Kentucky Derby Progress - WIP

Do you remember this oops from a few months ago?  It's taken me some time to get up the courage to tackle it again.

The fabrics are from a purchase I made almost 10 years ago (eeek! has it really been that long?) when one of my favorite quilt shops was closing.  I was in high school at the time and very low on experience in picking out fabric.  You may notice that two of the fabrics are the same print but different colors. 

The colors are more traditional than my current tastes, but all in all, I am pleased with how things are progressing.  Plus, I love the opportunity to use my "stash" and have it work out well.  Anyone else have the tendency to buy a favorite fabric, hoard it, and then realize you don't have anything to go with it?  Happens to me ALL THE TIME.  It's a wonderful bad habit that gives me an excuse to buy more fabric.

Also, who couldn't use more practice piecing HSTs?  I know I could!

Linking up to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday here.

Giveaway: Happy Go Lucky Hexagons & more HST Sampler Blocks

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED - Thanks for participating and stopping by!

Recently I added my blog to:

And wanted to thank them for the increased "visits" to my blog by hosting a small give-away: 

A hexagon pack of Moda's happy-go-lucky by Bonnie & Camille.  It includes the hexagons, template and directions for sewing them together.

If you would like to enter the give-away, just leave a comment. 

Feel free to "follow" me if you would like, but it's not required :)

Give-away closes May 9th at 11:59PM (PST).

Also, I put together more of the HST Sampler Blocks:

Yay!  Now I'm working on putting together the quilt top... thinking a small white border, then adding a border in the solid teal color.  Any thoughts?

Thanks for stopping by!

Kate

HST Sampler: Block 4 Star Flower

Here she is in all her brightness! Loved how this star flower block turned out.

If you haven't been following along, you can check out block one, two, or three.

At first I made each block for each meeting.  Then this weekend I got a wild hair and decided to work on a few of the sampler blocks.  You'll be seeing them in a post coming soon.

HST Sampler: Block 3

Our quilt group is working on a half square triangle sampler quilt and here is the next block, No. 3.  Is there a name for this block?

But may favorite part is the...

So happy that I could incorporate a pocket into one of the blocks.

If you want to see some of the other blocks, I've linked block one here and block two here.

Our Quilt Group met last week and I'll post some pictures soon!

Conversion Rates: Kentucky Derby

Like most everyone, I have several works in progress at various stages of development.  Most start out the same way; I tend to find pieces of fabric that I love, and then spend the next several months gathering coordinating prints until I have enough for a quilt.

This quilt, Kentucky Derby as I call it, started when I found the horse print in a remnant section.  As soon as I saw it, I thought of one of my sister in laws.  She trains with horses and even competes in tournaments.

While reading through some online quilt blogs, I came across this star block from A Quilting Life.  It's great tutorial, except it was the wrong size of block.  I wanted to use larger center squares to highlight the horses.  So I figured I could easily convert it to fit a 7" center square, it couldn't be that hard, I thought.  And then this happened...

My measurements were off and I ended up with a nice 1-1/2" gap all the way around the square.  Instead of trying to cut down the HST to fit the center block, I chose to add a nice contrasting border.  My husband suggested the navy and it works wonderfully!

Now I have to decide, should I have navy borders on all of my blocks?  Or should I alternate navy borders with yellow star points, and yellow borders with navy star points?

Also, thank you for all of the comments at the give-away.  The input is greatly appreciated as I continue to develop Quarter Mile Quilts and myself. 

HST Sampler: Bow Tie Block

Our quilt group is working on a half square triangle sampler quilt and this upcoming meeting we're working on the bow tie block.   I went back and forth on whether I would make each bow tie out of the same fabric, or if I would make it look more "patchwork."  The jury is still out on the results...

What do you think?

Since I'm limited on the amount of polka dot fabric (ahem, forgive the reference to pajama pants), I am alternating using it every other block.  I think it will help keep it from getting "too busy."

I'll be honest, the jewel/bright tones are not always my style, but I am loving it!

HST Sampler: Pinwheel Block

Recently I demonstrated how to make half square triangles (HST) to my local quilt group.  They were all excited to practice and so we decided to make HST sampler quilts.  Before each meeting, I will prepare a sample block to share with the group.  Our first block is the classic pinwheel block.

Below are the colors I selected to use for the "sample" HST sampler quilt.  The color palette is inspired by the multi-colored polka dot fabric.  I love this print!  It is from an old pair of pajama pants that I wore out and would not give up.  

Today I spent a good, productive hour organizing the fabric for each HST sampler block.  It can be tricky to find the right balance of color through out a quilt, especially when you're using strong colors.  To ensure I didn't mix up all of my hard work, I simply pinned a labeled piece of paper to each stack.

This fabric organization helps me keep the blocks in order and the color in balance.

HST Bowtie block is scheduled for our next meeting!

Hope you're having a great weekend! - Kate