Help, please! (Flamingo style)

I'm working on a wall-hanging, with the directing being "flamingos". So far I've fussy-cut 12 flamingos and then log-cabined them (is that a word?) into blocks of varying sizes with the logs being bright prints. and I've also made a scrap border of sorts.....

now, nothing is trimmed up. I set it on various pieces of white fabric to give you an idea. The chunks of border are not sewed together or trimmed either. And it's not properly arranged because my younger daughter keeps flinging the blocks around every time I look away to pick up the camera!

But what do you think? I was planning on putting a white border on each block then trimming them to be all the same size. Then adding the border (top and bottom only? all 4 sides? no border?) Then adding another skinny white border (maybe not? maybe a color?), then binding in a black and white print. (no? color?)
And here's a closeup of blocks. Like I said, not trimmed. Photos aren't even focused. Things are going to the dogs around here...... :)

Thanks for your thoughts!!

a get-well quilt

{I have to ask you to forgive my vagueness in this post. Some of this information is not mine to share....}

One of my coworkers is very ill. And I've been thinking over the last year that I really should make him a quilt. I decided finally that a better option would be to get the rest of my coworkers together and we could combine forces to make him a quilt. I wrote a tutorial for a plus-sign block after seeing this quilt . I thought the block was lovely, and it would be possible for a person who had never sewed to create this block if they had good instructions.

So I sent out instructions to my coworkers and hoped for the best! Here's the final product:

Here's my favorite block. Love that batik, and the black and white is fab!

Here's the back.

And a folded shot. The blue block on the top was made by my husband, who has never touched a sewing machine. He tested the instructions for me. He's a good sport.

Here's the first 26 blocks. These were all returned to me within a week of asking! I work with fantastic folks.

Here it is on the machine, getting quilted up. I quilted it very, very heavy since I knew it would be machine washed often because of germs. There's a lot of thread in this one!

And here's my layout before sandwiching it up. For fabrics, I simply requested that the background be a green or blue solid or print and the plus sign be a black and white print. I love how it turned out!

If anyone would like the instructions, I'd be more than happy to send them to you. Maybe someone else would be able to use them for the same sort of thing!

Quilting the beast...

I started quilting this quilt with fear and trepidation! I've been putting it off because it's huge. I mean HUGE! It measures about 85" by 110" and it's by far the largest thing I've machine quilted. But I gathered up my courage and began quilting the beast....I did a spiral / cinnamon roll pattern in each square, and I've been pleased with it. I'll stipple the border and then see if it needs more thread in it.
This quilt is going to be for my husband. He requested something extra large since he's a tall person and blankets are always too short for him.

test

If you want to put a badge for Bee Improvisational on your blog, e-mail me and I'll be glad to send you the code (thanks to Meredith!! love you sis!)

Another bee.....

I started a quilting bee a month ago. And it's all organized and going for the year...... and I'm so excited about it that I thought I'd start one more!

This one is an Improvisational Quilting Bee, so all the blocks need to be improvisational. So instead of sending out a pattern or specific instructions, you'll send out something a little more vague like "do something with flying geese" or "I like squares" or "something with a fussy cut and a log cabin design" This way, the members get a chance to experiment and quilt in an improvisational way, and what is returned to you reflects not only what you asked for but the specific awesomeness of each member!

ABOUT.... A quilting bee is a group of people who sew blocks for each other. You send out instructions and fabric to the group. And everyone else in the group sews blocks for your quilt on your month. Usually there are 12 people in a quilting bee, and the commitment lasts for a year.

RESPONSIBILITIES... Every month you would make 2 blocks for another group member and mail those blocks to that person. One month in the year you would purchase fabric and send it and instructions to all group members. Since it is a year-long commitment, please think carefully about whether or not you can make 2 blocks each month for a year.

POSTING.... I'll be creating a flickr group for this quilting bee. I'll ask each member to post their inspiration quilts, their fabrics, and their completed blocks on the flickr group.

TO SIGN UP... please send me an e-mail to wendyleep {at} gmail {dot} com with the following information: your name, your physical address, your e-mail address, and your blog address, your flickr screen name, and your preferred month between May 2010 and April 2011.

12 people can sign up to participate. I'll also take a couple of alternates in case someone drops out during the year.

Looking forward to a year full of fun!! And if you have questions, please comment or e-mail me!

update: the bee is now full.