Week 42 H is for Hospital

This should have been an easy block to construct but something happened to my accuracy. After a while I decided to leave it a bit wonky since the hospitals then could also perhaps be described the same way.

For the second week in a row we had a block that needed colors used in a certain way to accurately carry through the idea. In the case of H is for Hospital the background was meant to be yellow and the H was meant to be green as a representation of the "flag" used to denote a hospital. Neither of those colors are in my palette for this project so I had to go with what I did.

And about the fabrics I did use; obviously I had to use my one theme pale grey fabric as my rule is that it must be in every block. I had been waiting and waiting to use the blue bandana fabric that Cheryl had found and given to me weeks and weeks ago. Today, I decided it made a good contrast with the pale grey and the paisley in the blue fabric mimicked the paisley in my theme fabric.

Both armies had to have hospitals so it was fine to combine grey and blue in the one block.

And the scary thought for today? This is week 42 - that means we are only ten weeks away from the end of the year. Can you believe it?!

Week 41 Red, White and Blue quilt

This one was going to be a challenge no matter which way I looked at it. Since my preset color scheme is grey and blue there is no way I could make a block with red, white and blue in it.

Having regard for that issue I decided that there was no point in making myself crazy and using the instructions which called for not only cutting templates but also precise piecing and a dreaded center point where every difficult seam had to meet exactly. So I went with an alternate and paper(foundation) pieced the block. You'll note that I chose to use a blue fabric patterned with a five pointed star.

The end result is that I have a completed block.

Week 40 Order Number Eleven

When this block was posted last Saturday I knew I needed to do it using a turned under, hand done applique method. And the reason for that is I had just done a class with Karen Kay Buckley who specializes in such a technique. I just did not plan to have so little time to work on it.

But here it is, done at last.

This block was one that I had on my long term "to do" list although I had previously not had a pattern for it. So I was quite pleased when it showed up as the block last week.

I enjoyed the story that Barbara Brackman posted with this block.

Week 39 Hovering Hawks

I'm not entirely sure if I see the hovering hawks in this block but just in case I gave them (it?) feathery fabric for what I think might be the wings altho looking at the BB posting maybe those are the tail feathers. And I chose one background fabric to look like the hawks are flying over a patchwork of fields scouting out where to swoop down on for the best finds.

Since this week's block was listed as being a symbolic pattern rather than a straight union or confederate pattern I decided to make a blue and grey block this week.

Week 38 Ohio Star

The Ohio Star block has always appealed to me. Although, since it is essentially a nine patch, I prefer to sew it when the math is compatible with a nine patch and this one is not. All the blocks in this project, as you may recall, are to be 8" finished.

Here it is. I could hear the dog pacing back and forth downstairs all the time I was working on this so I wanted to get it done so we could take him out for a walk. And when you are trying to hurry, well, that is when little things like a loose white thread that shows up in the photo will be an annoyance.

But the dog has been patient all this time so I guess one little white thread is a trifling thing to fret over.

Week 37 Confederate Rose

Behold, the Confederate Rose. You have heard of a grey hibiscus rose, right?!

Again, another challenge for me to keep within my color scheme as there is no rose in my palette. This project is proving to be a good challenge in many ways. For this week not only was there the question of how to get around the rose colorway suggested but also another of those patterns where there surely had to be an easier way than piecing those Y seams. I went for an approach that not only eliminated the Y seam but called for careful trimming down with the result that my block is exactly the prescribed 8" finished (8 1/2" currently) size.

And I decided to add in some fussy cutting just to make sure I had met the challenge.

Earlier this morning I was looking at a quilt magazine and saw something that reminded me to think about the setting options for this quilt. So I really must start writing some notes and sketch the ideas and put them in the box with the blocks to help with the decision making process. In an ideal way I would also make some mockups but who knows if that will happen?

And now I must go put my camera battery on the charger as it is not feeling very happy with the current battery level.

Week 36 Kentucky Crossroads

I'm going to have to look back through the pile but I have the feeling we have previously had a block similar to this. However, here we have the Kentucky Crossroads block (and for the second time I had to correct my typing as I had written crosswords - I don't know why as this was an easy block to sew).

I was originally thinking to fussy cut the fabric with Union printed on it for the center but then I realized I had to use my grey main fabric somewhere so I decided to look for a fabric with lines crossing for that square and ended up with the plaid there.

This week I have been working on a quilt and making 12" blocks. After I finished pressing this block just now I looked at it and thought gee, this block looks too small. But no, it is the usual 8" finished size.