Block Party and Stack the Deck Quilt

Wednesday is the day to share & link at "Works in Progress" on Freshly Pieced!

I've been productive!! Fortunately our small city has an equally small group that's been meeting as a Modern Quilt Guild. I began attending this month, and have had the fun of participating in two "Sew In(s)" locally, as well as the Portland one I enjoyed at the beginning of January with my sister and niece. That makes three!! With projects and sewing machine in tow, I show up, pay a small fee and sew all day, visit with other creative people, and have NO INTERRUPTIONS (unless I choose them). At our last local sew-in, we could have even left the machines, irons and ironing boards, cutting mats, tape measures, etc. behind, because they were provided. Wow! How convenient is that?? Almost like going on a retreat without having to go very far, and for a fraction of the cost. Especially nice are the designs walls to use throughout the room. Another quilter and I joked about renting the design wall space so we could keep playing with our quilts day after day. Someday I'll get mine put up.

I decided to join Eleanor Burn's Mystery Quilt "2014 Block Party." She's a bit quirky, but she's got some good ideas and techniques. I'm intrigued by this latest project, so I paid my fee and got started.I wanted to test the block out and pulled out fabric I already owned from In the Beginning ("Chickadee"). I ended up liking liking the result so much, I think I'll use them for the mystery quilt after all.

4 "Marianne" blocks, named for Marianne Fons, her guest

So at the local sew-in last Saturday, I pulled out my blocks for a quilt I wanted to give me husband. True confession: I started it at least 5 years ago! I already had the blocks made, based on the book Stack the Deck! by Karla Alexander. 

   
First, iron the seams of the sashing ...     

Seams are pressed...it looks kind of folksy, doesn't it?

Throw them on the design wall, with purple sashing 

& sew vertical rows together

The hearts are appliqued by machine on each block (which is a shuffling of fabrics in the green theme). And even though "Blogger" thinks it's smarter than me and it won't let me arrange my photos in the order I want them, the photo of the blocks without a caption are now on the bed, being assembled to their vertical sashing. Then I will sash the sides, top and bottom, put another border around that, and then it's time to sandwich and quilt. It's been a fun project. Better late than never, huh?

Happy quilting!