floral flying geese

The flying geese have arrived! I've got 32 sets of 4 matching geese. They'll finish at 1" x 2". Yeah, I know. Crazy. They took longer to make than I had expected - they're super easy to make and trim with the Mini Fit To Be Geese ruler, but they're a little tedious. I also make them in color groups because then I have a feeling of accomplishment ("Yay, all the red geese are stitched!")

Ok, now that they're sewn and trimmed, I need to decide on a setting. First there is the Flying Dutchman variation. I love these. The blocks look scrappy, but they're really perfectly controlled. It does mean that my points will all need to meet in the middle correctly.

And then there are the straight rows of flying geese going in opposite directions. I really like these too! I could do them either randomly mixed up like I've shown here, or I could arrange them in an ombre rainbow setting.

So which will I choose? I'll think about it for a few days, because once I start sewing there's no unpicking!

a schnibbles finish

X-Rated is finished!

I was SO happy that the extra charm pack of Fig Tree's Mirabelle arrived just before the long holiday weekend. I was able to squeeze in a little slicing here, a little sewing there, and it was finished in no time at all.

Seriously, this is one EASY pattern. Cut a bunch of squares, rectangles and a few setting triangles and start sewing. 

See the pinked edges of the charm pack on the perimeter of the quilt? I think that they'll work to my benefit here and will reduce fraying. I'll just pretend that I don't see all the messy crumbs that those edges seem to drop all over my studio. 

X-Rated is a Schnibbles pattern by Carrie Nelson. Fabric is mostly Mirabelle by Fig Tree Quilts. I also added in a few random dotty and floral pieces of Joanna's older Strawberry Fields collection, because I need to have some dots everywhere! Background is Kona Snow, and the finished quilt measures 31" square. 

I'm finished just in time to make it into the Another Year of Schnibbles parade for May!

Now what can I work on next?

PS - I've added something new to my blog! I've signed up with Bloglovin to make it even easier to follow my blog. I know that lots of you like Bloglovin! Just click the link near the top of the left column. Or you can have my blog delivered by email via the Feedburner link. Or visit me however you wish! 

Linking up with Finish It Fridays at Crazy Mom Quilts! Check out what other quilters have completed this week here. 

it's another schnibbles, and it's called...

It's called X-Rated. Can you believe it?! Carrie Nelson has a twisted sense of humor!

X-Rated is the "Another Year of Schnibbles" project for May. I bought the pattern pdf from my work computer, and was a little horrified when I downloaded a file called "x-rated." Yikes. Well, my employer will be amused if they actually check out this file! Haha it's just a harmless quilt pattern!

For my fabric, I decided to revisit a softer side of Grey Dogwood Studio. I sewed almost exclusively with Fig Tree fabrics for several years. A quilt friend had to gently nudge me to please, please try something different. But I haven't used any Fig Tree fabrics since last October! It's kinda nice to use Joanna's softer, vintagey fabrics again. I'm using charm packs of Mirabelle and Strawberry Fields. (Strawberry Fields is one of my favoritest fabric collections ever, and I still have a stack of fat quarters, jelly rolls, charm packs and yardage.) Those Mirabelle precuts sold out fast! I needed an additional charm pack, and now I'm waiting for one to arrive from here. 

I love, love, love that Mirabelle apricot print. I bought yardage that can be used as either a border or as backing. I'm a bit of an apricot fanatic. I buy the large jars of Sarabeth's peach apricot preserves. And it reminds me of the cookies that my grandmother used to make. She called them apricots cookie. Not apricot cookies. I always used to make fun of her pronunciation, but it's stuck with me.  So this is my apricots fabric.

Ok, so this needs to be finished by the end of May so that it can be a part of the Schnibbles parade on Sherri's and Sinta's blogs. (Ohmigosh Sinta is also using Fig Tree fabric!) Well, in just four days, here's where I am...

X-Rated is very easy to sew. As Carrie notes, "cut it out, lay it out." It's that easy. It's constructed by sewing strips of squares and rectangles together instead of creating traditional blocks. Finding a space to lay it out was tricky in a small studio with two floppy cat tails, but the coffee table worked just fine. 

Now as soon as that extra charm pack arrives I can start the pieced outer border! Or maybe I'll get lazy and use the apricots fabric... deadline is next Friday!