VV Squares

Created for the Project Quilting 11.6 Vibrant and Vivacious

This was the perfect challenge for a week when we all needed a little lift. Bright sunny fabrics always make me happy. 

I went back to one of my old favorites, the Squarey Quilt. Inspired by a quilt made by Kim Lapacek many years ago, I have made this in many versions and sizes over the years.

I started out thinking I'd make blocks in 2, 3, 4 and 6 inch sizes, then fit them all together. I got started and decided 6 inches was too big for the small project I had in mind. And I soon found myself not making any 2 inch blocks because they were really small. Go figure! So I ended up with 3 and 4 inch blocks. Not really a good fit with each other. I thought about making the 3 inch blocks bigger, but instead each size got it's own row. It works for me. This is a nice table runner size and will brighten up my island.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.
15" x 35"

Stripes!

Created for for Project Quilting 11.5 Give it Away challenge.

I was quilt retreating with friends a couple of weeks ago, and several people there were making quilts using squares of striped fabric. They were cutting them in quarters, then sewing them back together to create more interesting patterns. Seemed pretty interesting to me and I wanted to try it.

So I went looking in my fabric collection. (No, it's not a stash, it's a collection. Gudrun Erla spoke at our guild this week and she convinced me it's a collection.) Lo and behold, I had precut squares! Don't remember where they came from and they were not cut by me. Pencil lines were drawn and then cut with scissors! Definitely not me. Anyhow, they were 6 inches square.  At retreat everyone was using 10" squares, but a square is a square, so it should still work. I layered them up and cut diagonally in both directions.

I put a couple together using 4 identical pieces so it made a full matching square when finished. This is how it was explained to me. You can see they really pop in the picture below. I liked it, but it seemed like way too much work making all those stripes match up.  And, I'm not really all that good at following directions, so I shuffled the remaining pieces and put them together randomly. Way easier and more interesting!

I am going to give this quilt to the Hearts and Hands group at Lodi Valley Quilters Guild. It's the really wonderful, active charity arm of our guild and they give away lots of quilts every year. I'm sure they'll find a great place for this one.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.
45" x 36"

Fly Away

Created for Project Quilting 11.4 Birds in the Air Challenge.

I knew I was short of time for this challenge, so a table topper seemed to be the thing.  I made three birds in the air blocks, then added some extra half square triangles and called it a day.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, Wisconsin.

Basketball Love

Created for Project Quilting 11.3 Put a Heart on It challenge.

I saw this challenge and thought the pillow I made for my granddaughter Cedi's birthday last November would have been perfect. She loves basketball and I made her a pillow with a heart shaped basketball on it. Well, my second granddaughter, Capri, also loves basketball and her birthday is coming up later this month. So I made a pillow case for her. I changed the heart up a bit since every granddaughter is a little different. The fabric I wanted for the background had been cut into fat quarters, so I cut it into squares and sewed it back together then lined it and quilted the layers together to protect the seams inside.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

Go Team Granddaughters!

Created for Project Quilting 11.2 Team Colors challenge.

It's the middle of basketball season and there's nothing I would rather do for entertainment than to see my beautiful granddaughters play basketball this time of year.  And this is the weekend of the marathon basketball tournaments!  Five tournaments in 2 days! Three tournaments today! 9 total games, and we got to see at least part of 8 of them.  I was so proud of all of my girls.  Tomorrow 2 tournaments with 2 girls and we have it figured so we can see at least 4 games.What a great weekend!  All our girls (at least the ones who play basketball (The littlest one will be 2 months old real soon. Whatever she wants to do is fine with me. :) were awesome. They are learning so fast.)

Anyhow, back to Project Quilting. When I saw team colors, I knew it had to be black and orange. In Poynette, all our teams wear black and orange, and I grew up in Belmont, WI, where the colors were also black and orange. I created free form log cabin blocks in black and white using strips and strings from my stash. I added strip pieced circles from my stash in honor of the basketball players in my life.

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.

31" x 31"

Triangle Sequence

Created for Project Quilting 11.1 Notably Numeric challenge.

I decided on a triangle sequence as the inspiration for this challenge. A triangle sequence is pretty simple.  1, 1+2, 1+2+3, 1+2+3+4, etc.  I created a triangle with this sequence, then decided to multiply it by 4 to make this little quilt.  

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, Wisconsin.
23" x 23"

Threads in a Row 2.0

I created this quilt for the 2nd Annual Project Quilting Mystery Quilt Along created by Kim Lapacek of Persimon Dreams. I have always loved a good mystery quilt and couldn't resist getting involved with this one. And Project Quilting is super fun, so I was ready to get started!

When I got to clue 6, I was quite surprised that this quilt was spools of thread. I have to admit, I never saw that coming.  It reminded me of the quilt below that I made for the Project Quilting 9.5 A Stitch in Time challenge.  I called that one Threads in a Row (Ready to Sew), so this one is called Threads in a Row 2.0. It is going to Kim (who also happens to be my daughter-in-law) to become part of a lap quilt. After all, she does have a wall in her house that is filled with pictures of spools of thread...

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.
27" x 64"