20th Anniversary Quilt Retreat!

I attended the Jane Stickle quilt retreat the weekend before Thanksgiving. This retreat was a celebration of 20 years of continuous retreats. The very first retreat was held in November 1998. I didn't start attending the retreats until November 2007 and haven't missed since.

We had two show & tells this retreat. On Thursday evening we had a special Dear Jane show & tell. Anything item that was made with Jane blocks  or special challenges from the last 20 years were eligible to be shown and there was a lot to show. Also . . . there were 9 new Dear Jane quilt finishes. 

Last summer, a large online group of retreat attendees started piecing Jane, completing two blocks a week. They will be piecing awhile but their quilts are in progress. The Dear Jane quilt is still alive and happening in our group.

Rosemary always does such a wonderful job of taking pictures at show & tell. I'm going to link to her blog and let you watch from the smile box she made. Rosemary's smilebox, November 2018 retreat. Have your coffee ready to sip while you watch, there are 400 pictures!

Of course I showed my Dear Jane which I hand quilted and finished in 2016. 

What else did I do at the retreat besides party?

I pieced a Boston Commons for me. She'll hang in the closet for awhile until I decide how I want her quilted.

The yellow fabric was left from my Nearly Insane quilt. It is nearly impossible to get a good picture, it always show lighter than it really is.  I took a close up of a corner and the yellow does look better, at least I thought it did, maybe it doesn't. Oh well.

I took one picture of the flimsy with the light on and the second one the overhead light is off and the blinds pulled shut. It didn't seem to help at all.

My Boston Commons is an old pattern, designed back in the 80's and this is the only pattern I've ever used for this design. I don't know if this method is used in other Boston Commons patterns or not.

First you piece the center and add the first border. 

Then you piece the corner sections then attach them which looks rather weird.

Finally you piece the top, bottom and side sections and attach them. After that it's the outside border and it's a flimsy ready to be quilted.

The pattern suggests you use the same fabric as the inside border for the outside. I don't really like light borders for bed quilts that are going to be used. I love deep dark blue so that is what I used. 

My quilt is king sized 98" by 120" and is the first flimsy to be crossed off this list for this winter's quilting season.

I also worked on Starlight Express. The center section is pieced. Currently I'm piecing 9-patch blocks to make a border around the center. Hopefully this will be a completed flimsy next week.

Linking to Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Show Off Saturday

Still Quilting

It's time for an update on how the hand quilting is going on the Pastor's Attic quilt. Another row has been finished! Here is a view of the whole row before I rolled.

Pictures of the different applique blocks.

And a view of the left side border quilting. The right side looks just like this so I didn't show both sides.

For those who aren't familiar with this pattern, this is The Pastor's Attic Quilt by Marsha D. Radtke, an Baltimore Album Quilt.

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, Esther's Wednesday WOW!

UFQ's Completed!

Last spring I wrote a post titled My List of Current UFQ's. 

I am very, very thrilled and pleased to say I've completed all 13 (the original list of ten and then the three I added) quilts that were listed on the spring post!! Whoo!! Happy Dance!! The idea was to progress them into the flimsy stage but several of them have been quilted and are completely finished. Here is an update on each of the 13 projects.

1. Nearly Insane - Completely Finished! I hand quilted this quilt. Here is a link to the Nearly Insane pattern if you are interested.

2. Pastor's Attic Quilt - The applique borders have been completed and the flimsy is finished! This quilt is in the hand quilting frame now and will be completed sometime in 2019.

3. Bricks & Stepping Stones - comforter top for the school auction my Pennsylvania grandchildren attend. Finished! - a Bonnie Hunter pattern

The children at school will knot this comforter.

This was a quick and simple pattern. I have plenty of rectangles left. I see more Bricks & Stepping Stones in my future. 

4. King sized Boston Commons quilt for the school auction the Pennsylvania grandchildren attend. Finished! Someone in Pennsylvania will hand quilt this quilt.

I really like how this turned out but now I want to make one for me but in blues and yellows, maybe in 2019? 

5. Sweet Surrender - is a flimsy. Now waiting it's turn to be hand quilted.

6. Star Dance - Top is finished and also waiting to be hand quilted someday.

7. Baskets & 9-Patches - Completely Finished! Long arm quilted by Three Sisters Fabric, New Paris, Indiana.

A close up photo. I didn't use the original basket pattern that was used in the pattern.







8. Fat Quarter Challenge - Completely Finished! This was a

challenge with the Maple Leaf Quilt guild. Long arm quilted by Lori Null.

9. Wilfred & Cloves - Completely Finished!!

Long arm quilted by Lori Null, medallion was hand quilted by me. Completely finished! 

10. Scrappy 9 Patch, formerly known as No Name 4-1/2" 

finished 9 patch blocks -  The 9 patches are pieced. 

This is a project I started on my own without a pattern. I think she turned out very nice. The flimsy was gifted to a friend who'll add border fabric of her choice and then quilt it for one of her children.

11. Sisters Choice - Finished! This is a Bonnie Hunter

pattern. I pieced the 9-patches years ago  and then started the actual blocks back in 2016. 

12. Re-purposed 4 Patches - formerly known as Kitty Corner - I changed my mind and decided not to make  the Kitty Korner pattern. 

I used the 4 patches I had pieced for Kitty Korner and just made my own design.

13. Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips pattern or maybe her Bargello pattern. As You can see, I decided to go with the Bargello pattern.

I really like how this quilt turned out and will be making more charity quilts with this pattern.


Don't worry about me, just because I finished all these projects I'm not going to just sit around and do nothing, I've already started another quilt because that's what quilters do. We enjoy the finish for the day and then onto the next one.

Linking to Let's Bee Social,  Needle & Thread Thursday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Show Off Saturday

Wilfred & Cloves Completely Finished!

One of the many unfinished quilts I worked on this year was Wilfred & Cloves. (The pattern is found in Creating Heirlooms One Stitch at a Time by Carolyn Konig.) I progressed this UFQ into the flimsy stage in September.

I have so many quilt flimsys  waiting to be hand quilted, I knew it would be several years until it would be Wilfred & Cloves turn in the quilting frame. I decided to have this quilt long arm quilted so off to Lori Null's she went. 

My instructions for the quilting were to use a Baptist Fan pattern but have the lines of the fan be 3/4" apart and not to quilt the center applique. I think Lori thought I was crazy but she did what I asked.

This is a picture of the back of the quilt. I like it when the Baptist Fan design is done this way.

I picked up the quilt about 10 days ago and put it in my hooped quilting stand frame, then started hand quilting the center. 

The center is now finished which means the quilt is completely finished!! He measures 93" x 102".

I stitched around all of the applique including the individual flower petals.

The background design is a hanging diamond design. The lines are 3/4" apart.

The binding is a flange binding, all in one piece.  Sometime this winter I will give a tutorial on making and applying flange binding. 

Wilfred & Cloves was started four years ago and you can read about it here.

My Wilfred & Cloves quilt is going to join the other quilts I've made to be gifted to one of the grandchildren some day. It is  also going to be renamed but I don't know what yet. How does Brown Medallion sound?

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, HQAL, Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward, Monday Making, Esther's Wednesday WOW!

Quilting & Lucy

Last week was the 5th week of quilting the Pastor's Attic quilt and I made it to the end of this row.

When I'm not quilting, I cover the quilt with the striped cloth on the back.

Last week I showed the quilting design between the applique blocks. Now here is the quilting in the applique.

Second Block

Third Block. The pin is to show how high I've quilted.

Fourth Block

Stencil in between 4th and 5th blocks

Fifth block - This block took the longest of them all so far. Those spaces in the vase took awhile.

The hearts in the corner stencil show nicely.

And the left side border.

None of these pictures were  cropped. I had trouble downloading the pictures and was very happy they didn't end up in cyberspace again!

I also EPP'd a different section of Lucy. I need seven sections like this one. This is very a slow project. I'm so glad I decided not to make a whole quilt, I'd rather be hand quilting!

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, 
Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward

Piecing & Prepping

After spending most of this year finishing UFQ's, I've started a new list for this quilting season. One of the challenges I've given myself is to make at least two different projects using precuts that I have on hand.

The first precut project is Starlight Express from Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam & Nicky Lintott. The jellyroll used is Heart's Content by Laundry Basket Quilts and gifted to me by Nanette several years ago. 

Thank you Nanette, these were nice colors to work with.

The finished quilt from the book looks like this but my quilt won't because this project is a two in one project. Not only am I depleting a bit of the precut population, I'm going to enlarge the quilt to queen size and then I'll have a donation quilt for the school auction my Pennsylvania grands attend. And!, I don't have to quilt it, win win!

It was a very windy and drizzly day when I tried to get pictures of the stars on the clothesline. I thought about laying the blocks on the leaves and taking a picture that way but the leaves were wet and I was afraid the wind would blow the stars down into the cow pasture. I pinned three of the stars to the quilting frame and took a picture that way. There are four stars, but the 4th one didn't fit.

I'm a control freak and wanted the red and teal to be continuous in my stars so I added red and teal from my own stash. Don't worry, I'll use the rest of the strips as I finish the quilt. I have a rough sketch of how I want the the quilt to be set. This project will be traveling along with me to the Jane Stickle retreat next week. Who knows though, the flimsy may end up looking nothing like my sketch.

Last spring I pieced a Boston Commons flimsy for the school auction. I liked it so much, I decided to make one for our bed here at home, but of course, in blues and yellows. These strips have been sewn, sub-cut and are ready to be sewn together at the retreat. This is another project on my list.

A lot of people are excited about Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery quilt starting Thanksgiving weekend. Do you know about the mystery quilt sew along with Charlotte Hawks starting in January 2019? Check out her blog. I don't think her mystery quilts are quite as labor intensive as Bonnie's. 

I won't be participating in either of these mysteries. This year I am only going to make quilts that I want to make, mysteries and BOM's are NOT on my list.

Linking to Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Show Off Saturday, Oh Scrap!