One Block Wonder

The additional material arrived so I've been working on my One Block Wonder - with a twist. The material is very beachy (Tropical Vacation) so it will go on the guest bed in Ocala. At least that's the plan - always subject to change.

One Block Wonder

While waiting not-so-patiently for special fabric to arrive from Japan, I decided to begin another One Block Wonder. This is my go-to pattern. It's fun - with every block coming out differently - yet very calming and extremely easy to do. I love the kaleidoscope designs and find myself evaluating every fabric I see for it's kaleidoscopic potential. This happy fabric is one I got in Florida.

The colors are my favorite, the design is happy and my sister Beth told me the postcard outlines would make interesting designs. I purchased 7 repeats. A repeat is the distance from the starting point to where the fabric's pattern starts all over again. A One Block Wonder takes 6 repeats - but I always get at least one extra repeat to show what the fabric looked like before I cut it up. I usually put this piece on the back - or in the border. Some kaleidoscope patterns use up to 8 repeats.

The first thing I do is cut apart the 7 repeats. I set aside the 7th and stack the other 6 on top of each other so the design is exactly the same on all six pieces. To make sure they are exactly lined up, I stick pins through all 6 layers at exactly the same point in the design. This one was easy as I picked corners on the postcard images. I put pins about six inches apart all over the panels. The book then calls for 3 3/4 inch strips to be cut through all six layers - but the strips can be any width from 3 to 4 inches (what ever works for the width of the repeat.) Pictured are 3 sets of 3 3/4-inch by LOF strips - each with six layers of fabric. Now I cut 60-degree triangles out of each strip and pin each triangle set together with the pin going with the grain of the fabric. Each triangle in the set looks exactly the same as the other 5.

Three of the triangles are sewn together - then the other three are sewn together the same way. The two halves of the hexagon are pinned together - not sewn yet - and put up on the design wall.

Here is what I have so far. Every hexagon is different but soon color and texture groups begin to emerge.

Finally, my wait paid off and my fabric arrived. It's "Super Mario" fabric direct from the supplier in Japan. It's the most I've ever spent for fabric - but it's for a quilt for one of my newest grandsons and my son assures me I will be grandmother-of-the-year with a Super Mario quilt.

So now I'm setting my One Block Wonder aside to work on Super Mario. I think I'll do fussy-cut stars and nine-patch blocks with coordinating fabric. So I'm off to the quilt shop...

Spring has Sprung!

It's Spring in Ocala and the birds are getting more and more colorful and we are seeing more pairs. Last week was Spring Break and we had visitors from Colorado, Bill's daughter and her family, and naturally, we took them birding!

We didn't have to go very far to see this beautiful Bluebird...

..or this pair of Goldfinches. The American Goldfinches are sporting their vivid yellow colors and are showing up in huge flocks - eating us out of house and home - getting ready to head north.

Our Sherman Fox Squirrels are still showing up every day. We have as many as three at a time.

The Cedar Waxwings came by in huge numbers - but boy they are hard to photograph!!

We took the family to Rainbow Springs State Park and Bill and I walked around while the kids kayaked. We saw tons of Cardinals.

 It's always an especially good day when we see a Pileated Woodpecker!

I don't usually bother with the Grey Squirrels - but this little guy was just so cute!

This was the day of the Carolina Wrens - they were everywhere singing their little hearts out!

We wanted the kids to see Alligators - up close and personal - so we spent a day at Paines Prairie. Even this Boat-tailed Grackle is showing beautiful colors!

All of the usual herons, egrets and ibis were there - including this Snowy Egret. You can see that he is growing his breeding feathers.

Ms. Cardinal with a dirty beak. She's been playing in the mud.

The kids saw lots and lots of huge alligators - and this baby one.

This might be my best picture of a Palm Warbler.

I finished the quilt with the vegetable theme. I named it "Eat Your Veggies." It is a gift for an avid gardener.

The house is quiet now that our company is gone, but we had a great visit. The grandchildren were a delight. We will see them again in less than a month when we return to Colorado for the summer.

One Block Wonder

I finished another One Block Wonder quilt top. I just love this technique! You never know what you'll get. I usually go through several love-hate periods while working on one. This time I really hated it when I finished the blocks but adding the multiple borders made a huge difference. I'm now pleased with the end result - but it still is not my favorite. That's probably because it isn't blue.

There is a lot happening in our backyard!

Early this morning I looked out the back window and saw two coyotes walking quite near the house. Naturally, I ran for my camera!

They did not seem one bit fazed by my presence and just slowly walked over to the woods and disappeared.

Both animals looked to be healthy with a full, glossy coat of fur.

One last look back at the maintenance crew that stopped to watch.

Our friendly Fox Squirrel has been by almost everyday.

He very carefully checks the yard before crossing to the feeders. Since the Bobcat has been around - we haven't seen a grey squirrel.

Today our contractor added the birdcage over our patio and outdoor kitchen.

The birdcage connects to the new Florida room. Next week, the windows and doors will be installed.

This is the One-block Wonder I just completed. I just love this technique!

This is the back of the quilt showing the original fabric.

Once the new room is complete, I hope to move my sewing so everything will be in one room - but I heard Bill and the builder talking about support beams to hang airplanes. We might have to talk...

One Block Wonder

Another finished quilt top! This one was really fun and unlike other One Block Wonders I've done. These are MY colors!

New One-Block Wonder

I just started a new quilt top - another One-Block Wonder. This one is quite different than ones I've done before - the design is much more subtle.

The hexagon blocks are added to the design wall as they are made. The yellow dots are the pins holding the two halves together. I already see changes that I want to make.

This is the original fabric - not one you would normally consider for a One-Block Wonder. I have the same fabric in a darker color and may incorporate darker blocks in the final top - we'll see.

Our days here in Ocala are numbered. In April, we're spending a couple of weeks in Fort Myers and my sister, Beth, is joining us for seven wonderful adventure-filled days! I miss the birding further south (and my sister) - so this will be a real treat. My goal is to find and photograph a Mangrove Cuckoo. Check out the March 13 entry on STOKES BIRDING BLOG (http://stokesbirdingblog.blogspot.com/) for a look at my prize.

At the end of April, we'll be heading north to Colorado Springs.

Asian Inspired One-Block Wonder

I love One-Block Wonders! This is the pattern where you line up six identical layers of fabric and cut triangles through all six layers. The triangles are then joined and the result is lots of kaleidoscopic blocks.

This fabric started out as a piece of beautiful Asian fabric - rich colors on a black background. I'm pleased with the results!

Whack n Wonder - aka - "Another Opportunity for Creativity"

The Quilt from Hell

I really do love quilting - but some are more fun than others. Last year I worked on a pattern that had a major mistake - leaving me short of material for the setting triangles. I was angry but my wise sister told me that quilters see these circumstances as "opportunities for creativity." My latest quilt has been such an opportunity right from the beginning!

My opportunity began I signed up for a class at my local quilt shop with 3 of my friends. A couple of weeks before the class was to begin we all headed to our very favorite shop in Trenton, FL to buy fabric. We had our supply lists in hand. Right away we should have suspected something was wrong because the list called for A LOT of material - 13 1/2 yards, not counting the backing, for a single-sized quilt! To make matters worse, my material had a smaller repeat - so I doubled the amount of the main fabric. The larger star blocks have a border and we were told to get a stripe - so I did. All my fabrics looked beautiful together in the pile and I couldn't wait for the class to begin!

Our pre-class instructions included making two plastic templates from the diagram in the book (one diamond and one triangle)and cutting "B" and "D" triangles. Since I had a triangle ruler, I used it to pre-cut the triangles instead of using the template. This turned out to be a good move on my part as the diagram was incorrect.

In class, we proceeded to cut strips for the diamonds - lots of strips and lots of diamonds. When I started asking questions about the diamonds - we were told to cut 66 "sets." At that point, I counted the 11 star blocks on the sample and asked why we needed so many since there are only 11 blocks with 11 sets of diamonds. My teacher looked dumbfounded - deer in the headlights dumbfounded. Long story short, she had totally miscalculated and now I had way too many cut strips - and not enough material to cut the larger strips for the "one-block wonder" diamonds. Good thing I had extra material - except she had miscalculated these triangles also and, again, I didn't need as many strips as she called for. Same with the stripped border.


Once I started putting the blocks together - I realized the stripped border was way too strong for the quilt. It jumped out and you missed the neat kaleidoscope stars and circles. Let me put it this way - if you laid a baby on the quilt, the poor child would throw up. An adult would have an instant migraine. Good thing I had all those extra strips!! I used them for borders. Now I had extra blocks - so I added two rows to the quilt making it wider than it is long. To correct this, I added an extra border to the top and bottom (yep, using even more of the extra strips). Now it's square. Using the main fabric for the borders instantly settled it down - maybe too much. I don't like that I used the same fabric both places but at least I didn't waste it.

This quilt is a long way from being my favorite - but it's OK. The fabrics that looked so beautiful in the pile did not go together any where near as well as I thought they would. Even though the yellow was the exact yellow in the main fabric - it is too bright for the purple stripe. I should have stuck to one color instead of using both the yellow and green. I still have blue that I haven't even used. I don't think I'll put another border on it - and I'm not sure I have enough backing fabric. I'll probably use the stripe cut on the bias for the binding - but we'll see.

I welcome suggestions and discussion. Oh, by the way, our teacher? The poor dear was taking pain medicine that was way too strong - and she literally couldn't think straight. She felt terrible when she realized her mistake - but I told her it was just another opportunity for creativity!