What I Sewed at Retreat

Here is an update on what I sewed at retreat last week. My intention had been to piece all the posy blocks for Garden Party but that didn't happen. All I did was sew the posy blocks!

I brought home 10 partial blocks and need to piece 15 more. I'll get those blocks pieced and all of the blocks squared before putting them into timeout. Sometime I'll piece the alternate chain blocks. Garden Party is #4 on my list of 2025 Projects.

Garden Party was designed by Bonnie Hunter and can be found in the Addicted to Scraps book. I did find a website to purchase only the pattern.

The only shopping I did at retreat was from the sale table.  I purchased this pattern because I thought it looked like me. I've never made a machine applique quilt and this looks like the perfect design to start with but that won't be happening in the immediate future. 

I paid $5 for the pattern. I found a used pattern online for $18 if you are interested. It doesn't bother me to buy used patterns.

I also purchased this folder book for $1. I haven't had time to browse/read through it yet but Donna said this would be a good investment.

Linking to Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Elegant Garden, Block 18

Block 18 of Elegant Garden is completed, just one more block to applique for row 4 then I'll be starting the last row.

I really like this block even though there were so many pieces. It's like eating an elephant, just one piece at a time.

The Elegant Garden quilt was designed by Edtyta Sitar. I have challenged myself to use only the civil war fabrics I already have on hand to make these blocks.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Elegant Garden, Block 17

 I'm enjoying appliqueing the Elegant Garden blocks. Block 17 was completed last week.

I did change the size of the orange/yellow circles, they were so tiny! These circles are the size of a dime, much easier for me to applique.

Elegant Garden is designed by Edyta Sitar. These blocks will finish at 9".

Elaine stopped in one day to show me her progress with Rhapsody in Blue, the quilt we're collaborating together for the 2027 Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale.

And a side view. It's approximately 73" across the applique borders. 

She had hoped to be farther along by now but she had that nasty deep chest cough that has been going around. Fortunately she didn't have the sore throat that a lot of people got.

The plan is to have the top completed and ready to be put into the hand quilting frame this fall. That's the plan anyway, but we all know how plans go awry.

I will not be having a Wednesday post this week, the Jane Stickle retreat starts Wednesday and I'll be there stitching away!

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Stitching Stuff, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

First Quarter Check-In

It was easy to find time to sew in the first quarter this year. I was so busy last autumn with various activities then there was Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was glad to stay home for New Year's and started the year off with sewing!

Around the World Four Patch was the first complete finish in 2025. 

Around the World Four Patch is #13 on my long list of projects for this year.

I have completed severals flimsies for granddaughter Joanna.

Teal Stars has been pieced and delivered to a long arm quilter for quilting. This quilt was #6 on my list of quilts to make this year.

And Peter Rabbit, Book Adventures is also a flimsy. This was # 17 on the list of projects.

I will quilt this flimsy sometime this summer when I have a quilting binge.

Log Cabin Hearts was #7 on the list of quilts to make and it's a flimsy!

Spring is showing signs of coming, the temperature has warmed up and soon spring flowers will be on display.  Then it will be harder to sit and sew but until then, I'll keep my foot on the pedal and sew, sew, sew!

Linking to First Quarter Check-In, Favorite Finish, To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

Elegant Garden, Block 16

Block 16 of Elegant Garden is finished.

I do wish I had used the brighter orange/gold fabric for the center circle and little circles but I'm not going to change it.

Elegant Garden is designed by Edyta Sitar.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Log Cabin Hearts, a Flimsy

Log Cabin Hearts is a flimsy! I didn't hang the flimsy on the porchline since it's mud season here. In this picture Log Cabin Hearts is displayed on our bed. That pinkish/lavender fabric gives the quilt a glow.

And in this picture she's displayed on the porch glider.

The outside border is a darker fabric that does not appear in the blocks but I think it looks fine, it calms the vibrant colors.

At this point, Log Cabin Hearts is 97" square but we all know she will shrink after being quilted and washed. I have decided I am not going to hand quilt this flimsy. The fabric the hearts are appliqued onto is a batik and I could tell, when pinning, that they stuck harder than regular cotton fabrics. She has been delivered to Calico Point to be long arm quilted with an overall design and should return home sometime in May.

Log Cabin Hearts was designed by Esther Hershberger back in 1996. This pattern is in desperate need of updating, Esther has paper templates for you to use to cut the fabrics. I got the size for the log pieces by measuring the size of the templates. 

This pattern is NOT for a beginning quilter, the instructions are definitely not detailed. 

Log Cabin Hearts is quilt #7 on the long list of projects for 2025 and beyond!

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Elegant Garden, Block 15

Block 15 of Elegant Garden is finished and I don't like it. When I select the colors/fabrics for the blocks, I usually follow Edyta's lead and use the same fabric where she did. In this case I used the same green of the leaves/stems for the square in the center. It doesn't work and the block looks dreary and sad.

I removed the green square from the center flower then debated between adding the orangey/yellow fabric or the pink fabric. The orangey/yellow won, look at the difference! I also decided to change the square to a circle because I didn't like the square.

This color certainly woke this block up and added the necessary zing.

Another change to the block is I did not applique the doodad onto the body of the corner flowers. If I would have, I probably would have used the pink fabric but I like the flower without it.

Elegant Garden was designed by Edyta Sitar in 2007.

Last week I mentioned I've started watching quilting videos and Gail, at the Cozy Quilter, asked me to share some of my favorites so here they are.

Stitch With Rachel - She's an enthusiastic young quilter trying to do it all. She reminds me of myself when I was younger.

From Small Things - Sue retired last year and is able to quilt full time now. She is a hand quilter and she really get them completed!

The Quilted Forest - I really enjoyed the videos about all the quilts she made with her 2.5" scrappy strips.

Sew Charming Quilt Shop - I don't even know the lady's name who does these videos but she own the shop in Alabama. It would be an enjoyable visit to stop in and browse.

Inspired by Lea Louise - She's into the potato chip quilts and has made many variations.

Just Get It Done Quilts - This lady does it get done. 

Emma Jones Vintage Sewing - If you are into EPP and handwork, you will enjoy these videos.

Stitch and Sew with Jo - I've been reading Jo's Country Junction for many years. She has gotten into counted cross stitching the last several years and isn't making as many quilts. Cross stitching isn't my thing so I don't enjoy her blog as much as I used to. She has retired so hopefully more quilts will be happening in the future.

Sew the Distance - Kris does talk rather fast but I use the closed captioning and keep up by reading what she says.

These will get you started, there are many many more! 

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Log Cabin Hearts

The corner blocks for the Log Cabin Hearts quilt are finally all pieced. Piecing these corner blocks took me longer than I though it would. Now it's time to start sewing them onto the corners of the appliqued heart blocks.

I showed you a completed block last Sunday. I'm in the process of completing the rest of them. 

The fabrics used in the log cabin blocks are not all the same. Over the years I had purchased some very pretty fabrics which were used first, then I had to substitute.

The fabrics in the top right corner are my favorites. I've had that center square fabrics for years, probably 20 years. The next fabric was another older pretty swirl fabric but again, not enough for all the blocks. The next strips are the floral I purchased to use in Teal Stars while the outside strips are also left from Teal Stars.

You can see in the blocks on the left side that the center fabric is different. I couldn't find any fabric even close to the small floral use in the top right center square so I substituted this large floral. Teal, purple and blue are those flowers but I thought it added some more color without being intrusive. 

The last 20 blocks are made with a fabric I don't like but it was the only thing close to the shade of the swirl fabric. It works but definitely not my favorite.

The first thing was to mark the corner of the hearts. You sew to within 1/4" of the edge with a Frixon marking pen. I wasn't thinking clearly and marked on the front side of the blocks. Fortunately the markings were dark enough I could see through the fabric onto the backside.

It takes awhile to sew the log blocks onto the applique blocks. Hopefully they'll all be completed by next week and I can show you a completed flimsy.

Log Cabin Hearts is designed by Esther Hershberger.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Log Cabin Hearts

The log cabins hearts are appliqued. This was much faster applique than the little pieces in the Elegant Garden blocks. I usually appliqued 3 blocks a day, one day I managed 4 blocks so it took me less than a week to finish all 16.

The pinkish/lavender fabric kind of throw off the tone of the picture but it does have tiny dots of teal in them. 

I pieced four corners log cabin blocks so I could finish one block to show you.

This block is 22.5", finishing at 22".

Four corners pieced, just 60 more to go.

The Log Cabin Heart pattern is designed by Esther Hershberger.

What did I watch while bing appliqueing (and sewing those log cabin corners)? I watched quilting videos on YouTube. I liked the videos from ordinary quilters the best, not the designers who sell patterns/fabric lines and have picture perfect sewing studios.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Log Cabin Hearts

For those of you who don't read my midweek posts, I'm piecing a quilt for granddaughter Joanna, Log Cabin Hearts. This is an older pattern designed by Esther Hershberger back in 1996.

Of course I'm changing the pattern, I'm making my quilt with 16 hearts and the quilt will be square. I'm also not going to add those wide borders the pattern calls for.

All the log cabin blocks for the hearts are pieced, I showed you those last week. Now I'm in the process of appliqueing the hearts.

I showed you last week how I stayed stitched around the edge of the hearts before cutting off the excess log cabin.

The flowered teal fabric is leftover from Teal Stars, the rest of those fabrics are from my stash. 

I left the freezer paper in to add stability while appliqueing the heart. I'm using a dark gray thread for the stitching.

After the block is appliqued, I cut the background fabric away. Not everyone does this but there is the possibility I might hand quilt this quilt.  I don't want to quilt through an extra layer of fabric. 

Then I just pull the freezer paper off the backside and iron it onto another block and start the process over again.

The background fabric for the hearts is 14.5" unfinished.

I have a friend who has made several quilts from this pattern. She doesn't hand applique the blocks, she sews lightweight fusible interfacing to the right side of the heart, cuts a slit in the fusible and turns the heart to the right side. Then she irons the heart onto the background fabric and finishes piecing the quilt. Then she invites the neighbor ladies to come help hand quilt this quilt. The fusible method hand stitches extremely hard! I don't know if it makes a difference for machine quilting.

The background fabric is a very faint light blue batik. There was a pale teal batik that I considered but it had blotches of yellow in it and I didn't like that. This blue blends wll with the teal fabrics.

These heart blocks applique much faster than the Elegant Garden blocks do. Hopefully I will have these blocks all appliqued by next Sunday.

Finally my amaryllis have started blooming! It's so nice to have some color.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Four Patch Around the World

Calico Point called me last Friday, the quilting on Four Patch Around the World was finished. All other sewing came to a full stop while I sewed the binding onto her, this is my first complete finish of 2025!

I think this quilt is so bright, colorful and happy. Don't you feel like smiling when you look at her?

The right edge came unclipped but I just left it go. There is snow on the porch and that snow is slick on the smooth concrete.

And a picture on the glider.

A picture of the backside. The quilting is meandering stipple.

And a picture laying in the snow but not much of the snow shows.

This black/white striped fabric is the perfect binding, it highlights all the bright colors.

Here is a link to the last post I wrote about her.

The bright fabrics are a Free Spirit jelly roll I purchased in 2022 in while visiting Deanna in Utah. The white fabrics were the jelly rolls I purchased at MSQC in November.

I also purchased the pattern there but of course I made changes. I made my quilter larger, into a square and it's symmetrical. My finished quilt measures 94" by 95"which isn't that much smaller than the 96" it measured as a flimsy.

Of course I had to add a picture of the quilt roll.

This quilt pieced very fast, two weeks! Simple quilts that piece fast are so much fun to make. Of course it helps when the strips are already cut by using jelly rolls. 

What's my plan for the quilt? I plan to donate her to the Michiana Mennonite Relief sale in September. We need more full sized quilts for this auction, I think the bright colors will appeal to everyone.

This quilt was #13 on my list of projects to accomplish this year.

Linking to Favorite Monthly Finish @ Quilting Jet Girl, To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Elegant Garden, Block 14

Block 14 for the Elegant Garden quilt is finished.

This time I used a brighter red instead of pink for the little circles. I'm always surprised by what a difference those little circles of color make to block. What do you think?

Two little circles of color but they change a block from blah to cute!

Elegant Garden is designed by Edtya Sitar.

Elegant Garden is going to be taking a rest until the 16 heart blocks for Log Cabin Hearts are appliqued. Hopefully they won't take too long.

Here is a picture of all the blocks appliqued so far. The blank space in the center of the bottom row is for a pieced block that I will make when all the applique blocks are completed.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Log Cabin Hearts

The next quilt for Joanna been started, this time it's Log Cabin Hearts. This is an older pattern designed back in 1996, almost 30 years ago. Log Cabin Hearts is designed by Esther Hershberger.

Of course I'm going to change the pattern, it's too long and narrow for my taste. I'll be making 16 hearts and not adding the wide outside borders. There will be borders, just not that wide.

The hearts look more interesting if there is a contrast so I'm adding some purple.

The 16 log cabin blocks for the hearts are pieced.

The next step is to cut the hearts out of the blocks. I've traced off the hearts onto the backside of freezer paper and ironed it onto the back of the blocks. Before I cut out the blocks, I stay stitch along the edge but not on the edge. These blocks will be needle turned and I want to be sure the stitching doesn't show.

Stay stitching on the front.

After the stay stitching is completed, I cut out the heart shape leaving 'turn under' for the applique. The edge is pressed to the back.

The next step is to applique the hearts to the backing fabric. I will finish the Elegant Garden block I'm appliqueing now, then Elegant Garden will have to wait until the hearts are completed. Applique happens in the evenings but the 64 partial log cabin blocks, that surround the heart section, will be pieced during the day.

You can buy freezer paper that has been cut into 8.5" by 11" pages but that's not large enough for the heart pattern. I have a roll of freezer paper that I bought at E & S Sales in Shipshewana. 150 square feet, that is going to last me a long time! You can probably find this product online somewhere, I didn't google it.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

Elegant Garden, Block 13

Another Elegant Garden block is completed, block 13 this time.

Elegant Garden is an older quilt designed by Edyta Sitar. I'm always behind in applique trends which is okay, the quilt is just as pretty now as it was in 2007.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Teal Stars

The Teal Stars flimsy is finished, I'm pleased with the way she turned out.

She has been delivered to Calico Point for machine quilting. She should return home sometime in April.

I didn't have a pattern for Teal Stars, the design was created as I sewed. 

I did have a pattern for the stars though but the instructions told me to sew 4 strip sets for each row of the diamond, three strip sets would have been enough.

I had originally intended to have a log cabin border but since I had those strip sets leftover, they were used in the making the borders.

As of now, the flimsy is 98" square but she will shrink during quilting.

It doesn't show in the photo but the background fabric has a light aqua design in the fabric.

The leftover fabrics will be used in the next quilt for Joanna. The prep starts today for that quilt and there will be something to show you next week.

This flimsy was #6 on my list of quilts to piece in 2025 called Stars & Log Cabin.

This is the pile of 4 patches that were sewn while piecing Teal Stars. They sewn as Leader/Enders.

I must have put some in the box before I took this picture. They made with 2" squares and will finish at 3".

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Elegant Garden, Block 12

I'm making good progress with these blocks. Block 12 is completed and I really like it. 

I thought it might be too dark but it isn't.

I trim the fabric behind each layer of applique so it isn't so bulky.

There are 4 layers of fabric on the dark blue/circle flowers.

I'm considering hand quilting this quilt but won't make that decision for certain until these blocks are sewn into a flimsy. That decision depends on what I think of the outer border blocks.

I'm surprised by the variety of fabrics in the civil war fabric tub.

Elegant Garden is designed by Edyta Sitar.

Linking to Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Teal Stars

Teal Stars is the first of several quilts I'm hoping to make for granddaughter Joanna this year. 

The center has been completed and piecing the first border is in progress.

I had trouble squaring the stars so I added sashing around the outside of the star blocks then trimmed them to 32.5".

After adding the pieced sashing and the background fabric sashing, she was supposed to measure 74.5" but she ended up 74" for some reason, I'm going to have to tweak the pieced border.

I did use a pattern for the stars but the rest of the quilt is being designed as I go. I knew I needed an even number so that is another reason I added sashing to the stars.

After I posted the first star last week, several people commented on how well the points matched/line up. I spent a lot of time sewing those diamonds. I carefully pinned each seam intersection. I'd rather spend more time doing it right the first time then have to take a block apart and re-sew. Patience is not something I have a lot of, now I remember why, the last time I sewed a Lone Star, I threw that pattern away and thought never again!

On another note, I don't know if Mail Chimp is delivering my blog posts anymore. If you have subscribed to my blog but it isn't being delivered, you'll have to search for it. Sorry about that but I don't know what to do about it. I normally link up to various linky parties during the week also.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts