north pole sal - elves recreation center

Well, it is that time again. It is the last Wednesday of the month - time to show my latest block for Val Spiers - Welcome to the North Pole Sew-A-Long. I am very pleased with my new block. Some things that helped me were:

1. Staying within a color wheel segment and not jumping around.
2. Using the same ideas from my initial block such as the snow, the dark roofs, background and gray windows.
3. Initial pre-planning this block when I finished the first block.
4. Fixing my due date and sticking to it.

Okay, you can see that some of the fabrics I didn't use, but I had to try out three different doors until I got the one I liked the best.

I managed to crank this block out in a relatively short period of time. I am so proud of myself! ;-) I didn't dilly-dally like I usually do - contemplating if I should use this fabric or that one - just the door. And the gray looks better now that I have two blocks finished. Thank you, Katrin. I should trust my first instinct and not second guess.

If you haven't joined up to this SAL, and you have the book, it would be awesome if you could join us. I am not much of a hand appliquéist but you don't have to hand appliqué it. The machine works just as well! I am leaving my options open for the moment.

This is turning out to be such a great experience. And look, you can make a wall hanging with bright and cheery colors that you can hang up all year long! How great is that?

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welcome to the north pole sew-a-long

This year,  I am psyched up about having joined several sew-a-longs and block-of-the-month online programs. I have stayed on top of things so far, but it is still just February. I wonder if I have the staying power to complete all of them? Hmm.. I am certainly going to try. It will probably get a little more difficult in the warmer months when I don't want a warm quilt on my ready warm lap or want to spend more time outdoors than in. Maybe I will just have to take the sewing machine outside when it gets warmer!

Welcome to the North Pole with Val Spiers has become a revived SAL with several new participants - I being one of them. I really didn't know what I was getting into when I joined this program; I thought it was be easy cheesy. Boy, was I wrong! I spent all morning trying to get my fabrics right on the first block - Mr. and Mrs. Claus' House. I really loved the green fabric for the main house, and cut a smaller entrance way in green as well, but it didn't stand out the way I wanted it too. I returned back to the blue and added the blue shutters. The chimney was also an afterthought or change of fabric; it was first in browns. I might change the front door to brown?!

I am not going to appliqué until I have a few more blocks finished. I want to see more of a collection of blocks before I make an impromptu decision and change things later.

With the snow on the bottom, I went with the idea of cutting three inch wide strips, folding in half and sewing along the edge of the block. I made some ripples and sewed very close to the edge below the house and hill. I like the 3-D appearance of snow and drifts. I could add more stitching to the snow later. We'll see. So far, I am quite content.

I could really envision hand stitching lots of details.....this is a very exciting journey for me. I am feeling much better about it today than when I made the block. I am now looking forward to the next block and have already picked the color scheme for it.

One thing I have to remind myself about BOMs or SALs in that I shouldn't put too much weight on one individual block. In the end, it will be a collection of blocks. The overall impression is more important. Better said than done sometimes, right? I also like to hang the block up and live with it for a while.

I am curious to seeing what the other lovely ladies have done on their North Pole blocks!

Keep sewing and thanks for dropping by.
Karen

a long awaited departure

And finally, what I have been waiting for for several months now....my patchwork retreat. I am allowed (I am allowing myself) a one weekend retreat with the girls to sew my little heart out. No kids, no husbands, just the girls, our sewing machines, fabric and inspiration. I think we all are very exciting about it. We have been frantically getting our projects together to sew, and hopefully we have all of the supplies we need, because there is no turning back until we come back home on Sunday. I am still a little undecided about what I want to take, but I am pretty sure I am packing up the project I wanted to start for my niece, Nina. This quilt will be for her twin size bed and made from the fabrics she picked out. I added two fabrics to the batch to stretch the supply - but that is a surprise for another post. Maybe, I will even get the top finished on my retreat.

An QAL update: I now have all of my fabric for my "Welcome to the North Pole with Val Spiers" in my possession. I am ready & rearing to go and have already outlined my first two houses for the wall hanging. I think I will be doing two blocks at a time as one block. It isn't so important to me that I have fifteen different background fabrics. My background fabrics will be grays and not blues. I know I am always disappointed after I work with gray fabrics, but this time, I am positive it is going to be the right choice. I was thinking about the snow as well; since white is such a translucent fabric, I think I will be doubling the fabric and making subtle folds and hand sewing them down. It should also make a nice transition from one block to another. I really want my QAL to be cheery and friendly. A thought came to me last night about the windows and window frames as well. Why not just cut a rectangle for the windows slightly smaller than the window frame and cut into four parts. Just appliqué them down and you have your four window panes. A little less work involved. I think I will be mixing buttonhole stitch and a straight stitch to appliqué my pieces down. A raw edge could look very nice in some places.

That's all for now, I have more preparations before my long awaited departure. ;-)

Sewingly yours,
Karen