Sweet Land of Liberty Month 8

Month 8...not sewn together with the other months as yet.  I do want to wait and see how the final month needs to be arranged with this one and the previous months.  My birds don't have legs because there is a banner that goes below them.  My new sewing machine has a small alphabet and I want to try the banner with that.  The letters look to be a little fancier than the basic block lettering so we shall see how they turn out.

Here is a portion of month seven with the lettering added.  I do plan on using buttons in the center of the flowers but it struck me that buttons are going to be very hard to quilt around and I've already got a lot in previous sections.  This whole thing may end up being hand quilted!

I'm linking this with Lori's blog, Humble Quilts, for the month 8 Linky party.

Halfway Finished!

Fifty blocks of the Tula Pink City Sampler finished and sorted by colors.  I just posted block 52 this morning so I'm more than halfway through the 100 blocks.  This is a sideways view taken on my floor....now I'm getting worried about how I'll be able to lay out the entire quilt when I'm finished.  There is a definite advantage to doing the rainbow version if you have a small space.  Another quilter is using four colors only...that should be easier to layout in section also.

I'm still really enjoying this.  It seemed overwhelming at first when I got the book but one block a day is very doable.   Everyone's blocks can be seen on Instagram at #100Days100Blocks2018


Quilt police are everywhere...my assistant, Licorice, checking out my seams!

Linking with Moving it Forward Monday and Monday Making

Sweet Land of Liberty Update

I have been working on my Sweet Land of Liberty quilt but haven't posted any updates recently.  Shown above are my months 7 and 8.  There are two blocks missing....an embroidered one and one with the head of the Statue of Liberty.  Both of those go above the flag and the head is partly sewn on the star block next to it.  I like my stars and don't want to block them!  So I'm trying to think of something to put in it's place.  I may make it a lettering block, but I'm having trouble with making  letters that show up.  I've taken most of the other letters off of the rest of the quilt top and am working on drawing a decent looking alphabet in the correct sizes.

There is still some detail work that needs to be done here...berries and the centers of the flowers and words on both that block and the fish.  I have no idea of why there is a fish on a flag pole...may be something to do with food for the revolution or a cash crop, but I made a salmon.  As usual most of these blocks are hand drawn.  I've progressed from trying to trace the design from my computer screen to just drawing it free hand.  I've only had one art class (landscape design) but on requirement was to draw for 20 minutes a day.  I t was amazing to see the differences in the drawings from week one to the last of the quarter.  I'm seeing that improvement again with this project.

Almost all of the fabrics used are from thrift shop shirts and a few other thrift acquistions.  The flag is an exception...for the stars I used a square of a Japanese themed fabric line...it looked so much like stars that I couldn't resist and the red stripes are a batik from stash.  When I started this sew along I was worried that I wouldn't have enough traditional looking fabrics to give the proper look to my quilt as most of my stash are bright colors.  My shirt stash came to the rescue along with a charm pack of Jo's Shirtings.  Overall, I'm please with how this is turning out.  Many thanks to Lori of  Humble Quilts for guiding us.

Linking with Moving it forward Monday and Monday Making

Catching Up!

Here are my City Sampler blocks 1-36 all together!  Frankly, I didn't think that I would last this long but they have all been done and posted on the correct days.  Block 44 will be posted to my Instagram today!  I wanted to get them all so that I could check my colors and get an idea of how they would all look together since  I'm not planning on using sashing in the finished quilt. Some blocks are better than others and some really highlight my inability to sew a straight line.  I've had some help in that direction from my sewing machine..I've been noticing that the feed dogs are grabbing the end of the fabric and jerking it out of alignment. Wednesday I'm getting with Amazon for a new one...nothing really expensive but an upgrade from what I've got now.

I'm still working on my Anthology quilt and I'll be making stars for my Sweet Land of Liberty quilt today.  Hopefully more pictures and progress will be posted later this week.  It's been so hot here that it has been a real effort to do anything.  I know everyone else has also been dealing with the heat but we are so unused to it here.  I had to laugh at a recent article in the Seattle Times newspaper...Seattle is the most un-airconditioned city in the US.

Linking with Em's Scrapbag

Slow Progress

One of the joys of doing a sew along after it has finished is that you can do the blocks in the order that you want, so this is actually the first block of the Anthologie quilt but the fifth for me.  I should have left it for last...some blocks just don't want to get made!  I had no problems with the center nine patch then found that the side panels just wouldn't work.  One was about a quarter inch off but the other was over a half inch off.   The other two, not sewn yet, were about the same.  I took pieces apart, remeasured, retrimmed and was about to recut the blue panels when I decided to let it rest for a while.  That did work!  After redoing several of the HST because I put them on backwards, three of the panels went on with no problems.  The fourth side has a small half inch seam allowance.  I still have no idea of where I went wrong.

These are my flying geese panels.  No problems with them and the vine panel is waiting for me to get matching thread for the applique.  So far, all the fabrics used have been from my stash...nothing bought specifically for this quilt.

Linking with Moving it forward Monday and Monday Making