New York Beauty Design

Yes, the New York Beauty blocks are finished! Forty blocks ready to become a beautiful quilt. A beautiful quilt for my husband. I've never made a quilt for him. I don't know how I managed to sew and quilt my entire adult life without making one for him. I suppose I was waiting for just the right one, and this one is definitely right for him. He's a big fan of Mariner's Compass quilts and New York Beauty has many similar characteristics...the sharp points, the circular patterns, and the bright colors.

Now I need to choose a layout. He designed this layout:

We decided to go with a square layout which means there will be four leftover blocks. They will likely become a throw pillow. My design wall wasn't quite big enough to hold everything so the top row is a little floppy and the bottom row is mostly on the floor, but it's good enough to get the idea.

Here's another choice:

 

For this layout, I experimented with keeping like patterns together. The four center blocks are all the same, and each of the three corner blocks around that match each other.

And here's one more choice:

With this layout, I tried to pay more attention to the placement of lights and darks, but I don't think you can really see that once they are all together.

So, what do you think? It's sort of like going to the eye doctor...better one or two? And I say something like, "I'm not sure. Can I see that again? One is pretty good, but two isn't so bad either." Eventually, he forces me to choose something, and then we have to do it again. Better two or three? Gosh, this is hard. There are things I like about each layout and I'm sure I could play around with this and come up with about a dozen more.

I know which one I like the best right now, but I'm gonna sleep on it and see if it stays the same when I take a fresh look tomorrow. I'd love to know which one you like the best.

Catching Up

Wow, long time no post. So happy to be here today. The working world grabbed hold of me and wouldn't let go for a while which left little time for sewing. I'm not complaining. I love my job and am thankful to have it, but that does mean going with the give and take that comes with it. It's not possible to go totally cold turkey with the sewing though so there have been a few things going on.

Can you guess what this is? I made it because the days are getting cooler. It uses the same techniques as those used for making fabric bowls. There is fleece on the inside and Peltex II in the middle to make it  nice and sturdy. If you haven't figured it out, I'll show you at the end of this post.

I've been doing a bit of purging lately. Our quilt guild is having a fund raising quilting/sewing/crafting yard sale in a few weeks to help one of our fellow guild members who has mounting medical expenses from a sick adult daughter. I decided it's time to let go of some of the supplies that I know I'll never use. It feels so good to be passing them along to someone who will enjoy them.

The Crafty Block of the Month is featuring paper piecing this month. I've always wanted to make a block like this. I love flying geese on a curve. This is one of two paper pieced blocks in the project. I've selected fabric for the last one and plan to finish it up this weekend.

I pulled out the fall decorations a few days ago. These placemats are from a free pattern that came with the fabric collection. They were super easy to make and still need a bit more quilting added so they will hold up in the wash.

The back of these placemats are a fun pumpkin print. I am certain we'll enjoy both sides of these this season.

 

I'm still plugging away at my New York Beauty project. Only a few more blocks to go.

And the project shown at the top of the post is...

...a critter bed. Gotta make sure they have a warm place to sleep.

Hope you all are enjoying the cooler weather, and the sewing and quilting inspiration that a new season brings.