Hearts & Wreaths

Block 15 for Hearts & Wreaths has been appliqued!

Not a lot to say today, just trying to stay on top of all the hand work and everything else.

Here is a link to the first post about Hearts & Wreaths.

I've had several people email me and say they couldn't leave comments anymore. I made a few changes in the settings and now comments can be left. I hope the changes have taken care of the problem but haven't left room for another type of problem.

Linking to Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday

Swamp Angel

Block 4 of the Wildflower Woods BOM is called Swamp Angel. Gene Stratton Porter had the nickname of Swamp Angel which is why the designer used this name for the block.

Evonne gave very clear directions in the piecing of this block, it's not easy to make a 9-patch based block finish at 10" but this one will.

I cut the QST's first then the HST's which was a bad idea. I cut part of the HST's into QST's! I realized my mistake immediately after I cut them. I made a narrow seam, sewed 2 pieces together and it worked out fine in the end. My quilt isn't going to be perfect but you don't see the seam unless you get your nose right up against the block.

It's a good thing I didn't add the suggested broderie perse applique to the light triangle corners of the center. The floral fabric was missed when they bagged the fabrics for block 3, I had to cut it from the leftover fabric used in block 1.

I've made this block before in other quilts but I don't know the traditional name for the block. Designers like to name blocks to suit their pattern which is ok. I'm sure plenty of you sewests know the traditional name and will let me know.

 Linking to Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Peacock Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

Churn Dash SAL

I'm starting a new SAL with Chookyblue being the enabler, encourager and instigator! 

My quilt is going to be a combination of designs. Here is a link to Chooky's quilt and here is a link to Tazzie's quilt. My quilt is a combination of the two, hopefully I'll be able to make the quilt in my mind materialize into a physical quilt.

The blocks are going to finish at 9". Since the GO!Me cutter I won in the drawing for participating in Denise's SAL, comes with a 3" finished HST die, it will be put to immediate use.

First I ran the 6 layers of fabric through the cutter.

Now I've removed the plastic cover and you can see the cut HST sections.

Here is what it looks like with the excess outer edge fabric removed.

I didn't have time to sew a block together but here is a preview.

I did take the time to do some math, I need 30 blocks. This isn't going to be a huge king sized quilt but a small queen sized quilt.

As of now, all the HST corners are going to be brown fabrics but I do plan to use a variety of other colors for the straight section. This is also a good way to use up various pieces of background fabrics.

I'm going to try to get all the brown fabrics cut for the HST's so they'll be ready to sew.

Linking to Stitch Sew & Show, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday

Wildflowers

Block 3 in the Wildflower Woods BOM is called Wildflowers. These curved blocks are what you would use to make a drunkard's path quilt.

I've never pieced this block before. I really avoid curves like this, just like trying to avoid covid! I didn't trim the curved blocks quite right so the centers aren't perfect. I can live with it, besides, I don't have enough fabric to make new blocks anyway.

The blocks will finish at 10".

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Stitch Sew & Show

Welsh Beauty

Another swath across Welsh Beauty has been quilted. It seems like the quilting goes faster since I'm stitching closer toward to the end. There is still a long way to go though.

Here are pictures from left to right. Of course Blogger decided to mix them up and put the center photos first. Oh well.

In April, several friends and I traveled to Archbold Ohio for the Sauder Quilt Show. This isn't a huge AQS show but more a home town show. There were a lot of beautiful quilts and I couldn't decide which ones to show you.

I decided I'd take pictures of all the whole cloth quilts and show them to you. 

Some of the quilts are hand quilted, some are machine quilted. All of them are lovely. The information label lists the size of the quilt and the type of quilting.

The ribbon picture shows the variegated yellow color the best.

Linking to Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday

Wildflower Woods

I've started a new project . . . and it's not a blue quilt!

I don't normally sew BOM's but several years ago I ordered a fabric kit from Caroline's Cotton Cottage in Rome City, Indiana, called Wildflower Woods. Wildflower Woods is based on wetlands located in Noble County, northern Indiana, which Gene Stratton Porter wrote about and worked so hard to conserve. 

The fabrics were delayed for a long time and the kit wasn't available whenever I stopped at Caroline's. Then the pandemic happened and shut everything down. I finally made it back to Caroline's in September 2020 and picked up my kit. It has patiently waited it's turn and now it's time to start.

The kit was a BOM but I received all the monthly kits at one time. Here is the center medallion of the quilt for month one made with 4 Lady of the Lake blocks.

Month 2 has been added to the center.

The instructions suggest some broderie perse on the light triangles of the center. I did have fabric left from fussy cutting the Lady of the Lake blocks but I think I'll wait until later in the process to decide if they'll be added.

Wildflower Woods is #4 on my list of challenges for 2022.

Linking to Put Your Foot Down, Peacock Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

Violets

A new squirrel has come to live in my sewing room, a violet block!

I've seen this flower on other blogs. I followed a link back to Menopausal Melon which led to another link which had the actual instructions on the Block Lotto website.

I decided to make just one block for now. 

The instructions list several different sizes of blocks. I decided to make a block with 5" squares since I have a basket of 5" squares.

She's a cutie! Someday more blocks will join her.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Stitch Sew & Show, Oh Scrap

Hearts & Wreaths

I finished a Hearts & Wreaths applique block before I left for Phoenix in March. This was the 13th block. I wasn't sure about the yellow I used for the hearts but the brighter fabrics leaves added some zing.

Block 14 was finished before I went to the April retreat. Block 15 is in progress. 

Click here if you want to read about my first post recording my Hearts & Wreaths journey.

Winter is officially over now and the air is warmer. Now it's time to start getting ready for mowing the yard.

We have a lot of black walnut trees on our farm with several along our driveway and at least 5 on the west side of the heifer pasture (which in the winter is known as the sledding hill). 

All winter long I see squirrels running through the pasture to the west fence then running back with a black walnut in their mouth. 

This mess is at the bottom at the tree I showed you. These hulls needed to be raked before mowing started. Those walnut hulls will quickly dull new lawnmower blades.

Last fall the local grandsons and I picked up 3 tubs of walnuts out along the roadside. Our son and the grandsons picked up even more tubs. We do have a local market for black walnuts. They have a machine that washes/beats off the outer hull then you are paid for the weight of the walnuts left. 

The walnut hulls are then ground up and bagged for use as pet bird litter or, if you're a sewist, used to fill pincushions! The grandsons received $15 each for their efforts.

Linking to Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday

Green & Turquoise Shoo-fly Blocks

This last week I sewed green and turquoise shoo-fly blocks for my Star Dance quilt. I'm only showing half the blocks since I made 2 of each fabric.

20 green blocks -

I didn't use sage or forest greens for my blocks. 

22 turquoise blocks

Here is a link to the original Star Dance pattern. My quilt isn't going to look exactly like the pattern.

Spring is finally here but it went straight into hot weather. I tried to take a picture of this oriole eating grape jelly at the feeder. I didn't notice that squirrel snoozing on the tree limb until afterwards. Apparently he thinks it's the dog days of summer now.

I haven't had a flower pot set in the center of the tree stump for several years. The grandsons are old enough to be careful when they jump off the edge.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Scrap Happy Saturday

Flower Patch SAL Finish

The Flower Patch SAL mystery quilt has been completed!

The last block to be made was block 16 which is a repeat of block 1.

For the border, Denise had us add fabrics borders, nothing pieced which surprised me. I was really expecting a flying geese border. For my border, I cut a 3" strip of background fabric and sashed the center.  

As of now, the flimsy measures 69" square. However my quilt isn't completely finish, I'm planning on added a flying geese border but that takes some time to piece. I'll be sure to update you on the final finish when the borders are attached.

This sew along started last September and is finished now. I don't normally participate in sew alongs or mystery quilt but I did for this quilt and I enjoyed myself. Of course I do enjoy foundation paper piecing.

Linking to Flower Patch SAL, Needle & Thread Thursday, Peacock Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, Oh Scrap

Blue Ridge Beauty Flimsy

The last time I posted about Blue Ridge Beauty, I told you I had to turn one of the HST's in all of the blocks! Once the blocks were corrected, it didn't take to sew the blocks together for the center of Blue Ridge Beauty.  All I needed to do at retreat was add the two borders.

He measures  99.5" by 110.5" and will be donated to a charity auction. They will quilt him before the auction, I'm very happy I not to do the hand quilting.

All the fabrics for this quilt came from my stash except the outside border, I didn't have a large enough piece of yardage on hand. That striped border fabric has been in my stash forever! I was glad to finally find the perfect use for it.

I also pieced the binding at the retreat so that's finished. I always try to piece bindings right after I finish the flimsy so the fabric isn't used in another project. Otherwise you can be in for a nasty surprise later on when you look for fabric to bind a quilt.

I like to piece the auction quilt early in the year so it's done and ready to go. I will be hand delivering this flimsy to our DIL in August who will then deliver it to be quilted. I don't deliver quilts through the mail.

Blue Ridge Beauty is a Bonnie Hunter pattern and is found in her book Leaders & Enders.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Stitch Sew & Show, Put Your Foot Down,  Needle & Thread Thursday, Oh Scrap

Double Delight, the Finish

The Monday before I left for retreat, I was texted by my long arm quilter to tell me the quilting on Double Delight was finished. I picked the quilt up and took her along to the retreat.

Early morning is a great time to use the cutting tables, no one else is up! I trimmed the quilt then attached the label. I always sew my labels into the corner of the quilt so it is machine stitched on two of the label sides. If anyone tries to plagiarize my quilt, I'm going to make them work hard at it!

After that, the binding was sewn to the front. I planned on turning and handing stitch the binding to the back at home which I did. Of course I put the quilt on my bed at the retreat even though the binding wasn't finished.

All other handwork came to a complete stop this week while I sewed the binding, this is a big quilt at 107" by 118.5". It did shrink during quilting.

This is a view of the back of the quilt. Since the quilt was so large, I used white whole cloth muslin since that comes in a 120" width.

Double Delight is designed by Bonnie Hunter and is found on the free pattern page of her website. You need to scroll way down to the bottom of the page. Double Delight is one of her older mysteries, if not her first one. She had plain borders on her quilt.

I don't take credit for Bonnie's pattern but I do take credit for the 9 patch border which I designed. The math actually worked out for me!

The overall machine quilting was by Three Sisters Fabric, New Paris, Ind. The quilting design is called Raindrops. I love all the swirls, they really do look like raindrops that have fallen into a puddle!

Of course I have to show a picture of the quilt on our bed. I've heard several people complain that they get too hot when a wool batt is used in a quilt. We weren't too hot at all, just nice and comfortable.

And yes, I am very pleased this border. Math and I do not always communicate well. In this case we did!

Here is a link to all my posts about Double Delight.

Linking to Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday, Favorite Finish Monthly

Pink Shoo-flys

I intended to piece pink shoo-fly blocks for Star Dance at retreat. All the HST's were pieced but when I went to sew the individual blocks, I had forgotten the squares for the center!

Here are the pink and red shoo-fly block even though they were supposed to have been made in April. Better late then never! I'm only showing half of the blocks made, 30 in pink . . .

32 in Reds. I don't want to take a whole year to finish Star Dance so I'm making the color of the month along with a related color.

Green and teals have been pulled to make the shoo-fly blocks for May. The blocks will finish at 4". 

This is a link to the Star Dance pattern. My Star Dance quilt won't look exactly like the pattern. 

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday, Oh Scrap.

More Arrowhead Blocks

 I originally intended to make a larger throw quilt with arrowhead blocks using the directions from Susie's Scraps but I changed my mind and decided to make a small lap quilt. I pieced 10 more blocks at retreat and sewed them together. 

I made a mistake piecing the last block so I needed to improvise. You won't see the mistake in the little quilt, it just meant I needed to trim all the blocks to 7.25", smaller than I intended.

The little flimsy measures 25.5" by 32.5". Sometime this little quilt will be quilted and I'll drop it off at a local nursing home. Hopefully the colors will brighten one of the resident's day.

There is one step in Susie's tutorial which she omits so the directions can be confusing. Nanette has written a tutorial for that step which you can find here. You do need to scroll down in the comments to find it.

I used a couple green Kona fabrics with Harper's Garden pre-cut squares. Here is a link to a previous post about Arrowhead blocks.

Linking to Peacock Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

String X Blocks

Another project that made progress at retreat were the String X blocks. I sewed the dark red triangles onto the scrappy rectangles.

Each individual blocks measures 7.25" because I messed up and cut the red triangles 5" instead of 5.5". It really does make a difference! 

I'll add red borders when the center is sewn together. Two red fabrics were used from my mom's stash. All of the darker red is gone, a different darker red was used for the rest of the blocks. 

Now I need to sew the individual blocks into larger blocks using 4 blocks.

String X is a free Bonnie Hunter pattern. I did not use paper to piece the string rectangles, I used old thin muslin.

Linking to Stitch Sew & Show, Put Your Foot Down,  Needle & Thread Thursday

Jane Stickle Retreat

I worked on several different projects at retreat. One of the projects was to sew the scrappy Indian Hatchet blocks. I made 15 blocks.

The triangles are all scraps from flippy corners or bias triangles from binding. There were a lot of black corners in this bunch, they'll be mixed with the rest of the blocks and won't be so somber looking.

Here is a link to more posts about the Indian Hatchet blocks. 

Nineteen more blocks are needed to reach my goal of 80 blocks. I think this project will come to an end this year.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Stitch Sew & Show, Oh Scrap