Ladies... Start Your Engines!

Today is my sister Carol's 54th birthday and so I thought I would celebrate by having our QAL kick off!

True, some of us have been playing around some with a block or two... but now... it's OFFICIAL!   Wooo hooo!

Time to get those rotary cutters cutting and those sewing machines cleaned, oiled and ready to go!

Our Jacob's Ladder QAL Flickr group is up and running... so be sure to stop by, say "Hi!" and post photos of your progress!

If you'd like to grab a JL QAL button, please feel free to do so... you'll find the code on the right side bar!

Remember... the QAL isn't a race... we're all winners because we'll all end up with a beautiful quilt!  I'm planning on one or two blocks per week.

The holidays are approaching and, when you get busy, no guilties are allowed.  And, if you don't feel like sewing one week.... two weeks.... no problem.  Both you and your machine are allowed time off for good behavior!

Saturday Shop Hop and Sewing Circle

What a fun day!  Cynthia of Sea of Glass arrived in goodly time Saturday morning and we met my friend Deborah for lunch at Sweet Basil's in Southern Pines... then, off to shop hop the two local quilt shops!

We each found several things we couldn't leave in the shops and I was particularly pleased to find what I thought would be the perfect sashing fabric for the Civil War quilt I'm working on.

Photo from Aztec Rose

The fabric is Beekman Place by Timeless Treasures, a dark burgundy background with dark blue, tan, ecru, green all over large pattern.

Shown below with several of the completed Civil War blocks.

After returning home, Cynthia began cutting out and sewing together several Jacob's Ladder blocks for the Jacob's Ladder QAL.

Cynthia is fortunate to have family members who quilted and brought a quilt made by her grandmother to share with us.  Cynthia has sewn in the past but this will be her first quilt... 

You'd never know it tho... Cynthia sewed and pressed like a pro!

Saturday was chilly and over cast with mizzly, misty rain all day... so homemade soup made for a lovely supper.  All in all, a wonderful day...

Jacob's Ladder QAL Info

(Okay, I'm going to try to post with the new Blogger interface thingie...  let's see what happens!)

I've gotten a number of questions about the JL QAL and wanted to get everything down in one place!

1.  We're going to be making Jacob's Ladder blocks.  As many or as few as you would like to make.  No quilt size or block size is specified.  I will be using Bonnie Hunter's Florabunda instructions and using the measurements in her tutorial.  (For the Cowabunga Florabunda, I used 3" strips rather than 2" strips because I didn't want to make a zillion blocks for a king-size quilt.)

Photo from Bonnie Hunter's Florabunda tutorial

2.  You may use any fabrics you'd like to, preferably from your stash but... if you'd would like to purchase fabrics... or if you need to purchase a solid for the "ladders".... no big deal!

3:  Start date:  I'm planning on starting around the end of September or the first of October after I finish the Cowabunga Florabunda quilt top.   If you'd like to start before that... or would like to start later...  perfectly alright with me!

4.  Time frame:  There isn't one.  I plan on making one block per week and... since I need 48 blocks... I'm figuring that I'll finish up by the end of next summer.  We're rolling into the holiday time of the year and I'm certain we'll all miss a week here and there... but... that's the way things happen!

Custom clock from your quilt block at Heartstring Treasures

5.  Flickr group:  I have set up a Jacob's Ladder QAL group on Flickr so we can share photos and enjoy what everyone else is working on.

 Photo from the Martha's Vineyard Museum

6.  How do I sign up for the JL QAL?  All you need to do is join the Jacob's Ladder QAL group on Flickr. 

6.  Purpose of JL QAL:  To have fun, play with fabrics, share what we're doing, encourage others, etc. 

No racing, no competition, no quilt police!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Quilting Bee" ornament by Jim Shore