Dresden Ohio

It was amazing!  I had been working on this Dresden Ohio quilt and then, Susan posted it as the block of the week for her Dresden Quilt Workshop Challenge!  I had so much fun working on this quilt, and I'm having lots of fun working on the DQWC, too, even if I am lagging behind a bit!

I started Dresden Ohio with a set of 3 kitted up fabrics (1 yd each) that were gifted to me by my friend, Vicki.  Thanks Vicki!!!  I only added 2 additional fabrics into the mix:  the green-grey (star points) and the olive green that forms the Dresden centers.

I finished quilting this little beauty back in October.  That goes to show how behind I am in blogging all of my finishes...I've got sooo many more I still want to post!

I even had enough fabric left over to make the backing (after I found another 1 yd cut of the smaller flower print in my stash).  I just sliced a chunk off of the yard piece, inserted the strip of larger floral between the 2 pieces, and sewed is all back together.  And in the end, I had just enough of that larger floral left to make a hanging sleeve!

Dresden Ohio

Designer:  Suzn Quilts (Susan Marth)

Size: 41x41"

Featured Fabrics:  Olivia by Michele D'Amore (Benartex)

Quilting:  Bubble & Curl (Jessica Schick)

Quilting Thread:  Fil-Tec Glide (Pink Lemonade)

Batting:  Quilter's Dream Orient

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

Blog Hop: Strip Quilt Secrets

Today is my day to host the Strip Quilt Secrets blog hop and I'm so excited!  If you've already got a copy of Diane Knott’s book Scrap Quilt Secrets, then you know she creates some really fun designs in bright, cheerful colors that use up lots of the scrappy stash!  If you haven't been introduced to Diane's designs, then you're in for a real treat and I can't wait to show you how I decided to dive into Strip Quilt Secrets...

I started with this...a scrap basket full of selvages!  Can you believe I have 3 more baskets this full of selvages?!?!  I've been collecting them to make Diane's Gift Baskets quilt (found in her book Scrap Quilt Secrets), but I should have known she would have a selvage pattern in this book, too!  

Selvage Spools, pieced & quilted by Diane D. Knott

Paging through the book, I found the technique section titled "Piecing Alternatives" and it instantly captivated me.  I decided to dig right in to my selvages and start working on Selvage Spools!

I decided to dig right in to my selvages and start working on Selvage Spools! decided to piece my selvages on phonebook paper with a 1.5 stitch length (Bernina) to make the paper easier to remove later.  Diane does not actually use the paper, She just sews selvage to selvage!  I just did it to give myself a size guide to shoot for (and I like the stability it gives for strip piecing).

Diane points out great reasons to start collecting and using selvages, for example, all of the fun motifs - just look at those cute little pies on Brenda Ratliff's fabric instead of 4 plain dots!

And, those clovers from the well known Kansas Troubles Quilters fabrics or the how about the pretty writing on the Betsy Chutchian fabric!

Well, I guess color dots can still be fun when they have as many different shades as the edge of this halloween fabric! Speaking of the selvage edge...I'm wondering how Diane dealt with the long, fringy bits.  I decided to give some of my fabrics a bit of a haircut, while I left some "all nat-ur-al"!

3 selvage blocks trimmed to size

I left the phone book paper on the back of my blocks until I trimmed them up to size and then peeled it right off.  Then came the part I dreaded...mitered corners!  In the hundreds of quilts I've made, I've only ever mitered corners twice (and the pattern I used didn't help teach me how to do it, so I never tried again)!  

1/4" marks on the Bernina 97D Patchwork Foot

Have you ever noticed the little notches on the left side of your machine's presser foot (mine is a Bernina Patchwork Foot 97D)?  Did you know that they mark where your needle pierces the fabric (green arrow), 1/4" behind the needle (pink arrow) and 1/4" in front of the needle (yellow arrow).  These marks are a great help in knowing exactly where to stop for mitering these corners!

I had ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM mitering the corners of my selvage spool blocks with Diane's instructions.  They went right together, just how she said they would!  Her instructions were great!

Wash Day, pieced by Diane D. Knott quilted by Cheryl Ashley-Serafine

And...they were so great that I decided to sew up a bunch of my scraps as leaders/enders as I went along using her instructions for making strips for blocks in Wash Day, another quilt featured in the Piecing Alternatives section!

Just pushing the tiniest of scraps through the machine after each block from my main quilt and building strip sets.  Then I started sewing those strip sets together to begin making my block.  So far, so good, but this is definitely a VERY long term project!

Here’s the rest of schedule for the blog hop (don't forget to go back and visit those you may have missed):
All week long - Diane D. Knott, Butterfly Threads Quilting
Friday January 4 – C&T
Saturday January 5 – Tanya
Sunday January 6 – Val
Monday January 7 – Lori
Tuesday January 8 – Heather <= That's ME!!!
Wednesday January 9 – Audrey
Thursday January 10 – Susan

Now, since you've read all they way through, here's the part you've all been waiting for...please leave a comment telling me some of your scrappy or strippy quilt secrets and maybe even a favorite pattern to make with them!  Leaving a comment will enter you for a chance to win a signed copy of Strip Quilt Secrets (sorry, due to rising international postage rates, this raffle is for U.S. residents only).  I will choose a winner, at random, on Sunday, January 13th.  All winners of the the blog hop will be announced here and on Diane's blog!

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

~ Heather

New Blog Hop: Strip Quilt Secrets

Have you heard about Diane Knott’s new book, Strip Quilt Secrets?  If not, well here's your chance!  She's having a blog hop and we're all invited!

I'm scheduled on Tuesday and I'm starting the weekend out right, by playing in my scrappy strip bins to see what I can come up with using Diane's tips and tricks for her latest designs.  I can't wait to share what I come up with!

Here’s the schedule for the blog hop:

Friday January 4 – C&T

Saturday January 5 – Tanya

Sunday January 6 – Val

Monday January 7 – Lori

Tuesday January 8 – Heather <= That's ME!!!

Wednesday January 9 – Audrey

Thursday January 10 – Susan

Here's the really fun part...All U.S. residents are invited to visit each site during the blog hop and comment/apply for a chance to win a signed copy of the book!  If' you're not living here in the U.S., please follow along anyway because there are some really fun quilts and amazing ideas that will be shared, I'm sure!

Diane has already made several posts about the 5 Techniques she highlights in the book and has started the blog hop off right with tons of amazing pictures of her quilts!  Go get a sneak peek of everything that is happening over on her website:  Butterfly Threads Quilting.  

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 #15

Once again, I'm playing catch up on Suzn Quilts' Dresden Quilt Workshop Quilt-Along Challenge.  I'm all caught up now, so over the next few days, I'll be posting the challenge steps I've been behind on.

So week #15 was churn dash blocks.  

 We were to use 3 of the Dresden plates from week #14 and build a churn dash block around them!

 They're so pretty!

3 Dresden Churn Dash Blocks!

I'm really loving working with this fabric line...I just wish there were more "color" fabrics.  There must be just as many neutral fabrics as all of the red, blue and brown fabrics combined together.  It does make for more difficult fabric selection, but this IS a challenge and I shall persevere!

DQWC Weeks #1-15

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

~ Heather

The Splendid Sampler 2 - the beginning

Have you been participating in The Splendid Sampler 2 Sew Along?  Pat Sloan and friends have done it again...they came together to compile some of the cutest blocks, with the most techniques, to make the most adorable sampler quilt!

I've been working on this quilt for about a month, now, and I've finally gotten all 100 of the blocks made.  Over the next 5 days, I'll share photos of my blocks.  Here are the first 20 for today!

The Splendid Sampler 2 book is laid out by technique for the most part.  The majority of the beginning blocks are all simply machine pieced (some with many, many more pieces than others)!

As the book goes on, more intricate designs are revealed like the faux cathedral window block below.

That's it for today.  Come back tomorrow to see 20 more blocks!  Now I'm off to start cutting the fabric strips for the sashings.  I plan to set them using the A Splendid Quilt Setting, offered as a free pattern online HERE.

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

~ Heather