Lilla show n tell

Oh - what a morning. We're digging out from the Snowmageddon and it's still snowing this morning. DHshoveledovelled in the afternoon just before the freezing rain hit. We didn't get too much snow after that point. We also cleared the windshields on the cars and left the wipers hanging in the air.

The plow went by around 11 PM and left a bit of snow in the drive. I noticed DH went out and shoveled it which was a good thing. I was in bed and too tired to get up and help! I wimped out!

This morning it was a question to go to the gym or stay home. Oh what the heck - it's only 4 KM away. I'll be fine. Well, it must have taken at least 15 minutes to scrap the ice off the windshield and the side windows. I still can't penetrate the ice on the back window of the driver's side. It felt like if I scraped any harder, I'd be scraping the glass away.

BUT I had a bit of excitement before I started to scrap the ice. I opened the car door and sat down to start the car. I left the door open as I was going to get right back out. Something caught my eye and I glanced out the open door. OH NO!!!!  A skunk came toddling along from under DH's car which was just beside me. ACK!!!!   "Don't turn around!", I shouted to the skunk and scrambled to find the door handle to slam the door shut!  Could you imagine? A skunk spraying into that new car?  Phew - didn't happen. Oh, what fun!

Let's not forget that when I went to put Murphy out for her morning business (she is always on a leash for that as we can't trust her). Well, wouldn't you know it, there was an opossum or a raccoon (more likely an opossum) walking along the edge of the fence in the backyard (on the other side) and she freaked out - barking like a maniac at 5 AM. Fortunately, she was on her leash so I could get her attention real quick! You see why she's on a leash that early in the morning.

I ended up getting to the gym too late for the spin class, but I did my own thing on the bikes in the main area. Then I did some stretching. I need to be doing lots more stretching and a bit of strengthening for my upper body. It's all part of my rehab from that fender bender. But it's just good practice to do every day. I feel much better because of it so I need to incorporate that into my schedule.

OK - now onto the topic for today.

We had our Lilla class last Friday at Oh Look Fabric. The assignment was three blocks and to make up to four of each or whatever combination they need to make the type/size of quilt they have decided to make.

Let's have a look.

Lilla pattern by Lotta Jansdotter and Cheryl Arkison

This first set of blocks belong to Gisele. Oh - I should say that they were all given complete free rein over how they made the blocks. Some of them ended up exactly like the pattern, some of them have been modified to suit the maker. That's the gist of the entire class. Use the pattern as a guide, but do your own thing.

She didn't want to cut the Tula Pink fabric with the squirrels to insert the second slash so she didn't. I love it. And contrary to the pattern, her background is dark!  Going to be a totally different look.

Gisele's blocks

 Genny is making two quilts. These are the blocks from one of them. I think this is her prototype - probably the one she's going to give away!!!  She has also reversed the light/dark values. The light is a solid or a muslin - I can't remember. And look at those backgrounds! It's going to be bright and cheerful.

Genny's blocks

 Rita is a knitter, not a sewer. But she got talked into the project and for a newbie, she's done an amazing job. She must have had a great teacher - right Sara???  I love the black/white with the neutral grey background.

Rita's blocks

Sara has pulled some older fabrics from her stash. I wonder where they came from since she hasn't been quilting that long either. Anyway, she made four of each block. What's interesting is that some of the fabrics have large prints and some have small prints. It's neat to see how the fabrics react to the various sizes of cuts. A great learning experience.

Sara's blocks

These are four more of Sara's blocks.

Sara's blocks

The other thing that I'm trying to show them in the class is that each of the blocks can become a quilt on their own. As I was putting them up on the display board, I tried a couple of different layouts to show them. Here's one that we messed with. 

A different layout of those four blocks

Here's the last set of Sara's blocks.

The last set of Sara's blocks

Cathy wasn't able to join us that night, but sent pictures of her three blocks. Cathy is fairly new as well, but doing an amazing job!!!

Cathy's block

 It's all a learning curve. Cathy is using a directional print for the background and that can cause some issues with those prints. Can you see what happened? But seriously - it's not a big deal. Personally, I'd leave it like that. Otherwise, she's going to drive herself crazy as we go forward with the other blocks.

Cathy's second block

 And here's her third block. Remember - there's no right or wrong. I really want to encourage the class to step outside the box and change up the pattern if they want to or feel it looks better in another way. If you didn't know that this wasn't according to the pattern - would you know that she switched the pieces around? Exactly!

Cathy's third block

Stacey wasn't able to be at class either and she sent me a picture of her blocks. Stacey is also a newbie and those blocks look pretty awesome!

Stacey's blocks

 Eleanor wasn't able to be there either and here's a picture of her blocks.

Eleanor's blocks

We're missing Kathy's blocks. Shoot - I forgot to e-mail her and get pictures. I'll do that right away so they can be added to this post later.

For the recond, here are my blocks. I'm making four of each block. I doubt that I'll be making ONE big quilt from all 100 blocks - that'll be too huge. I'll break it up. Not sure how yet, but I'll be thinking about it as the year progresses. 

My first set of blocks

My second set of blocks

My third set of blocks

On that note, I'd better get the day started. I must call the Geek Squad back - my computer is almost worse than it was before. I'm not a happy camper.
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And I've a ton of e-mails to send and those sewing machines are calling my name. So much I want to do, so little time.

Have a super day!!!


Ciao!!!