Aircraft Quilt Block

For practice this week, I chose the Aircraft quilt block. 

It can be drawn with a 2 x 2, or 4 x4 grid.

If you have BlockBase, it is #1319.  I like to draw the blocks that I practice with, since the point of practice is to learn to use Electric Quilt, and increase my quilt design skills.

Here is what the block looks like in a straight set:

The Aircraft quilt block is a simple little block, so I thought I would need lots of alternate blocks to play with.

Not so (which is good, since I have a self-imposed challenge to work with one block).

Let’s play with rotation.

Not a single alternate block was used in any of the four previous designs, yet, there is plenty of movement going on!  Diagonals, zig-zags and bow-ties for the eye to see!

I added one simple alternate block in the following design:

For the next two designs, I’ve added just one alternate block that was created by simply deleting a few lines from the Aircraft quilt block.

The open spaces calm the design down and let the eye rest.  They are good spaces for lovely quilting.

I have yet to try this block in an on point setting.  That will be next week’s practice.

Tree Peony

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” -Marcel Proust

When a friend became ill, she could no longer care for her tree peonies (actually a woody shrub), and she gifted three of them to me.  They are also known as Chinese, or Japanese, tree peonies.

I don’t know the varieties of the beauties that she gave me.  I don’t even know what color they are.  I’ve been patiently waiting 3+ years for them to bloom.

But this spring I was rewarded with one gorgeous creamy yellow blossom from the one tree peony that I thought was the one least likely to survive (she did not like being transplanted at all).

The blossom is all the more sweeter since my friend has lost her battle to cancer earlier this year. 

Vera would be pleased with her legacy.

Airplane Quilt Block

I have been practicing my drawing and designing skills using Electric Quilt and Nancy Martin’s calendar for my tools and inspiration. Looking back, I can see lots of personal growth.

However, the Airplane block was a bit of a drawing challenge for me.  It is not done with an obvious grid.

But I conquered! 

In fact, as I sit here, writing, and looking at the block, I realize that I may have drawn this the hard way.  Those bright yellow squares are now jumping out at me, and they would make an obvious grid to use as a starting off point.  Something I did not do (Why didn’t I see that when I was drawing?!).  LOL!

I started out with the EasyDraw worktable.  Mistake!  If you want to practice this block, choose the EasyDraw + PatchDraw worktable.  You’ll need the PatchDraw to draw the propeller.  If you forget, and use the EasyDraw worktable, like I did, you will need to copy your block and paste it to the EasyDraw + PatchDraw worktable. 

Thank you, Electric Quilt Genies, for making it possible to copy and paste entire blocks for folks like me!  I really didn’t want to have to redraw the whole thing!

And here is the quilt design that I came up with:

All of the blocks can be found in Electric Quilt’s block library.  How cool is that?!

Painted Pictorial Quilts Part 2

Remember this post?

This snail has finally painted her second class project.

The project is a desert scene by Annette Kennedy.  All the fabrics are hand-dyed by your’s truly with the exception of the road and red mountain commercial fabrics.

What a difference a little paint makes!

Patti’s Star

I am sharing the pattern for Patti’s Star and a small quilt.  There are no instructions for making the quilt…you will need some quilt-making experience.

I blogged about Patti’s Star here.  You will see some other quilt examples in this post.

You can find the Patti’s Star pattern by clicking on the Patterns and Tutorials tab above my blog’s header.

Enjoy!

Wyoming Valley Star Quilt Block

This week’s practice block is the Wyoming Valley Star.

It is drawn with a 6 x 6 grid.

And here is how it looks set side-by-side in a straight set:

How about a little color to add a spark to the quilt?  All I did was draw a line across the four corners of the block and popped the color in.

Let’s open up the design a bit.  This time I deleted lines from the Wyoming Valley Star quilt block to create alternate blocks.

The same block looks different when the color is moved around.

It is nice to have open spaces to show off your quilting skill.

The next design is similar to the first, but the Wyoming Valley Star quilt block is now set on point:

Another variation on point:

Lots of room for quilting!

If I were to make one of these last two, I think I would play with border variations.  I might like something simpler to go with the simpler quilt design.

What do you think?

Douglas Falls

Think of your life as a waterfall; it may come crashing down at some point, it may have it’s ups and downs, but in the end, it will continue to flow.

- Unknown

I am one of those daughters blessed with a Mom to be proud of.  I was fortunate to have her spend a few days with me last week.

One beautiful morning, I drove her to Douglas Falls, about a 15 minute drive from my house. 

If you click on the following photo, you will see a young couple enjoying the waterfall.  They give you some perspective of the height of the fall.

I’ve been here many times, and I told Mom that the hike down is not too difficult.

To her credit, she believed me.

I should visit the park more often.  I did not realize just how deteriorated and steep the trail had become.

Many times I told her, “This is the steepest part; it’ll be better after this.” 

Ahem.

To my credit, I offered to turn back.

To her credit, she said she wanted to keep hiking.

We made it down to the foot bridge, and enjoyed watching Mill Creek flow by.

I forgot to take a photo of the bridge.  No doubt because I was relieved that we made it there without ending up at the bottom of the trail by sliding on our butts all the way down.

I did, however, take an impressive photo of the creek flowing under the bridge:

I did not have the presence of mind to snap a photo of Mom either.  She wouldn’t have appreciated it anyway.  This was an impulsive little jaunt on my part.  She had curlers in her hair, and no scarf.   But the only people in the park on this morning, were the sweet lovebirds at the top of the waterfall.  We did meet them on the trail and chewed watercress together.

We enjoyed many wildflowers along the hike.

When we hiked to the bottom of Douglas Falls, the view looked like this:

The view from the top of the waterfall.  Yup, we hiked all the way around the waterfall.

Mill Creek before coming to the falls:

Mill Creek just before entering the park.  Who would think that this serene creek would shortly fall 60 feet?

Now go back up to the first photo of Douglas Falls and remind yourself that Mom hiked full circle around the falls.

Mom has arthritis in her feet, sometimes making it painful to walk.

Mom is 81 years young.

What keeps you from enjoying God’s gifts?

I love you Mom!  Thank you for your love of life!

Clicking on a photo will show an enlarged image.