Design Wall Monday--First of 2017

Another Design Wall Monday, and I have been sewing.  My sister Kathy and I belong to the local Modern Quilt Guild, and recently she wanted to sew up the free Block of the Month designs available on the website.

This is two blocks of the December BOM design (Mod Z block).  Kathy had printed up the directions and templates but they turned out not to be correct scale, making the triangle squares undersized.  Fortunately, my Tri-Recs rulers worked perfectly in substitution.  I prefer rulers to templates any day!  Then the Kaufman Kona Color of the Year was announced (Pink Flamingo) and Kathy wanted to make a different colorway of the free blocks.  We met at Superbuzzy Friday night just before closing and purchased some yardage. She came over New Year's Eve and we played with fabric and thread. 

This is 4 blocks of the November BOM, "Robbing Pete".  I cut the templates and guided Kathy in cutting the pieces.  There was a little (well, a lot) of colorful euphemisms while Kathy was cutting and sewing up this fussy block, but I think she did a really good job, for someone who hates piecing.  Isn't that color pretty?  It is really more coral than pink and not pastel at all.

See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times. 

I've spent a couple more hours putting away all the Christmas decor, including an amusing 15 minutes moving the upright piano to retrieve two brass bells that fell behind.  I had to pick them up with my toes to get them to where I could reach down and grab them.  Luckily we had put nice big sliders under the piano when we had baseboards installed in November. 

Here's a few ornaments that got put away yesterday.  Handmade, Hallmark, childhood creations of the kids, stained glass, guitars, Kangaroo from my trip to Australia, gold disco ball I got in our white elephant exchange at work this year, Polar bear with a fish, and that pickle.  I love variety!

Some very favorite walnut shell ornaments I've had for over 30 years, and the darling twin babies in a wooden wagon.  Love these so much.

Later I'll be stitching down the binding on this tablerunner I'm sending to my oldest friend and her husband, as a housewarming gift for their new townhome.  I'll show the rest once it's arrived at their new address.  

Judy picked for the first number for the 2017 UFO challenge and it is #3, which on my list is the Row Robin Quilt from guild.  

I plan to add another row of the Improv Log Cabin blocks to the opposite end of the top, and will probably do some kind of straight line quilting.  I just bought Jacquie Gehring's book called WALK, all about walking foot quilting in the modern style.