Another BOM Top!

So somehow I accidentally sign up for another 2016 mystery block of the month through my guild back home.  Once registered I feel obligated to work on it, though the instructions arrive by email instead of snail mail, so it's not as exciting when they appear.  However, it does mean I receive them at the beginning of each month!

Starting the fabric selection process...

For this project I decide to use fabrics I've purchased while living in Japan.  I have a beautiful red Asian print fabric, and decide to work off of its colors.  January's instructions recommend a scrappy look with multiple fabrics in lights, mediums and darks, but I'm not a big fan of scrappy quilts.  I try to choose one color in multiple shades, with help from my color wheel to make sure I don't change color families.

Checking light, medium and dark together

This is truly a block of the month and each set of directions has us complete one square.  Once again I hold off until Alaina's quilt is finished before beginning, so it's not until summertime that I catch up.  I figure each month will go quickly, until I actually start working on it.  There are some little pieces to deal with!  I decide to change out my thread, because when working with smaller pieces any mistake is much more noticeable.  I had been using Mettler 50 weight, but switched to Aurifil 50 weight so I have a little more control over the 1/4" seam allowances.  (Yes, since they're both 50 weight they should technically be the same thickness, but like women's clothes, size is not consistent among different brands.  So the Aurifil is a thinner thread.)  I love my Janome MC 6600, which I've used for nine years, but the most common complaint about it is that it will not sew a true 1/4" seam. (If only the needle would go to 4.45 position!)  I try to compensate by using a thicker or thinner thread for piecing, and now I'm aware to double check my pressing skills, too.

Lights and mediums - though I actually do some more rearranging, and pull out the clay fabric and the green on the bottom right to use in Laurel's graduation quilt.

A variation of the Corn and Beans quilt block?  I'm not sure of it's name.

This is my favorite block of the eight we sew.  Each month it seems like the instructions give us a different method to sew an hourglass square or flying geese rectangle.  This block also has the clay fabric that I searched all of Tokyo looking for additional yardage, but had no luck in finding.





As I continue along on the project, the blocks make a pretty border at the top of my design wall.  It also adds a little color to the living room.

Hmmm....maybe I should put quilt blocks below the ceiling moldings in my house.

I'm not really liking the multi-color, set-in triangles.

When we reach the point of putting the top together, I'm unhappy with some of my fabric choices.  The February instructions have us cut out triangles of medium and light fabrics.  However, it gives my quilt a scrappy look, which I don't particularly like - it overwhelms all the piecing I do in the squares.  Luckily, I have enough green and gold fabric to cut out new triangles.

I decide to keep the alternating gold and pink triangles around the blocks, but fill in the remaining center triangles with green, so I have a consistent "background."  Much better!  I also start pulling out the fabrics for the borders, to see if I'll like them.

Much better!

Testing this fabric for the border - is there enough contrast with the center? (There is, but I decide not to use it.)

Once I sew the border together, the
center pink hourglass will no longer
line up with the center pink triangle

I should have known the border wouldn't be so simple!  When the December email arrives, we're to take the squares and make them into hourglass blocks.  Very appropriate, considering how many of the squares have the same shape.

Once they're made, I spend some time choosing their placement on the quilt.  I don't want an hourglass block with pink to line up with pink on the quilt center - it will form a strangle looking line on the quilt.  Each hourglass block is made with a pair of medium fabrics and a pair of light fabrics, so I also have to triple check to make sure I have a medium pair horizontal, then vertical, then horizontal, etc throughout the border.  It takes a few hours, but I think I finally have them all arranged as best as possible.  Again, this is a mystery, so I chose the fabrics without knowing what the final design looks like.  If I were to change something in the future, I would not use the same fabric in the hourglass border that I use in the set-in triangles (the light green batik).  They tend to blend the center and border together, instead of making a distinct separation.  I'd probably also use the same 3-4 fabrics in all eight of the pieced quilt blocks.

Can't forget to check the bottom border, too!

Once I have the hourglass border and thin green border added, I hesitate to add the final dark border.  In the end, I decide to sew it on - it makes a nice frame for the quilt.  I'm not sure what I'm going to name it, but those soft greens, golds and pinks make me think of sherbet, so I'm leaning towards Sherbet with a Cherry on Top.

Maybe this is telling me I need to go eat an ice cream sundae!