Friday, December 05, 2008

Biggest worknight yet!

Last night we had so many people at our worknight that we spilled out from the classroom into the quilt shop! I was afraid I hadn't planned enough projects, but in fact we were all busy.
This fish quilt isn't finished, but I think it'll be great! Guild members took home the background squares and added whatever fish they wanted. Several people made appliques of fish cut from fabric, so those (and a few others -- note the embroided fish in the top row, second one from the left) are in this quilt. We have enough squares for 2 more complete quilts, and those will have a much bigger variety of fish types.
We also put together two tops made from blocks made at worknights or donated by guild members. They're full of child-friendly fabrics and could even be called I Spy quilts. If you look closely, you can see there's a solid red square around which 4 blocks are joined. I had hoped the identical color blocks would provide some unity to the design, but I don't think that worked. I also don't think a 3-yr-old will care!
This one has purple setting blocks.
Someone donated a lot of 30's reproduction prints, so we're cutting them into 2-1/2" strips to make a variety of quilts. The first two will be a blue and a pink rail fence. For both we'll have a common center stripe and the rest will be scrappy, although I haven't cut enough of the strip piece sets of the pink yet that you have any variety! We'll mix all the prints, including some greens and purples, in the other quilts. Haven't chosen a design for those yet, but 2-1/2" strips leave a lot of options. We can't make it too complicated if several people are working on it, because the blocks always end up very different sizes! That's the real downside of group quilts, although it can lead to surprisingly wonderful innovations in design!
And yet again, another scrappy string quilt. I got over-zealous one day and cut a zillion red center strips. I'm getting sick of those, so we'll move on to something different as soon as these are done. I won't cut so many of the same fabric next time.
My husband alerted me to the beautiful sunrise yesterday morning. I took a couple photos and was thinking of using them for inspiration. Mother Nature is pretty good at using her color palette.
I am enamoured of bare tree branches and took this one to see the color of sky behind this big tree. It's not my favorite photo, but it's a good look at the sky behind the branches.

20 comments:

Paula said...

Great quilts. Definitely child friendly. The fish quilt is adorable.

Twisted Quilts said...

very impressive. I love the second and third one. what a great idea. I love the way you centered the four blocks around the solid color. You could do so much with that idea.

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

I would have missed the red squares if you hadn't mentioned them. It is good that so many people are wanting to help.

jacquie said...

wow! lots accomplished and such great quilts. it's nice when hubby's remind us to check out the beauty right in front of us. gorgeous!

Rosalyn Manesse said...

I love the quilts. Beautiful scenery

em's scrapbag said...

A 3 year old would love those quilts. They are awesome. Beautiful sunrise.

Paula, the quilter said...

I love the fish quilt! Such a great job on ALL the quilts.

Paula, the quilter said...

I love the fish quilt! Such a great job on ALL the quilts.

Libby said...

Great projects! The fish are especially cool. I also love the sunrise pics; I've been taking a lot of tree branch pictures lately, as well.

laura west kong said...

Wow! All those quilts are simply wonderful! The sunrise pix are great too! I haven't been up with the sun for quite a long time.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Mother Nature is THE BEST for inspiration... there's something wonderfully evocative about bare branches and sunlight (no matter the season).

Great quilts ~ marvelous volunteers!!

Toni said...

I love how the fishes turned out!! What a positive turn out for your sewing night at the shop!!

I love your sunrise pictures, while I'm not a morning person, I love watching the sunrise more than it setting....definitely inspiring to me!

sewkalico said...

I love those quilts withe the red and purple setting squares! I think it's wonderful that you have such a good turnout to your worknights! Well done!

ps that salty chocolate is so good, it should be banned!

Cathi said...

What great quilts! I love that last picture of the sky and bare branches!!

Vicki W said...

The photos are beautiful! Your group is makeing some great quilts. I love the I Spy quilts. I didn't even catch the setting squares and that's OK. They are great quilts!

Colleen formerly of South Africa said...

Love the quilts you all are working on. iTS nice that you had so many people for a work day at this time of year. I really liked the tree photos too ....the sky looked great.

Helen in the UK said...

Wonderful, bright, kid-friendly quilts!! Looks like the worknight was a huge success :)

Clare said...

Mother Nature does indeed provide a whole lot of inspiration.

I love the idea of the red blocks.

YankeeQuilter said...

Those are some really fun quilts. The kids will love them! I personally like how the red pulls together the string quilt blocks...

meggie said...

Great quilts for kids! Lovely photos of the bare trees, & the sky colours too.