WIP Wednesday: Binding!

Now that I've finished my To Boston with Love flags and my blocks for Quilts for Boston, I can get back to my WIPs, right?  Wrong!  Quilts still need to be sewn with the hundreds of blocks the BMQG has received.  I have not been able to make any of the sew-ins, but I am working on binding.

What do you think of the array of fabrics I've assembled?  I weaved them in and out in the photo above, but they are anywhere from 10" to 21" long.  I will sew them together until I have about 350" in length.  This project is really good because I am getting some serious stash-busting in.

It's also good because I was finally able to use my Go Baby!  I bought it last year (on sale -- yay!) to cut my Pearl Bracelet hexies, but I decided the die was not large enough to display the bracelets in all their glory.  I got my 2 1/2" strip die in the mail on Friday so I spent most of my weekend cutting up all these strips!

  Here is the first half of my first binding strip!

Check out what's going on this WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced!

To Boston With Love

Saturday we went to see "To Boston with Love" at the MFA.  The flags looked great displayed all over the Shapiro Family Courtyard.  They were so colorful and festive.  I just kept smiling!

My Peace Hexies on display!

I found my hexy peace signs!  They stood out (to me, anyway) because they were on a white background.  I also met Amy, who I had corresponded with online (and purchased a pattern from) and Berene, who conceived the idea of "To Boston with Love".  It was also fun seeing flags from fellow BMQG members Alice, Jane and Alexis!

Alice's letter and Jane's peace sign and patchwork heart

Amy's "B Strong", "Love Heals" flag and her flag of the Zakim bridge

Alexis' dove and Citgo Love flags

Berene said she was exhausted but she was also pleased that her idea got so much response (over 1700 flags, according to Amy!) and that it all went so well.  Admission to the MFA was free so there was a line around the block at opening time.  Many people went to the museum to see the flags and to see the excellent Samurai exhibit!

Berene's flags:  peace sign, scrappy heart and love

Not many people can say they've exhibited at the MFA but now I can!

WIP Wednesday: A Break in the Hexy Action

I took a break in the "hexy" action to make blocks for "Quilts for Boston" and flags for "To Boston with Love".

After fighting with lovingly sewing hexagons for quite a while now, I really wanted to sew easy items. No curves or triangles or funny stuff for me this time round!  I decided to use my Pearl Bracelet fabric and some white on white bullseye fabric from Timeless Treasures left over from the hexy project. This fabric was already washed and pressed so I saved myself some time.  (By the way I bought that bullseye fabric before the pearl Bracelet Bright Star was available. Now thankfully I can use Bright Star for my hexy quilt. )

For the blocks I made 4 Bento Box blocks from Terry Brookshier's classic pattern.  Simple cutting and straight lines! It felt good to sew rectangles again!  

For the flags I decided to create peace hexies once I saw this post. Although the pattern is easy I needed it to be easier :) so I decided to use some leftover hexies and appliqué them on.

We had our Boston Modern Quilt Guild meeting last weekend. Generous souls from all over the world have sent hundreds of blocks in. Several members took blocks to make them into quilts.  There was a sew-in at gather here a couple of weeks ago so if you'd like to see some of the quilts click here.

If you are in Boston Memorial Day weekend, you can see the flags at the Museum of Fine Arts!  How cool is that??  Details here.