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"

Chocolate!

Created for Project Quilting 10.6 Craving Chocolate challenge.

You gotta love a chocolate challenge! This is super simple. Just chocolates raw edge appliqued to create on oversize box of chocolates.  I'm retreating this week, so I've also enjoyed plenty of the real thing!

Created by Diane Lapacek near Poynette, WI.
15" x 32"

Abecedarius for the Birds

Created for Project Quilting 10.5 Abecedarius challenge.

I really wanted another small Dresden Neighborhood quilt, but when I saw this challenge, I didn't see any way I could make one small enough to fit this challenge. Then I came across this box of alphabet beads and I decided to modify the original pattern by Kim Lapacek to accommodate 26 houses, one for each letter of the alphabet. Those alphabet beads could become house numbers. I would hang it in a different place than I had originally intended. 

So I got out a piece of freezer paper and divided it into 26 wedges, not worrying about whether they were equal in size or not. I laid some of those beads on the paper pattern and I saw birdhouses! The numbers would be the holes.

 

And they could be really small! So I changed to a smaller center circle and drew on random rooflines for small houses. I labeled everything so I could make them all fit back together.

My houses were a little asymmetrical, but I could live with that.  I love asymmetrical!

So my Abecedarius is for the birds!

Now for the true confessions. I went to play cards last night with this not yet finished.  I had a chance to hang out with my grandson for a couple of days last week and there are priorities, after all. I got up this morning and madly sewed on the birdhouse holes.  Time was running short, so I pinned the binding on the back and took pictures. I added the picture here and said I'd add the story later.We left for our youngest granddaughter's gymnastics meet. (There are priorities, after all.) It was a long drive and I did finish the hand sewing on the binding before noon, so, technically, I'm still legal.  I kept the picture that I took before the hand sewing on the binding was done, although I did take it and rotate it once I realized it was not quite right.

One last confession. I had 26 houses, one for each letter of the alphabet.  I had the beads all lined up in order. I decided to use them randomly since some houses were really small and I had a very limited selection of smaller alphabet beads. I sewed them on and for some reason had one letter left over. No time to look for the error. So my village of birdhouses has the same letter on 2 different houses. One letter is not represented at all.  It is what it is.  I thought about changing it, but I had no time before the deadline and now it's part of the story.  It will be interesting to see if anyone notices it when they see the quilt in my house.  I'm guessing they won't.

Created by Diane Lapacek in rural Poynette, WI.

11" x 11"