Block Fails, Winners, and Slightly X-Rated FMQ

It's back to business this week, and of course by back to business I mean "Coming up with some great new block and design ideas, and then trying to recreate them in fabric and creating epic fails." Some days I'm a victim of my own unbridled creativity.

But first, allow me to congratulate my two winners in the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks Giveaway: Loriann F. who hails from UT and won via my extra Facebook giveaway, and Bonnie H. of Mint Hill, NC. I did not choose Bonnie entirely because she lived in a town that makes me want to bake cookies, mainly because I didn't even know it at the time of her choosing, but when you combine her town and her street address I am pretty sure she has the most colorful and catchy address of all time. Of course I will not be revealing it (no worries, Bonnie) but it was a delightful little extra in my day. Congratulations to both of you, and make sure you show me what you create from all that inspiration!

And now back to Block Fails of the Week.

The first does not yet have a photo, as I am too in love with the concept to share just yet, but allow me to help you draw a picture in your mind. I created a pieced and appliqued block in EQ last week, and immediately about passed out with joy and wonder and, as I mentioned on my Facebook page, literally could not stand myself for its cuteness.

Ego: healthy and obnoxious.

I may not show you the block or concept yet, but I will show you some of the fabrics I bought on Sunday to use with it. Perhaps that will appease you. Perhaps not. If not, pretend like they do.

Who can't love various smatterings of polka dot fun?

Anyway, when I went to piece the pieced part of the block, it turns out that I drew the most ridiculously difficult to piece block ever in the history of EQ.

Yay me.

I love it so, however, that I am bound and determined to make it all work. There may be more applique than originally planned. There may be more fabrics than originally planned. I can 100% guarantee you that there will be more swearing than originally planned. But I also guarantee I will love it in the end, and that is worth all the fun.

Moving on to today's piecing fun. On Thursday of this week I will be running my "Round Robin in a Day" workshop for myself and a few friends who have agreed to humor me in participating in a dumbed-down version of the workshop during our guild Open Sew, because I really need a new sample for myself.

For part of my 8 1/2" center square we have to complete before the workshop, I decided to combine some crazy piecing, faced curves, and half square triangles on a 4 1/2" finished block. That was like three too many different things going on, and I gave up on it after I got halfway done, deciding to try again tomorrow. I believe the key will be making it larger. These pieces were just far too small and hard to work with.

Plus I missed a seam entirely. Sigh.

Again, though, I'm kind of digging the concept of this block. It's just the execution that is proving to be an apt word choice on so many levels.

Actual progress in the form of getting the quilt finished that Greta and I have decided will be our donation toward the raffle items for Breakfast with Santa at her school this year has made this week bearable, though not without its horror-stricken moments.

Yay for orphan blocks and quilting machines that are making quick work of this quilt!

Many of you know that my daughters are kind of known for their accidental renderings of male genitalia in drawings, art projects, geography projects, etc. It would be horrifying if it weren't so innocent. I give you Exhibit A:

Paige's giraffes from Kindergarten have a special place in my studio as they are awesome.

 I give you Exhibit B:

Eva sure knows how to thank our Veterans.

 And I give you Exhibit C

I am convinced the teacher spends hours trying to decide to whom to assign the "peninsula" landform for the geography project each year, hoping that this year the assignee will turn in something no more ribald than PG-13. Unfortunately, I think we can all agree that last year, she failed. That's Door County, WI, for those unfamiliar with the peninsula Paige chose to render in clay.

It isn't a skill to be proud of, and I am not suggesting we are, but hey, we might as well get a laugh out of it, right?

Anyway, given my familial tendencies toward X-ratedness, I worry about my FMQ perhaps more than most. I think it is fairly common to inadvertently quilt in some questionable shapes when stippling, but I do try to be cautious and not do so on a regular basis. However I'm kind of concerned about my quilting on this quilt. Too late, though. I'm not taking it out. But do you think it might be a little risque?

I'm hoping it is just my fear that my family's reputation for questionable art might cause a teacher or another parent to see these "waves" as "immoral." Here's hoping it's just me.

And here's hoping for some breakthroughs in those fail blocks!