What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 Good Morning Quilters!

This week I have been binding quilts that are recently back from the longarm machine quilter.  The hourglass quilt is now bound and ready for a label.  I thought I’d put the number of pieces in it on the label, so I calculated the number.  It’s 40 blocks by 40 blocks square, and the blocks are two inches each.  With the combination on hourglasses and half-square triangles, the total number of pieces in all the squares:  4,624.  

Here is the quilt with the binding on it:

 Good Morning Quilters!

My enthusiasm for quilting was high this week.  I finished sewing together all the hourglass blocks for the final border of the quilt that has been on the design wall for weeks.  The quilt top measures 80” x 80”, with blocks that are 2” finished size.  Here it is, and I will use the dark navy from the quilt as a binding, to repeat the color again at the edge:

 Good Morning Quilters!

What is on your design wall?  As most of you know, I am recovering from knee surgery that happened two Mondays ago.  Everything is going as planned and I will go to the surgeon’s office to have the stitches (actually staples) removed in two days.  My progress has been great in all areas except getting back to my design wall.  So my design wall looks the same as it did two weeks ago.

 Good Morning Quilters!

When you read this post Monday morning, I will be in the hospital getting a brand new titanium knee.  Surgery is scheduled for 7:30 AM, and I will be in surgery for about 2 hours.  It is going to improve my mobility when I am healed, but I will not be sewing for a few days.  Please pray for a speedy recovery for my body.

This past week I did sew some more hourglass blocks and now three of the outer borders are complete.  Here is my design wall picture:

I looked at my pile of ...

 Good Morning Quilters!

This week has been a productive week for me - quilt wise.  Remember when I showed you a challenge quilt that some friends are making that was all hourglass blocks?  (Here). The blocks finish at two inches.  Here is my progress on my version:

 Here are a couple of pictures of my progress this week:

More hourglass blocks are being cut to their 2.5 inch size so they are ready to sew into the hourglass quilt.

More rows sewn together on the “Two Step” quilt that I had planned to get all sewn together by the end of January.  The first ten rows are completely sewn together and off the design wall, and this is as far as I am on the second ten rows.  Revised completion date is mid-February.  My self-imposed deadlines are easily moved.

Good Morning Quilters! 

We have glorious snow here in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  It is a winter wonderland outside, and is perfect quilting weather.

Inside, on my design wall, I have half of the rows sewn together for the “Two Step” quilt.  (Info Here).  It is my January UFO goal, and so half finished is good for January 15th.

 2024 - HERE WE COME!!

This is a new year, with new resolve to finish some of the UFOs that are in my possession.   This month I am sewing together 400 blocks to make a king sized quilt top.  I blogged about it recently (Here)   The pattern is named “Two Step” and is on the cover of a Barbara Brackman book.

My quilt will be 20 blocks across and 20 blocks down.  I plan to sew two rows a day, for ten days in January, and then it will be a quilt top.  Here are two days of sewing……forty blocks ...

 Happy New Year!

We get to start a new year, all fresh and unblemished.  The last month of any year lately causes me to plan and plot how to get more of my UFOs completed.   I’ve also done some sorting and thinning out of some of my stash.  It’s always exciting to look at all the projects I want to get completed.  I love them all.

Here is the current design wall picture.  Several friends are all working on a version of an old hourglass block quilt.  My version has hourglass blocks, but also I’m using a ...

 This week was semi-productive in my quilt studio.  I put some things away, and got some more things out.  hehe. I found some old hourglass blocks that I will cut to 2.5 inches unfinished size to use in the Hourglass Quilt that I’m making.  Here is a picture of three of them, untrimmed:

Here is a picture of my design wall, showing a beginning of ...

 Good Morning Quilters!

Well, I succeeded is getting the “Splendid Sampler” blocks sewn together, and it is now off the design wall!  Yeah!   But….

The new development with this quilt is that it looked very small when sewn together.  It needed to be bigger.  Luckily, there was more of the green alternate blocks fabric in my stash.  So more green hst blocks were made and I intend to add a few rows/columns to the outside.  Here is a picture of it as it is right now:

So now it is too big for the design wall, and I have ...

Good Morning Quilters!

At my recent retreat, several people (me included) were smitten by a vintage quilt, and I talked about it last Monday.  I have decided to make a modified version of it.  Several of you have asked for more details, so I am providing my plans here.  If you would like to make a copy of the original quilt, or make my modified version, please join me in making lots of hourglass blocks.  Here are two pictures, the whole quilt and a close-up: