September brings out the Lion, too late to be a Leo

I tested this block for Kristy at Quiet Play when she was getting ready for her Zoo Animal series. So it was done a long time ago. He was a challenge because of the set up for his mane. I was trying for different colours. I got it more or less right. All short comings would be mine not the designers.
Other than that I have been working on samples for the store (Shoreline Quilts in Port Elgin), doing some testing for Fandom in Stitches and for Cora's Gypsy Queen Mystery. What I really need to do in the final third of the year is finish some of my tops. My 60+ year old Bernina has officially died or at least that is what the repair man said. He indicated the motor was the problem and that could not be replaced because of the age of the machine. That is the machine I did my machine quilting on so I have not come to terms with how I will deal with this problem.
Piecefully, Joanne

Zebra Love

This fantastic zebra is a test for Juliet of The Tartankiwi. I can't say enough about how I love her work. Her original is (here). I reversed the colourway and made a rainbow zebra with black and white in the background. I amazed myself with the number of zebra skin types of prints I had collected over the years just waiting to be used. The block is 20" square and paper pieced. I got it a little overcropped for this photo. I wish I were better at that aspect of things.
She is working on a 40" zebra. She has done several other animal blocks, I was fortunate enough to test one of her elephant blocks. She is currently running a Quilt-Along with bird outlines. There is a nominal cost for each pattern.
Other than that is has been a busy quilty week. We had the June meeting of the Scrapbag quilters on Wednesday and on Saturday I taught a beginner quilting class at Shoreline Quilts in Port Elgin (our local quilt shop).
I have decided it is time to take the upper hand with the chaos in my sewing room so there may be more organizing that sewing for the next little while. Piecefully, Joanne
Edited to add a link to Jeneen's Quilt Art Designs Friday Link party. quiltartdesigns.blogspot.com

A little leader and ender fun

The little blocks for this project were assembled leader and ender style. I was gifted with a bag of 1" strips of varying lengths. Corey Yoder (Little Miss Shabby) had a tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop using the 2 1/2" candy squares. So I rummaged through my 2 1/2" squares for all manner of pink ones and made these little blocks that were then assembled into a top. Current size is 18" by 21" but it needs to grow. If it doesn't then it will be a doll quilt for the Salvation Army toy drive next November.
Other than that I have been doing more testing. We have been assigned about half of the blocks for the next Quiltmaker's 100 blocks magazine and I have a couple of paper piecing projects I am testing. For me the only real downside to the testing is that for the most part you can't talk about it. A couple of the designers I test for are happy to have the pre-release buzz happening but most (90+percent) prefer total secrecy prior to the pattern release.
Have also been working on samples for the store (Shoreline Quilts Port Elgin, ON) and taught a bag class last week. So one way and another I am keeping busy. Piecefully, Joanne

Edited to add Linking up with Cynthia's  Oh Scrap! Linky party at Quilting is more fun than Housework here (Oh Scrap!)

Oh Scrap! for the end of March

At the last Sunset Quilters Quilt Guild meeting one of my "regulars" handed me a bag of scraps. Inside were all these lovely triangle pieces. Stop me from myself. I pulled them out and set them beside the machine to sew together as leaders and enders. She had just cut the pieces off  so they were not all uniform in size nor did they have a smooth cut edge. I had been sewing some 1 1/2" squares together and making them into little four patchs to set in the middle square of a square in a square block and the light bulb went on. If I made little pinwheel blocks, squared them up to 2 1/2" then  I could do the same thing. So the sequence above shows the few remaining triangle pieces, a few HST's, One pinwheel block that has been squared to 2 1/2" and then a contrast set of triangles to make a final square in a square block. I will admit I did have the nerve to ask her if she had any strips left that I might be able to use for the outer triangles. I needed 2 2 1/2" squares for each block. She had a couple and I rummaged through my stash. I think I will end up with a nice little quilt out of this exercise.
I taught another class for the new quilt shop this week and took in a sample quilt for another class that will be happening in April. Probably just a little busier than I really need to be these days. Piecefully, Joanne
Linking up with Cynthia at quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com  on Oh Scrap! Sunday afternoon

Using Scrappy Strips

This is a sample of Strip Cocoon I made as a possible class sample. It is Gudrun Erla's pattern called Strip Cocoon. You can use strips or fat quarters. Around here Jelly Rolls are mighty expensive so I dug into my fat quarter stash for some I thought would go together reasonably well and this is what I can up with. You have to then cut the fat quarters into 2 1/2" strips before doing the necessary subcuts. The only tricky part of this pattern is that it calls for partial seams but it is well illustrated and went together nicely. Now we will have to wait and see if anyone would like this as a class.
Piecefully, Joanne
Linking with Cynthia (http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com) at Oh Scrap!

My Grandpa always said......

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So I hope that Sharon over at Vrooman's Quilts (here) doesn't mind if I imitate her and start a new Leaders and Enders project. I had a small bin of 1 1/2" squares and was really wondering what in the world I would do with them. I can use up the 1 1/2" by 2 1/2" pieces nicely but wasn't so sure about these smaller squares. What Sharon has done is make a four patch and then slice two 2 1/2" squares and put the triangles that are formed around the outside edge to make a square in a square idea. So I have started making little four patches.

The photo below is a downsized Strip Cocoon block. Gudrun Erla of gequiltdesigns has written a book where she takes 6 of her patterns that were designed for 2 1/2" strips and downsized the patterns to make them with 1 1/2" strips. Each of the 6 designs has three different sizes. She is working on a new book Stripology II I am guessing the title will be where she is planning to do the same thing with some other patterns. I am currently making a store sample of Strip Cocoon with the 2 1/2" strips and thought I would give a try at the downsized block. Quite easy actually. this particular block makes use of the partial seam. Otherwise it is a very straight forward easy to assemble block.

Piecefully, Joanne