52 Alturas Blocks

Up to 52 blocks now. In six months.

It doesn't seem like six months. But I know that I started these while the girls were out of school for Christmas break. And I took them with me to Mexico in early January. And here it is summer vacation.

Not once have I been bored with these. I may not touch a block for weeks, but there are always a few ready to go when the mood hits. And then I might make three in a weekend. Or two at night while I watch the Tour de France.

I said at

the very beginning

that I was only committed to making 9. Then I said that I would go until I was bored. Now I think I might go until I make 72. With a border  - yes, I am actually planning a border - that will give me a finished quilt of 60'' by 75''. At least that is how it is coming together in my head.

Of course, I have to say thank you to everyone who sent me squares and scraps of fabric

when I asked for help

. Every time I go to prep another set of blocks I have so much to choose from. It has definitely helped in expanding the range of fabrics in the blocks. All the appliqué pieces will be unique, but the backgrounds to have a bit of repeats. 

So, thank-you to:

Carolyn Forster

Erin Harris

Barb Robson

Anna Passafiume

Penny Gold

Latifah Saafir

Katrina Hertzer

Liz Zok

If I missed someone, I'm sorry! Some of the envelopes may have been recycled by eager little girls after the mail was opened.

Another Alturas Update and a Request

26 Alturas blocks!

And I just can't stop making these. I now prep them in groups of five. Some weeks all five get done, some times I go weeks before I get any done. Either way is fine by me. Quite a bit of progress from those first nine!

Last week I decided to throw some yellow into the mix. I felt like the blocks needed a bit of pop. I wasn't sure at first, but now I really like it. In truth, it now reflects one of my favourite fabrics ever, Motif Madness from Tsuru by Rashida Coleman Hale for Cloud 9. Hmm, I wonder if I could get my hands on more for the backing?

I'm at the point now where I am almost out of the options I've got in my stash for blocks. I am trying to make no two blocks alike. Not a perfect charm quilt, as some backgrounds may get used more than once, but as close as I can get. So now I am putting out a call for help.

Would any of you be willing to send me pairings of fabric for a block? Just a 5 1/2'' square for the background and a 5'' square for the appliqué. You could pick any combo you like, so long as we stick with the colours I've chosen:

- coral (not pink, not orange)
- blue
- teal (not turquoise or aqua or mint)
- grey.

I've got enough yellows to tackle those blocks.

I'm not picky about modern vs traditional fabrics, loving them all. But I do know that batiks are no good for the needle turn appliqué that I am doing.

If you are keen on sharing a bit of your fabrics with me, let me know and I will send you my mailing address. I would appreciate it so much! So would this quilt. It wants more variety, it keeps telling me that.

Alturas Update

So, I may have mentioned my new addiction before. At the time I said I would make at least nine blocks. Well, I've made nine and I'm already on to the next round. Maybe seven more? Maybe seventy?

It's slow going project, there is no doubt about that. It takes me about an hour and a half to make a block, sometimes 2 hours. It depends on how many interruptions I get from small children asking for food or cuddles, or how engrossing the conversation or movie is on TV. At that rate it is going to take me a very long time to make this a big quilt.

Just like improv quilting, appliqué seems to be so much more about the process than the finished project. Of course it will be gorgeous when it is done. Right now, however, I am just enjoying the process, with no real goal in mind. One block at a time.

Alturas Applique

With all due credit to Carolyn Friedlander and Sarah Fielke I must admit to a new addition: hand appliqué. Okay, so it is only in the early stages, but boy do I like it.

Yes, I have a hand quilting project on the go. And a hand piecing project (which I'm really going to wrap up as soon as I can find the first chunk of sewing I did). But over the winter break neither of these were getting me all that excited. I was looking for something to keep me busy as I kept Hubby company at the end of the day while he watched endless episodes of Top Gear and Patrick Dempsy: Le Mans.

You know my aversion to patterns, but I didn't have the brain power to be creative in this instance. Besides, I had Carolyn's appliqué patterns and they are just so cool. So I decided to keep it simple and go with the block based pattern Alturas. Fuel to the addiction for sure.

That being said, I'm not sure I have it in me to make a full size quilt of hand appliquéd blocks. Right now I am committing to nine of them and then we'll see what happens.