Friday, July 29, 2011

Challenging. . .

I got my challenge quilt "done" in time.  It's not completely done, as I have some more stones to sew on.  But I don't seem to be real motivated to do that, so I figured I should just show it anyway.  The binding is on and so is the label, so I think that's pretty good!

"Stones Rock!"
20 inches by 28.5 inches
I just ran out of time to get all the stones on . . . probably because I stalled so long on this one.  I went to the bead store and bought real stones - they're just polished and drilled so they were easy to attach.  Interestingly, all the stones ended up being some form of jasper.  They just really appealed to me.  Oh, I forgot to take any detail shots of the cool stones.  Ooops.


 

This shot is for Kate of Katekwiltz blog, who asked me how I handled the ruffled edges of the rock wall section.  My friend V., who helped me A LOT with this the last day, suggested that I do a basting stitch and then gather that section before sewing the border to it.  It worked pretty well.  There's still puffiness there, but no tucks.  I won't be quilting in that area, and I think it looks OK.  I would have liked the border to go right up to the "rocks" but it didn't work out that way.

I'm not 100% happy with this quilt, but I met the deadline and the requirements, so I can live with it.  It really was a challenge this year.  I think maybe I need to take a year off of doing the guild challenge, and just work on my own stuff for awhile.  Some days that's all the challenge I can handle!



Here are my Block Lotto blocks for July.  It was a fun block to do, and very easy.  If you're interested in the pattern, just go visit the Block Lotto link in my sidebar.  I'd love to win this month!



Here are some other Block Lotto blocks from a previous month (don't remember which one right now).  I thought these were fun and easy, so I used these for a demonstration I did at the local county fair.  This only needs some more white fabric between the rows and a simple border (black & white?) and it is ready to pass on to someone for quilting.  It was fun doing the demo at the fair - seems like lots of people want to come see the quilts, and almost everyone has some quilting "family" story they want to share.  That was lots of fun!

10 comments:

  1. I know it's not normally my thing, but I think it's wonderful. You did really well.

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  2. I am intrigued by the block lotto blocks. I need to start on something new and both of those would be interesting to try.

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  3. Cool. You may have said, but what was the challenge? I could see the rock buttons better when I clicked on the picture. Pretty....so many things to look at. Is the right border made by starting at the bottom and working your way up?

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  4. I LOVE your Stones quilt - it has a very peaceful feel to it, very calming, but with great interest and texture! Excellent!

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  5. Hey, you've been busy! Love the Stones quilt. I like what you did with the challenge. The Lotto blocks look great too!

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  6. I just really can't get over how this quilt overall really does look like rocks!!! You rock yourself girl!!!

    I didn't do the stacked coins that month on the Lotto and I didn't do the stringed hearts with the black background....darn, I really liked those!!

    And yes, I think you SHOULD just work on your own thing for a while, have a little FREE time to do something FABULOUS!!!

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  7. If this quilt is the result of a challenge, I would say, continue to do those challenges ;-)) your quilt is lovely! Or, as Rosalyn already said - it rocks ;-))

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  8. I love it, I bailed on my challenge, I just don't think they work for me. I feel forced. Your's turned out very nice, I really like it.

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  9. Thanks for the shoutout pic! That looks like it was pretty tricky to work with, but I think it turned out great!

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