Janet R10

I did quilting on both of mine for round 10.  I had put this off for long enough.  I didn't post a new picture of the prairie piece.  I hand-quilted in the ditch for most of the piece.  The only exceptions are some additional quilting lines at the large wheat head.  That is obviously where my R11 more embellishment needs to go.  Anyway, it didn't look different in a picture.

I did post a picture of a portion of my pink flamingo one.  I love the colors in this, but overall, it has gotten really busy.  I wanted the flamingos to pop a little more.  So I started with hand-quilting around the perimeter of each of the three main flamingos.  I did two rows of that.  Then I used machine stitch lines through the background, jumping over the flamingo spaces.  I like it.  It sort of ties together all the various shapes in the background and helps separate the flamingo shapes.

I am really enjoying this as it has forced me to stretch my imagination.  Thank you, Kate, for organizing it.  I'm trying to tie up lose ends (UFOs) in my quilt stash, so I hope to get on to rounds 11 and 12 for both quilts soon.

R8- Janet's other

This is truly the experimental quilt, since I have chopped up an earlier piece to make it.  That has greatly limited my design opportunities. I love the colors, but the thing has lacked any kind of focus.  For round 8, I appliquéd a flamingo from the little bit of left over print material.  I think it helps to tie some of the other pieces together.  Unlike my other SAHR, this one had no preconceived ideas so I'm just winging it.  This step made me like it better, though. I am having fun with these.  Thanks Kate.

R8- Janet's Prairie

For Round 8, I  appliquéd the wheat stalk.  I've known I wanted this element since almost the beginning.    I didn't want to do too much, since we have several rounds left, but the shape is established..  I will do more with it, at least in the quilting if not before.  It's a good thing that I have to wait, because it gives me time to really think and analyze each step. I'm loving this SAHR.  Thanks Kate.

R7-Janet extra

This is one I've been working on that I've never shown you before.  I had done a liberated experiment some time ago and while I liked the fabrics and some of the elements, I never really liked the finished top so it's been sitting in my UFO pile.  I decided to cut it up and play along with the SAHR and see what happened.  This is where it is today.  I definitely like it better. We'll see what the next rounds will do for it.

R-7 Janet

Sorry about the dark picture....but I hope you can get an idea what I did for round seven.   I wanted to anchor it a bit so I used more of the browns.  The square inside a square is an adaption of a block out of a Prairie Star quilt (not the star block, the alternate block) so I've kept my prairie theme going. I'm anxious to get onto the next steps.  This has really been fun.

R6: Janet

As the two blocks in this round hit the edge, I wanted to make sure I balanced out some of the elements I have been using. Thus the 3x4 at the top repeats the triangles from the other side and balances the light pieces. Then I used the 3x9 to pull the darkest brown over for balance. The picture really doesn't fully show the richness of the fabrics, but you can kind of feel the wheat stalk through the two new sections. We'll see when all is said and done. I do suspect that I have some areas that will lend themselves to embellishing It's weird when you have all these ideas but you don't know where the piece is going and which of your ideas may work out or not. This has been a fun project so far and has really made me think about my fabrics, values and shapes as I go.

R5: Janet

My picture is a little dark, but here is my round 5. I kind of adapted the traditional Prairie Queen block to make the 4x6 and then added just a strip of the paisley material for the 4x7. I actually piece the bottom row of the Prairie Queen on upside down, but it seemed to work for me visually so I left it. It's all a grand experiment anyway. There is another tiny error that I told about in my blog but again....it's all a grand experiment...it's stretching my creative thinking and my sewing skills....so I love it. Thanks, Kate. I'll be ready for round 6
Janet

R4: Janet

Janet wins the October race (I don't count, though this month I didn't work in advance, even though I could have done) - here's her block and where she's blogged about it.

R3: Janet

Janet has blogged about her third round over here.

R2: Janet

R1: Janet