Celtic Wave QAL

Well, it's already mid-March, and I can't really believe how quickly the month is going. It seems like it was February 1st just last week.

It's the end of the second checkpoint and the beginning of the third. Hopefully, you are keeping up with us, and have been working steadily on Bag #2......

Here's my H units from Bag #1, and my CG units from bag #2. I'm really getting excited to see how these are going to turn out.....I'm almost ready to start the curved piecing!!!

And now we are ready to move on, to Bag #3.......

Checkpoint 3 : March 17 - Bag 3 start 

Bag #3 is a quick one -- just 8 units, so this is a good week to catch up if you are starting late or have gotten behind. Take advantage of that now, because after this section, there is LOTS of sewing each week. So, off to work to get these finished.....

Here's the rest of the schedule for the next couple of months...

Checkpoint 4 : March 31 - Bag 4 start
Checkpoint 5 : April 14 - Curved Piecing
Checkpoint 6 : April 28 - Border Units (if you are doing the Queen)
Checkpoint 7 : May 12 - Start Assembly
Checkpoint 8 : May 26 - All DONE!!!!

How are you coming along on getting your Celtic Wave done??? What colors are you doing???

Happy Quilting!!!

Catherine

Finish it Friday

I actually have finishes this week!!! Yippee!!

It was busy around here all week, mainly working on Osprey's Nest and doing the standard business work (filling orders, accounting, etc). Busy but good. I got to hang out with Shawn and Kelly on Thursday and work on some new patterns for market, and that was really fun. It had been a while since we sewed together, with crazy schedules and the Puyallap show, we just hadn't had time....but we remedied that, and had an all together great day of chatting and snacking and sewing and apron making.

Today's FIF's are just the kind I like. Totally done! Quilted, bound and ready to go to their new homes. It's a gorgeous day here in Southern California, so the pics are not great, it's super bright and in the low 70's, an absolutely perfect day, which means pics are much too contrasts, but for now, they will do.

First up....a baseball quilt for Holden. The baseball maniac. It's almost double size, big enough for a super generous picnic, or a double wrap on a cold practice night. As you know, I like my quilts to be used. Really, what's the point in show pieces? And how many walls do most people really have? So most of my quilts are bed sized, with cotton batting for washability.

The second finish this week, comes in the form of Meandering Star, which was on my goals for 2014 list. It was on a field trip to Ms. Carrie for some lovely long arm quilting. I got it back on Monday and got it bound on Tuesday, and I love it. The quilting is superb, and really let's the pattern and fabrics sing. Plus it has feathers, and you know how I feel about feathers.

So, here she is : Meandering Stars.

Hope everyone is getting some sewing time in this weekend. What are you working on?

Happy Quilting!

Catherine

Bom 2014 - Block 2 - Variable Star Variation

So, this month, the block is very similar to last month....I did that on purpose, because we are also going to work on the border units, so that when we get to November, you are ready for a full assembly. Since we are running a BOM with 12 blocks over 10 months, we are going to have to double up sometime, so we might as well start now, and do it with the simpler blocks, so that you aren't buried in the sewing room.

So, let's get started.

This is the block for this month : Variable Star Variation

1. Cutting :

• From Background (white print) cut :
• 4 - 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangle
• 2 - 3 7/8" squares
• From Focus Print (center, turquoise and purple in my sample), cut :
• 1 - 6 1/2" square
• From Accent 1 (Purple print), cut :
• 8 - 3 1/2" squares
• From Accent 2 (light teal print), cut :
• 2 - 3 7/8" squares

2. Now start assembling.

• Starting with the corners, draw a line on the back of the white 3 7/8" squares. Then sew 1/4" on both sides of that drawn line. (Can you see the sewing I did below??? Maybe I should use different thread next time!!!)

• Now slice them apart on the drawn line.

• And press towards the teal (dark). You will have a total of 4 of these when you are done.

3. Now, lets do the geese. 

• Draw a line from corner to corner on each of the purple 3 1/2" accent 1 fabric pieces. Place the accent 1 piece on to the background with right sides together, and the drawn line from the bottom left corner to the upper right. Now, sew on that line that you drew. 

• Now place the piece under your ruler and trim off the corner, 1/4" outside on the line that you sewed.

• Now press it towards the dark triangle, and it will look like the one below.

• Now do the same thing thing to the other side, with the diagonal going the other way (top left to bottom right).

• Now sew on the line that you drew.

• and trim off 1/4" outside of the sewn line.

4. Now lay out your blocks, twisting and turning them until the look like this.

5. Now sew them into rows, and press away from the geese units.

6. Finally, sew the rows together and press the seams away from the center of the block.

Your block is now complete!!!!

And now, we will move onto the border.

1. Cut 7 - 3 1/2" strips of the border accent fabric. 

2. Cut 7 - 3 1/2" strips of the border background fabric.

3. Cut 5 - 6 1/2" strips of the border background fabric. Subcut into 28 - 6 1/2" squares.

4. Place all of these cut pieces into your borders bag for next month.

WIP Wednesday

Well, since it is still Wednesday.....at least on the Pacific. Coast for the next 24 minutes.....make that 23 minutes...

A quick look at the happenings in the studio....

Celtic Wave QAL progress

All of the units are done, and I am caught up.....yippee!

Osprey's Nest

I just have the final set of geese left for this one....and then it is ready for final assembly. 

All in all, a busy, crazy week around here!

In the meantime, I have also been working on these....

Sign parts....I've mapped it all out, just making it now, with a goal of having it finished in time for the Henderson Show on the first weekend of April....

And that's enough WIPs to keep me busy for the moment. What have you been working on?

Happy Quilting!

Catherine

Friday Finishes on Wednesday....

Well, I had big plans to write half a dozen posts, about various classes, and student projects (the finishes this month have been lively), and goals and dreams and all the current and future happenings around here....I even took pictures.

For now, here's a quick look at the finishes from Cotton and Chocolate in Thousand Oaks. These ladies have been busy working on various projects....and had a couple of finishes to share during show and tell this month.

Jonette's Glacier Star

Lorna's Glacier Star

Lorna's Feathered Goose

Debbie's Feathered Goose

Aren't they great? Super excited to see them during show and tell, as we build our Mariner's Compass blocks in this quarter's series.

February Check-In

I can't quite believe that February is over. As in finished a full week ago, it seems like it was just Valentine's Day. February was a little crazy here, Mom had unexpected surgery on the 12th, which put a spin on my month, and my job was eliminated at work, which made for some interesting stressful days. Thank goodness it all worked out (and quickly) and stressing about it was unnecessary. Not that it stopped me in any way shape or form, because, you know some of us love a good reason to stress out. Seriously, I want to be more type B in my next life.

I had pretty big plans for this year, somehow they have morphed a bit, but I am generally okay with that since I was apparently both more and less efficient than I imagined....

The goals as stated at the new year....

Piecing
1. Captain's Wheel complete and sent to the quilter
2. Celtic Wave (Queen) - Piece Along to start in mid-February! QAL in process, Bag #1 finished
3. Flower's for My Wedding Ring - Got all of my fabrics picked and am ready to get started.
4. Scrappy Trip (44 pairs prepped)
5. Osprey's Nest Bags #1 and #2 finished, working on #3

Quilting
1. Winter Wonderland - sent to the quilter
2. Glacier Star
3. Mariner's Compass binding is on and finished, I guess I should do a post on this....I did a lot of pics on Instagram and Facebook, but maybe I should do some here on the blog???
4. Compass Rose - sent to the quilter
5. Meandering Star - at the quilter, due back in a few weeks.
6. Captain's Wheel - at the quilter
7. Celtic Wave Queen - 
8. Flower's for My Wedding Ring
9. Scrappy Trip
10. Osprey's Nest

Pattern Writing
1. 2014 Block of the Month - starts on January 13th! - Done. started February 13th. whole year worth of patterns have been scheduled!!! Yippee!!!
2. 5 new patterns for spring market - Designs for 3 done, just need to sew them up.
3. 5 new patterns for fall market

Other projects :
1. Amazon Star finished
2. Pepperdish finished
3. Crackers finished
4. Feathered Star Queen finished
5. Project Destash

Overall, I am pretty happy with the progress this month. Could I have been a little more efficient? Of course!!! Could I have gotten more done?? Possibly. For now, I am happy with what I've gotten done and where I am for the year, now I just need to keep it up (especially because I want to add a few more items and a big move to the list for the year). Yes, I am slightly insane.


How are you doing on your quilty goals for the year???

Happy Quilting!!!

Catherine

Celtic Wave QAL Update

Well, it's March 4th, and this post is a day late, as I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday and never actually got on the internet to do anything....thankfully, it appears that it was just an over-tired, over-stressed need a rest day signal, as I am feeling quite spry today.

It's the end of the first checkpoint and the beginning of the second. Hopefully, you are keeping up with us, and have been working steadily on Bag #1......

If you have been keeping up, you will have done the following :

• Pick fabrics (I am doing a red/white/blue/gold color scheme). Complete
• prep papers and bags (6 bags) complete
• cut fabrics -- (yes this is the boring part). I kept fabrics 12 and 13 the same for mine, so it will not have as much variation as the original. complete
• Work on bag 1 units. These are the spike units. They are really simple and a great way to get back in the groove. There a lot of them, so pace yourself. Also, make sure that you pay attention to the instructions, as you need to push some strips forward into bag 3 to make the border units, and depending upon how scrappy/controlled you want these you need to make sure you push the right ones forward....so take your time and make sure you get it right. If you have any questions, just drop me a note in the comments or on Facebook. complete
• If you want to stay up to the minute on progress, make sure that you follow me on Instagram as queenie quilts. I post almost daily various items going on in the studio......
• If you don't have the pattern yet, email me at catherine@queeniequilts.com, and I will honor the sale from a few weeks ago!!!

Here's my H units. I am pretty happy with them, they were pretty simple to piece, and fun to see how they came out. I am a little bit worried about the polka dot, but we'll see how it turns out in the end....

Have you kept up with us?? How are your H units???? What colors are you doing???


Here's the rest of the schedule for the next couple of months....

Checkpoint 2 : March 3 - Bag 2 start - started, there are 16 light accents, and 24 darks accents in this bag. I have completed the 24, not started the 16 yet.

Here are the finished ones :

And the ones left to work on : all laid out and ready to piece.

Checkpoint 3 : March 17 - Bag 3 start
Checkpoint 4 : March 31 - Bag 4 start
Checkpoint 5 : April 14 - Curved Piecing
Checkpoint 6 : April 28 - Border Units (if you are doing the Queen)
Checkpoint 7 : May 12 - Start Assembly
Checkpoint 8 : May 26 - All DONE!!!!

Happy Quilting!!!

Catherine