Q2 2019 FAL Goals

Q2 (April - June 2019) Finish Along Goals: 

1. Game On! Bench Pillow  - just fabrics, supplies, a pattern & a dream...
2. Spoolin' Around - blocks are finished, lots more to be done...

3. Crazy Quilt Pillow - only 4 out of 6 blocks are started; none are finished...

4. QAYG Reversible Quilt - a few rows are sewn together (last Q's progress); then onto borders...

5. Asian Sidelights - just fabrics & a pattern, but it will be a quick finish once the fabrics are cut...

6. Farmer's Wife - blocks are finished & ready to be set...

7. Cozy Christmas - blocks are prepped and ready for hand applique...
   
8. Christmas Quilt (for Nancy) - quilt needs to be mended or completely redone; maybe starting over...

9. A Merry Christmas to You - blocks are finished; ready to be sewn together...
   
10. Raise the Roof - fabric is all cut, blocks are beginning to come together...
    
11. Generations - top (made by Kayla is finished) &  backing pieced; ready to be quilted...
    

Last quarter, I only completed 4/11 of the quilty projects I had listed on my Q1 2019 lists.

  As usual, I'm hoping to make more progress this quarter.  Wish me luck!

Linking up to the 2019 Finish-A-Long hosted by Julie at her blog That's Sew Julie.

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

Get Charmed with Sew Steady - March

Sew Steady has a new program happening that involves sharing photos to collect charms!  How fun!

 To participate in Get Charmed with Sew Steady each month, just make a purchase or post a photo (via email, Facebook or Instagram) pertaining to the theme of the month!

Show off your favorite heart themed quilting

This log cabin style heart is hand quilted 1/4" away from all of the seams and then small heart designs are quilted in the blank spaces.

Show us your Sew Steady quilting set ups

This is my most recent Sew Steady table with my rose gold Bernina 765!

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

~ Heather

Selvage Spools

Back in January, I was happy to be able to blog hop Diane D. Knott's most recent book, Strip Quilt Secrets.  This was the beginning of my Selvage Spools quilt.  If you missed that post, click here.

Now, my Selvage Spools are a good sized cuddly lap quilt!  Diane's directions were easy to follow and even though I really dreaded that Y-Seam at the spool corners, it went off without a hitch!  I did end up deviating just a bit from Diane's original design by swapping the spool and background fabric colors and adding a border with the background color to make the spools float a bit.

Just look at all of that quilty texture!  Patricia Ritter's Crosshatch pantograph was just the thing for this quilt.  Surprisingly, my husband picked it out of a box of new pantos I had just gotten in and said, "you should use that on that selvage quilt."  Well, when he actually takes an interest in the making of a quilt, I guess I had better take advantage of that!

If you decide to make a selvage quilt, I have a couple of suggestions:  Stitch really close to the edge of the selvages (I was about 1/8" away from the edge and probably could have gotten closer - I tucked a few edges while quilting).  Also pay close attention when quilting to keep the selvage edges flat (again, I ended up with a few tiny tucks, not noticeable unless you're looking for them).  Next time I would quilt a selvage quilt from the front of the machine.

All in all, such a fun project!  Thanks Diane!  I'm now ready to make the Selvage Baskets quilt!

Selvage Spools 

Designer:  Diane D. Knott (Strip Quilt Secrets)

Size: 61x79"

Featured Fabrics:  Assorted Selvages

Quilting:  Crosshatch (Patricia Ritter)

Quilting Thread:  Fil-Tec Glide (Warm Grey)

Batting:  Hobbs 80/20

Linking up to the 2019 Finish-A-Long hosted by Julie at her blog That's Sew Julie.
To see my Q1 2019 FAL post click here.

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

~ Heather

Good Fortune

Once again, I, too, followed along creating Good Fortune with so many quilters out in blogland and around the world.  We look forward to Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt every year...the suspense of the theme, the color-scheme, and the pattern itself!

Once Bonnie posted all of her inspiration photos from China and the array of fabric colors she designed with, I immediately thought - now I need to FINALLY use all of those Asian print fabrics that I collected while living in Japan and traveling to China and Korea!  They were perfect for this project!  I supplemented my stash with lots of silver and gold on white metallic prints (neutrals) and even more gold on gold metallic prints (a substitution for Bonnie's orange in the original design).  My friend Kevin (you may know him as Kevin the Quilter) even offered up any Asian prints he could find in his collection - I don't think he's a fan of them (but I am!)!?!?!?

It must have been serendipity, because years ago, my daughter made this beautiful "good fortune" cross stitch for me.  It's been hanging in my sewing studio for years.  I asked the opinion of a few fellow quilters (and my daughter's permission) and then decided that it just needed to be the label for my finished quilt.  It's perfect and I love it! 

What better quilting design for an Asian themed quilt than Haiku, an Asian-inspired edge-to-edge fan design?  It really looks great on there and I'm very please with the finished result - and happy to finally use some of my hoarded fabrics!  Just look at that beautiful crane and chrysanthemum print (those are the designs that promote good luck and happiness in marriage)! 

Good Fortune 

Designer:  Bonnie Hunter (Quiltville)

Size: 72x72"

Featured Fabrics:  Assorted Asian prints

Quilting:  Haiku (Patricia Ritter)

Quilting Thread:  Fil-Tec Glide (Military Gold)

Batting:  Hobbs 80/20

Linking up to the 2019 Finish-A-Long hosted by Julie at her blog That's Sew Julie.
To see my Q1 2019 FAL post click here.

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

~ Heather

Dancing 9-Patch

  After the holidays, I was hunting for a new leader/ender project to use up the remainder of all of those lovely little batik (and masquerades as batik) 2-patches gifted to me by Bobbi, a very generous fellow guild member.  For these types of projects, I usually begin with looking through patterns on the Quiltville free patterns tab.  I have had Dancing 9-Patch on my list of "someday quilts" ever since I saw Bonnie Hunter's baby quilt version - it used lots and lots of little squares to make 9-patches.  Perfect!

The only glitch in my plan was...Bonnie's pattern called for 2" squares and Bobbie's squares were all 2.5" - and, NO, I was not going to trim them all down!  So, after a little handy quilt math, I finished up my slightly larger version of Dancing Nines!

It's a little tough to see, but if you click to enlarge the photo, I quilted this quilt with an edge-to-edge pantograph called Music.  It's an easy flowing design featuring intertwined treble and bass clefs.

And this kinda unattractive-until-you-put-it-on-the-back, orange and lime print, batik became the backing for Dancing 9-Patch with a little of the leftover inner and outer borders to add to the length.

Dancing 9-Patch 

Designer:  Bonnie Hunter (Quiltville)

Size: 

Featured Fabrics:  Assorted Batiks

Quilting:  Music (Simple Quilting Stitches)

Quilting Thread:  Fil-Tec Glide (Auburn)

Batting:  Hobbs 80/20

Linking up to the 2019 Finish-A-Long hosted by Julie at her blog That's Sew Julie.
To see my Q1 2019 FAL post click here.

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

~ Heather

Busy Day, Today

It's been such a busy day today.  First, I got up relatively early - after going to bed very late.  I let the pups go outside, as usual, and then started thinking about what I needed to do today.

Kevin the Quilter asked me bring a trunk show of my quilts and speak to his Scrap Club about my process and thoughts behind "scrappy quilts" (what else?).  Originally, he asked that I do this sometime in July or August, but, he had a last-minute presenter cancellation and called to ask if I would consider coming this week!  Well....I started panicking because most of my quilts are folded and stored and I wasn't sure that a couple of days would be enough time to "get the wrinkles out" and make quilts presentable enough for an audience.  I guess we'll see if my middle eastern carpet piling technique will do the trick!?!?!

My friend Angela has also reminded me that I promised we would begin working on Lori Holt's "Cozy Christmas" quilt together beginning in March!  So...I finished pulling and sorting my fabrics for that project.  Since taking this photo, I have narrowed down  the pink to the one on the bottom and have sorted several fabrics back into the cabinet to be used in another project, another day.

Last night (and late into the wee morning hours) I began the handwork on my Selvage Spools quilt.  It seems to take me forever to just tack down the hanging sleeve!  It's a relief when I finally round the first corner on the binding - a finish is in sight - just one more corner to go this evening!

And finally, today, I quilted my Good Fortune quilt, added the sleeve and binding.  It's all ready for it's turn at handwork tonight (right after Selvage Spools gets finished).  

Whew!  What a day!  Time to put the pups back out and settle in with my needle and thread (and bright light and reading glasses, ugh)!

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

~ Heather

Dresden Quilt Workshop Challenge Quilt

I am so excited to show my Dresden Quilt Workshop Challenge Quilt!  I have been following along with Susan Marth's sew-along (on her blog, referring to her recent book) since the beginning.  Admittedly, I fell behind a few time - life got in the way - but, her simple steps made it easy to catch back up!  And now...finally...I have a finish!

As we worked on this quilt, block by block, I couldn't wait to see it come together.  I had a tough time, early on, deciding on color and fabric placement.  It seemed a difficult task using a fabric collection with so few colors in comparison to Susan's original sample quilt.  Using the coloring template and moving along one step at a time...I think it all came together quite nicely!

Quilted, bound and labeled, my Dresden Quilt Workshop Challenge Quilt has found it's home in the dining room hanging over an old antique sled.

Dresden Quilt Workshop Challenge Quilt

Designer:  Susan Marth of Suzn Quilts

Size: 60.5 x 60.5"

Featured Fabrics:  Gratitude by Jo Morton (Moda)

Quilting:  Feathers #1 (Randy Brunette)

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

Batting:  Hobbs 80/20

Linking up to the 2019 Finish-A-Long hosted by Julie at her blog That's Sew Julie.
To see my Q1 2019 FAL post click here.

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

~ Heather

Q1 2019 FAL Goals

Q1 (January-March 201) Finish Along Goals: 

1. Game On! Bench Pillow  - just fabrics, supplies, a pattern & a dream...
2. Spoolin' Around - blocks are finished, lots more to be done...

3. Crazy Quilt Pillow - only 4 out of 6 blocks are started; none are finished...

4. QAYG Reversible Quilt - all blocks are sewn together (last Q's progress); onto the rows & borders...

5. Asian Sidelights - just fabrics & a pattern, but it will be a quick finish once the fabrics are cut...

6. Farmer's Wife - blocks are finished & ready to be set...

7. Dancing 9-Patch - blocks are finished & need to be framed...

8. Christmas Quilt (for Nancy) - quilt needs to be mended or completely redone; maybe starting over...

9. Selvage Spools - about half of the blocks are made or at least started...
   
10. Dresden Quilt Workshop Quilt Along - top is a flimy (last Q's progress); needs to be quilted...
    
11. Good Fortune - Clues 1-4 finished; fabrics pulled for the rest of the top...
    

Last year, I only completed 12 of the quilt projects I had listed on my Q1-Q4 2018 lists.

  As usual, I'm hoping to make more progress this year and this quarter!  I really want to!

Linking up to the 2019 Finish-A-Long hosted by Julie at her blog That's Sew Julie.

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

~ Heather

And the winner is...

Diane D. Knott's Strip Quilt Secrets blog hop has come to an end and it's time to draw for a winner.  Drum roll, please....

And the lucky winner is...

Wendy Reed!

Thanks for the tip, Wendy!  I've been reading, recently, about the potholder method of making a quilt and I'm eager to try it out...it's on my someday bucket list!

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

~ Heather

Splendid Sampler 2

So often, I just can't resist a quilt along!  But last year, as cute as the Splendid Sampler is...I really just didn't want to put the effort into the long-term, 100 block quilt.  I just had too many other things I really wanted to do.  Then came Splendid Sampler 2, and Judy, the co-manager of our local quilt shop asked me to make a display for a year long sew along (she asked me to make Splendid Sampler last year and I declined several times).  This year, for some reason, I caved.  And I'm glad I did.

I learned a lot making this quilt.  First, each block is designed by I different quilter, each with his/her own way of creating it.  I got a ton of practice with several techniques that are either new to me or skills that I don't have the chance to use often.  Below, I have included photos of the blocks before they were set into a flimsy (using A Splendid Quilt Setting) and quilted.

Speaking of quilting, I'm an edge-to-edge pantograph girl!  I'm highly unlikely to do any custom quilting and only freemotion from the front of the machine on occasion.  The bulkiness of some of  these blocks posed a challenge for pantographing, but after just a bit of ripping back, I got it all quilted with a relatively dense design.

Splendid Sampler 2

Designer:  Pat Sloan, Jane Davidson & friends

Size: 84.5 x 84.5"

Featured Fabrics:  The Good Life by Bonnie & Camille (Moda) & coordinates

Quilting:  Love, Peace & Happiness (Patricia Ritter)

Quilting Thread:  Fil-Tec Glide (Super White)

Batting:  Quilter's Dream Select - White

Linking up to the 2018 Finish-A-Long hosted by Leanne at her blog She Can Quilt.
Checking this project off of as my 2nd finish on my Q4 FAL list.
For fun stuff happening today in the blog-o-sphere, check out the link-ups on my sidebar!

~ Heather