Design Wall Monday--November 29, 2010

I hope you're enjoying reading this.  As for me, while you're reading this I'll be off having not one, but two, medical procedures that end in "oscopy."  Fun!!

And speaking of fun . . . it's been cold and snowy here all week.  That means, I've had no alternative but to stay in the basement where it's warm and sew.  George and Gracie know how to stay warm when it snows too:

George, especially, likes to get covered up when he's cold. 

As for sewing, I was able to get the applique done on my "Home Is Where the Heart Is" quilt blocks.  Except for finishing the top-stitching, I'm up-to-date on this one (at least until the next one comes--soon, probably).  Here's the one I was working on last week:

And this is the one I finished this week:

When I looked at the pattern, my first impression was that the pig's nose was made with a button.  When it turned out to be just another applique, I decided to make it a button anyway for a 3-D effect. 

I tried using invisible thread, but it wouldn't stay knotted. I'd like the pink thread not to show so much. I might change it to gray or something so that it fades into the background a little more. I really just want the two holes on the button to look like the pig's nostrils. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.



I would have finished all the topstitching, but the January, 2011, issue of American Quilter magazine landed in my mailbox.  Since it contained the solution to the 3-part "Beyond the Block Mystery Quilt" that I've been working on, I got completely distracted.  This quilt was going to be a challenge quilt for my guild.  But then, I grew disenchanted with my guild and stopped going to meetings.

The challenge was to choose a children's book, and make a quilt around the theme; but the other part of the challenge was to do a technique I'd not done before.  Since this was my first mystery quilt, I decided that would work for.  The clues told me to choose a focus fabric, and mine was flowers.  With that in mind, I chose The Secret Garden for my children's book,  and that is also the title I chose for my quilt. 

The mystery came in three parts.  It's definitely the most challenging quilt I've ever made for all of it's many strange and wonderful blocks.  After part two, I couldn't imagine how it was all going to come together.  But here it is all finished:

It's a lot to look at, I know, and so I took some detailed pictures so you could see it closer up.  It has 12 different fabrics.  Lower left corner:

Upper left corner:

Upper right corner:

Lower right corner:

The quilt was designed by Linda K. Johnson and Jane K. Wells, who have written a book called Beyond the Block, where you can see more quilts like this.  It was difficult to put all the sections together because the instructions told you where to match things up, but there was also a lot of trimming to fit, and it got confusing.  Mine ended up okay, but it definitely puckers in a few places because I had to ease things in to make them work.  With all those little pieces, even being off a little bit threw the quilt off by a lot.  I'm still happy with it, however.  I think I'll use the floral you see in some of the four patches and also the dark pink batik to piece together a back for it.  I love that floral:

I still have 2 1/4 yards left--enough to use in another quilt.  I'm not sure I want to use it for the back, so I haven't made up my mind yet.

So that's it for me.  I'll have to look at all of your design walls when I get home this afternoon.  Hopefully, I'll still be in one piece.  I have a good doctor, so it shouldn't be too bad.  Take care.