Blue Lemonade

Today I had the house to myself and was psyched to get some serious quilt project action going.  But at some point I realized that I had to organize the "stuff".  Which was good, until I realized that I have 15 WIPs.  And another 13 projects for which I have all the parts, but haven't actually cut into the material.  Pathetic eh?

But I did finish piecing "Blue Lemonade".    This quilt is named in honor of the Blogger's Meet-up at the Blue Lemon at International Quilt Market in SLC . 

These are fabrics I wouldn't have purchased, but when life gives you lemons....

I was so busy talking I forgot to take pictures...but here's the ones Amy snagged.  Go see more of them at the Meet up Blog.  This combo of photos pretty much sums up my experience.  I talked with John from Quilt Dad, and had lunch earlier that day with Victoria from Bumble Beans.  I was so busy enjoying the food and talking with 2 bloggers from Utah, that by the time I was ready to work the crowd, the give-away was over and most people had left.

Inside those pretty gift bags were some great goodies.

I managed to talk Anna into trading me her 5" charm squares of Kaufman 30's repros from the gift bag for the 2.5" sets of  both French General and Cabbages & Roses we'd acquired earlier in the day. This is the fabric that became Blue Lemonade.

I had planned to do a "disappearing 9-patch" but when the color distribution didn't work like I'd imagined, I decided to use the new toy.

This is my new favorite tool.  The Bloc Loc has a divot routed down the diagonal, which catches on the seam, so you can push down with one finger on the pivot point...

Spin the block and ruler in the pivot point that's your finger....

Then slide the ruler diagonally down the seam to the size block you want and trim.

Here's their promo video if that doesn't make sense to you.

My friend Baily asked if I'd teach her local quilt group how to applique.  So today, I did Cindy's Flip-Flop block from  from the Shop Hop using 3 different applique techniques.  The soles & straps are back-basting applique, the flower I stitched 2 pieces right-sides together, then turned through a slit on the back to make dimensional petals.  The flower center is a yo-yo, using a nickel to press the yo-yo into roundness submission, then removed, re-pressed and hand appliqued in place.

I also finished the "Hearts and Diamonds" block from Stitch n' Snip in Garden Valley, with substitution of every color except the purple.

Sadly, tomorrow, I must go back to work.  But I have a lot of ideas that I wrote up as draft blog posts during Quilt Market, so I'll have posts all week, where I usually wouldn't.

Happy Stitching!