Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A Forest on White

Note to others who read my blog: I am part of a quilting bee and this is my month to sent out fabric to the other members of the group. Here's what I was thinking we could make.



I LOVE these quilts by Ingrid Press. I would like to make one but with at twist. Not leaves or a neighborhood but a forest on white. Trees of all different shapes and sizes. I am sending everyone a fat quarter of Kona Snow and some green and brown pieces to make into trees. Go CRAZY!

Ok, not toooo crazy. Here are some basic guidelines:
  1. Blocks can be any size between. They do not need to be square.
  2. You don't have to have just one tree on a block. More is great. I am not going for as empty and spread out of a feel as the Ingrid Press quilt. We are making a forest on white.
  3. Feel free to add in your own greens and browns if you want. I am going for more muted colors so please no florescent green. :)
  4. Please make sure there is a seam allowance around your tree. I would hate to cut off the top of someone's pine tree.
  5. If there are usable sized scraps you can send them back if you want but I am not going to stress over it.
Here are some inspirational trees I found in the Fresh Modern Quilts' photo stream on flickr. Click on the pic. to link to the original post.






It seems like there are three basic types of trees:
  1. Flying Geese stacked on top of each other. Here is a great tutorial showing two different ways to make flying geese. You could even trim off the top points of your flying geese before sewing them together for a more "realistic" tree.
  2. Snowball block variation. Start with a square like shown for a "round" tree or a rectangle for a skinny tree. Try different sized squares or rectangles for the corners.
  3. Basic Triangle with a trunk. Think a tall and skinny flying geese block.
I can't wait to get started and to see what you come up with too! If you have any questions let me know.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

I'm Not Dead Yet!


If I had been posting for the last month some of my titles would have been:

I Heart NY!

Kate: sitting, gnawing, daddy-loving, first ear infection, and cute as a button.

Look Who's Talking Now: Colleen has begun to communicate. Last week she was freaking out when I was doing her hair and finally pointed to each side of her head and said, "two, two!" She wanted two ponytails that day not the normal one on the top.

Why Do We Bring Girls Into This Horrible World?: not horrible because of any of the normal reasons you might think of but because they are going to be hormonal, in pain and bleed for 5 days every month for 40 years! What's up with that?!? I think I am probably done having kids and I still have 20+ years of "joy" ahead of me. You should have seen the look of "you-have-got-to-be-kidding-eww-gross!" on Emily's face when she got an intro on the subject. Sorry kiddo. It would be a lot nicer if there was a once a year time to get pregnant. sigh...

My First City Council Meeting: telling them about myhuxley.com - yeah, I even got a dot-com address for it.

My First Two Planning and Zoning Meetings: at this last one I asked about the zoning for chickens (not allowed) and what I would have to do to get that changed (ask for special permission from City Council). Got to get on that - the chickens are coming on the 28th! We also did "real" business.

Planting Our Garden: Love the raised beds - our neighbors letting us have garden space -where to put the raspberries?

Spring is Here or I LOVE Bulbs: We have beautiful daffodils, tulips, purple/blue things and lily of the valley coming up all over.

Hexagon Happiness (or Madness): I have made over 30 hexagon "flowers" and am now sewing them together. All by hand using the English paper piecing method. It is amazingly therapeutic. More pictures later.

Just Call Me Holly Homemaker: Making homemade yogurt from powdered milk, 5 minute artisan bread and green smoothies.

I'll keep you updated better, maybe...