Complete: Can Animals Count? + WIP: Shining Star

The “Can Animals Count?” quilt is complete. I really enjoyed working on this quilt — no new techniques, just cut, sew and go 😁

My new quilt is called Shining Star by Suzy at SuzyQuilts.com. I’ve been admiring the two-color quilt now for quite a long time and I finally dove into the pattern. I love this Grunge fabric — it’s been a go-to fabric for me for a while. You can see in the next picture that I started building two practice blocks (the blue) and then moving on the the green and gold Grunge. The full blue block isn’t yet sewn together but I think the block is lovely and very large !! I’m not quite sure what I’ll do with it. I’ll begin sewing cutting and sewing the Grunge blocks and might have something to show you next update.

WIP: Can Animals Count? + New Mystery Quilt + Shining Star

I began work on a simple Jelly Roll quilt using the fabric collection Can Animals Count? I plan on giving this one away, possibly to Linus Project. I’ve finished the quilt top and will be quilting this myself.

I was so pleased with the two mystery quilts I’ve done that I decided to do another. I chose “Mystic Cactus” which will run for 10 months. We get our first clues toward the end of June, so stay tuned. I’m pretty sure it will be awesome.

And my next quilt will be “Shining Star” in two colors by Suzy Quilts. I’ll be doing the baby quilt. Here’s a sample of the quilt; mine will have four blocks rather than six as this one shows. This quilt illustrates a “wonky” log cabin block surrounded by flying geese. I’ll have a picture of my colors in my next update.

Complete: Mystery Quilt + Giraffes in a Row + WIP: Count

Cotton Cuts released the “reveal” of the mystery quilt and I finally fell in love. The blues in this quilt were sometimes so close that I wasn’t sure I was putting it together correctly. But BOY did this turn out well.

Here’s a picture showing the quilting pattern on the backing. You might need to zoom in to see the pattern, but it’s a loopy one :-)

My other finish in May was the Giraffes in a Row — which I think is adorable. The pattern is by Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts. She has some nifty patterns . . . I quilted this one myself in a simple checkerboard pattern.

WIP: Mystery Quilt + Giraffes in a Row

I got the reveal of the Mystery Quilt and have been working on putting the pieces together. I have two more borders to attach and then the quilt will go off to Amy, the longarm quilter. As each piece came in the mail, I wondered about my choice of color but I’m very pleased with the way the quilt turned out.

The giraffe quilt is moving, but not very rapidly. I wanted the get the mystery quilt off my hands, so I worked on it. Here’s the design wall with the giraffes. You can see that I need to finish the last giraffe; I’m going to quilt this one myself.

WIP: Giraffes in a Row + Retro Blossoms (curves !!)

The Giraffes quilt is coming along nicely. I will probably have the top finished by my next update and perhaps even some quilting on it. Cathy, our long-time house cleaner, came into my sewing room and immediately smiled when she saw my design wall. Exactly !!

I’ve had curved blocks on my bucket list for some time now. Years ago, I tried making an orange peel quilt, but my skills were simply too unrefined and I abandoned the project with a promise to revisit curves again. Now is the time. I’ve signed up for an online class: “Curve College” put on by Brittany at Lo & Behold Stitchery. She has designed a lovely quilt with three different curved blocks: Drunkard’s Path, Orange Peel and Half Circle. The quilt is titled Retro Blossoms and I’ll be doing the hemlock (green) color way pictured here:

The class begins 4/29 and continues for 10 weeks. This class is self-paced; new modules drop each Monday with that week’s proposed activities. I’m very much looking for to this !!

Complete: Deco + Mystery Quilt + Next Project

WooHoo !! The Deco quilt is back from the longarm quilter & I think it looks pretty doggone good !

The next-to-last-month fabric for the Cotton Cuts Puzzle Mystery Quilt (PMQ) arrived and the last sections look like the following; near the end of April I’ll receive the “reveal” of the quilt pattern. This is a larg-ish quilt so it will spend a little time at the long armer.

My next project is titled “Giraffes in a Row” by Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts. I’ve had this on my to-do list for quite a while and it just makes me smile :-) Here are a couple of examples of other folks’ quilts.

I made a test giraffe so I could work through difficulties - I corrected more than a few errors as I went along, but didn’t correct the error in the hip area. The second picture below is the fabric I’ll be using for the actual quilt.

WIP: Deco + Upcoming

The Deco quilt (pattern by Brittany Lloyd of Lo & Behold Stitchery) is coming along, although haltingly. I’m moving slowly as I learn new techniques and methods. This will be ready to go to the longarm quilter in the next couple of days though (3/19 or 3/20). Her usual turnaround is about two weeks, so you’ll see the finished quilt around early April.

I’ve pretty much decided that “Giraffes in a Row” by Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts will be my next project. I’m thinking of a dark chocolate background with the giraffes in lighter shades of brown. I’m making the baby quilt (39” x 39”) but, as the quilter has done on this inspiration quilt, I might add a border to two to make the quilt larger. This quilt will be a real winner, I think. . .

This quilt pattern uses new methods to put together the blocks, so you’ll see some practice blocks before I get down to the real fabric.

WIP: Mystery Quilt + Deco

We’re in month eight of the Cotton Cuts mystery quilt. Month 9 is the last month for fabric and Month 10 is the reveal.

I’ve begun work on the Deco baby quilt. This might be the most technically challenging quilt I’ve work on. As a reminder, here’s my inspiration quilt

I’ve found that making test blocks with scrap fabric is a wise way to start most quilts. Deco has three primary blocks each of which should measure 8 1/2” square. The first test block was only 7 7/8”; the second test block measured 8 3/8” — just 1/8” short.

I figured that was “close enough for gov’ment work” as my dad used to say (somewhat sarcastically) so here are those two blocks in my chosen fabric. These blocks went together pretty quickly, without a lot of trouble.

The third block is giving me fits. This is my first encounter with strip sets and I couldn’t figure out how to do the strip sets in my scrap fabric so I started using my chosen fabric. The first test block was hopelessly too small; the second is better and I hope the third will be better yet. Because there are so many small pieces the block warps easily so I have to be extra gentle when I press (don’t iron, press) and apply starch

WIP: Mystery Quilt + Deco

Section 7 of the mystery quilt arrived and I spent a couple of morning putting together the clues. I’m still pretty unsure of the colorway so I’ll just have to hope the reveal is a pleasure for me.

I’ve begun work on my next quilt Deco by Lo & Behold Stitchery. Practically since my first day learning to quilt I’ve heard about the “scant 1/4 inch” stitch which is kinda like a black rose or the treasure at the end of the rainbow — something greatly desired but (perhaps) unattainable. Brittany, the quilt designer at Lo & Behold, has written extensively about the scant 1/4” and how important it is — and now I know how desirable it is and how to attain it. Behold two test blocks which should be 8.5”

The first test block was a dismal failure, as you can see. It’s nowhere near 8.5”. I searched and found explanations: each line of stitches uses up a couple of extra threads of the fabric — perhaps 1/16” or 1/8” depending on factors. This block has 9 lines of stitching to create the block — so somewhere between 9/16” or 9/8” are used up making the block smaller than is called for.

Fortunately for me the fix was easy - use a different 1/4” setting on my machine. I won’t bore you with what I went through to find this, but find it I did.

I will begin working with the real fabric I’ll use for the quilt and have more to report in my next post.

Complete: Dutch Wax Fabric + Mystery Quilt + Moda Love

I finished the Dutch Wax Fabric quilt and I think it’s a real winner !!

I fell in love with a layer cake (package of 40 10” squares) that is black and white and knew I wanted red. Here’s the inspiration picture and my in-progress picture.

Here’s clue #6 in my monthly mystery quilt.

And a look ahead to the Deco quilt by Lo and Behold Stitchery. Brittany at Lo & Behold had some mockups of the small quilt in a variety of colors and I found myself pulled toward the greens. I realized that as an adult I never wear green and own nothing green; yet in my late teens and early twenties I wore lots of green. So I decided on this green inspiration

Bad Cold + WIP: Dutch Wax Fabric

Mike brought home a cold and was miserable between Christmas and New Year’s. I caught the cold on New Year’s Day and felt miserable for about a week. Both of us ended up going to our local urgent care clinic and came away with roughly the same meds. But we’re both feeling good again.

I completed the Dutch Wax Fabric quilt top on 1/15/2024 and I’m pretty pleased with the outcome (yes, I just realized it’s upside down. . . but hey 😬)

I’m off to my local quilt shop today to choose the backing. I’m thinking a muted chocolate or a muted blue or maroon so we’ll see what I come home with. . .

Next up, I’m planning on working on Mode Love layer cake (10” squares) in black, white and red. Here’s the inspiration quilt

I received my Mystery Quilt fabric for last month, but haven’t taken the time to look at it. More next time. . . .

Machine Went Walkabout . . .

But we’re both back and up and running. I was 99.9% finished with the Happy Colors quilt when the bobbin holder on my machine went walkabout. It slipped up and a little to the right of its rightful place. This took a bit for me to figure out what had gone wrong, put it back in its place and off it went again. Sigh. Then of course with the holidays making shipping slow it took a while to get a new bobbin case. However I was able to finish the binding and here’s the quilt

I used a high loft batting ‘cause I was curious about it. I likely won’t use this again; I prefer the less lofty batting. Just to be different, I used a square spiral in the white squares and I rather like the effect.

While I was working on Happy Colors I stumbled across a panel titled “Anisa” with two very colorful peacocks and I absolutely had to have it. Here’s the panel

I chose three border fabrics, cut the strips and sewed them on. Here’s the quilt sandwich

Next time I work on a panel I think I’ll choose border fabric that is in the same color family. For example, for this quilt I could have chosen a light, medium and dark blue, or red or green or . . . I think that might be more cohesive. Nevertheless I’m really pleased with this.

Clue #5 for my mystery quilt came in the mail. I can’t say I’m all that excited about this; perhaps I’ll like it better at the final reveal.

Up next: The panel will come together fairly quickly and I have the fabric and pattern for my next quilt. “Dutch Wax Fabric” can now be imported to the United States. This fabric is known as “Vlisco Hollandaise” and “African Wax Print” and “Ankara”. It is somewhat similar to batik fabric. You can read more about here. You won’’t be surprised that I was on board immediately. Here’s the fabric I chose

I purchased a group of 10 fat quarters and here’s the inspiration quilt. I’ll be use cream for the sashing (as you see surrounding the colorful fabric) and a low volume orange print for the intermediate rows (the black rows below). More about this next time. . .

WIP: "Happy Colors" + Mystery Quilt

I had a fair amount of prep work before I could start the quilting process. I had the idea of a square spiral in the white blocks (see the post before this) and a scattering of specialty stitches in the colored blocks. Here’s an example of the specialty stitches I looked at.

I really liked the shoe and Mike did too, so I put together a test block sandwich and tried the shoe just to see what would happen.

Not so much, huh?! I think the density of the batting (I wanted to try a high loft batting) causes the shoe to shift and really doesn’t work out all that well. Ah well. I’ll do stitch in the ditch for the colored blocks.

I began the quilting process on Thursday, November 16 and it’s definitely going to be a slog. My shoulders and waist are getting a workout shoving the quilt back & forth around my machine. Maybe I’ll have all the quilting done in my next update. Wish me luck !!

The fourth clue in the mystery quilt arrived and it looks like this

WIP: "Happy Colors"

Here’s my design wall for the “Happy Colors” quilt; I have one more row that won’t fit on the wall.

I’m thinking that the white blocks will have a square spiral (possibly in a variegated thread). Here’s a look at the square spiral template.

While I was waiting for the square spiral template to come in, I decided to do a bunch of cutting for my next quilt. Sadly, I overdid it and now my right thumb is protesting vigorously. I’ll be down & out for a bit while my thumb returns to it's agreeable nature.

I use my disappearing ink pen to draw lines and then sew around the lines.

WIP: "Happy Colors" quilt - FPP blocks

The blocks for my “Happy Colors” (newly named by me) quilt are coming along. These blocks will not be jammed together like you see in the picture below. I’ll be sewing black borders around each block; I envision the quilt will be one FPP block, one block in a neutral color, then another FPP block. I think the neutral block will be a low volume neutral like a white-on-white print, but I’ll wait to decide that a little further down the line.

WIP: Cleo #2 + FPP + Mystery Quilt

Cleo #2 is complete and boy, am I pleased !! Mike chose the border fabric and I took it from there. Here is the front and the back with Bridges the photobombing cat. The picture below that is the back; if you zoom in you’ll see the outline of the cat’s head. I made sure the quilting (which I did) didn’t go through the cat’s face.

I’ve been working a bit through FPP (foundation paper piecing, aka paper piecing. I didn’t much care for the batik colors and so I’m going to put it to use by making a pillow for the cat/dog. Here is part 1 — the paper piecing blocks. Next I’ll create the pillow case with some nice backing fabric which will wrap around these blocks.

I seem to gravitate toward bright, vivid fabric so I’m going to continue my FPP journey by making more blocks like the following. I have four different patterns for the blocks; you can see two of the blocks below. I’m not sure if this will be a quilt or a wall hanging, or. . .

Here’s the third clue in my Cotton Cuts Mystery Quilt.

WIP: Cleo #2 + FPP

I’m working on a second Cleo panel. When I bought the first one, I asked my chief designer (aka “the hubs”) which fabrics in the collection would work for borders. Each of us independently chose three entirely different fabrics. So I bought a second panel and six different fabrics for the two panels. Here’s Cleo #1 and the following is quilt sandwich Cleo #2

He asked that each of the borders be the same width and specified the color progression. Cleo #1 was too wide for regular fabric backing (up to 42 inches) so I had to piece the backing widthwise and lengthwise using leftover fabric. Cleo #2 was wide enough for regular backing so I used leftover fabric to make it long enough, as you see here

I’ll be quilting Cleo #2 using a wavy quilting pattern (and avoiding the cat’s face) and will bind the quilt in red.

I continue to play with FPP (paper piecing). I pulled out some batik fabric and some coordinating fabric and created blocks as you can see in the first picture below. I’m not real happy with these blocks; they seem “muddy” to me. So I pulled out the very first block, evaluated it and decided I wanted brighter colors. I’ll use bright colors for the blocks and the multi-colored fabric for sashing. We’ll see how that works before I commit to a quilt or table topper or . . . .

WIP: Cleo + NYB + Paper Piecing + Mystery Quilt

Cleo came back from the longarm quilter and I am mostly pleased. She used a brown thread for the quilt pattern. The only thing I don’t like (and there’s nothing to be done about it) is the quilting in the cat’s face. I have a second panel and will probably do the quilting myself.

Here’s a picture of my design wall

Foundation paper piecing examples: complete and incomplete

All of these are foundation paper piecing (FPP) - some complete, some not. I worked on NYB (New York Beauty) blocks for what felt like years. I got the spires working pretty well and was able to complete the quarter circle competently. However, I could not figure out the cutting of the block. It should have come out to 8.5” but I had virtually no luck with that. So, for the moment, I’ve decided to abandon the NYB for the moment and stick to simple FPP which I like a lot. I really like the second block on the upper row and plan to make placemats or a table topper using that block using batik fabric.

I received clue #2 on my mystery quilt; you can see all the clues here (there’ll be nine clues).

Complete: Delilah Jelly Roll Quilt + Cleo #1

The Delilah Jelly Roll Quilt and I’m pretty pleased with the finished product. It’s hanging in my sewing room but will be passed on when I’m tired of it or have a new one to hang. Here’s my attempt at some quilt/flower porn 😁

In my last update I showed you a picture of Cleo the cat fabric panel. She’s 23” wide by 44” long. Here it is

I spent a couple of days researching what to do with a fabric panel and then mulled over what I’d seen. I ended up attaching three borders. Sadly, I don’t have a picture of that, but the quilt is at the longarmer so I’ll have a full picture next time.

I signed up with Cotton Cuts for another mystery quilt, this one in blues — the last one was red, white and black which you can see here. Here’s what the first step looks like.

I’ve set up a gallery here so you can follow along with the clues as I complete them.

I’ve begun building practice blocks for the New York Beauty quilt. Here’s my first practice block. You’ll notice at the lower right I haven’t quite covered the edge of the paper — I’ll charge on and place the semicircle which will be my first attempt at curved piecing. The block below mine is what the block will look like when it’s completed correctly.

WIP: Delilah Jelly Roll Quilt + more

The last couple of quilts I’ve made — or techniques I’ve been learning — have been intense so I’m ready to make a simple utility quilt for donating to some organization or person. Here’s what I’ve been working on for the last couple of days:

Doesn’t look like too much at this point, does it? 😉 I went looking for a fun fabric collection and I had gardens on my mind. I found “Delilah” — butterflies, flowers and stripes in lovely colors. This fabric is “Delilah” (hence the title) designed by Whistler Studios for Windham Fabric. I already had a jelly roll quilt in mind (jelly rolls are 2.5” wide by width of fabric [usually 240-42”] and I had some blue ombre fabric for the “sky”.

I’ve sewed the three columns with one more to go and then I’ll sew the rows together. I’m thinking of diagonal quilting, but I might decide on something else. We’ll see. . . .

As I was evaluating jelly rolls, I stumbled across this panel titled “Cleo the Bejeweled Cat designed by Chong-a Hwang (take a look at her other collections — they’re fabulous ! ):

and instantly my brain & heart said “ WE. MUST. HAVE. THIS”. It’s a panel 24” wide by 43” long. I haven’t worked with panels at all — I’ve never even been attracted to any that I’ve seen. This one definitely called my name. I’ll add some borders to make it large enough to call it a quilt. This will be a quick but satisfying project.

After I finish Cleo I’ll go back to paper piecing with a refreshed brain eager to take on a new challenge . . . I’ve decided on the pattern and will be searching our local quilt shop for fabric. More about that next time. . .