my life is only one third over, so there is still plenty of room to change the story. Who knows, I might just have a masterpiece in me somewhere.

But not today. Today I'm just going to enjoy working on my Sampler and sample a few more patterns and blocks...

This month I have two identical blocks in different fabrics. Also, for every month, I have two filler blocks. Some participants are putting in applique on these blocks and others are doing embroidery. I toyed with the idea, but decided to keep my filler blocks plain and simple. I have more chance of getting it done on time that way.

The colors for this quilt are all in the fall colors, so by the time I'm finished with the blocks (next year this time) I'll have just enough time to finish the quilting for a new fall quilt, right?

Well, that's the plan anyway!

Cheers,

Dionne

PS - Just four more days to leave a comment for my 'Plume' giveaway. Leave your comment on the post HERE.

Quilter's Block ... of the month, that is.

The whole idea of Block of the Month is great in theory. One or two blocks a month, a finished quilt by the end of the year. Brilliant! The commitment is small and the year is just beginning and optimism runs high!

I consider BOMs often; really often if I'm honest. It's almost an obsessive how much I read, and re-read the catalogs that come in the mail; the web-pages I surf.

But I've never taken the plunge. I know myself too well. Quilting is the first thing that gets put aside when time gets short. When I'm working on a deadline and the project is running long. When the children all have tournaments on the same weekend. When my husband is out of town and my father's radiation treatment are all scheduled for the same timeframe. Those are the times my sewing machine gets neglected.

I know this about myself. I know that when the year is just beginning and my optimism is running high, I will tempt myself with beautiful designs and fabric to die for. But I will then close the catalog or the browser with a sigh; denying myself the pleasure of taking part in the BOM.

But you know what, this time I didn't! I didn't sigh and walk away. Perhaps because it was at my LQS, and the completed quilt was right there in front of me. Perhaps because I was having a melancholy day and it was either sign up for the BOM or get a quart of Ben and Jerrys!

At any rate, I've done it. I've signed on for my first (real) BOM!

And now you get to see my first two blocks for June. The pattern itself is called GreenPiece and it's from Moda.

Cheers,

Dionne