SewCalGal's FMQ Challenge - January

I signed up last month to participate in a FMQ challenge on SewCalGal's blog. Unfortunately I couldn't start right away, but being the procrastinator that I am I knew there'd be plenty of time. That is, until I injured my wrist on Wednesday!

So long story short, I spray basted some scraps with batting and did a little bit of the January challenge today to qualify, but I hope to get my larger sampler sewn together in time to re-do this and add February to the project in time for next month's deadline.

Snow

Marker, a photo by Misha Misha Misha on Flickr.

See that lump in the snow? Sorry it's so grainy, the photo was taken with my phone and it's rather dark out. You might wonder what that lump is. Or rather, was. It's the marker in the back that we use to keep track of the snow depth. The marker is 8 feet high. Guess it's time to attach the next section! :)

VOS 10th Anniversary Block...Round 2

Anniv block 2 7099, a photo by Misha Misha Misha on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
This is my second (and final!) VOS 10th Anniversary Block for retreat. It's a beautiful block, but it contains more pieces than some baby quilts I've made!!! I'll bring the leftover scrap (4x18") to retreat for anyone who needs it.

VOS 10th Anniversary

anniv block DSCN7094s, a photo by Misha Misha Misha on Flickr.

Well, in just a few weeks I'll be headed to Phoenix to meet up with my Valley of the Sun (VOS) quilting friends for our annual retreat. This will be my 4th time, but it's the 10th retreat. It had humble beginnings but has grown into a wonderful and inspiring event.

Marcia at quilterscache.com, a previous attendee and friend to many of us, designed this special block to commemorate the anniversary. We were all sent a bit of fabric (the lightest one in this pic) to use in our block, and instructed to use a black tone on tone for the background. The other colors were up to us.

I am not much of a paper piecer, but used Pirate's Freezer Paper Piecing instructions and here is the result! I see one section I want to fiddle with a little...the bit just to the right of the upper right corner of the center square.

A quilt (or two) made of all our donated blocks will be given to the hospice who cared for our friend Chris for them to use as a fundraiser.

I have enough fabric left over to make another block or two, but that will have to be another day!

Orca Bay Top Completed!

Orca Bay Top Completed! 7090, a photo by Misha Misha Misha on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I think I've decided against a border. It's already 30" square which is plenty big enough for my wall. I will do a scrappy, thin black batik binding when quilted. I have not yet decided on the quilting design, but will post again when I get it going.

Ideally I hope to have it quilted and bound to bring to the AZ retreat for Show & Tell in mid-February :)

Orca Bay Part 8ish

Orca Bay 8ish 7074, a photo by Misha Misha Misha on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Well, here are the first four Ohio Stars sewn together with the other components from Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay Mystery that just wrapped up on New Year's Day! I need to make more of the stars (have QSTs already made) and more of the Flying Geese segments still. I did not make quite enough of the red string blocks, so I have a little of that to look forward to as well. I'm so excited to see this finally coming together!!!

I called it "8ish" because I have not worked at all on the border yet ;)

NYMQ - The Next Day

I had to stop mid-day yesterday and head to the city, but I brought my HSTs and remaining fabric with me to "play". I just emailed my pics to my Flickr account but am having trouble accessing it right now. I'm now using Blogger's iPhone app instead. Let's see if this works!

NYMQ 2012 - Block Layout

Janet's block 7070, a photo by Misha Misha Misha on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Here is what the block is designed to look like . This is on my design wall, it is not sewn together into a block yet. I do think I like the block itself but need to play around with my sashing options a bit...I have to leave the house so I won't get a chance to do much more today unfortunately.

Ok, quick addition: done in IrFanView rather quickly. Oops, guess that was TOO quick, as I have more of a zig-zag going on with the red instead of big diamonds. Hey, it's a variation!! ;)

NYMQ - Playing with the Possibilities

Layout One

Janet said to "play" with the components, three of each combo in each block. I don't know where this is going, but it's kind of fun!! The color isn't as great in this set of pics because I'm too lazy to try to balance all of them as carefully as I did before. Actually, the reds look more accurate here, but you can't see the blue and purple properly.

Ok, don't know what Blogger's issue was but I finally got all four on here!

 

Layout Two

Layout Three

blurry Layout Four

NYMQ 2012 Clue 1

HSTs 7063, a photo by Misha Misha Misha on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I've done all 48 of the first combo, and 8 of each of the other two combos. Thought it was time for a photo update!

Smokey helped with "pressing and embellishing*" but I didn't get a photo in time.

*adding loose bits of fur

Another Day, Another Mystery!

Mystery Inspector 7061, a photo by Misha Misha Misha on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Smokey is inspecting my 1/4" seams once again as I begin sewing step 1 of Janet's New Year's Day Mystery Quilt via about.com