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

Elegant Garden, Block 11

Block 11 didn't take long to applique.

I have challenged myself to use civil war fabrics I already have on hand. Sometimes I don't think a block is going to look right but then it comes together when it's finished. Adding the pink and yellow/orange fabric really adds zing to the block.

Elegant Garden is an older quilt designed by Edyta Sitar.

I stopped at Elaine's last week to drop something off. She showed me her progress on  the applique borders for Rhapsody in Blue.

The blue vine will go around the corners when the borders are attached to the center. This is a modified version of the applique from the Lady Jane pattern designed by Nancy Rink.

Rhapsody in Blue is the quilt we are making together to donate to the Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale. We won't have it finished in time for this year's auction, we're aiming for the 2027 sale. This quilt will be hand quilted and I'm planning on putting it into the hand quilting frame this fall.

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 bookmark it or search for it. Sorry about that but I don't know what to do to solve the problem. I normally link up to various linky parties during the week also.

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

On the long list of projects for 2025, numbers 6, 7 & 8 were to make quilts for granddaughter Joanna. She's a teal girl and I have started the first quilt. For lack of a better name, I'm calling it Teal Stars.

I made the first star just to see what it was going to look like. Now I need to sew three more stars. They're ready to sew, hopefully next week I'll be able to show you all four stars or maybe, perhaps, the finished center section of the quilt.

Teal is one color I don't have very much of in my stash so I went to Calico Point and bought some. I did have one fabric from my stash, the dark outside diamond. I made sure the new fabrics played well with that fabric.  

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

Blue Churndash Wallhanging

Way back in 2016 I pieced a blue churndash quilt which now hangs from a rafter in my home. I had pieced too many blocks so I sewed those blocks into a small wallhanging intending to quilt it someday then donate it to the relief sale. I just never got that accomplished, too many other quilts in the hand quilting queue.

In early November last fall, an older lady from my church asked if anyone would have anything she could hand quilt then donate to the relief sale, yes I do!

I marked the quilt, made a backing and batting and took it to church to give to her. Irene quilted it in 2 weeks!

I have since finished this little 42" square wallhanging by attaching a label, sleeve and the binding. She's ready for the 2025 Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale in September. Hopefully there will be at least two people who want her so the bidding will go high.

Irene was the hand quilter, I embroidered the label, turned and hand stitched the binding and hand stitched the sleeve to the back. I ran her through the cold water delicate cycle in the washer to remove the blue marking pen. I was surprised by how much she scrunched up. 

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

This 'N That

Elaine came one afternoon, the week between Christmas and New Year's. She has the applique finished for the center of the relief sale quilt (Rhapsody in Blue) we're collaborating on. We don't have a pattern for this quilt, we're just making it up as we go. 

We trimmed the center and added a 2" border, then it measured 36.5". We added a double row of 9 patches, both types. I had sewn the 9 patches last autumn sometime, maybe in October?

We laid out a single side and I sewed them together. The border looked good so Elaine left to run errands while I kept sewing. 

Three hours later the center looked like this.

This isn't the greatest picture but you get the idea. Does the center applique look familiar? Elaine contacted Nancy Rink and received permission for us to use the center applique from Lady Jane in this quilt. We did decide to change the center circle in the bottom center flower, that fabric is too dark, you don't see the circle!

As of now the center measures 54.25". The project went home with Elaine so she can add another applique border, this time a improvisation of the Lady Jane applique.

Rhapsody in Blue is #5 on my long list of projects for this year.

While I'm piecing blocks for other projects, I also sew 4 patches, leader/ender fashion. I try to clean up scraps after each project and cut various sizes of blocks. Right now I'm sewing to diminish the 2" square box. You already know how to make 4 patches so I won't bore you with details. This box contains twosies.

These 4 patches were sewn while I was piecing Peter Rabbit.

I know, poor picture 😕.

I did sew some of the 4 patches into larger blocks several months ago, now I'm piecing 4 patches again so there is more variety. Eventually there will be enough blocks to piece a large quilt. These blocks are 8 across by 10 down and will measure 12" by 15" finished.

In 2024 I sewed bindings on 59 comforters. It's a new year so it's time to start a new tally. I've sewed bindings on 3 comforters last week. They are all very pretty.

First is a bowtie quilt. The squares finish at 3". 

I don't know the name of this pattern but it's a fun design made with bright fabrics. The squares in this comforter finish at 5".

Who doesn't love a scrappy trip around the world? These squares also finish at 5".

These comforters were delivered to the MCC resource center where they will be distributed to the many places that need them.

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 10

Block 10 of Elegant Garden appliqued so much faster than block 9, there weren't as many pieces.

I need to prep the blocks in row 3 which is the center row of Elegant Garden. There are 4 appliqued blocks in this row, the center block is pieced. I'll wait to piece that block until all the other blocks are finished. There are a total of 25 blocks in this quilt. The blocks are supposed to finish at 9".

Before starting the applique process, I decided to use civil war fabrics for this quilt. When I opened up the tub, I found a variety of fat quarters for background fabrics. I cut them the size I wanted to use then finished the edges so I wouldn't have to deal with fraying. Then I arranged them on the design wall, this is the order in which I'm appliqueing the blocks and the order the blocks will be sewn together. The empty place is for the center pieced block.

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

Peter Rabbit Quilt, Book Adventures

The Book Adventures (Peter Rabbit is my name for the quilt) kit was the next project to be sewn in 2025. I purchased the kit at Caroline's during my birthday outing, Donna did too. (Blogger decided this first paragraph needed to be center for some reason.)

This quilt sewed together fast. The directions are well written and my quilt ended up the same size as the pattern, 60" by 67" which doesn't always happen.

At Caroline's I also purchased a store kit to make a compassion quilt. That kit was pieced in October. Do you see a trend happening with my birthday shopping? Yes, I ended up buying three kits altogether, two at Carolines's and one at Lolly's.

Now all three kits have been pieced. One is completely finished while the compassion quilt and Peter will be machine quilted by me next summer along with several other small quilts.

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 9

Block 9 of Elegant Garden is finished.

I am slow at appliqueing small pieces of applique. How small? I took a picture of a dime beside the corner flower.

Years ago I purchased Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles, both the large and small sizes. This is what I'm using to make these perfect circles.

 For the small circles that don't have applique on top, I'm using this product. I purchased it at a local fabric store. You can search for it online.

There is adhesive on the back side. I mark the circle on the sheet, cut it out then heat set it onto the backside of the fabric. I cut the circle out of the fabric leaving 'turn under'. I always finger press the 'turn under' fabric. This helps with a smooth applique.

For the larger circles I trace the circles onto freezer paper, cut it out then iron onto the backside of the fabric. I also finger press the 'turn under' along the freezer paper but I remove the freezer paper before the applique is completely attached. 

Linking to 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

The first project of 2025 is Four Patch Around the World. Four Patch Around the World is listed as #13 on my extensive list of 2025 projects.  

Of course I changed the pattern and made it larger and symmetrical. Around the World measures 96" square right now and has been delivered to Calico Point for quilting.

You can see the trips in the center of the quilt. It was cold outside and this was a hurry up picture. I'll take a better picture when the quilt returns home, probably in March.

I also used fabrics left from Tula Hexies for more variety. The print fabrics are from a Free Spirit jelly roll I purchased the last time I visited Deanna in Utah. Jelly rolls are nice but you have two fabric strips each exactly same then repeated in several color ways.  The Tula fabrics blended well and added more variety.

Four Patch Around the World is the pattern I purchased when I visited MSQC in November. The two white jelly rolls were entirely used. I needed to cut more strips from the bolt of white Kona I keep on hand.

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