The mystery sampler quilt from Moda is continuing and it is so much fun! I get up early on Wednesday morning to see the new pattern and visit the designer's blogs. It is inspiring to see so many variations of each block pattern. You really must check out the Blockheads facebook page to see the creativity of the quilting community. It blows my mind to see how each interpretation of the same block can be so different!
Here is my version of block #28 which is a hand appliqued pumpkin designed by Jan Patek. I don't know why my pumpkin leans to the right, but some pumpkins are just like that you know?! I'm wishing I hadn't put the pumpkin on a background fabric with vertical lines which just emphasizes the lean, but that's life.
Block #29 is called "Juneau". I have no idea why the block is called that, but I have a niece who is attending university in Juneau, so first I have to post a photo of her at the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, right? We are so proud of her and are all enjoying her adventure vicariously.
Thankfully, sewing the Juneau block was not a harrowing adventure. The directions were clear, the tiny pieces went together beautifully, the seam ripper did not get used at all, and the block even turned out to be the right size!
Block #30 was just as easy and fun. This is called "Four-Patch Dash". Inspired by Carrie's blocks, I made my version a "double four patch double dash". The tiny 4 patch blocks are 1.75" and adorable. Now I'm thinking of how great a whole quilt would be made of these little blocks.
Here are my 30 sampler blocks on the design wall.
I'm hopping over to Moda now to see the new pattern block #31 posted today!
This is the project I chose for October's UFO. This is the Aurifil Block of the Month project from 2016 (free patterns still available here). The blocks were made in 2016, and the top was sewn together in March of this year.
One of the lessons of this quilt was to remind me to not worry about fabric substitutions. I miscalculated on the sashing fabric amount and couldn't find any more of the red fabric in local quilt shops to finish sashing the blocks. Eventually I added a second red and you don't even notice it. And if you did notice it, I think it adds more interest to the quilt.
My first step will be to piece a backing and cut some batting. Pin basting will hopefully commence this week.
To see more UFO goals, hop over to One Monthly Goal.
I have been working away on Kevin's mystery quilt called Sapphire Stars. Here are the latest finished blocks for step #5 up on the design wall.
First I cut all the background squares the wrong size. For a while I just could not believe I did that. I was clearly in denial!
The instructions clearly said
"cut squares 6 7/8", and then I went ahead and cut them 6 1/2". Why? I guess my brain just short circuited on me!
Once I calmed down, I had to re-cut all the squares using the correct measurement and then of course didn't have enough fabric. So I added in two more fat quarters that are light with green dots and I really like how those blocks look.
This is an interesting quilt with just these blocks on their own!
But somehow the above blocks are magically going to be sewn to these blocks to make a quilt design. I have no idea how all these units are going to fit together!
I have also been sewing a lot of HST blocks this past week for two other mystery quilts.
At the top are the HST blocks for step #3 of the Palmateer Point quiltalong. The brown fabric is shweshwe with a caramel coloured neutral. This quiltalong is a miniature and the next step will be posted today over at Humble Quilts.
And the 72 white and yellow HSTs are for the Magnolia Mystery. I am using up scraps from my Swoon quilt for this project and don't think I'll need to buy anything to make the lap sized version. New instructions come out once a month, so I'm ready for October's step which will be posted on Thursday.
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Small Quilts.
Welcome to the weekly celebration of all hand stitched crafts! We hope you will join us in setting aside time each Sunday for some relaxing stitching on your favourite project. Pick up a needle and thread, breathe deeply, and enjoy a few moments of restful stitching.
This week I finished a quilt that was 5 years old (see the finished Tetris quilt here). I enjoyed stitching down the binding on my lunch hour, sitting on a bench at the park. So many employees will sit at a desk and stare at their phone screen for their lunch "break". That does not relax my body or brain. But hand stitching does! It is a meditative process that immediately calms me. I enjoyed sitting in the sun, breathing fresh air, and feeling renewed with creative energy.
I also put in some binding stitches at my weekly date with my parents. It is our tradition to watch "Dancing With the Stars" together and I like to have a hand stitching project to work on during the commercials.
Since that project is finished, today I'll be back to working on my Life is Beautiful blocks. Here are the quilted blocks on the design wall.
I have a few more alternate blocks prepped and ready to start stitching. When they are all quilted, I will join them together using the quilt-as-you-go technique.
What are you working on today? Link up your blog post below and tell us about your hand stitching progress so we can cheer you on!
An InLinkz Link-up
This is the last Saturday of orange month over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I got a few scraps sewn into useable blocks for various projects over the month. These are the two newest orange scrappy sprout blocks finished this week. For more sprout inspiration, the pattern is here, and you can see a finished version of this block pattern here and a WIP here.
Here is my entire sprout collection on the design wall. Does it need more medium blues/aquas? Yellows/golds?
Purples? Pinks?
Well, I guess it needs more of everything!
Hop over to the weekly link up and see what quilters are sewing with their orange scraps.
Monday night's visit to the Halton Hills Quilters' Guild was lots of fun! I didn't get lost on the way there, didn't get caught in traffic jams, didn't get lost in unorganized or sudden detours/road closures, and I even arrived to the meeting early. That was the easiest drive I have had in a long long time and made me realize how stressful the "season of construction" has been for driving! LOL
The Halton Hills quilt show is coming up in October so there was a lot of excitement about planning for that. It's a big undertaking to plan a quilt show and organize all the volunteers required to make it successful. At the meeting I got to see a couple of the quilts that will be featured at the show and it promises to be an inspiring event. Hope you can make it if you live close enough!
My UFO of the month is finally getting some attention. Nothing like leaving it until the last minute, since it's the last week of September!
The "squares on black" border fabric was attached without drama. The whole quilt was pin basted on the weekend and the quilting was started. During the basting process I decided that the quilting was going to be primarily straight vertical lines for the main area of the quilt. It's fairly boring stitch-in-the-ditch quilting with the walking foot, but the quilt just didn't want anything fancier. And it's going very quickly so I might even make the end of week/month deadline!
The straight quilting lines are continuing right into the borders. You can see that the the backing fabric (on the right of the photo) is a black on white print that I'm happy to be using up from my stash.
My Blockheads BOW project is on the design wall today.
There have been 29 patterns posted, and here are my first 27 blocks. I'm still working on the last two blocks, one of which is an appliqued pumpkin so that will take me longer to complete.
To see more design wall posts, hop over to the link up at Small Quilts.
This is block #27 called "union variation" which is the most recently constructed block. I fussy cut a civil war reproduction scrap for the centre square. It tilts significantly to the left for some unknown reason, but like how it looks and I'm leaving it like that!
In other quilty news, I am the speaker at the Halton Hills quilt guild tonight at 7pm, so if you are in the area and able to attend click here to get all the information.
Wow that past week just flew by and it's Sunday again already!
Welcome to Slow Sunday Stitching! I haven't even visited the 30 fabulous links from last week yet. Sometimes there is just not enough time to do all the fun things we want to do. But I always make the time on Sundays for a few relaxing moments with my needle and thread.
We have been enjoying such fabulous fall weather here that it has been hard to stay indoors and sew. I did buckle down and get the binding attached on my Berenstain Bears baby quilt. I was so happy I had enough of that great yellow with orange dots binding fabric to get all the way around the quilt. I enjoyed some hand stitching time while watching QuiltCam this week and got one side of the binding finished. It is looking good to hopefully finish the quilt this week!
What are you hand stitching today?
An InLinkz Link-up
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| Indigo Shweshwe |
As my blog readers know, I have a million quilts on the go and so many projects already to work on. In fact there are 4 mystery quilts in various stages of progress on my work surface today!
But of course I'm starting Lori's new "Palmateer Point" quiltalong because:
a) it's just a quick tiny little quilt,
b) I've enjoyed so many of her previous projects - you can see some of them here, here and here, and
c) I may have a bit of an addiction problem! LOL
I decided to use a long saved treasure of Shweshwe fabrics that I received from my friend Celeste. I don't want them to be on a shelf in a closet anymore... they need to be in a quilt and this is the one!
The wrong sides of the fabrics are stamped with either "six star toto" or "three cats" which indicate authentic Shweshwe fabrics from South Africa. There is a lot of dye discharge with these fabrics so you must prewash before using them. And they are quite stiff, so washing them first makes them more soft and fun to sew with.
Here are my 4 patch units for step #1 with a wonderful variety of indigo prints. Part #2 has already been posted, so I'm hoping to sew those blocks tonight.
Are you joining in with this quiltalong?
Linking up to Let's Be Social.
Progress is being made in machine quilting my Berenstain Bears baby quilt. This terrible photo of late night stitching shows how I started with some free motion curved lines in white threads, working my way across the white fabrics on the diagonal.
Here's a better day time quilting photo.
I put the walking foot on the machine and did some stitch-in-the-ditch on the horizontal seams to stabilize the whole thing a little more. It seems close to being finished.
How do you know when the quilting is done? I sometimes have a tendency to overquilt... because it's fun and I keep getting ideas so I keep quilting. I'm trying to stop myself before I do that because it's a baby quilt which I want to be soft and cuddly, and less stiff from being overquilted. But now looking at the photos I can see 2 more quilting ideas I could add.
Maybe I should just stop quilting and put the binding on. Then I could focus on the "to-do" list and get started on quilting my UFO of the month!
What's that on the design wall?
I have no idea what this is going to be!
These are the parts for the latest step in Kevin's mystery quilt. I'm really enjoying working with some of my old stash plaids and I also love the background fabric that I found in my stash... is says "BAAAA" in a variety of fonts. It makes me smile and that's my favourite kind of fabric.
Here are the pieces we have sewn in the previous steps. All the blocks are different sizes, so it's a true mystery for me how this is all going to fit together in some kind of quilt layout!
Linking up to Small Quilts and Oh Scrap.
Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! It's time to take a deep breath, pick up your needle and thread and put some stitches in your project.
I have been working on some alternate blocks for my Life Is Beautiful project. I'm not even finished quilting all the embroidered blocks, but just wanted to see how the alternate blocks were going to look. I stitched in the seams horizontally and vertically, and then stitched around the circle. The block needed more quilting so I traced a second circle to see how it looked, and I like it more now.
I also repaired this block with the one big "toe hanger" stitch in the middle. I cut the thread where the scissor point is, pulled the stitches out on both sides, knotted off both ends and restitched the area. It was fiddly stitching, but I feel much better about that block now.
We have been enjoying some gorgeous fall weather here and this was my view while working on some hand stitching last weekend.
So now it's your turn... what are you hand stitching today? Link up your blog post below and share your progress with us.
An InLinkz Link-up
A friend of mine is having twins soon and so of course baby quilts will be needed! I looked through the UFO closet and pulled out this older Berenstain Bears quilt top. The pattern is called "Arrows Up" and is by Jackie Seyer. This project hasn't been seen on the blog for almost 3 years. It fell into the UFO closet because at the time I thought it was very busy and frenetic looking, and I was going to add some borders to try to calm it down a bit.
But now I have decided it's the perfect size and wildness for a new baby quilt. I pieced a backing from that yellow fabric and some odd leftover pieces. Isn't that a great selvage edge on that fabric?
I have the Aurifil thread all ready to go... white on top and variegated yellow in the bobbin. It's pin basted and ready for "quilt as desired"!
Everyone knows how much I love a mystery quilt! It's next to impossible for me to resist a great mystery. To prove my point, here's a summary of the mystery quilts division of Kathy's Quilts:
1) Temecula's Marvelous Mini Mondays is finished now. All the block patterns have been posted, and the final layout can be seen here. I really enjoyed sewing these tiny blocks and here they are on my design wall. There are supposed to be 20 blocks in the quilt. I don't know why I have 18 blocks, but there you have it! I also have 5 incorrectly made scrappy squares that are too small. You can look for a creative layout that will incorporate all of these blocks...coming "soon".
2) Kevin's mystery quilt called Sapphire Stars, which I am calling Emerald Stars since I am using greens instead of blues. Here are my blocks for that mystery project and a surprise clue was just posted, so that's on the sewing agenda for next week!
3) Blockheads BOW project, which I usually update every week is past the half way point at block # 27 this week.
4) Magnolia Mystery is at the beginning stage and I've just finished cutting all the pieces. The first sewing step has just been posted!
5) Lori over at Humble Quilts is starting a little (20" square) mystery quilt called Palmateer Point. Of course I will start this one too!
How many mystery quilts do you have on the go?!?
Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!
I am definitely looking forward to some slow stitching today. How about you?
I hope you will take some time today to relax and to put a few stitches into your project.
One of the important jobs for hand stitching projects is doing all the prep work so that when you have the time and energy to do some stitching, everything is organized and ready to go.
This week I prepped these 8 blocks for hand quilting. This task involved finding backing fabric, pressing the fabrics and blocks, cutting the backing and batting to the correct size, then pin basting the sandwiches. Now they are all ready for me to hand stitch today. I doubt they'll all be done, but I'm looking forward to getting started on the pile!
We love to see what you're working on, so link up your blog post below and share your project with us.
An InLinkz Link-up
The temperatures are cooler at night, it's getting darker earlier each evening, and the leaves are changing from green to gold, red, and orange. And you know what that means... it's time for Fall Fairs to start!
This photo of my trunk of my car is a good snapshot of my life this week. I have camping gear for the weekend, a bag of quilts for fall fair entry, my briefcase for work, and 3 dog pillows to drop off at the Humane Society on my way to work. That is a lot of details to manage in one day!
I have entered two fairs so far this month and have won a couple of photography ribbons and some quilting ribbons. The financial rewards are tiny and don't even cover the cost of the gas you need to drive yourself and your entries to the fair!
But I really enjoy these community events and if I want to see them continue, I have to be ready to contribute. I like getting out in the fresh air, seeing friends, and being inspired by the creativity of talented people.
Next week I will be judging at 3 different fairs and it's a challenging job. For example, look at this photography category. I didn't judge or enter this category but want to show you what an impossible task it is sometimes when you have amazing entries.
This category is... minimum 5" x 7" photos with a theme of "Dominant red". Some photos will be eliminated for being too small for the specifications of the category, and the rest of the photos are judged according to the theme. That cardinal photo is incredible, but it doesn't read as "dominant" red. It's mostly blue. So it didn't win a prize in this category, but would likely be a winner in other categories such as "Up in the sky", "Canadian wildlife" or "Birding".
As with all competitions, a win/ribbon is relative to all the other entries and the preferences of the judges.
Do you have fall fairs in your community? Do you enter your quilts?
The Blockheads mystery sampler project is moving right along with over half of the blocks posted now.
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| Block #24 |
One of the most challenging (for me) was block #24 called "Corn. No Beans". There are 72 pieces in this 6.5" block and when I sewed it the first time, it was too big. The air was a little blue in the sewing room for a few minutes! Once I calmed down, I took apart the entire block, carefully re-trimmed every HST (some were a few threads too big) and then resewed the block again. Carefully and slowly. And will you look at that... it's perfect now!
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| Block #26 |
This is block #26 called Cat's Cradle. There was no drama with this one... no reversing the lights/darks, no cutting mistakes, and everything came out to just the perfect size. I love it when that happens!
Check out the variety of blocks being posted on the Blockheads Facebook page. You don't have to be a Facebook member to be able to view the postings and it is inspiring to see all the variations on each of the block patterns.
Block #27 was posted today and is called "Union Variation". I'm off to the sewing room... but before I go, here is my block collection so far:
On my design wall today is one lonely 12" block. This is for the Aberfoyle Fall Fair quilt block challenge. They collect blocks to make quilts to raffle to raise money for the fair expenses. The block theme is "a variety of vegetables" and it has to include the feature fabric that is on the outside of the top left and bottom right blocks. I also fussy cut the centre blocks from the feature fabric.
The pattern is the #14 Blockheads square in a square block. Half way through block construction I was wishing that I had used a paper piecing pattern instead, but it turned out okay in the end.
The challenge was to create enough contrast in the block when using only very busy vegetable prints. I tried to create contrast by carefully considering the scale and value of the prints. Still... it's very chaotic looking. I'm telling myself that it's just like a healthy vegetable garden should be! Fair submissions are on friday morning and I'm delighted to not be finishing at the last minute - you quilters just know how we are!
Linking up with Small Quilts.
And in other vegetable news...
as soon as the weather gets cooler, my soup making interest reappears. This is the leftovers from the first batch of vegetable soup this month. It's made of all the veggies that were sitting in the fridge... carrots, zucchini, celery, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, and tomatoes. It's a totally delicious way to get your vitamins!
