Sunday, August 7, 2016

We begin August with 3 inches of rain!
I have been staying cool and working away.  I finished another column of Chuck, Susan, and Me:


I am getting there-about 2 1/2 columns remaining to be done.  I have gotten to the point where I am thinking of layout.  My latest thought is to make a one inch border between each row and column.  I am thinking of using one inch squares (finished size) of variously colored Kona cotton.  The main colors of Chuck, Susan, and Me are minty green, peachy pinks, aquas, and butters.  

I am mostly an online shopper.  As I am sure you know, what the photo of a fabric looks like and what the color actually is can be 2 very different things.  So I ordered a Kona color chart which is great because the swatches are the actual fabric.  Now I can order my 16 to 18 half yards knowing they will be right.  Here is what the card looks like which is really a piece of eye candy for quilters.
I want all the colors-there are 303. 



Next: blocks for this week.  3 are Chucks, one is of unknown derivation, and one is mine.This block is very different from the others having a more traditional applique look to it.  This block was very time consuming with all the little pieces-remember we are talking 6 inch squares here.

Here is another nice wreath block of unusual design. This pattern was followed closely except I centered the wreath in the center as the other is more appropriate for a modern look in modern fabrics.

I gave a new mood to third block from Chuck's book.  Chuck's block is obviously pansies which would not work for me as, much as I love it, purple has no place in this quilt.  I also joined the stems together to make one plant.
   


This is the block of whose derivation I am not sure.  I know I have seen it somewhere and I am not claiming it an original (I think??)  If anyone knows where the design comes from, please let us know.  A few weeks ago, I made a block which, to me, seemed really obvious design.  A reader wrote in to say the block came from the Dear Jane quilt.  She was right-the quilt had that block.  So much is done at a subliminal level and, if you are a person who does lots of research (technical term for spending hours looking at quilts on line),  it is easy to be influenced.  

The last block for this week.
You can see this block is broderie perse with the fabric taken from a piece of French General Bouquet Francais.  I loved the look of the basket of flowers and the birds.

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The Petra Prins fabric for Quiltmania's Discovery quilt was delayed because the fabric was slow to come out of The Netherlands.  They had some problem but I have it now. There are 2 more months of the mystery quilt-September and November.  Here it is in all its glory:


I captured the colors pretty well.  Is this lovely or what?  I have not yet decided  how I will use it-the Discovery quilt is not exactly right for me. Anyway-this is not the quilt next in line.  Next in line and coming up soon is Sweet Surrender form the Aussie pattern maker Susanne Cody-she associates with Material Obsession. There are 2 more months of the mystery quilt-September and November.

One new country visited me this past week-Ukraine.  I will add the flag to the growing list.

Lastly, I wanted to show off two more blocks from Caswell:
This block has two of my favorite things: honeybees and Yoshi, my outdoor cat.  I just love the spider web.  The black and yellow spider is one we used to see in our garden (acres and acres it seemed if you had to weed the garden) on our zen farm.  You can see how the spider is dropped and the bees don't stay on the own block which helps the illusion that the quilt is not composed of blocks.



After I decided to join these 2 blocks, I knew something had to be placed the the wide space between the bottom of the vase and the blue buds.  After much thought (and research) I came up with this bird who is very busy eating birdseed.  You can also see a pink butterfly and a dragon fly which is going after the water in the birdbath of the block below. The blue, vaguely oriental vase is a reference to one of my other quilts-the Blue Collection by Maggie Walker.

That's all for right now.  Happy quilting and thanks for visiting my blog.  I love your comments so please leave one for me to read and enjoy!

This week I am linking to the blogs you can see listed on the left.  Good blogs, all.  I am also linking up with Bambi's show and tell monday @http://bambisyr-evaj.blogspot.com/



24 comments:

  1. Love your new blocks and yes there are so many beautiful blocks and works out there and it is so easy to forget where or when we saw them or in Fact if we did see them. Love all your work Pam :)

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  2. My goodness, Pam, your blocks are just amazing! Whoop whoop!!

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  3. Many thanks for your inspiration and link to the Show and Tell Monday / Bambi Hug

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  4. Oh WOW! Your blocks are just amazing....

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  5. You are incredibly prolific, Pam, and all of your blocks are so exquisite. Just beautiful!

    I like how you added applique over the seams of blocks in Caswell. There is so much to look at in that quilt!

    --Nancy. (ndmessier @ aol.com, joyforgrace.blogspot.com)

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  6. Your blocks are beautiful, your fabrics are perfect. The Caswell blocks are lovely too. You have a definite gift for adding touches of beauty to your blocks which make them your own. I can't wait to see what you do with Sweet Surrender. Those Petra Pins fabrics are gorgeous, I would love to have some too. I am fortunate to have so many quilt shops in my area. I've had too many surprises when buying fabrics on-line. Blessings, Gretchen

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  7. I'm loving your Chuck blocks! Hoping to start on a few of my own soon, although I have no idea how I will use them in a cohesive project just yet. I just want to play :*). Your new fabrics are beautiful! It will be hard to wait to cut into them!

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  8. Such pretty blocks! I ordered a Kona color card for the same reason last year, it's so much easier to pick colors. I want them all too, who wouldn't. I wish I had your stamina. I'm looking forward to your next adventure.

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  9. I LOVE seeing all of your blocks up there on the wall! Each one is delightful, but in a sampler quilt the sum is so much more than the individual blocks that make it up. I love my Kona sample card, too. And I'm with you -- I'd love to just order a bolt of every color so I would always have the perfect shade on hand.

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  10. Your blocks are stunning. They will make a gorgeous quilt. I now follow you on Bloglovin; I don't want to miss anything now. :-)

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  11. I love seeing your applique blocks. How strange that the wreath block pattern called for it to be off-center like that. To me, that looks like a MISTAKE -- I'm glad you centered yours. By the way, I'm so glad you reminded me about that Kona solids swatch chart. I had forgotten all about it until I read your post, but I just designed an all solid quilt for my son in EQ7 last night and now I'm going to dig that Kona swatch card out and use it to match all the colors in my quilt so I can order them online.

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  12. I enjoy watching this grow and seeing your lovely applique; always a wonderful inspiration!! :)

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  13. It is just mindblowing, such beautiful blocks. Greetings

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  14. I love seeing your progress on this each week. Truly inspirational!

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  15. Your blocks are beautiful and play so nice together. I too would like all the kona solida.

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  16. All of these blocks are gorgeous! I have enjoyed looking over your quilt and previous blog posts.

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  17. I like it as is on the design wall, with no sashing! It's already amazing!

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  18. You are truly amazing!!! Do you sleep? Honestly you are incredibly prolific. And your work is gorgeous with a great eye for color and design. You are my new Quilty hero.

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  19. Oh my god Pam, these blocks are amazing and tiny and so much work. I am daunted just looking at them. I like applique quilts but I know I could never make one. The mere thought causes my eye to twich nervously. =)The colour recipe is very yummy and I am looking forward to seeing more of this quilt.

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  20. OMG - I'm amazed at your productivity! These are gorgeous projects. Wow.

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  21. The little pot of flowers that you know you've seen somewhere but can't remember where is from an old Faye Anderson book called Appliqué Designs (My Mother Taught Me How to Sew)...pattern #29 on page 56.

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    1. Thank you Cynthia. When a designer looks at lots of different sources sometimes it is hard to remember who, what, when!. I have seen this book just recently so there is the answer. This Faye anderson Book is an older book published in 1990 and has wonderful applique designs. This book also uses 6 " squares. A good resource!

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