Mystery BOM 2015

After my hexie project, Colonial Patches, was finished, I needed a new travel project.  That's about the time that I discovered Buttermilk Basin!  We have a LQS here, Calico Moon, (now preparing to close) who carries wool and the darker, muddier civil war-style fabrics.  I love this store, but never dabbled in wool anything.  Why?  Well, #1, wool is expensive and #2, I do not need another hobby!  But....I did need a new on-the-go project and Buttermilk Basin was offering a FREE BOM... and well....

I started preparing one block of this Buttermilk Basin Mystery Block of the Month (from 2015) at a time to travel with.  As this was my first wool applique ever, I wasn't sure what technique i wanted to use to prep the blocks for applique.  I decided to use tiny applique pins to keep all of the wool pieces in place.  Before each trip, I packed a block or two (or three if I was feeling hopeful) and worked on them on the plane, in the car or even in the hotel in the evenings.

Once all of the blocks were appliqued, I needed some machine time to make the sashings and to piece the whole top together.  Those tiny HSTs were made from flannel shirts!  Then, I packed it back up for a trip to finish up the hand quilting.  I finished the last stitches of this BOM the next year in July 2016.  

Buttermilk Basin still offers free BOMs on their website!  Designer Stacey West is super generous with her designs and now I'm currently participating in my 4th BOM through her shop!

Buttermilk Basin BOM 2015

Pattern:  Mystery BOM

Designer:  Stacey West (Buttermilk Basin)

Size: 23x44.5"

Featured Fabrics:  asst. wool on muslin & homespuns

Quilting:  Hand Quilted

Quilting Thread:  Coats & Clark (neutral variegated)

Batting:  Hobbs 80/20

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather

Fancy Forest (x2)

Armed with one FQ stack of Elizabeth Hartman's Pacific fabric line in the cool tones, I set out to make 2 crib-sized shop samples for Jackman's Fabrics.  

The managers at the shop tend to call me with trepidation when there's a pattern with tiny piecing that they'd really like to showcase.  It's funny because...those are the quilts I love best!  Tough to do on a deadline, but I seem to always finish on time!

These were fun quilts to make, building 2 at a time  (the pattern is written so you can build 4 at a time and combine into one large quilt with the option to make smaller crib-sized quilts).  It took me a few minutes to get my bearings to begin with the way this pattern was written, but once it clicked, I was off and piecing.  Don't get me wrong, this was  a well written pattern, but I was not accustomed to it's chart-like directions.  It really didn't very take long to get used to!

One of these quilts now lives with my sister, Jenna.  I gifted it to her when her son, Connor, was born.  Perfect for a little baby boy!  I still have the other one!

Fancy Forest (x2)

Pattern:  Fancy Forest

Designer:  Elizabeth Hartman

Size: 32.5x44.5"

Featured Fabric:  Pacific (cool) by Elizabeth Hartman

Quilting:  Wood Grain Pantograph (Jessica Schick)

Quilting Thread:  Madiera (9270 Grey Beige)
Batting:  Legacy Wool

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather

Colonial Patches

Do you have a travel project?  A project that's always packed and ready to go every time you go somewhere and you'll have "idle hands" time?

Colonial Patches was my take-along project in early 2016.  First, I was just toting around a bunch of 2" squares to make the little hexagon patches.  Then, I was carrying around a ton of hexies to sew together into the Colonial Patch design.

After the borders were added (by machine), I kept carrying around the top for hand quilting.  And, of course, the binding was also hand tacked on the back...another step easily done on the go!

I specifically remember taking Colonial Patches on our long trip from Colorado up through The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks.  We kept driving through Montana, South Dakota and onto see the Badlands National Park, Mt. Rushmore and back to Colorado.  I'm missing a bunch of sites, but you get the idea.  Colonial Patches kept me busy through miles and miles of driving time!

Colonial Patches

Pattern:  Colonial Patches (Prairie Women's Sewing Circle)

Designer:  Pam Buda

Size: 28.5x28.5"

Quilting:  Hand Quilted

Quilting Thread:  Coats & Clark (neutral variegated)
Batting:  Hobbs 80/20

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather

Snowman (Dresden Buddies)

I haven't decided how many of these Dresden Buddies that I'm actually going to make, but it seems like each time I see the patterns in my basket, I just have the urge to stitch one up!

Maybe it's because Susan has really made me stretch my creative boundaries by making encouraging me to do more applique (even the fusible raw-edge kind).  Who could say no to this sweet little face?

Admittedly, I have become more comfortable with applique thanks to Susan and Jackman's fabrics and the projects they often ask me to make.  And that perfectly average-sized waist line!

I may never give up my pantograph quilting, though, and yes, I quilt right over all of that applique!  There are NO hard and fast rules in quilting...do what pleases you!  What pleases me is a pretty allover design that holds all my quilt layers together!  Tiny Dresdens under tiny feet also please me!

This snow man will be also be featured in the Holiday Seminar at the shop.  I think this pattern is gonna be a hit!  Susan's patterns are very well written and easy to follow (not to mention sooo cute!!!)...and those are always the best kind!

Snowman

Pattern:  Dresden Buddies - Snowman 

Designer:  Susan Marth (Suzn Quilts)

Size: 10x43"

Panto:  Jessie's Swirls (Jessica Schick)
Quilting Thread:  Fil-Tec Glide (super white)
Batting:  Warm & Plush

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather

Dresden Quilt Workshop Quilt-Along Challenge Week #6

Just one lonely block this week, but it wasn't a quick one!  Admittedly, Suzn Quilts Tiny Dresdens take a little extra time to make (so you have to be patient), but they are SO worth the extra effort!

Argyle Retreat Block

I am using just one fabric collection, "Gratitude" by Jo Morton (Moda), so my color scheme is already set.  I used the coloring sheet provided on Susan Marth's blog to help plan color placement, but even so...it takes time to pull the perfect fabrics for each little unit!  One Argyle Retreat block required 21 different fabrics - that's not easy using only one collection that includes only 4 colors.  Thank goodness that a few of the colors do offer a couple of shade variations!

Back to the design wall!  Last week, Susan let us know that we had completed 1/4 of the quilt - we're starting to get somewhere!

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather

Dresden Quilt Workshop Quilt-Along Challenge Week #5

Sorry about being a week late in posting my progress, but who can pass up a week in Washington D.C., walking along the national monuments on the mall, visiting the Smithsonian museums (Museum of Natural History and National Air & Space Museum this time around).  We enjoyed the views of the Pentagon and the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial from our hotel in Arlington and walking the Pentagon City neighborhood.  At the end of the trip, we were able to spend a couple of days with DD1 and her boyfriend.  I cooked a couple of dinners in, we ate a few meals out and visited the most delicious little ice cream shop in Old Town Alexandria (just a few yards above the flood zone). We went fabric shopping and began the cutest Dresden sunflower mug rug projects.  The time went quickly and the weather went from sweltering heat to cool and rainy overnight with the threat of the incoming storm.

Anyway, onto Suzn Quilts' Dresden Quilt Workshop Challenge week #5...

I loved this week's challenge, the Dresden 8-pointed star blocks this week!  Nice and easy!

2 Dresden 8-Pointed Star Blocks

I always like to cut those Dresden backgrounds just a bit larger (1/4 - 1/2") than needed.  I always find that applique tends to shrink up the block just a tiny smidge and it's always better to trim them up later if needed.

Here's my DQWC design wall through week #5.  Now I'm off to finish up week #6...just the lat bit of Dresden applique left to do and then it's on to block assembly!

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather

Shoofly Star

 Have you checked out any of the "I Love..." quilt books printed by That Patchwork Place?  I happen to LOVE the "I Love..." books!  So far, I've made quilts from I Love Churndashes and I Love Stars, but you can be sure I've flipped thru the pages of some of the others!

The beauty of these books is they are a complete conglomeration of designs, designers and styles.  There are bright, cheery quilts, muddy Civil War quilts, wallhangings and bed quilts.  It's so much fun to flip thru and see all of the colorways and settings!

I tend to gravitate towards the quilts that will allow my scrap-flag to fly!  I can't resist making a quilts with a controlled or completely scrappy palette.  It's just so fun!

This Shoofly Star quilt, found in I Love Stars, was completed in June 2018.  After choosing the outer border (a Kansas Troubles print) and inner border, I then pulled a bunch of fat quarters that I could mix & match to make the stars.  I love adding golds to make my quilts sparkle and red to make them pop!  The navy blues tend to ground everything and the purples are there to add interest.  Mossy greens soften everything up on a scrappy neutral background.

Shoofly Star

Designer (Book):  Sue Pfau (I Love Stars)

Size: 76.5 x 88""

Featured Fabrics:  asst. Civil War

Quilting:  Florence Panto (Apricot Moon Designs)

Quilting Thread:  Fil-Tec Glide (Lt. Burgandy)

Batting:  Warm & Natural

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather

Holiday Blossoms

Each year, I volunteer to make several shop sample Christmas quilts.  Last year, as usual, I fell in love with Holly Taylor's holiday fabrics!  I love that so many of her collections play well together and her seasonal lines are no exception.  For the past few years, Doug Leko has designed pattern books to go with her collections and there are usually several quilts I am interested in making.  I find it so difficult to narrow it down to "THE quilt" for the store displays.

I thought that the Holiday Blossom block design was unique, with a simple, traditional feel.  It's so fun set in a wonky tilt.  The wide pieced border also gives it a warm and scrappy feel that beckons for a good couch cuddle in front of a warm winter fire.

Holiday Blossoms was finished in July 2017, not long after the Forever Green fabric bolts arrived in the store.  I grabbed up the fabrics quickly, before anyone else got to them, and had the quilt finished quickly (the deadline for our Holiday seminar isn't until September)!  Yep, I was excited to work on this project!

Holiday Blossoms

Designer (Book):  Doug Leko (Winterlude)

Size: 70x85""

Featured Fabrics:   Forever Green by Holly Taylor (Moda)

Quilting:  Wintergreen (Patricia Ritter)

Quilting Thread:  Fil-Tec Glide (Lt. Burgandy)

Batting:  Hobbs Heirloom Wool

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather

Star Spangled Dresdens

Ever since I saw the Quill fabric line by 3 Sisters, I had been wanting to make something with it.  I love a text print and the soft colors that just met together really make my heart pitter-pat!  Last fall, Jackman's finally got a select few bolts of Quill and I jumped at that chance to make one of Suzn Quilts' tiny Dresden quilts from it!

But...which quilt?  Well, it had to be one with only a few fabrics since I only had a small number of bolts to work from.  And, it had to be a design that would work well with the blendy tones of the Quill line.  Enter Susan's new book Dresden Quilt Workshop!  There were a bunch of small quilts to choose from and I had a tough time just picking one!

Star Spangled Dresdens appears in the book as, you guessed it, a patriotic quilt, but it had just enough design to make it work with the few simple fabrics I had to work with!  Red, white & blue became teal floral print, pale grey print & a darker grey...add in a punch of dark purple for pop and it worked great!

I finished Star Spangled Dresdens December 2017, but now I can't wait to make the rest of the quilts in the Dresden Quilt Workshop book.  I already have fabrics pulled for the next one, but in the meantime, I'm keeping up with Susan's Dresden Quilt Workshop Quilt Along over on her blog!

Star Spangled Dresdens

Designer (Book):  Susan Marth (Dresden Quilt Workshop)

Size: 35x35"

Featured Fabrics: Quill by 3 Sisters (Moda)

Quilting:  Twirly Feathers (Hermoine Agee)

Quilting Thread:  Perma Core Tex 30 (Lt. Grey)

Batting:  Quilter's Dream Orient

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather

Sister's Choice

In October 2016, I finished up the quilting on this pretty little Sister's Choice.  I love 2-block quilts.  They're so fun to make...chain piecing one set of blocks and then the other.  It becomes mindless work, but with a mix of fabrics, each block is interesting in and of itself.  While joining the blocks and rows together, I made the border units "leader/ender" style and then just chaining them thru on their own.  Again, mindless...

While a simple color scheme an tend to get boring, and it did, I love the simplicity of it.  I haven't made many 2-color quilts, but I intend to make more.  I love the results, I just have to spread out the making of them as I tend to get a bit bored with the color pallet while piecing.  I have to just keep telling myself, "It's going to be beautiful and worth it when it's done!" 

Somehow I ended up making 2 extra blocks (one of each).  I wonder how that happened?!?!?  Oh well, leftover blocks with a few extra scraps seem to make great labels!

Sister's Choice

Designer (Book):  Julie Hendrickson (Remembering the Past)

Size: 64.5 x 74.5"

Featured Fabrics: Grand Traverse by Minick & Simpson (Moda)

Quilting:   Dusty Miller Grande (Patricia Ritter)

Quilting Thread:   Madiera (8105 - Blue/Grey)

Batting:  Quilter's Dream Orient

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather

Bee In My Bonnet Row Along Quilt

The Bee In My Bonnet Row Along Quilt, in the book Quilty Fun, was the first quilt I saw by Lori Holt and it instantly made me a huge fan!  I love her cutesy 1950s inspired style - actually, I love anything with a vintage feel (no matter what era)!

I finished this quilt in April 2017 and, like all of the Lori Holt quilts, I loved piecing all of the adorable blocks.  It was so much fun putting together various fabric combinations being careful not to put too many of one color or pattern close together and mindful of the rows that would be above an below.

Lori Holt's designs just beg for bright colors with tiny prints.  The quilting mimics the playfulness of the quilt and what's more fun than a panto design called "Tickle Too"!?!?!?  

In her pattern books, Lori has been known to include sweet bonus block designs with hand stitched lettering meant for making labels!  I love these patterns and always make sure to piece them onto (or into) my backing before quilting!

Bee In My Bonnet Row Along Quilt

Designer (Book):  Lori Holt (Quilty Fun)

Size: 68.5 x 86.5"

Featured Fabrics: Assorted  

Quilting:  Tickle Too (Beany Girl Quilts)

Quilting Thread:  Fil-Tec Glide (White)

Batting:  Legacy Wool

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather

The Oaks

I loved making this quilt!  I had been wanting to make just about anything out of the book Civil War Remembered, but this design was at the very top of my list!  I finished it in March of 2017.  Simple piecing + old timey feeling = big impact for me!

Look at that yummy controlled scrappiness!  I love pink, but I especially like pink with browns and dark neutrals...and I like pink even more with lots of other colors mixed in!

All those simple 9-patches deserved a slightly intricate quilting pattern.  I chose the Feather Meander because it's relatively dense and gives the feeling of "special-ness."  I'm not a big fan of custom quilting - or of ME doing custom quilting!  Oh, I love when others do it - on the right quilts.  But, not EVERY quilt NEEDS intricate custom quilting, nor does every quilt deserve it.  Some quilts are just meant to be loved and cuddled and that's why I quilt with pantographs.  I want my quilts to be used.  I have no problem with someone grabbing any one of my quilts and cuddling right up in it on the couch!

Just before adding a binding (and don't ya just love a striped binding?), I always pin on a sleeve to every quilt.  Why?  Well, beacuse, it never fails that last minute someone from the guild is asking if anyone has any quilts that can be displayed for something or other.  This way....my quilts are always prepared and the sleeves actually match and blend right in with the backing fabric.  If I added a sleeve when it actually needed it, I probably wouldn't be able to find any more of the backing fabric!

And, last but not least, the label...I label every quilt and quilted project that I do.  Always basically the same:  Name of Quilt, Designer/Pattern, Pieced & Quilted by (name, town, state, date).  I also add things like the Name of the person I am gifting it to and for what special occasion or I might note any awards the quilt has won.

The Oaks

Designer (Book):  Mary Etherington & Connie Tesene (Civil War Remembered)

Size: 62x62"

Featured Fabrics: Reflections by Jo Morton (Moda)

Quilting:  Feather Meander (Jessica Schick)

Quilting Thread:  Fil-Tec Glide (Med. Brown)

Batting:  Legacy Wool

For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather