Aurifil DOM on the design wall

My design wall has been propped up once again and although unsafe, it is usable at the moment. On the design wall today are my Aurifil Designer of the Month blocks.

Here is block #5 called Santa Barbara Tile by Minke Kim. The photo tutorial on Pat Sloan's blog was excellent as it helped me figure out how to sew this unique block together. It was an interesting construction method and surprisingly came out to the correct size. My only concern is that the outside of the block is all bias edges, so I stitched around all sides to hopefully stabilize it until it's sewn into the quilt (likely some time in 2020!)

Here are my first 3 blocks. January's block is still under construction, and I'm not going to make the paper pieced bridge block from April. June's block will be posted this week, so I'm right on schedule. I love it when that happens!
To see many creative versions of block #5 click here for the linkup. To see more design wall postings, hop over to Small Quilts.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! Our goal is to encourage you to pick up your project, put a few stitches in, take some deep breaths, and enjoy the happy feelings that will result (and the subsequent improved health)!

I finished hand quilting two more Life is Beautiful blocks last weekend and have returned to another "I Stitch Club" embroidery block this week. I like how the variegated blue thread looks on the spool. Three more designs will be sent out soon so I'd like to catch up with last month's patterns. 
Early this morning I will be returning from the airport to pick up my daughter, who is flying home from another international coral restoration work project. Depending on the flight delays I might get lots of stitching done waiting at the airport. 
Check back next week to see the progress...  or lack thereof.


What are you hand stitching today? We love to see your slow progress so link up your blog post below.



   

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Scrappy Saturday

It's aqua month over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I have several projects that need an aqua infusion so I hope to be able to sew lots of blocks this month.

The first task is to make the monthly sampler blocks. The pattern for June is called "Country Lanes". I made a tabletopper in 2015  using this block, which was a quiltalong called "Country Roads" from Humble Quilts.
Here are the 4 aqua blocks for my 5" version of the RSC "Squared Away" sampler. Very quick and easy to sew together.

Here are my sampler blocks from the first half of the year. Six months making four blocks each month, for a total of 24 blocks. I have no idea how it will all come together in the end, but I'm loving it so far. Thanks to Angela and Mari for all the work you put into this fun project for us!
To see more aqua projects, hop over to the RSC linkup.

June UFO

via GIPHY
This is me! It has been quite frustrating dealing with some Blogger issues recently and I don't understand how processes that have worked well for years are suddenly broken. Did we wear it out? Perhaps we used it too much and it broke?!? LOL
I remind myself "you get what you pay for" and I haven't paid anything for all the fun that I have had all these years. But still, it is very frustrating and I am sorry that I can't interact with and respond to the wonderful comments left on my blog. At the moment I am still able to read them so thanks for making the effort!
And in case you were wondering why there was no "Design Wall Monday" post this week, another frustration to deal with is that my design wall fell over (wasn't attached to the wall) and broke my primary lamp/light source in my quilting room. 
See the above video of my reaction to this new frustration!
So for the month of June I'm not going to work on a UFO that requires good lighting or a design wall (which is now on the floor!)  My goal will be to finish my Broken Dishes quilt. The machine quilting has been started, so I'll continue with that and get this quilt finished up. I have the binding fabric and will enjoy hand stitching the binding later in the month.
To see more UFO goals, hop over to One Monthly Goal.
One good thing that happened this week is that I won a participation prize for linking up to OMG last month. I received two quilting patterns of my choice from Quilting Jetgirl. Thanks Yvonne for sponsoring the OMG!

Co-creating

marked quilt

A friend of mine asked me to machine quilt a project for her. She wanted to put it in her guild quilt show but wasn't going to have time to finish it. 
So guess who agreed to help get it done?

walking foot quilting

My friend marked the design she wanted with a water soluble blue marker (on light fabrics) and some 1/4" tape (on dark fabrics). The tape was a pain to deal with. I had to clip out parts of it in order to stitch continuous lines, and it kept getting stuck to the walking foot.

free motion quilting

I much preferred quilting with the free motion foot and following the blue lines.
Look at how dirty my Machinger gloves are, just from dye transfer and dirt on the fabrics. I do love the increased grip that these gloves give when machine quilting.




This is the quilted project. It is the same pattern as my train quilt (click here and scroll down to see it). These quilts look so different you would never know they are made from the same pattern! 
Now my friend can put the binding on and the quilt will be finished in time for the Grand  Quilt Guild show in Fergus on June 8 and 9.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly celebration of hand stitching! It's the one time a week where we make sure to set aside some special moments for playing with needles and thread. We hope you will join us!

I have pulled out my Life is Beautiful project again. I've been working on it for more than 3 years now. At this stage the focus is quilting these alternate blocks. They are the perfect summer take along project. I have a stack of blocks pin basted and am looking forward to sitting outside today and putting in some stitches. 

What is your take along hand stitching project for the summer? Link up your blog post below and share your progress with us.




   

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Scrappy Saturday

These Maverick/wonky  star blocks (pattern here) have been added to my collection. The blue blocks were leftover pieces from binding on my Wish Upon a Star quilt. And the pinks were from the scrap box. 

Here are all the blocks on the design wall.
The colour for June is turquoise/aqua so I'm looking forward to pulling out those scraps. This quilt definitely needs an aqua infusion.
To see more Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts, hop over to the weekly link up.

New Blockheads Project Fabric

Did you know there is another sampler project coming our way from the Moda designers?
I'm excited about the new Blockheads starting in June, but I have decided that I'm not going to allow myself to start it until my Blockheads #1 project is finished. I mean, a quilter has to have SOME discipline, don't they?!?!
So if I really meant business, that would mean finishing how many blocks?  Okay now... where are those blocks?!? LOL 

While I search for those, I'll show you the fabric I bought for the new Blockheads II (which I might not start until I finish Blockheads I)!
When Thelma posted her Harmony II quilt made from the new Harmony line from Sweetwater, I was totally smitten. 
HAD.TO.HAVE.IT!

And here is it! This will magically become a quilt over the next year, or two, or three, or....
Are you starting the new Blockheads II?

Clarissa Quilt Top

Clarissa was started in 2016 as a leader-ender challenge by Bonnie Hunter. The challenge was to make a quilt using hourglass blocks. It was the perfect incentive to make a quilt similar to one I had seen at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. The original quilt was made by Clarissa White Alford circa 1880. She raised her own 9 children, plus 6 children from her husband's first marriage, and after surviving that, Clarissa made her famous quilt completely by hand. That's right... no rotary cutter, no rulers and mats, no sewing machine, just scissors, needle and thread!

Almost 140 years later I used all the modern quilting tools to construct my copycat quilt top. Each block has 144 triangles, and my version of the quilt with 20 blocks has a total of 2,880 triangles plus the 48 sashing triangles for a grand total of...2,928 triangles in this quilt!
I did meet my May UFO goal of getting these blocks to quilt top status, but I'm still undecided about a final border. I'm thinking of a white border with the quarter square triangle (QST) cornerstones, then maybe another border of a million more QSTs. I haven't had the time to make a stack of blocks to see if I would like that, but that is the plan of the moment!
To see more Monthly Goals postings, hop over to the link up.

Square Dance Mystery Update

This month we made the "promenade" units for the Square Dance mystery quilt. For the quilt size I am making, I only needed 40 units and they went together easily. Here are a few of my units on the design wall. 
I have no idea how this quilt design is going to come together and it doesn't look like much today, but that is the fun of a mystery adventure.
Next month will be the big reveal for the mystery quilt design and I am READY to put together my "chocolate covered cherries" quilt!

Clarissa is on the design wall

It's the last week of May and I'm fairly close to meeting my UFO goal this month. The final Clarissa block was made and the layout decided. There was a lot of moving blocks around and you know how that goes... fix one thing you don't like and create another problem you don't like even more. So finally, with the end of month deadline looming, I just started sewing the sashing to the blocks.
The quarter square triangle blocks are the cornerstones of the white sashing, but I'm not sure about what to do around the outside? A plain white border? With or without QST cornerstones? The decision making agony process will be dramatically shortened due to the end of month OMG deadline, which is probably a good thing.
Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the hand stitching party! Sunday is finally here and you know what that means... it's time for some relaxing hand stitching!
I have finished 2 quilts in the last 2 weeks (Make a Wish and Tied up in Knots), and stitching those bindings provided me with many hours of hand stitching enjoyment. 
I have also been working on some hand embroidery. Here is my most recently finished embroidered basket block for the Gail Pan "i Stitch" club. I stitched this on the GO train to and from Toronto and it was very helpful in calming me down a wee bit while travelling to and from the big city.
So far this has been a mystery project, but next month Gail will send us a layout idea. I haven't trimmed any of my embroidered blocks yet, waiting to decide what I'm going to do with them. Today I will be tracing a couple of new patterns to stitch this week.

What are you working on? Link up your hand stitching project below and share your progress with us.
Blogger has been having a few issues this week, so I do hope you will be able to easily post comments and linkups.


   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Finish!

Can you believe I am posting my SECOND quilt finish this week?!?! So exciting! I finished my quilt for the "Wish Upon a Star" blog hop (see it here) and I also just finished "Tied Up In Knots"! This one is a really big finish for me because I've been working on it for 6 years!

The first block was made in January 2012 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. I meticulously cut the 1.5" scrap  squares in the colour of the month for a total of 56 squares per block.  The 12" Knot block pattern is by Tina Curran and was published in issue #3 of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine. 
Finished size: 43.5" x 57.25"



Spring has finally arrived here and the outside world is turning green at last!  When the binding was finished I went for a walk with my sister looking for some photo op locations. This is a fun shot because the first block I made for this quilt was the red one.




It's not very often I get a fancy photo of me with one of my quilts! I'm very proud of this multi-year effort, from the graduated arrangements of the colours within each block, to the challenge of machine quilting the blocks and the diamonds in the sashing, this finish has been a long time coming! 



Thanks to Angela for hosting the weekly Rainbow Scrap Challenge and to all my blog readers for the encouragement to stick with this thing over the years. And thanks for celebrating today with me! So pleased to be posting this finish over at the RSC weekly link up.

Last day of Wish Upon A Star Blog Hop

Have you been enjoying the star quilt postings this week? 

Machine quilt on my "Make a Wish" quilt border

It has been such fun! When you give a suggestion to creative people, it's amazing what they can create!
Thanks again to Carol for organizing the fun!
Here is the line up of the links to visit on the last day of the blog hop:

May 25

Creatin' in the Sticks

For the love of geese

Words & Stitches

Quarter Inch Crafter

Quilt Fabrication

Home Sewn By Us

Kathleen McMusing

Just Let Me Quilt

I'm linking up to Sarah's Hands2Help. 
My star quilt (details found here) is being donated to my guild's comfort quilt project. 

Wish Upon A Star Quilt

It's my day to post my star quilt for the blog hop. Thank you for dropping by! My project is made of orphan blocks from 3 different block swaps from many years ago. The blocks were sitting in a project box in the UFO closet until Carol suggested making something with a star on it. Hey... I have some stars in the closet! 

"Make a Wish"

The top star blocks are 6", the middle nine blocks are 12" and the bottom stars are 9". It was a challenge to figure out how to combine 3 different block sizes, and along the way there were a few creative possibilities using layouts that made the quilt way too big. I wanted to make a donation sized quilt, so this layout came out to the right size at 45" x 60".

quilting on a 12" star block

All the free motion quilting was done on my Brother 1500 domestic sewing machine. The quilting design is mostly loops and stars, with some curved arcs in some of the star blocks. 

Pinocchio inspiration

Around the outside border I quilted the lyrics from the song  "When you wish upon a star" (which won the 1940 Academy Award for best original song) from the Disney movie called Pinocchio. 

"When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you"

Beginning border quilting

This song just makes me feel happy, and I played it on Spotify repeat until the border quilting was done! I even found the kids' old Pinocchio video to take a photo of with the finished quilt!

quilt back

I'm so happy that these blocks have finally become a finished quilt. Not a single fabric was purchased for the quilt top and the binding strips were leftover pieces in the navy scrap box.
Here is a photo of the back of the quilt. It used up 5 pieces of fabric that were in a bundle on sale for $10 at Creative Sisters. That's a great deal for a backing! 
Hopefully you had some time to visit the other blogs on the hop and enjoy the wonderful star quilts that have been created (complete list here).  
Here are the other blogs to visit today:

May 24

Kathy’s Quilts (me)

It’s A T-Sweet Day!

Freckled Fox Quiltery

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Melva Loves Scraps

Beaquilter

Quilting Nonnie

Den syende himmel

All Thingz Sewn

Thanks to Carol for organizing another fun blog hop for us to enjoy!

Wishing to finish my star quilt!

Have you seen the fantastic star quilts that the quilters have been sharing this week on the Wish Upon A Star blog hop? I have had a blast creating my star quilt and seeing all the inspiration that was stirred up by Carol inviting people to make something with a star on it! I have been quilting stars and loops until my shoulders and arms ache. My chair needs to be up higher to be ergonomically correct, but then I can't see well. If I'm going to do this much machine quilting I'm going to need new glasses, a higher more comfortable chair, AND a massage therapist LOL!
Here is the list of blogs to visit for Day #3:

May 23

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Quilt Doodle Designs

Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Vroomans Quilts

Peanut's Patchwork

Ms P Designs USA

The Little Mushroom Cap

Stitchin At Home

That Fabric Feeling

 Come back tomorrow to see my star quilt reveal on Day #4!

Machine Quilting the Broken Dishes

Since finishing the quilting for my Wish Upon a Star blog hop quilt (drop by on Thursday to see the big finish!) and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge project I was working on, you would think I was quilted out. But no! 
I immediately started right in on quilting the Broken Dishes quilt. I did quite a bit of stitch-in-the-ditch quilting to start. I also used the Hera Marker to make some straight lines to stitch in open spaces. The Hera Marker just makes a crease in the fabric to stitch on and although I love it, the lighting has to be very bright for me to be able to see the lines made by this tool. It's wonderful for quilting on white fabrics where you don't want to worry about removing marks made from pencils, pens, or other markers.

Then I switched to the free motion foot and started making some curved lines in the blocks. It was really fun making it up as I go along. I didn't have a quilting plan in mind from the start. I just did the next interesting thing that came into my mind, one step at a time.
I'm now wondering about quilting feathers around this block or stitching more parallel straight lines. I am reminding myself there is not "one right answer" that I am in search of. There are lots of good ideas, and I just have to pick one to try. The quilt will tell me right away if it doesn't like my idea!
Linking up to Let's Be Social!

It's day two of the Wish Upon A Star blog hop. Here is the line up for today...enjoy!

May 22

Want To Be Quilter

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Selina Quilts

Ridge Top Quilt

Creative Blonde

Days Filled With Joy

Seams To Be Sew

Lily Patch Quilts

Why-Knot-Kwilt

Clarissa on the Design Wall

Here it is... drum roll please... the last block has been made for my Clarissa quilt top. It was fun sewing this block knowing that it's the last one. I used up many odd triangles sitting in the project box. This is a classic Clarissa block, with a pinwheel in the centre, surrounded by a dark round of QSTs, and around the outside of the block are light QSTs.
The next step is to finalize a layout (first I have to find the other blocks in storage), cut out the sashings, and sew it all together. 
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Small Quilts. 

Also, today is the start of the Wish Upon a Star blog hop... prepare to be inspired!  I am still working on finishing my quilt... my day to post my star quilt is Thursday. Here is the line up of blogs to visit today...

May 21

Moose Stash Quilting

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Quilt In A Not-Shell

What About Rheema?

Clever Chameleon Quilting

Sunlight in Winter Quilts

Life in the Scrapatch

Sew Many Yarns
Hazel’s Daughter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly link up of hand stitched projects!

I am doing my favourite type of hand stitching today - binding. I recently finished the quilting on a Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt called "Tied Up in Knots" and have been enjoying hand stitching this colourful striped binding.

It must be the week for binding...my friend Debby is also hand stitching a binding on a quilt-as-you-go project. Part of her binding is made of satin so it will be an extra cuddly quilt.






And my sister is also hand stitching a binding on a baby boy quilt. She uses the binding clips that resemble hair clips and her stitches are microscopic.





Are you doing any binding this week?!?
If you have a hand stitching project that you would like to show us, link up your blog post below. We hope that whatever you are stitching today will be relaxing and fun! Enjoy!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up