Dresden Plate ????

As this is written, I have beaten Cathi !!!
She is always (and I do mean ALways) the first person to publish a block when a new Inklingo-collection out, but this time, I seem to be the first person to publish a picture of a block made with Linda Franz's new so-called Dresden Plate Collection !

Let me be frank, just between you and me and the internet :-) Had I not known Linda well enough to check out anything new she publishes, this one would have gone by unnoticed by yours truly.
I don't like Dresden Plates.
Sorry, but there it is. I know that many people love them, but ... that's why they have both chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice-cream
ANYway. Dresden Plates leaves me pretty cold, but this one ! I couldn't resist it. And even though I am not good freinds with my sewing-machine, and I don't do curves, it is completely (!) machine-pieced. I haven't got a clue what the block is called, and I know I could have done it far more precisely with hand-piecing, but I love it. Karen K. Stone has a quilt with blocks like this (tho' more colourful) called Missisippi Wheel of Fortune.

Mother's little helper

Sometimes, just sometimes, it is pretty hard to get to the cutting-board.
Particularly when kitty Josephine (called "Feeneh") takes an interest.

She has become very sticky these past days, which is understandable, since our black cat was put down on the 2nd (unavoidable), and the rabbit moved out of here and in with another family yesterday. So ... from 3 critters to just one in less than a week ... makes for an extremely confused and sticky fur-baby.
To an extent where even my sewing becomes interesting. Usually, she only takes an interest when she can lie down in peace on the project, but now, even the component parts have appeal.

Good thing that no rotary-cutter was in action.

The block on the cutting-board is one of the upcoming blocks on the Inklingo Sampler.

Northumberland Star, Barbara Brackmann's Encyclopedia of Pieced Blocks # 2901b

And the winner is ...

Remember the give-away ? That started on December 24th ?
The Passacaglia-giveaway
The winner is found ! And is Deanna.

I have contacted her privately :-)

... and just so you won't get a post, completely without pictures, here is one of my Drunkard's Path flowers. Just the ones I could fit in on the design-board before Passacaglia took over completely :-)

Passacaglia # 34 and 35 ... and the full mock-up

And here are the most recent Passacaglia-blocks, the last ones made in 2009 :
First one made with the same striped fabric found in Block # 30


Next one made with the same fabric as # 32, 28, 27, 26, and 25. And, accidentaly, one of the two fabrics that Linda and I are giving away :-)

Finally, a mock-up of the 35 blocks sewn so far, on the design-wall.

I will be taking four out and making new ones.
They might look ok to you on the screen, but they stand out too much in the wrong way when seen in real life, so ... I'm there, but not there. BUT that's ok.

Happy 2010 !

So, we're out of the noughts and into the teens of the century and the millenium.
Strange ... but nice.

And today is the day, where I try to take stock of my needle-work projects.
I started fighting UFOs as far back as 2002. Then, I had "about 50" projects that were started, but not yet finished. The "impossible goal" was to get down to 10 or less.
When I reached that milestone - and what a happy day that was - I decided to reduce my number of PIGs (Projects In Grocerybags, aka : kits) and to try an bring down my number of started projects down to 5 or less.
... now that one is giving me some trouble ... and 2009 has not been good for my confidence. For the first time since 2002, I end the year with more projects than I started !
I'm still below 10, but ....

And what are they :

Boxed Stars (being hand-quilted)

Lone Star (top finished, to be sent out for quilting)

Drunkard's Path : a mostly machine-piecing project of which I have taken no pictures ... yet. Passacaglia takes up the design-wall completely, so the DP project won't go up there until that one is ... finished.

Rectangular hexagons. Sees occasional work when travelling or staying with freinds

Passacaglia. The only one that I'm seriously working on right now. I have made the 35 blocks necessary for a (roughly) 60 x 84" quilt (plus borders), but four of them are ... wrong, so I need to make another 4, and the wrong ones can then go on the back :-)

Give Thanks. Which I started preparing in 2008, put away during preparation in October of that year, and has not taken it up again ... might be time to evaluate, eh ? Either continue preparation, and actually do it, or give it up and re-distribute the fabric.

The Inklingo Sampler. One block pr. week

... and two knitting projects.

And 2009 did not give me any big quilty finishes. However, 2009 was the year where I started writing patterns, two of which are available for free from Inklingo, and 3 more that are available for free to the members of the Inklingo Yahoo-group. The making of patterns is a frustrating experience, because most of the time, I know how I would like it to look, but am unable to do it, due to lack of proficiency and software.
Oh, well.