Last One for Awhile...

My last block for the Freedom Swap!  Well, technically I have one more to do, but the fabric hasn't even arrived yet, so I feel like I'm off the hook for that one for now.  I mailed 15 happy little blocks off to various parts of the world yesterday afternoon.  Now I get to sit back, relax, and wait for my blocks to find their way home to me!!

Nearing the Finish Line!

I love the block pattern above - it's called "Flying Over Fields," and I think Ryan Walsh designed it.  I think I'm going to do it again on one of my last fabric bundles.

This is a shoo-fly block.  I thought these graphic prints kind of spoke for themselves, so I wanted to try something simple to showcase them.

14 down, 2 to go!  Although I'm still waiting for the 16th bundle to arrive from Australia... so really only one more that I can do right now!

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

This is my latest block for the Freedom Block Swap.  These fabrics just felt like a rainy spring day to me, so I did a log cabin design and embroidered a little umbrella in the middle.  I just love quilt blocks that have a little bit of embroidery in them!  I'm not thrilled with the puckering, but I know that after the block is quilted and washed they won't be noticeable.  10 down, 6 left to go by March 15!

Pinwheel and Zig-Zag

Today I'm home sick in bed, so I thought it would be a good day to post a couple more pictures of quilt blocks I finished last weekend.  Both new types of blocks for me - a pinwheel and a zig-zag block!

I still think that the string block and the wonky log cabin were the most fun to make, but I like how these turned out too.  The person who sent the pinwheel fabric only sent these two fabrics.  You know how I love color, so I was a little apprehensive about creating something in just a color plus black, but I like the graphic effect this block has!

More Swap Blocks

It's been a really productive weekend so far... I caught up on my grading last night, caught up on my quilt swap today, and plan to catch up on National Boards tomorrow!  Let's hope I can keep the momentum going.

I'm trying to make the swap blocks as I receive fabric packets, under the theory that this will help me not procrastinate until March!

Today I made my first string blocks, using paper piecing.  They were so fun!  I used this great tutorial over at P.S. I Quilt.  I've always been a little intimidated by paper piecing, but it was really simple, and it created much neater quilt blocks.

The fun thing about doing this swap is playing with fabric I'd never choose on my own, like these batiks:

I honestly think that the batik section is probably the ONLY part of Pacific Fabrics that I don't know backwards and forwards.  Nothing against batik - I just had a somewhat hippie childhood and it's given me an aversion to all things tie-died.  :)  I liked this color combo though - very tropical.

This block is going into a Halloween-themed quilt.  It's hard to tell with the fabrics so broken up, but there are a few fabrics here from Moda's Haunted Mansion line.  That green print is my favorite - it looks like creepy wallpaper (with dangling spiders!) and reminds me so much of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.

I'll post the other blocks I did today soon...

Freedom Swap Block #1

Okay, I am such a dork.  The Freedom Block Swap I joined didn't even officially begin until today, but I happened to get my first fabric bundle in the mail yesterday, and I simply couldn't wait to start sewing!  One of my swap buddies from Las Vegas sent these adorable Dr. Seuss fabrics.  She has twin boys and is hoping to put together a Seusstastic quilt for their bedroom.  By 10:30 last night I'd finished this wonky log cabin block. 

One block down, 15 to go by mid-March!

Freedom Block Swap

So far this year, there's only one thing written on my calendar...

I joined the Freedom Block Swap on Flickr!!  I'm so excited.  Darci from Stitches and Scissors was my inspiration - she's a part of so many different types of swaps!  The idea behind a swap is that crafters can join a group and make lots of little goodies for each other.  In a quilt swap, each person chooses her own fabrics, then mails little fabric bundles out to all the other members:

In turn, I'll receive bundles from everyone else.  So I mailed out 16 bundles:

And in the next week or so I'll receive 16 bundles from other members.  I have until March 15 to turn each bundle into a fabulous quilt block and mail it back to the original sender.  By March 15 I'll have all 16 of my bundles back, sewn into 16 unique quilt blocks.  Each block will have a different design, but the common thread will be the fabric I chose, so they'll go together into a new quilt! In some swaps, you get to tell everyone what kind of block to make with your fabrics.  The reason this is called the Freedom swap is that you pick the fabric, but then the design is a surprise.  Go check out the Flickr pool if you want to see pics from previous rounds of this swap!