Running Warm and Cool

Some of you may remember seeing my finished top from the Warm / Cool Quilt Along hosted by Jeni at In Color Order during 2011.

Well, it's taken me a while, but I finally threw together a backing and picked up some batting, and hope to get this puppy quilted in the next couple of weeks. I'd been looking for an excuse to buy something from Malka Dubrawksy's "A Stitch in Color" fabric line, and here was the perfect piece and the perfect use, as far as I could tell.

I also returned to my all-batik version from the same QAL. I needed some completely mindless work on Thursday (it was just one of those days), and I had the first 6 rows of HSTs arranged and stacked in order, so it was just a matter of chain piecing.

Which leaves me with about 2/3s of the quilt top to put together... including figuring out layout from this point down. Thankfully I've already sewn all of the HSTs, so I can go straight to the fun part!

Hope everyone's having a splendid weekend! Portland is swimming in sunlight this weekend, and I'm looking forward to joining a friend for a bike ride and margaritas later on! But first, the back yard is in desperate need of some mower action. And off I go.

Warm Cool QAL stages 2-3

It took me a little while, but I have finally gotten around to cutting all the squares out (I hope) for my all-batik version of this quilt along.


I've started piecing those into half square triangles, but the real progress is with the original grouping of printed fabrics. I got my HSTs pieced, pressed (though not trimmed) and up on the design wall.


I had put this up as a consideration for the layout, but after all of the lovely comments people have been leaving on Flickr, I'm thinking this is how the quilt should be (though perhaps I'll build it out a little bit to fill the diamonds on the right side and bottom). Thank you, Jeni, for hosting this quilt along!

Warm Cool QAL stage 1b

Over the weekend I played around with my fabric stacks, pulled some new things off my shelves and pulled other pieces away from the stacks, until I had an even 25 "warm" fabrics and 25 "cool" fabrics, intending to work on the baby sized project. In that process, I made the decision to try my hand at 2 simultaneous projects for Jeni's warm cool quilt along, found at her blog, In Color Order. After cutting my 5" squares of the first grouping:



I started in on group #2 - all batiks, aiming for the twin sized version. It's been a long, long time since I have worked on a project using ONLY batiks, but I knew this day would come again! I started cutting down the warm batiks,


though it took longer than I planned due to one heck of a cramp in my right hand (I am not sure whether it was using the weed-whacker or spending an afternoon tearing tickets at the museum, or some combination thereof) that kept me away from my rotary cutter all of Saturday. So the cools have yet to be cut into the appropriately sized squares...



But I aam enjoying just gazing at it all. And so excited about moving forward on this!

Warm Cool QAL stage 1 - fabric selection

I was so eager to get in on the action of Jeni's warm cool quilt along that it's about the only thing I've attended to in my home since arriving back last night. This morning, after my shower and while enjoying my coffee before heading in to work, I went down into my basement and started pulling, pulling, pulling. So far, this is what I have:


Though I KNOW I have more than enough perfectly good options already in my stash, I've already picked up a few pieces while at work to round out what I see as holes in those stacks. In the coming day or two I'll be revisiting my selections, and fine-tuning the group before marching on - but I am definitely looking forward to marching on with this!

Gonna try a Quilt-along

As I was browsing recent blog updates (something I am admittedly not as good about as I could be), I came across Jeni's new Quilt-Along, The Warm Cool Quilt along and am definitely intrigued! I've never done one before, but this one seems to be not only fun and informative, but not so complex that I feel I wouldn't keep up. PLUS, my timing worked out so I am finding it only days after she initially posted, which says to me it was meant to be.

I've been visiting with my folks the last few days, but when I am back on my home turf and have my stash to play with I'll be jumping right in!