Chain piecing - getting the hang of it!

Wow! I had a ball today chain piecing a quilt top for the Martha group. Once I got onto this chaining trick, I think it caught hold of me. I just love watching those little flags stack up behind the machine. Wow! Such fun!

This is one of those quilts for the military hospitals - and I decided to turn my attention to those, this last week before our trip, in hopes of getting at least four tops to Carol by Sunday. From everything I understand, the troops and the care providers really love receiving these quilts.

I also decided to do some learning while I was at it, and the idea behind the design in these four quilts is to see what happens when I use a simple off-center shape and rotate the block throughout the top. There are twenty blocks in a quilt, so I cut 20 of each piece, chain piece them together, turn them around and chain twenty more, press them, and then chain piece each of the side strips.

I wanted to experiment with rotating these off-centered blocks because, although I can intellectually understand what happens, it's another thing to actually do it - just like chain piecing. The doing is when I learn the best. My design skills are the bare minimum, and that's where they'll stay if I don't actually practice. So, humble as my results may be, I am at least putting a foot forward.

This is the result of today's efforts - only one completed top. I have all the blocks pieced and pressed for a second variation, but I took a couple hours and started my portion of our Christmas cards today, too. We hope to have them all done before we leave, and then we'll just drop them off at the post office when we return. Hopefully, I'll rise at my usual early hour in the morning and lay out the blocks for the second top. Maybe even get them sewn. I have the layout settled for the next two, and if I can get those done, it will be like meeting a little goal.

I decided to set the solar system quilt (In the Beginning) aside until later. I'm not getting anywhere with it. I think I'm trying to combine too many concepts, and I chose a too-busy pattern to use. If I don't make some mistakes, I'll never learn - but I'm not giving up on this right yet. I want to give it some time to settle in my head so I can figure out exactly what's not working. There are probably a number of things, but until I know what they are, I won't know how to avoid it in the future. I may end up with two quilts along this idea - one that works, and one that is a companion.

On Sunday, I made some planets from some batiks and a stylized sun from a piece of strange fabric that caught my eye on one of the trips Judy and I made to Hancocks in Paducah. For the circles, I used a technique that Donna found on the Internet - from Anna Maria Horner at http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/2007/02/super-circles.html She has an interesting Web site - she actually designs and sews for a living. Her current blog is about her appearance on the Martha Stewart show. Impressive young woman!! The aluminum foil trick works really well, especially for the smaller circles which are more difficult to turn (I don't want to use raw-edge applique for my first applique project). So, my planet-making time was well spent. I learned quite a few things.

In the picture, the planets are just laying on some background fabric. I may end up putting these on a piece of solid black in the center of a medallion quilt. But we'll see ...

My time will be tight now until mid-summer 2008, so I'm mentally working on a schedule for the times I'm home between visits with family and friends. I think I'll set up and quilt the Fassett pink quilt over the holidays. I'm anxious to try out some new ideas for machine quilting it. I think I just about have the courage to start drawing on the top of it now.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. No pictures, except mental ones. Satos were here Thanksgiving day, and we enjoyed them as usual. They have been friends forever. And Stephie and Scott were here Friday for our second Thanksgiving. That was so good. You just don't know how much you miss family until you get to spend some time with them. It's just so right!

In preparation for our trip, Lauren got the medium sized suitcases down from the attic today. Tomorrow, I'll lay mine out and start throwing stuff in it. It's our goal to pack sparsely so we don't have a bunch of stuff to lug around from place to place. Not too long now.