What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 Hey Quilty Friends!  Today we're finally going to dig into those mystery boxes.  I thought one of them held my very small stash of Home Dec fabric but I was wrong. 

This red, white, and blue quilt is another project from “the basket” I have been clearing out this month. It is just a coincidence that it is a holiday quilt that qualified for the May challenge. This project was abandoned who knows how long ago with only quilting the borders and binding left to finish. That didn’t take long and now I have a patriotic quilt to display for the summer. 

I don’t know the name of this pattern, and a Google search did not turn up anything. I thought it was from one of Kim Brackett’s ...

I am calling it USA for obvious reasons. It uses the trimmings from the Jazzy Blues quilt. I trimmed off seams but I basically left the trimmings the way they were and arranged them on the quilt. This means some pieces are skinnier and some are thicker. Some are shorter and some are longer. I glue basted the pieces on the sandwich, randomly without regard to the fabric design, and sewed them ...

 I have been working away on my big pile of quilts that need to be bound.

I just finished another Covered in Love Quilt!

I am still working on the "Oh my Stars" blocks.  I needed to come up with another layout design that used less blocks so I could make an additional quilt from all the supplies Kat sent.

I usually just get a box of blocks and various yardage.  Lots of time the bindings are even all sewn, pressed and rolled up.

I love this step of sorting the blocks and fabrics into quilts.

 Can you believe it? - I have two finishes to share today!

I have been working hard to get all the Covered in Love blocks sewn into quilts.  I have switched from the Tall Nine to the Patriotic Star blocks and already have a couple finishes.

I was sent enough blocks to make three quilts but I challenged myself to make four.  Today I will start sharing the tricks I used to stretch the blocks further.

It is time to share your finished quilts, tops, or progress so far.

Mine is being quilted, but isn’t there yet. Maybe next week. Sometimes life gets in the way.

In the meantime, visit Katy and put your progress in her link-up (if you have a blog), or send her (or me) a picture and we’ll have them to share.

Thanks for joining us, however far you are. This has been fun and we hope to do another one (together or separately) sometime soon.

There are many different ways you could assemble your piles of blocks into a quilt, but for this quilt we’re going to assemble all those blocks into strips.

First, sort them out. Make 7 piles of 20 blocks each of the 4-patch blocks. Make 8 piles of 20 blocks each of the fence rail blocks.

And sew them together.

NOTE: FOUR of your strips of four-squares should have light squares in the upper left; THREE should have dark squares in the upper left. And, don’t worry too much if you make a mistake. It will be easy to ...

How are your 4-patches coming? I hope very well. They are both endlessly interesting and a little mindless. Just chain piecing along…

This week we go to work on the rectangles. Make two piles–all the colored ones and all the backgrounds.

Piece one of each together. Repeat 160 times. Press towards the colored rectangle.

TIP: In case you didn’t know, pressing the seam flat, then pressing it open, helps prevent distortion. If you have noticed that your seams are a little wavy when you just open them up and press down, try this. It helps.

It is such ...

After all that cutting you are probably itching to get stitching. I know I am!

First we’ll make 4-patches.

To create each 4-patch you need two colored pieces and two background pieces.

Stitch each colored square to a background square. Pause a moment and press the seam allowances towards the colored piece. It really does make a difference.

Next stitch the pairs together, putting the colored pieces on opposite ends and nesting the seams.

The next step of pressing has many options. I prefer to press this seam open. It gives the benefit of reduced bulk without the fussiness ...

Earlier this year, Katy shared a picture of this wonderful quilt.

I thought it was a great idea! A few weeks ago I cut out pieces to make a similar quilt. Katy and I got to talking and decided it was just too much fun to keep to ourselves, so we are inviting you to join us and build a Two And Four quilt of your very own.

I am building a version similar to the one above (based on 2-1/2″ squares and strips) and Katy will share directions for making a very similar quilt, but using larger (and ...

The 4th of July is getting close. Let’s celebrate with stars!

The original American flag had just 13 stars—one for each state, and we’ve added a star with every new state. 

Imagine those poor flag makers. Just as they mastered one design, they’d get the news: “Hold up, everyone! Kentucky is now a state! Start unpicking, and rearrange your stars!” 

(Sometimes the layout was changed every single year. That’s a lot of star shuffling!)

This week we’re stitching up a Star Sashed Nine-Patch in ...

Summer is just around the corner and that means it’s time now to start stitching up those beautiful, patriotic quilts for your summer picnics and Independence Day celebrations! Quilting has been an American past-time since the beginning days of our country, so celebrate the history of our craft and nation this year with a red, white and blue color palette!

If you’re needing some inspiration, we’ve gather five of our favorite patriotic quilt projects that would be just perfect ...

 I was quite productive this week and finished sewing on the binding for two more Covered In Love Quilts.

This is the second Red, White and Blue quilt I have shared.  You can see the first one here.  I believe these blocks were all made last summer.  I think Kat mentioned that these were the last of the blocks from that block drive.

 I know I thought I was going to be sharing the second FiddleSticks quilt this week, but I didn't get all of the binding completed.  But I will share the first of the red, white and blue quilts I am working on for Covered in Love.

This quilt is made with 12.5" star blocks of all different designs.  For this first quilt, I used all the star blocks that had a white background to them.

There wasn't quite enough white blocks for the entire quilt so I added in some more colorful blocks in the center of ...

 Today I thought I would share another finish from the third module of my Scrap Mixology pattern series.  This block design is called the Chaser Block.

As part of Daughter’s charitable sewing group, we have made up some “kits” of scraps and orphan blocks and labeled them “Adoptable Quilts.”

Here is one I recently finished.

The scraps came from at least three different sources, but they were able to come together and make something that someone will be glad to wrap up in.

It is a little smaller than I might have liked, about 55″ x 65″, but at least it isn’t a pile of unwanted pieces, and it felt “done” when I got to this point.

Yellow is the color of the month for the rainbow scrap challenge. Yellow is my favorite color, but, it doesn't look as lovely in my patterns as some of the other colors. hmmmm

country roads

tiny houses

I've been working to finish a couple of ufos. I finished Aunt Mary's double irish chain yesterday.

I ran into a snafu with the patriotic ufo. I discovered that I had 3 sashing strips for the inner border attached, but, not the fourth. It was nowhere to be found. I made the decision to unattach one of the borders, and ...

We had a small quilt store in our town a few years ago. It wasn't far from my house. I spent too much time visiting the store and the sisters that owned it. I took classes and participated in block of the months. It was sad to see them close.  One of the block of the months they offered, was a patriotic quilt. There is something magical about red, white, and blue quilts.
I am thinking this was 2013. The blocks were one a month, and, then, the setting was after the blocks were done. It was my one ...

This is a project I remember starting in the 90s, when a new quilt shop opened here in Kokomo, Indiana. It didn't last long, but, it was wonderful while it was open. I had taken a "real " quilting class, and loved stopping in the shop to pet the fabric. It has sat in the ufo stage for that many years.
I pulled this project out again here and here in 2019. I finished the top and it fell into the "to be quilted" pile.
It seemed like a quick finish for these trying times. I had it on the ...