Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Blessed by Nature

My birthday is in July and again, like last year, I went shopping/browsing at several local fabric stores to celebrate. This year I took Donna along.

We made several stops in our birthday celebration and made several purchases. You'll hear about those during this autumn but today I'm going to tell you about our stop at Lolly's.

At Lolly's we both thought the Blessed by Nature sample quilt on the wall was very pretty. We both purchased kits and made plans to get together this autumn to sew them.

Basically the blocks are sewn using the 'stack & whack' or 'one block wonder' method. I suppose those are copyrighted terms but that is the method for cutting the block triangles.

I cut my fabrics at home, I can concentrate better when I'm on my own. But I did sew two blocks ahead of time to make sure I had cut them correctly.

I do need to say that the instructions are not clearly written and are hard to follow. This is definitely not a project for a beginning quilter. 

We persevered in spite of the challenging directions and have finished flimsies. My flimsy measures 64.5" by 80.5" but we all know it will shrink when it's quilted.

My quilt has been delivered to a long arm quilter. It will be 8 weeks until it is quilted and ready for display. That means I should be able to show it to you just before Christmas.

I needed to go to Shipshewana Tuesday so I stopped at Lolly's and looked at the original quilt. What I thought I had cut incorrectly was exactly the same as the sample quilt. Obviously that sewest had the same problem I did. 

Lolly's no longer has any kits but they have quilted the sample. The quilt is for sale at $675 in case any of you are interested.

And yes, on the way home from my birthday shopping, we did stop at the Essenhaus bakery to buy a raspberry cream pie to celebrate my birthday. Birthdays only come once a year and I only have raspberry cream pie once a year. 😋


25 comments:

Connie said...

Beautiful! Love the settings for the blocks.

Preeti said...

Such an exquisite quilt top. The setting is just perfect. It gives some breathing room to the blocks, rather than one on top of the other. I am looking forward to the finished beauty around Christmas.

Linda said...

That is a beautiful fabric line, and difficult or not, I love that pattern! You did well with it. Looking forward to the finish. Raspberry cream pie sounds like a great birthday gift. :D I Googled it and found an "authentic" recipe on Food.com - looks delicious.

Gretchen Weaver said...

Enjoy the pie, it is delicious, much better than cake!

Jenny said...

Such a pretty quilt top.

cityquilter grace said...

good choice on the pie...

Vicki in MN said...

You did a beautiful job!

Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting said...

Very pretty, Gretchen!!! A great way to commemorate your birthday! Along with the pie!

T Holzer said...

Beautiful! Your quilt will add the perfect touch of spring to your home!

Jennifer Fulton Inquiring Quilter said...

Gorgeous! If you made some kind of mistake I don't see it. All I see is loveliness. Thanks for sharing on my weekly show and tell, Wednesday Wait Loss.
https://www.inquiringquilter.com/questions/2024/10/23/wednesday-wait-loss-403

Kathi said...

I love this quilt. The blocks look like kaleidoscopes.

QuiltGranma said...

What a very pretty quilt! And in spite of difficulty understanding the directions you will have a beauty from it. Oh, and raspberry cream pie? I think I need some of that too!

time4stitchn said...

Blessed by Nature is such a beautiful quilt. I love the soft colors with the autumn shades. How fun to complete it with a friend. It makes it twice as pleasurable and fun to have company while working on it and in your case, solving the pattern problem. It is a perfect quilt for the season.

Lin said...

Such a pretty flimsy. Raspberry cream pie is not something I have come across but it sounds delicious! xx

Jenny K. Lyon said...

Just. So. Pretty!

Susan said...

Very pretty quilt. I like how the blocks have four different settings to add to the interest.

Gwyned Trefethen said...

What a great way to celebrate your birthday. I recall when Stack 'n Whack was introduced. That was several decades back and I am still not tired of it. Your top does the concept proud.

Gretchen Weaver said...

I think it's always so interesting to see the different designs come to life. You really don't know what the block will look like until you sew the triangles together.

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

Wonderful quilt top, you did great with these blocks. Love the floral and Spring look too. Thank you for sharing and linking up, and enjoy the raspberry cream pie ;)

The Cozy Quilter said...

Sounds like a great way to celebrate your birthday and now you will have a quilt to commemorate the day! Gorgeous!

Kim said...

Gretchen, you never fail to inspire! Another beautiful quilt. Visiting fabric shops is the perfect way to celebrate a birthday.

Kat Scribner said...

Gorgeous quilt, Gretchen. I was just at Yoders last week. I opted out of going to Lollys this time as its very expensive and hard to resist those gorgeous fabrics they carry.

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

I love how you celebrate your birthday! That is one gorgeous quilt. You make the most interesting and eye catching patterns!

Leanne Parsons said...

Your quilt top is gorgeous, and that sounds like a fabulous way to celebrate your birthday!

Rose Marie said...

What a gorgeous quilt this will be. Happy belated birthday and glad you enjoyed that pie! BTW your comments to me are coming through as no-reply blogger. Same with other commentators whom I reply to all the time. Something is up with blogger.