Monday, January 10, 2022

Northwest Quilter's Virtual Retreat

I have so much to report for this week's Tuesday ToDo. I attended the Northwest Quilter's Guild virtual retreat this past weekend and I sewed the entire time + more outside of the scheduled hours. I quite enjoyed it and I learned a few new things, for instance, I had never heard of leaders and enders before...

Anyway, I mostly focused on making blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, starting with the Bloom quilt.
Two red blocks for the Bloom quilt
Then I worked on nine patches for the Arlington Square quilt. I need to make a total of 96 of these blocks so I'm planning to make nine or ten of each color throughout the year. I made the first block with just reds: a dark red and a bright red but I decided I didn't really like that color scheme so I started using different colors for the squares. I had a nice big stack of 2½"-squares leftover from when I was making quilted ball ornaments and they're the perfect size.
10 red Arlington Square blocks plus one sneaky pink one.
Then I gave the stained glass blocks a try. I made them using the advice in this Youtube video. I finished four during the weekend and then the other four on Monday. They are really quite fun and I'm getting better at it. I decided to leave off the black sashing on the outer edge because I'm not sure of the final block size I'll be using in the quilt. I may want to make them bigger or cut them down a bit.

I am using scraps for these projects. I'm drawing heavily from my tub of pre-cut squares and adding pieces from some of the larger scraps. So far, I haven't needed to cut any red from yardage but I've certainly got less variety at this point, so I may decide to cut some pieces off yardage for my Tickled Pink project.

My goals for this next week are: 
  1.  Finish Part 8 of the Rhododendron Trail Mystery Quilt.
  2.  Make 2 more of the Heart blocks
  3.  Start making the Alternate blocks for the Tickled Pink project.
Amethyst/Diamond Star Block.
This block dates from the 1930s.
I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday and Tuesday ToDo. Drop on by to see what everyone else has been working on.

14 comments:

  1. The red stained glass blocks are just beautiful!

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    1. Thanks! I'm really a beginner at making these, but I am pretty happy how they're turning out.

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  2. Your flower/pin wheel blocks are a new design to me. At first I thought pinwheel until I saw the green which makes my eye travel (I looked back and saw entire quilt design). I must say though, I'm partial to the red/black. My old high school colors.

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    1. Yeah, those bloom blocks are pretty neat. I'd never seen anything like them before.

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  3. Hi Sharon! The whole idea of leader/enders is a pretty cool concept, huh?!! I love those blocks for the Bloom quilt - are you using other colors beside red, or just a variety of reds? Good luck with this week's list! {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne

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    1. I'm going to make 2 flowers every month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge so there will be a rainbow of colors.

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  4. The Bloom block is new to me. I need to get out more :-p But your red/block windowpane blocks are just gorgeous. Why did I not think of them when I was searching for RSC2022 ideas. Oh darn!!! Filing this idea for RSC2023.

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    1. Thanks. The stained glass blocks are pretty fun and use whatever size scraps you have handy so they're great that they're all a little different.

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  5. The Bloom blocks are pretty, and I love your red stained glass blocks too. Well done!

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  6. Your stained glass blocks are beautiful, and I LOVE the Arlington square blocks. The virtual retreat sounds like fun. I am no good at all at leaders and enders, for some reason, even though I understand the explanation of it, I can't seem to do it.
    Thank you for linking to To Do Tuesday!

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    1. Thank you. I am definitely enjoying the slow progress on all these projects.

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  7. Whoa! Did you even eat all weekend? LOL. Love the stained glass blocks!!!

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    1. I am so lucky that my husband does the cooking. He brought me meals during the day.

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