Dresden Stars

Years ago I bought a kit at Lolly's Fabrics for Edyta Sitar's Dresden Star pattern. This is an older pattern, I think the copyright date is 2006. I decided it was time to start on this quilt and prepped fabrics to sew the Dresdens at retreat.

These petals or wedges or whatever you call them were a very good project to sew at retreat, can I say boring? This was Saturday's project and they're finished to this stage!

Update . . . These wedges are NOT EPP'd, they're pieced the way Edyta instructed in the pattern.

This project may be pulled to sew more this winter or it may wait until April for the next step. 

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down

Darlene Zimmerman Embroidery Blocks

I didn't want to start a new sewing machine project Sunday morning at the retreat so I pulled the Darlene Zimmerman embroidery panel I brought along and started another block. Looking back in my blog, I see I started embroidering this panel in 2017!

Since I don't have a quilt in the frame for hand quilting and I'm not appliqueing Hearts & Wreaths, I had plenty of time to finish this block. Of course I changed the colors of the flowers to my liking. The light green balls on the darker green stems are french knots wrapped around the needle 8 times. I thought they added some texture to the block.

I'm trying to finish projects the rest of this year. This panel has been languishing for sometime in the embroidery project drawer but now I have a purpose for these blocks, time to get them finished!

The embroidery has started on the last block, hopefully that will be completed by next Sunday.

Linking to Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday, Craftastic Monday, Monday Musings

Blue Easy Breezy - Courthouse Steps

In the summer of 2020, Bonnie Hunter's leaders & enders project was the Easy Breezy quilt. This was an easy block to make and I made a lot of blocks in varying sizes.

I pulled 2.5" strips from the box and pieced an easy breezy in blues and whites for our oldest granddaughter.

Then I pulled all the blues from the 2" strip box and pieced an easy breezy with blues/yellows and whites. That is this quilt! (She is displayed on top of double delight, the medium blue border is the edge of the quilt.)

For this quilt I selected the cat paws pattern. These are giant cat paws!

She measures 88.5" by 101" and will probably someday go to one of our grandchildren. 

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

There is one more quilt to have the binding finished. November has been a very busy month and I haven't haven't had time to finish the last quilt. I have something more special than straight edge binding planned for Orange Sherbet.

And because I'm glad to have Blue Easy Breezy-Courthouse Steps finished, I'll leave you with another picture. You just have to love scrappy blue & yellow quilts!

Embroidered Double Wedding Ring Quilt Quilted!

The embroidered double wedding ring quilt was finished into a flimsy in November 2021. The quilt was carefully folded lengthwise, very carefully placed on a hanger in the 'to be quilted' closet then completely forgot about!

When I was deciding which quilts I wanted to take to Lori for long arm quilting, I noticed those stars and wondered, 'What quilt is this?" Surprise! So I decided to have her quilted so she would be 100% finished!

Here she is in all with all of her quilted beauty! Those star really make the embroidery shine. The quilt ends at the solid blue border in the above picture. She's laying on top of double delight.

I had Lori quilt her with a Feather & Wreath design. After washing, she measures 76" by 90". Yes, she not a big quilt but she's finished!

I used to embroider a lot of quilt blocks like this, they were a good pick up and put down project when I had young children. 

Here is a close up of  the quilting on the center of the quilt.

On the back I used a light blue whole cloth fabric which displays the quilting design very nicely.

This was my oldest unfinished quilt project, at least 25 years old. Now she's a finish and resides on the guest bed. (I decided Welsh Beauty was too special to be used.)

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down

Blooms or Bouquet

One of my projects at retreat was the little Bouquet or Blooms quilt. I had EPP'd the hexie flowers last March, it was time to move this project forward.

The hexie flowers were appliqued to the center white squares and the corner pieces were pieced. I didn't have enough fabric to for a border but that will soon be rectified.

I spent the better part of three days hand appliqueing then sewing the rest of the pieces! Small projects always take longer than I think they will to piece. She'll be machine quilted sometime.

Here is a link to the prior post. In this post, I linked to a post from A Quilting Life. That link no longer works for some reason.

When I bought the pattern last spring it was called Blooms, now the title is Bouquet. Here is a link to the pattern but sometimes online it comes up as Blooms!

I did some shopping on the resale table and purchased this Tree of Life applique kit. I remember my mother appliqueing a similar quilt years ago. I don't know when this quilt will be moved into the rotation but I just couldn't say no.

A wannabe purchase was this Crabapple Hill snowman pillow but I couldn't find the price on it. When I asked the seller what the price was, she gave it to me! I don't know when this project will happen either but winter is so very long and dreary!

Linking to Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday, Craftastic Monday, Monday Musings

Indian Hatchet

Indian Hatchet is another quilt sent to Lori for quilting. I pieced these blocks on and off for several years and she's finally totally finished!

Indian Hatchet has been quilted with an all over stacked snails design which is perfect for this very scrappy quilt. The quilting doesn't show on the top of the quilt.

After washing she measures 64" by 79" and has become the couch quilt.

And the back side of the couch.

For the binding, I used a variety of fabrics.

The backing fabric is several large pieces of yardage leftover from other projects. I thought a scrappy backing was appropriate for this quilt.

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

Flower Patch Mystery SAL

As you know, most of my summer was spent in the process of moving from our old farmhouse to our new to us home 2 miles away. When I opened the 'to be quilted' closet and looked at those quilt flimsies, I decided I would 'move' some of them to Lori to be long arm quilted. I took 5 quilt tops to her in August and told her not to return them until after we've moved.

She delivered the quilts several weeks ago because she wanted to see the house. Four of the quilts have been bound and washed so the next several posts will be about the finishes.

The first quilt is the Flower Patch Mystery SAL which Denise organized.

Lori quilted this quilt with the Stacked Snails design. After washing, she measures 76" by 74". 

This quilt has traveled back to Phoenix with our daughter. The batting is a lightweight polyester batting, you don't need heavy quilts in Phoenix!

I think the cardinals make the quilt look Christmasy so I used this silver Christmas fabric for backing.

My mother must have bought the whole bolt of this silver poinsettia Hoffman fabric. I've been using it for years and I think this is the last of it but who knows, there may be some lurking in a tub somewhere.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down,  Needle & Thread Thursday

Fabric Vortex, Crumb Blocks

Last June I played in my sewing room and pieced blocks I called 'Weird Scrappy Log Cabin Blocks'. While I was packing up my sewing room stuff, I came across a small bag labeled 'Scrap Vortex'. Scrap Vortex was a sewalong hosted by Amanda Jean back in 2015.

The Scrap Vortex looked interesting so I had pieced a few squares then bagged them and stuck them in a tub. That is where it's been hibernating until I uncovered it while packing stuff for the move. That bag was placed on a table top so whenever I came across small scraps/pieces/blocks, they could be relocated to that bag. Eventually the bag was stored with the weird log cabin blocks, they looked like they could be combined. 

I also dug a bunch of orphan blocks out of the orphan block box to add to the mixture. (I wonder if this was how the designer of the Gypsy Wife quilt came up with the design, she was using up orphan blocks?!)

This is a fun project, no rules, whatever goes. I did limit the fabric choices to bright fabrics. It's interesting that the predominate color seems to be blue.

I might cut apart the small flimsy so  the new blocks blend in with the older ones. I'm not going to sew these blocks together now, I want to make more someday. There is never a shortage of fabric scraps that needs to be used.

My fabric vortex isn't going to look like Amanda Jeans though, it's too easy to just sew a strip on the side of a block and call it good.

This quilt will eventually end up as a charity quilt so more blocks will need to be pieced to reach the necessary 60" by 80" size, unless I decide to make 2 charity crib quilts.

I'm always amazed that people need a pattern to make something so easy! Gay from Sentimental Stitches is selling Call Me Crazy if you need a pattern to make a similar quilt. Or you can head to Jo's Blog and watch her Youtube videos about piecing her Diamond Crumb quilt. As for me, I'll just keep on doing it my own way and save the money, there is really no right or wrong way to make these blocks!

I consider myself more of a traditional quilter but occasionally my wild side come out and runs rampant in my sewing room! 

Warning - piecing this quilt makes a mess!

Linking to Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Oh Scrap

There will not be a Friday post and Sunday's post will be late. I'm leaving Wednesday for the Jane Stickle Retreat in Shipshewana, returning home Sunday afternoon. If I make any progress with handwork, I'll have a Sunday post. 

Hearts & Wreaths

The last 2 blocks for Hearts and Wreaths are finished! 

These pictures were taken in the basement on my display wall. This is the first time the color of the background yellow shows anything close to it's true color!

Now I need to find time to trim them to size and sew the 20 blocks together. These blocks are for the center of the quilt. I need to prep the 4 borders and embroider the vine, then I need to cut a million leaves and applique the borders! The border leaves are a larger size than the center leaves.

Update on Welsh Beauty questions from last Sunday since I can't respond to individual comments anymore.

I was asked how I dried Welsh Beauty after washing in cold water. I partially dried in the clothes dryer but not completely, it was still very damp. I laid it on our bed by 8 am, turned the ceiling fan on high and left it dry for most of the day. It was dry by bedtime.

The batting was a wool batting, I don't know if that was one of the reasons it shrank so much or not.

I don't normally enter quilts in quilt shows except for the Sauder Quilt Show in May. I'll think about it this winter.

Welsh Beauty and I are going to a quilt retreat this week, I'll try and get some better pictures of the quilt.

Linking to Patchwork & Applique,  Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday, Craftastic Monday, Monday Musings