What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Several years ago – I have no idea how many, maybe six or eight? It all started with a pack of 5 inch squares. I pulled fabrics from my stash that went with the charm pack, including white and dragonfly fabric by Kathy Davis. With a vague plan, I began sewing half square triangles and trying different layouts on the design wall. Finally, landing on a layout I liked, I knew it needed something else. I came up with the corner layouts. I knew then that I was in love with this design!

The quilt definitely needed something else. I found ...

Ha Ha! Not Possible! But I do love a scrappy quilt. Recently, I pulled my two inch scrappy squares and then cut white two inch squares. I saw this quilt on the internet years ago and unfortunately, have no one to credit it with. It is an easy pattern to follow from the picture I saved.

Not sewing every day these days, so it took a bit to finish it but was worth it! The backing is an Anna Maria Horner home dec weight and works perfectly for a scrappy. I wouldn’t piece with this weight, but it’s ...

Recently, while digging through a fabric bin of precuts, I came across a bundle of black and gold fabrics together with coordinating fabrics. I slashed the squares into triangles and began sewing them into half square triangles. No real plan – just wanted to sew. Sometimes this method works for me, sometimes it doesn’t, but luckily it did this time!

As I put them on the design wall, the plan changed several times. A central block soon became key. Finally I had the look I wanted and sewed it all together. I even quilted this one myself!

The center block ...

“Not starting something new.” Repeat: “Not starting something new.” HA!! I enjoy doing intricate blocks, choosing colors, patterns, but sometimes I just want to sew without having to give it much thought. And, I have a ton of narrow strips ranging from 1 1/2″ to 1/2″. Thus, this strip quilt was born.

I first cut the base from a lightweight white fabric. There was absolutely no interest in doing these blocks on paper because I didn’t want to remove the paper after sewing! What really inspired this quilt was the pile of solid purple strips I had ...

The Quilt. What do you get when you combine your orphan blocks? A quilt – Adoption! Some time ago I put my orphan blocks on the design wall and started to put them together. And then the mood changed and I put it all away. I resurrected this project and voila – a quilt!

I used pieced black and white borders and sashings to help bring it all together. The key for me to make this happen was to let go of being overly particular and just go ahead and sew. This quilt reminds me somewhat of the style of Freddy Moran ...

There are seven bins full of batiks in my studio, one of which is scraps. From the book “Scrap=Basket Bounty”, I chose the Snippets pattern to make use of the scraps. The cuts are 1 1/2″ squares and 1 1/2″ by varying lengths. There are 80 blocks with 16 pieces in each – in all 1,280 pieces! Here is the first round of piecing:

Then another. Chain sewing makes for quick work, but I’ll admit to getting bored part way through and switched to another project.

Finally, there were blocks to put on the design wall ...

Melee the quilt is finished! I have, however, changed the name to “Vibrance” which is much more positive. This was made from blocks I had put away for some time. The blocks were cut up in varying shapes and sizes and put on the design wall with a minimal plan.

It was back from the long arm quilter last week and I couldn’t wait to add the binding. Yes, there were extra “corners,” but they were easy. This ...

At Christmas I gifted several memory creations to a family. There was a lot of shirting left that they did not want back. It is my son’s girlfriend’s family, and he asked if I would please take the leftovers and make a quilt. Did I say “no” to my son? Of course not! I got on it very soon after!

There were a lot of pockets that I wanted to use. There was also a nice variety of shirt fabrics. Without a full plan, I appliqued the pockets onto gray and dappled gray non-shirt fabrics. I then set ...

It’s been a while and am glad to be back. I was out of town for several weeks and blogging was just not on the list.

Blue batiks, green batiks and a few white thrown in and what do you get? A string quilt! The blocks were positioned to make diamond shapes. This was a LOT of sewing but so worth it! I have found that fleece is a wonderfully warm backing for quilts, and batting is not necessary. So, I went with a dark blue backing and straight line stitching.

I’m really happy with this design and ...

Finished the baby rag quilt I started here. It was a quick sew, but the clipping took a while. I’d clip, rest, clip some more, do something else, then clip, clip, clip! The quilt has been washed and dried twice to get it fluffed up. Each washing & dry will make it more snuggly.

I secured the outside of the quilt with an extra strip doubled over instead of binding. It too is clipped. The stripe brightens the quilt and pulls it all together.

For the backing I used a bright directional print, but altered direction of the design. SNUGGLE ...

Last week I shared the flannel rag quilt kit I prepared for a week long retreat I’ll be attending. Of course one isn’t enough, so I now have two more ready to go!

First up is a string block kit. I pulled from some beloved batik greens and blues and one almost white and cut into varying strip widths. The plan is to sew them onto paper piecing paper doing a diamond design. I love to do string quilts! For me its both fun and therapeutic sewing. Sewing this quilt will also be perfect for a retreat as ...

It’s been a couple of weeks. Spring has really sprung here and I’ve been outside enjoying all the color and amazing nature. Uhhh, the pollen not so much! In absolute contrast, last week we went up to the Blue Ridge Mountains for a couple of days to celebrate my birthday and it snowed! It didn’t stick, was pretty to watch – the best kind.

And now for a fabulous delivery made to my home last week. Thank you to Dolores for three amazing quilts she has donated for Hospice. She is an excellent and long time quilter and ...

Scraps, scraps, scraps. A container full of one and one half inch scrap strips! There is also a bin of polka dots that has been waiting to be used. The blocks are quarter log cabins with the centers made up of four patches of polka dots.

This option for arranging the blocks just didn’t work for me.

I’ve arranged the quarter log cabins several ways and putting four together for one full log cabin block was most pleasing to me.

For now, this is my layout choice.

There’s a long way to go. I’m now piecing ...

So many cut off corners from my Tula Strings quilt just begging to be used for their own quilt. I have been wanting to do a quilt of all flying geese for some time – perfect opportunity! First, there was all the trimming of the triangles. The adding of the solids was done while at a sew-in with friends – it took forever! The final trimming of the blocks seemed to take more than forever.  There was a lot of arranging on the design wall, rearranging, and yes, rearranging some more. The blocks occupied the design wall for at least a couple ...

There have been questions regarding how I made the Tula Strings blocks and border. Unfortunately, I’m not very good at keeping notes and drawings, so I will do my best to recreate the pattern. First, I laid out the various colors of shot cottons from my stash, then pulled out coordinating Tula prints. One and one half inch strips were cut – solids and prints.

The strips were paper pieced onto a 10 1/2″ square of paper, beginning with a solid strip in the center. Was the paper necessary?  For me it was because the shot cottons definitely lend ...

This just doesn’t seem possible – my great niece has graduated high school! She is such a sweet, lovely and talented young lady so I wanted to commemorate this great occasion with a quilt (what else?!) AND…another work in progress completed!

The weather hasn’t exactly cooperated for pictures lately.  Lots of rain and then major sunshine.  This was my only window to take a pic, although a little too sunny. The closeup shows the colors a little better and the pretty quilt pattern the long armer used.

I do wish all the success and happiness to this fine ...

Whew! The past two weeks have been mostly spent outdoors – in the garden and doing some much needed power washing. The temps had not yet reached the 80’s so it was perfect. Now I’m out there by 7 AM and in by 10 AM.  It’s hot, humid and icky for outside work! I am, however, enjoying the fruits of my labor. Thanks to excellent spring rains, all is lush and there’s some pretty color.

I did manage to come inside to bind a quilt that I recently got back from my longarmer. My cousin from Long ...

Another quilt top off the hanger! This quilt was started long ago, challenged me in many ways, was completed and hung “to dry.”  I collected a variety of metallic Asian prints and used the gold fabric to bring out their beauty.  The black stars were a suggestion by a quilting guru friend. It was a pain, but glad to have taken her suggestion.  Thank you Laurie!  I was inspired to finally get this quilted and decided to do this one in a continuous circle.  Meet: Aurous (containing gold.)

The completed circles were quilted with black thread and the partial circles ...

Last week on My Quilt Infatuation, I learned of a drive for little quilts for a NICU. You can learn all about this wonderful mission on Little Lou Lou Quilts here. I was so inspired! I got right to it. These darling fabrics with pretty colors and cute little sheep were in my donation quilt fabric bin. Cut 5 1/4″ squares later, it was on the design board.

The next morning I got right to it. How wonderful to be excited about a project! Of course it went together in no time and quilting diagonal curvy lines was also ...