Fire Island Hosta Queen

I've finally started the Fire Island Hosta Queen quilt, I've been wanting to piece this quilt for years but just didn't make the time. The first time I blogged about this project was in December 2022.

Four partial sections of leaves have been completed.

These leaves may not look like much but they represents many hours of careful stitching. There will be a stem at the bottom where the uneven blue fabric is. I trimmed off the excess fabric but there is still more fabric that will need to be trimmed.

Here is a picture of the backside of the leaf section. There are 40 pieces in this leaf, 160 pieces in the 4 sections.

After the stem is attached, another pieced section will be attached then a pieced section will be added to the outside portion. I'm not looking too far ahead, just piecing a section at a time.

This is not a fast project, I hope to have all the leaves completed by the end of the year but that depends on how many other quilts I work on. I have an applique project that will require intensive preparation, the actual applique won't start until next year. 

Sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself but I always enjoy watching the quilts grow and being completed. 

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

Projects Planned for 2025, '26 & Probably '27!

I'm starting off the New Year with a list of quilts I hope to accomplish this year. The projects won't be made in the order they are listed.

First are the older projects that were listed in 2024 and carried over into 2025 - 

1. Fire Island Hosta Queen, designed by QuiltWorx - Poor Fire Island Hosta, she didn't even make it out of the project bag! A start definitely needs to happen this year.

This isn't a kit, I selected my own fabrics but they are similar to the cover picture.

2. Blueberry pie - The blue outer borders have been added but this quilt has to wait to be quilted. The applique border looks a little puckery. This will quilt out just fine when it is pulled tight in the quilting frame.

Quilting will definitely not happen in 2025, I'm planning on putting another quilt into the quilting frame this fall.

3. Elegant Garden - finish applique blocks and sew the flimsy together. Elegant Garden is an older applique pattern designed by Edyta Sitar. Elegant was not on my list for 2024 but was started when the blueberry pie applique was finished.

4. Garden Party - Thirty-six blocks have been pieced. The plan is that this will be the only project I work on at the April retreat this spring, I'm hoping to have all the posey blocks pieced by the end of the retreat. The alternate blocks will be red chain blocks which should go fast since they will be strip pieced. Garden Party is found in the Addicted to Scraps book written by Bonnie Hunter.

And the new projects planned are . . .

5. Relief Sale quilt - Elaine and I are collaborating together and making a blue & light gray 9-patch quilt similar to the one the guild made back in 2019. Elaine is doing the applique while I am piecing the 9 patches then sewing them and the applique sections together. The goal is to have the flimsy appliqued, pieced and ready to put into the hand quilting frame this fall. I've decided the name of this quilt is Rhapsody in Blue but I haven't told Elaine yet. 

6, 7, 8. Make 3 quilts for granddaughter Joanna. Log Cabin Heart, Stars & Log Cabin, & the 2024 BOM quilt from A Quilting Life by Sherri McConnell. Three quilts is very ambitious, I'm aiming for at least one quilt but three would be fantastic. All three will be out of teal fabrics. I also reserve the privilege of changing my mind about which patterns to make.

9. Make at least 1 of the bagged projects I have kitted. Two would be even better but I'll be satisfied with one.

10. Red & White Gatherings - a challenge with Lynn. We both bought this book several years ago when we saw one of the quilts on display at the Quilt Store @ the Essenhaus complex. We each need to make one quilt from the book, our own choice. 

The quilt has to be based on one of the patterns from the book but we can change it to suit our taste. I already know Lynn will be adding applique to her quilt because she always adds applique.

I'm planning to make a version of this feathered star quilt and I'm going to actually make it with red fabric, but a blue version would really awesome!

11. Possibly another blue & white quilt might happen, I have some blue embroidered blocks that needs to be made into a quilt.

12. Then there are the purple/lavender embroidered blocks that also need to be made into a quilt.

13. Around the World Four Patch - made with the two white jelly rolls I bought at MSQC in November combined with a Free Spirit Daydreamer design roll I purchased in Utah several years ago. (The Daydreamer link was one of many places to find the design roll.) Of course I'm making the quilt larger than the pattern calls for. I'll probably add fabrics left from the Tula Hexies quilt.

14. There are several small flimsies to be machine quilted by me. Should they be counted as 14, 15 & 16?

15. Hand quilt a crib quilt made in Amish style. Amish style doesn't have much piecing, it's the quilting that brings it to life. Not all Amish quilts have black which is a good thing, I can no longer see black thread on black fabric!

16. And, as if all those projects aren't enough to keep me busy, I signed up for the 2025 Designer Mystery BOM through Fat Quarter Shop that starts in June 2025!

17. Book Adventures - While celebrating my birthday last summer, I purchased the Book Adventures kit at Carolines. I thought this was going to be a little crib quilt but it's 60" by 67"! I want to have this pieced and quilted before my next July birthday. This way I'll have all those squirrel quilts that I bought on my 2024 birthday outing finished!  

If I have time (😉?), it would be fun to get out my Weird Scrappy Log Cabin blocks (also known as Quilt Vortex) and make more of them. If you do check out the link to my post written in November 2022, the link for the Call Me Crazy pattern no longer works, try this link instead.

After organizing and writing about all these projects, I've decided this is much more than a one year plan, this is definitely a two year, probably a three year plan! Maybe I can actually accomplish these goals if I keep all of the squirrels out of the sewing studio.

Linking to 2025 Quilt Planning Party, Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Quilts Planned in 2024, Hopefully!

 Today I'm posting a list of quilts I hope to make, or at least progress along in 2024. This is just a list in the order I thought of them. They won't be made in this order.

The first quilt on the list is Dresden Stars which has been started. The plates are made, now the rest of the quilt needs to be sewn.

I started piecing this quilt at the November 2022 Jane Stickle retreat.

Dresden Stars is designed by Edyta Sitar.

A gift quilt (no picture) has been started and needs to be completed this year so it's ready to be gifted in 2025. I don't have any pictures to show you. I'm designing it myself but the center is the Moda Love star made with 5" squares so I'm guess I'm not really designing it, just merely adapting it.

I'm enjoying hand sewing the 2" hexie blocks which I've now named Tula Hexies. I'm not sure how large this quilt will be but I know it won't be a huge quilt, maybe a good sized lap quilt, 60" by 80"?

Hearts & Wreath is going into the hand quilting frame as soon as the marking is completed and the backing fabric pieced. I started appliqueing H & W in August 2021. 

Since the applique is finished on Hearts & Wreaths, it's time for a new applique project.  That's going to be another leaf border, this time on Blueberry Pie.

The borders have to be cut and then marked. (You won't see borders happening until Hearts & Wreaths is in the hand quilting frame and Tula Hexies is pieced.)

The pattern for Blueberry Pie is found in the Red, White and Sometimes Blue book but it's not called Blueberry Pie. You'll find it listed under Writer's Block. I thought the name was rather unimaginative so I changed it to reflect the blues used in my quilt.

The pattern in the book does NOT have an appliqued border, this is my variation. I might or might not add flowers.

The fabrics for Fire Island Hosta queen were purchased several years ago.  Can you see on the pattern it says 100" by 100"? I've never foundation paper pieced this large of a quilt, this will probably be a several years project.

At the November 2022 retreat, Judy Jansen sent a BIG tub of quilting magazines home with me with the specification that they be donated to the Sewing Box at the 2023 Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale. 

After the retreat, we had friends come for a quick, low key visit to see the new house. Linda is also a quilter and I showed her the tub of magazines. We spent all whole afternoon paging through the magazines. After awhile they all started looking the same so we took a several hours break then started in again. We actually went through the whole tub!

While Linda was browsing, she showed me a pattern and said it looks like me. She was so right!

The pattern is called Radiant Blue and is designed by Marsha McCloskey. Radiant Blue is found in the January/February 2007 issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting magazine. I had hoped to make this quilt in 2023 but it didn't happen. I certainly have plenty of blue fabrics!

I've also had fabrics pulled for Bonnie Hunter's Garden Party quilt for several years. Garden Party is found in Bonnie's Addicted to Scraps Book. Here is a link to quilts found in the book.

The Dancing Stars blocks are still hiding someplace in my sewing studio. I'm not actively looking for them, I'm more apt to run across the blocks when I'm not looking. If I do come across the blocks, they'll be sewn into a small quilt. Otherwise they can wait.

There are several compassion quilts that are pieced and ready for quilting and then donation. I'll quilt them sometime this year. 

The list is seven projects (I'm not counting Dancing Stars) which doesn't seem like many but several of them are very time consuming. I want to really focus on these projects and not get sidetracked by squirrels. I have decided I am not going to participate in RSC or the SAHRR this year.

What new projects are you anticipating starting this year?

Linking to Hugs & Stitches, 2024 Quilting Planning Party, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Whoop Whoop Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

After writing the above post, I remembered I purchased papers to foundation paper piece a pineapple quilt from Gigi @ Gigi's Thimble. I missed her sew-along in 2022 but I work at my own speed anyway. This project may sneak in this year, I think it would be a good project to take to retreats.

I wrote the above post earlier in December then I went to my sewing studio to do clean up. I kept thinking about the pineapple blocks so I pulled scraps and small pieces of whites then cut strips. I pulled out a tub that has leftovers of blues and other yardage pieces too. I spent several days cutting strips so there won't be so much prep work to do before retreat in April.

In the meantime, Bonnie Hunter started piecing pineapple blocks and showing them on her blog. I was holding out on actually piecing a block but when I saw this post, I just had to make one block, just one! I decided to make my center like Bonnie's but using blue.

The fabric used in the center is from pieces left from the border of Lady Jane.

Bonnie's quilt is so striking because she's using black fabrics. I don't get the same effect with my blues. I think I'll make the rest of the blocks like normal. This block will be placed in the orphan box.

2022 Challenges, 11 - 15

 I made a list last December of challenges for the year 2022. Now at the end of 2022, I'm reviewing how many of those challenges I've met. I had no idea we'd be moving to a new home during 2022 which definitely had an impact on my quilting progress.

Todays post is about challenges 11 - 15.

11. Fire Island Hosta Queen - Didn't happen, maybe in 2023?

12. Goose Garden - Another one that didn't happen, again maybe in 2023?

13. Charity quilts - One of the charity quilts that was finished was the String X quilt which I showed a picture of in the last post. I had thought about keeping this quilt for our own use but changed my mind and donated the flimsy. I did finish a couple of smaller quilts here and here.

14. Flower Patch Sewalong - Yes, a quilt that actually is completely finished, quilting, binding and label!

15. Get Together quilt - While I was organizing my quilting projects for the big move, I realized I had already pieced the 9 patches needed for this quilt. 

The 9 patches have now been sewn into double 9 patch blocks and I'm ready for the next step.

The Get Together quilt is the cover quilt on issue 163 of American Patchwork & quilting magazine. The idea of the title was to exchange 9 patches with friends but my 9 patches have all been sewn by me. I need to come up with a different name for my quilt, maybe 9 Patch Beauty?

Linking to Needle & Thread Thursday, TGIFF!, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

2022 Challenges

I don't make New Year's resolutions, I make New Year challenges. Here are my quilty challenges for 2022. These are in random order and won't necessarily be pieced consecutively.

1. Writer's Block from Red, White, and Sometimes Blue.  I cut strips for this quilt three years ago but never found the time to actually sew anything. Of course my quilt is going to be blue & white, or maybe blue & cream or maybe even blue & gray. I haven't decided on the background fabric.

I don't know why it's named Writer's Block, it reminds me of a variation on the Burgoyne Surrounded quilt. I plan to add an applique border.

2. Double Delight - This is a free quilt pattern by  Bonnie Hunter. Double Delight was her 2008 mystery quilt and is found at the bottom of the free pattern page with the rest of the older mysteries that never made it into books.

I prepped the fabrics for the quilt and took all the bits and pieces along to the Jane Stickle retreat in November. Sewing on this quilt didn't happen but it's ready to go! The little 9 patches have been sewn for several years.

3. Blue Ridge Beauty - Another Bonnie Hunter pattern from her book Adventures with Leaders & Enders. This quilt will be made with blues and creams/beige.

4. Wildflower Woods - This was a BOM kit I purchased several couple years ago at Caroline's Cotton Cottage. The fabrics are civil war colors. I'm not enthused by civil war fabrics anymore but I will make this quilt anyway, it will be a nice change from all the blue quilts. The fabrics are more brighter and colorful than the photo on the website.

5. Reduce the amount of strips in the 2" box. Quilting Twin has lots of free patterns for 2" strips. I want to make at least 1 queen sized quilt top from the box and I've printed off the Snowflake and Circling the 9's patterns. 

I sorted through the box and divided the strips into two groups, white based and cream based. I had forgotten a year ago I pulled most of the autumn fabrics and made two quilts. There isn't much of those fabrics in the box anymore.

6. Every year I piece a quilt flimsy which I donate to be quilted and sold in a school quilt auction. This auction provides funds for the school my Pennsylvania grandchildren attend.

Maybe one of the quilts I piece from the 2" strip box can be used as a donation quilt for this auction.

7. RSC projects - I had decided on several different quilt blocks but changed my mind and decided to finish projects instead.

In 2018 I finished a smaller quilt called Star Dance. I want to make this flimsy larger so I'll be making sawtooth stars each month.

Dancing stars and scrappy sprouts need finishing also. Sewing blocks for a new quilt is fun but the sense of accomplishment when finishing one is so awesome!

8. Hand quilting, I would like to have Welsh Beauty halfway quilted by the end of May, more would be great but I'll settle for halfway.

9. Applique - Of course I'm continuing Hearts & Wreaths. This is a wonderful project to pick and take with me.

10. UFQ's - I have several unfinished scrappy quilts started several years ago that need to be finished. I want to finish at least one of them.

11. Fire Island Hosta Queen - Years ago I bought the pattern, last fall I bought fabric, it's time to make the quilt! This quilt is going to be a long term piecing project, it's a Quiltworx design.

12. Goose Garden - I bought this pattern years ago and pulled some fabrics. There is an alternate way to set the blocks on the backside of the pattern which I like better than the front design. This isn't a huge quilt and will be good practice for the Fire Island Hosta quilt.

13. Charity quilts - I made at least 15 charity quilts in 2021. I'm not sure how many I will piece this year but I do have 6 crib quilts to be quilted and donated.

14. Flower Patch SAL continues through the spring.

15. Get Together - This quilt is on the cover of the April 2020 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting. The magazine actually had a sew along for people to participate. Of course I didn't sew along at that time, I work at my own pace several years behind everyone else. I have made some of the 9 patch blocks and purchased blue and red fabric for borders.

There are other quilts I'd like to make but these are the main challenges for 2022. I'll try to remember to have a post at the end of December 2022 and update you on my accomplishments or lack of accomplishment.

Linking to Peacock Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Scrap Happy Saturday, Whoop Whoop Party, Patchwork & Quilts, Oh Scrap