My June and July have been more than insane, in a good way - all part of my plan to have the best summer ever.

So I can’t work up a lot of guilt over not posting here much.

On the other hand, falling behind on my virtual quilting bee output does have me hanging my head in shame. Especially when, after thinking I had sent Cris’ blocks weeks and weeks ago, I just found them while cleaning the guestroom. What???

So while we’re on the subject, I might as well show you them.

I think a lot of folks doing the bee thing choose one or two dominant fabrics and then a bunch of accents, so Cris’ fabrics were a fun challenge, since they were pretty similar in value. I chose a chevron pattern because I wanted to show off big chunks of fabric in roughly equal amounts, but with a sense of movement. And made from a bunch of 3 7/8″ half-square triangles, it was no trouble at all to get this one together. Please, please, please, even if you are a beginning quilter and hoping to remain so, learn to make half-square triangles. They’re as easy as squares to cut and piece once you’ve practiced a bit, and they’ll expand your piecing repertoire many times over.

And this is a concept I fell in love with a few years ago when I saw a quilted bag in a Japense craft book made up of similar patches. The randomness makes for incredible ease of piecing, but the side borders really clean things up, visually. Also, I think with all the squares we’re used to seeing in patchwork, a bunch of rectangles becomes incredibly pleasing to the eye.

There. Blogged. Now, to get these, and others in the mail….

Everyone always talks about starting the day or week right, and I don’t get it. I’m lazy and crabby in the a.m., and I don’t even feel guilty about that! As long as it doesn’t leach into the rest of my day, of course.

Yesterday afternoon, I got Threads Together fabric from Debbie, and I literally gasped when I opened the package. I’m not a Kaffe Fassett n00b or anything, but it still sometimes takes my breath away when I see how incredible his fabrics are in person.

What’s a girl to do, but dive right in?

I started with a variation on the “Road to Oklahoma” block. It’s a variation because I didn’t have enough of the fan print for the little triangles, so I swapped in the orange that you see. I got the orange in a scrap pack a few years ago, but I think, coincidentally, it’s also Kaffe. I added a border because RTO is only an 8″ block, with purple posts because I thought the eye could use a tiny break. The purple is just four fourths of a charm square, Kona cotton, no idea what color. Debbie sent everything else - can you see why I was cutting into these within 30 minutes?

Also, Debbie lives in Oklahoma, which is why is was easy to choose the first block. These prints just struck me as so bright and wild, that I wanted to ensure a good sense of proportion and make traditional blocks. When I make traditional blocks, I tend to choose them for the names. Which is stupid, in some ways, but, with so many to choose from, a method really is helpful.

For the second block, I knew I wanted a GIANT EXPLOSION OF COLOR, so I went with a star. Specifically, I knew I wanted a star with a large center block to show off this amazing floral, so I went with Aunt Addie’s Album, which is one of the blocks from the star quilt-along:

I really like making this block. It comes together really easily, for all the triangles, and it’s so pretty for showing off a fabric you really love. I made it once before, but, for some reason, forgot to take a photo. Thankfully, that can be rectified with a crappy webcam pic!

So, yeah. Debbie’s quilt. It’s going to be amazing! I have only seen two blocks so far (a bunch of people probably don’t even have their fabric yet!) and I am already super jealous. “Kaffe” and “Fassett” are apparently the words I need to remember if I ever join another bee, or we do another round of TT next year.

Remember my fabric cutting debacle? And how it quickly morphed into an effort to put 25 blocks in my Threads Together quilt, instead of just 16?

Well, who better to come to my aid than quilting genius amanda jean?

Check out what she sent:

I just keep studying these over and over, because I think they’re an excellent lesson on getting good mileage (or is it footage? inchage?) out of fabric. Square inch for square inch, these blocks don’t really contain all that much of the fabric I sent.

And yet, the fabrics she added don’t take away anything from the overall character of the quilt I “designed.” (Scare quotes because, when you don’t make any of the blocks yourself, it seems like cheating to call yourself a designer. But then, the concept had to come from somewhere.) I love the fabrics she added, and the fact that none of them overshadows the ones I sent.

Best of all is perhaps that her clever framing of all the little doggies have finally given me a name for this quilt: Chien et Chaise! Which is, of course, French for “dog and chairs.”

It sounds better in French.

March was Betty Ninja’s month to send fabrics for the Threads Together Quilting Bee, which was exciting for me, because I haven’t made any quilting bee blocks yet!

She requested triangles a la this quilt, and, at the risk of being a bit witchy, I have to admit I did not feel like doing that. At first.

But one of the reasons I’ve never tired of quilting in almost 15 years is that, even with restrictions, there’s always room for creativity.

I was concerned about the amount of background fabric I had to spread over two blocks, so rather than paper piece, I decided to use fabric-conserving half-square triangles, and mix up the placement of the red for movement.

Block #2 was truly an effort in maximizing what little background fabric I had left. I added a bit of forest floor, a bit of night sky, and some gray fabric from my own scrap pile to attempt a 12″ block. I failed, but Betty’s got more gray at home, so I’d better let her deal with it.

Remember how I said I didn’t feel like making these blocks? Not only am I glad I powered through; I’m beginning to wonder if there’s a triangle quilt in my future.

Does somebody have time to drop by this afternoon and slap my wrist with a ruler?

And can you leave the ruler? Some leprechaun stole all of mine when I was busy making triangles….

To see more progress on Betty’s quilt, check out the Threads Together Group Photo Pool.

Apparently, news of the Doll Quilt Craze hasn’t reached my local Bargain Box, because not only was I able to score this cutie; I was able to score it for $2!!!

It’s even reversible!

So, yeah, major score, and inspiration, too - I’ve been meaning to make quilts for my Blythes, but wasn’t sure where to start with dimension and color. This just so happens to be the perfect size to keep Pres. Roslin warm in sick bay. (Yes, I know her eyes are the wrong color. I’m working on that.)

Speaking of BSG, I got some good press this week, which thrilled me to no end. Not because it’s such a huge deal in and of itself, but because there are so many blogs/websites/publications that are for crafters, by crafters, about crafters that getting attention from a totally unrelated site - specifically, sci-fi-geek-unrelated - was a huge, huge treat.

And, finally, since we’re just about to hit the end of February, I want to point out some serious quilty goodness from the Threads Together flickr group. I honestly can’t believe I own these blocks!

Which leads me back to the best quilting advice I’ve stumbled upon - USE the fabrics you love the most! I hung on to these for a couple of years, terrified of cutting into them. Finally, I left the job to some people who weren’t quite as emotionally attached and, voila! Seriously, having this quilt is going to be so much nicer than having all this yardage stacked up in my studio. Something to remember for the future!