Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

A Block by Any Other Name

Recently, I've been finding myself on Pinterest and online looking at an old familiar quilt block but looking very modern. This block goes by many different names, Churn Dash, Hole in the Barn Door and Monkey Wrench are the 3 names that come to mind, but there could be more!

I picked up some great coordinating fabrics from ConnectingThreads.com that were these gorgeous colours that reminded me of salt-water taffy.  I wanted to do this quilt top without any sashing and vary the blocks, so some most had a white background and some had the colour and white reversed.

This was my inspiration (found on Pinterest, link is lost, but the original comment on Pinterest says it was from Cynthia Brunz's blog "Quilting is More Fun than Housework) I love how she included both large and smaller blocks!

Churn Dash from Quilting is More Fun than Housework

and this one from "We All Sew", a site from Bernina that provides projects of all kinds and a great tutorial for this quilt.:http://weallsew.com. This one stood out to me because of the cool blues and greens, and the mixed backgrounds.

Churn Dash from We All Sew

To prep for this quilt, I sorted my fabrics, and found a few from my stash that had the same density of colour that were in the purchased fabrics and I cut enough pieces to make 3-4 blocks of each colour. These were then put into a pizza project box and when I didn't have anything else on the go, these were the blocks I worked on.

 At some point, instead of being a "between project" piece, these quilt blocks and colours began to grow on me and demanded they become a main project.

I put them up on the design wall as they were completed and just love the way they look together! Without sashing to separate the blocks, it took a little longer, (well, a lot longer), to sew the blocks together into a top that is ready for quilting! Now I just need to piece a backing fabric and this one is off to be quilted by Marie of Blueberry Hill Quilts in Chestermere, Alberta.

My Sweet Churn Dash

Pretty colours!

What's your fav traditional block? Have you seen it sewn up so it looks modern?

--Ann

Quilting on the Road

As part of our preparations for retired life (not quite there yet!) we purchased an RV last year and this year I've been working on setting up so I can continue my sewing while we are away from home. My Janome sewing machine came with a table that doesn't take up much room and because I already have a great sewing table in the house, it has a place in the home on wheels!

On one of our summer "camping" trips, I had the opportunity to try it out. I only forgot to add a good chair, so it was a bit uncomfortable sitting on the couch and sewing, but when I got stiff and sore, I could just get up and take a walk outside in the beautiful scenery!

The ironing board fits great on the dinette. I don't put water in my iron so that I can leave it in the RV all winter without worrying about whether or not the residual water will freeze and cause leaks.

So, if I think I'll have time to sew when we are away, all I need is my sewing machine and my projects - and I'll show you how I prep for that another time!

--Ann

Linking up with Quiltsy WIP Wednesday here http://teamquiltsy.blogspot.ca/2014/09/wips-on-wednesday.html

Wordless Wednesday

by Medicine Hat, Alberta