Weekly Update and Retreat Projects

Hello Everyone! I was hoping to get this post out a little earlier, but I’ve been busy getting ready for my quilting retreat with my quilt guild. I’m leaving today and will return on Sunday. I’m looking forward to good sewing, good food, and good company.

Boxes all packed with projects

I’ve put the Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler boxes to good use. Each contains an individual project that’s been cut and marked. I’m going with small projects that I plan on finishing.

Charm Pack Christmas Tree Skirt

First up is the Charm Pack Christmas Tree Skirt from Fat Quarter Shop. I’ll be using a Vintage Holiday layer cake from Bonnie and Camille. This looks like a quick sew, so I think I’ll start with this to make sure I get the top finished.

Apple Crisp from Sew Sampler Box May 2019

Up next is the Apple Crisp pattern from the May Sew Sampler Box. I am modifying the pattern and I will reveal the finish (I hope) next week. I’m using fabric from the box, Orchard by April Rosenthal.

The next two were part of the June Sew Sampler Box.

Sew Strippy Pillow by Sherri McConnell with Strawberry Jam charm pack

Starling Pillow by Corey Yoder with Walkabout charm pack

The June box contained a charm pack of Sherri and Chelsi Walkabout fabric and a charm pack of Corey Yoder Strawberry Jam fabric. I’m swapping the fabric and using Sherri’s with Corey’s pattern and Corey’s with Sherri’s pattern. I will be adding in fabric from my stash to finish the pillow tops.

I’m also taking the Merry Mini Block, Week 3 to make along with some fabric to make a few placemats for charity.

Last week I finished the 7th round of the Sew Your Stash Along by Diane Knott of Butterfly Threads Quilting.

Diane’s instructions called for piecing the pumpkin seed blocks, but I used fusible machine applique to make them.

Since there were so many, I traced three petals onto regular paper. I used these printable fusible sheets and copied all the petals instead of tracing them. It definitely saved lots of time!

Merry Mini Quilt – Snowflake Block

I also made the second block for the Merry Mini Quilt. This block was designed by Chelsi Stratton.

Last week I made some progress on the Harvest Chalk Full and November cross-stitch pieces.

I’m really enjoying working on both of these. When my eyes get tired of the dark fabric, I switch it out for the lighter.

Friday was my birthday and I decided to do a birthday start. I have never stitched a sampler, so I thought I would start the Peace on Earth Sampler by Cottage Garden Samplings. I’m stitching this on 36 ct Vintage Country Mocha, 1 over 2, with mostly the called for threads. So far I’m enjoying it and only had to take one stem section out because I was half a stitch off. I’m glad it was on the end, so I didn’t have to take too much out.

I’m taking Jack Frost’s Tree Farm and Farmhouse Christmas, both by Little House Needleworks, with me in case I get a chance to do a little stitching.

I’ll be back next week to show you my retreat projects and how far I get on them. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

July Minis and More

Hello Everyone! It’s time for the July Minis and More Parade hosted by Sherri and Michele. This month’s theme was gifts. If you are a quilter and crafter, you probably like to make gifts for your loved ones and friends. I do. Some of my favorite gifts to give are pillows and bags. A place can always be found for a pillow, and I think you need a bag for all occasions. If you would like to see some of my bag gifts, check out my Bags and Tote Bags category here.

My husband’s birthday is later this week and I made this pillow for him and his home office. He saw me working on the cross-stitch and said he liked it. He has not seen the finished cross-stitch so I think he’ll be surprised. He has several things that I’ve made for him hanging up in his office.

I knew when I saw the cross-stitch pattern, Where Liberty Dwells by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle and Thread, I had to stitch it because of the sawtooth star. I’ll have all the details for the cross-stitch further along in this post.

I also knew that I wanted to make a pillow with it. I had some ideas about the finish, but it was after I saw Sherri’s quilt “On A Whim” from her and Corey Yoder’s new book, Sunday Best Quilts, that I knew I had found just the right finish for it.

The On a Whim star block was perfect for the cross-stitch. I had to adjust the size because Sherri’s finished block is 12″ and the cross-stitch star points measured 7″, so the pillow finishes at 14″. I wanted the background fabric to match the fabric in the cross-stitch, so I used the Crosshatch in light gray from Timeless Treasure. I also knew I wanted to use the dark blue Crayola Kaleidoscope fabric from Riley Blake in the pillow, so I changed the colors of the half stars in the cross-stitch to match the fabric. The red is from my stash. I had several striped fabrics that I could have used for the binding, but I thought this one by Bunny Hill Designs from the Sugar Plum Christmas line matched the star the best.

Since the center would not be quilted, I kept the quilting light on the rest of the pillow. I used matching Auriful Thread for the quilting and piecing.

For the back of the pillow, I used this Stonehenge Stars and Stripes by Northcott that I’ve had in my stash for a while. I made an envelope back, just in case I want to replace the pillow with another cover sometime in the future.

Now for the cross-stitch details.

I pretty much changed everything but the design in this pattern. I only had a few of the called for threads and didn’t even use those. The fabric is 32 ct. Winter Wishes linen. The design called for a 40 ct. linen, but since I wanted to make a pillow, I went with the larger fabric. I knew by the time I was on the bottom outside star and still had one side to go, that I was going to run out of the red floss (GA Simply Shaker Schoolhouse Red). I checked the chart to see if I needed two skeins, but it only called for one, then I remembered the change in the fabric count. The 40 ct finished an inch smaller than mine did. I ended up mixing in DMC 304 for the red stripes to finish it. If you are interested in my color changes, you can find them here on my Quilt and Cross Stitch Information Page.

Just one more thing…

Merry Mini Quilt – Poinsettia Block

After seeing Sherri’s and several others Block 1 for the Merry Mini Quilt Sew Along from Fat Quarter Shop, I decided to join in. A new block will be revealed every Tuesday in July. It’s not too late to join in. This block only took a few hours to make. There are four blocks and then a finishing reveal on the last Tuesday.

Mostly Holly Taylor fabrics

I had a few options for fabric combinations, but I thought I would use some of my Holly Taylor fabrics from Moda. These are the fabrics I’ve pulled. Since there are only four blocks I should be able to use what I have.

I’ve been busy getting “kits” ready for my quilting retreat next week. All fabrics are pulled, but I want to cut them before I leave. I’ll share what I’m taking next time. Until then, have a great week and thanks for stopping by.

Fourth of July Sale

Hello Everyone and Happy Fourth of July!

I wanted to let you know that I’m having a 4th of July sale in my Etsy shop on all my patterns and project bags.

Use code FOURTH20 and visit my shop here.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July for all my American friends and I hope everyone else as a great weekend, too!

Brenda

Cross-Stitch Finish and More

Hello Everyone! Can you believe it’s July already! This year has flown by, especially the last two months. Most of June was spent working on the Halloween Collection for The Art of Home Club and it is now finished and ready to be shipped. I also finished the Minis and More Parade mini for the month which would normally occur on the first of the month, but Sherri and Michelle decided to delay it until next Monday, the 8th, because of the holiday week. Stay tuned, because it finished better than I had imaged.

Since I finished the pattern writing on Friday, I had the whole weekend to work on something. I thought it was time to fully finish a cross-stitch project.

Home of a Needleworker Squared by Little House Needelworks

I love this piece. I used mat board and Vonna of The Twisted Sister’s Mounted Flat Fold video tutorial for mounting it. I could have made the green mat behind the pompons slightly larger, but I wanted to make sure the background fabric showed on the top and bottom edges, too.

I bought this little sign around Easter for $3 at Target’s dollar spot, thinking I could use it for one of my finishes. The 8 x 10 frame was bright white so I painted it with a cream chalk board paint. I kept pulling out darker reds for the background and nothing was working because the house color is Classic Colorworks Campfire and is more rusty than red. I finally thought about going to my fall fabrics to see what worked and this Buggy Barn Basics fabric by Henry Glass was perfect. The green was from my scrap pile.

I purchased Home of a Needleworker Squared as a kit with the chart and thread from Fat Quarter shop. I had a piece of the called for fabric, 30 ct. Portobello linen leftover from Farmhouse Christmas. I’m pretty pleased with the bow, since that’s not usually my thing. I learned how to make it by watching Flosstube javagirlstitches bow tutorial. She and others use covered buttons in their finishes and so I used one, too. Really happy with this and I have it sitting on a small shelf above my desk in my sewing studio.

I also finished the second chart in Jack Frost’s Tree Farm, also by Little House Needleworks. I will try to get the third chart finished in July.

I wanted to start a new project in June, so I went with fall and the November chart by Prairie Schooler.

I am stitching the larger chart, but also want to stitch the small one, too. I am making a big change, though.

Instead of stitching the words on top, I’m adding the leaf band from the bottom to the top. I am changing the directions of some of the leaves, so it won’t be exactly like the bottom. That’s one thing about stitchers, now, they are free to change things up. When I first started years ago, I don’t think I would have ever thought of changing the thread color or making a change to the charted design. Maybe that’s one reason cross-stitching has become so popular again. I am stitching this on cream 32 ct. Lugana with mostly the called for colors. I am using overdyed threads for the leaves to brighten it up because I want this to be more middle Autumn than the end of Autumn.

I thought since today is the first of July, I’m going to start a new cross-stitch project:

This is Harvest Chalk Full by Hands on Design and Pricilla Blain (of Real Housewives of Cross Stitch). I purchased my kit from Down Sunshine Lane. I’m going to use 16 ct. Chalkboard Black Aida fabric. I decided to go with an Aida since it’s black and I don’t know how hard it’s going to be to stitch. We will see later today.

As for quilting, I need to make my last round of the Sew Your Stash Along by the 15th and get ready for a quilting retreat I’m going on later this month. I have a couple of new things in mind to start at the retreat and need to get them together. I want to have all the fabric cut before I go.

I just want to show you a few things my daughter has been working on. She likes to stitch, too, but she’s much more free form than I am. She can look at something and draw it out. She does that with pen drawings and now she’s started to get into painting a little bit. My husband and I don’t know where she got her talent, not from either of us or our families.

A birthday present for her boyfriend

She copied one of our pictures from the Grand Canyon with paint and ink.

Blue Ridge Mountains

She sent this last one to us as a reminder of our visits to the mountains.

I hope you all have a great week and a Happy 4th if you live in the USA. Thanks for stopping by.

Travel and Works in Progress Update

Hello Everyone! It’s been two weeks since you last heard from me. We went camping last weekend at Fort Mountain State Park in North Georgia and I’ve been pretty busy trying to meet a few quilty deadlines.

I think we’ll start with the quilting WIPs first. The week before we went camping, I had two things to finish, the top for the Halloween wall hanging I’m working on for The Art of Home Club (which I did), and make 88 flying geese for the Sew Your Stash Along, Step 6. Our guild meeting was on Monday night, the day we came home and I knew I wouldn’t have time to work on it then.

Sew Your Stash Along

It took me two and a half days of just working on the Sew Your Stash Step 6 by Diane Knott, but I finished them before we left. I really love how this quilt is turning out. The next step are pumpkin seed blocks. Diane pieced her blocks, but I think it will be faster for me to applique them. What I need to decide on are colors. I’m going to go with either dark blue seeds on light background or light seeds on a dark blue background. What do you think? Step 7 will be my last round, though. At that point the quilt will be 70″ x 70″ and that’s big enough. I don’t plan to use it on a bed.

While we were camping, I started working on the embroidery for the Happy Little Things Free BOM by Jacquelynne Steves.

The one on the left is part of the free patterns and the one on the right is from her Bitty Blooms Collection in The Art of Home Club. She is going to make the Bitty Blooms available to buy for those who sign up for the BOM. If you are interested in the BOM, you need to sign up here to receive the patterns by email. The BOM starts on the first Monday in August.

I also received the June Sew Sampler Box from Fat Quarter Shop. This is my favorite so far. It has two charm packs from two of my favorite designers, Corey Yoder and Sherri and Chelsie. I love the patterns that came with it and want to make it a priority to make them.

I’ve started quilting the Halloween wall hanging and mug rugs and I may show a little peek in my next blog post. I will be writing lots of pattern instructions next week. I also have two cross-stitch finishes that I want to get fully finished into displayable objects.

Now for our trip.

Fort Mountain State Park lake and beach

The weather was beautiful. We arrived last Friday about lunchtime, the temperature was 69 degrees. We had lunch, then got the camper set up, then went for a stroll around the lake.

It was still cool enough that I wore my jacket while on the shady part of the lake. The first night temperatures were in the high 40’s, then the other three nights were in the low 50’s. Unheard of for the middle of June in Georgia! Even sitting in the camp site on Saturday and Sunday morning, I needed my jacket on.

I don’t often show our meals, but we eat pretty good on these trips. We had shrimp scampi, grilled corn and a salad our first night with a bottle of wine we picked up from Crane Creek Vineyards on our last camping trip.

On Saturday, we went to Ellijay and did a little shopping and had lunch. I found a few treasures. I have some ball jars, but not blue ones. I should be getting a cross-stitch pattern and floss for a new series by Hands-On-Design and Pricilla Blain called Chalk Full that has a blue ball jar featured in each seasonal pattern.

Engleheim Vineyards

After lunch and shopping, we headed to Engleheim Vineyards. We sat outside and enjoyed live music and a bottle of wine. The owner gave us the go ahead to tour the vineyard, so we did.

We had a very pleasant afternoon.

On Sunday morning, we did our only hike on the Big Rock Trail in the park. Big Rock is a good name for it, the trail is very rocky and is rated medium because of that.

There is a small waterfall along the trail, which I always love to see.

Rhododendrons in bloom on left.

We diverged from the Big Rock Trail to hike on part of the Gahuti Trail, the 8 mile loop around the park, then the Campground Loop Trail back to the campground. A very nice hike. That afternoon, we hung out at the campsite and watched everyone else pack up and leave. We haven’t camped on a weekend for years and the campground was full. It was nice to see families and kids enjoying nature, but Sunday evening was very peaceful and it felt like we had the place to ourselves.

We had a great time, as always, but it will be September before we get out again unless we get a few days with lower temperatures when my husband is off from work. I hope you have a very pleasant week and thanks for stopping by.

Paul’s Graduation Quilt

Hello Everyone! I hope you are having a great weekend. We had a rainy Saturday, but we actually needed a nice rain and the temperatures were cool. I took Saturday morning to relax and enjoy the rain on my porch and worked on my Where Liberty Dwells cross-stitch. I hope to have it finished soon.

My nephew, Paul’s high school graduation was this weekend so now I can show you the finished quilt.

It started with the “Low Voltage” pattern by Kari Nichols of Mountainpeek Creations and a Jr Jelly Roll of White Paper Grunge by Moda and a Kona Cotton Solids in Waterfall Roll-Up. It turned into this…

This is a large quilt, 72″ x 90″, so it’s nice and long for a tall young man. My sister told me my nephew’s favorite color is blue, so a blue quilt it is!

The orientation above is how it would go on a bed, but my 6′ tall holders couldn’t hold it high enough to keep it off the ground. It’s a very striking quilt and my son says he wants one just like it. Since it was a fairly quick quilt to make, he may get one, one day.

I used a flannel backing like on most of the other graduation quilts I’ve made. I like the back to be soft and cuddly and Minky is very messy, so I use flannel.

The quilting is mostly done with my walking foot. I used a Clover Hera Marker to mark the straight and curved lines. The Hera Marker leaves an indentation on the fabric so there are no ink or pencil lines to remove. I tried to use the walking foot on the short ends of the white strips, but there was too much turning of the large quilt, so after I finished all the other quilting, I went back with my free motion foot to quilt the ends on both sides.

I like the wavy lines on the blue strips. They are a nice contrast to the diagonal straight lines in the white and they give the quilt some movement. I had a hard time choosing the thread color for the blue strips. In the end, I used three colors of blue and gray Auriful 50 wt thread, light, medium and dark. I’m not completely happy with the quilting, though. You can see it more in the pictures than on the quilt, but I should have set my stitch length even higher than I had it. You can see how the fabric is pulling a little in the wavy lines. Next time, I’ll have to remember to check after a little quilting.

I kept the border quilting simple, too. I marked the large chevron pattern with the Hera Marker, also. Because the quilt is so large, I didn’t want too much quilting to make it heavier. I used Quilter’s Dream 80/20 batting, the first time I have used that. I liked the way it quilted and will probably be using it again.

Even though it was not a piecing or quilting challenge, the quilt is quite stunning in these colors. I hope Paul will enjoy it for many years to come.

Farmhouse Christmas by Little House Needleworks

Last week, I started and finished Grandpa’s Pick-up chart on Farmhouse Christmas.

Four down, five to go. Since I spent all yesterday morning on Where Liberty Dwells by With Thy Needle and Thread, I hope to have that finished in a day or two before moving on to either a new cross-stitch start or back to Jack Frost’s Tree Farm. I will also be starting on a few embroidery designs for Jacquelynne Steves’s Happy Little Things BOM. This past week I spent a lot of time on the Halloween Collection wall hanging. This week, I want to finish the top and get it ready for quilting. I also need to finish Step 6 of the Sew Your Stash Along I’m doing with my guild. I see a busy week ahead.

I hope you have a great week and thanks for stopping by.

Patriotic Minis and More Parade, June 2019

Hello Everyone! Today is Minis and More Parade day and our theme for May was anything Patriotic. The parade is hosted each month by Sherri and Michele so be sure to check out the parade of minis on their blogs.

I chose Mini Fireworks by Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms. Very appropriate for a patriotic quilt. Just like the Swoon block, there are a lot of little pieces in each block. Each block is approximately 8″ finished. I say approximately, because my unfinished blocks were between 8 5/8″and 8 3/4″. I trimmed them very carefully so I wouldn’t cut the corners off the outside points.

The “fireworks” fabrics are all Bonnie and Camille except the navy in the lower right corner. That fabric is from the Creekside collection by Sherri and Chelsi. All are Moda fabrics. The solid navy is a Betsy Chutchian fabric for Moda and the red is a Riley Blake Designs basic. The white is from the Midsummer Meadow collection by Connecting Threads. The binding is also a Bonnie and Camille.

I decided to play up the fireworks theme in the quilting. I used Quilter’s Dream Select batting and Aurifil 50 wt thread for the quilting and piecing. I stitched in the ditch around all the red and navy fabric, then quilted in the white background. I quilted radiating lines from the center in the inside background squares and then did McTavishing quilting in the outside background and border.

I used a red, blue and white Aurifil variegated thread in the center of each block and in the corners. I wanted to make it look like a firework display, so I drew the motif freehand using a Sewline pencil with green lead.

I quilted the motif using my free motion foot. I’m very pleased with the results. What I did have a hard time with was the green pencil on the white fabric.

To quilt the radiating lines, I marked dots at the seam where I wanted to quilt too. I didn’t use a ruler foot because the pieces were so small. Because I used the green lead on the solid blocks, I went ahead and used it in the white blocks, too.

The problem was, I had a hard time getting the green lead out. The picture above was taken after I erased the pencil and also tried to get it out with water. I like to use the green lead on the darker fabrics, but next time, I won’t use it on a lighter color. You do have to look closely to see that the green marks are still there and I hope that over time, they will fade. There is still a green line in the very center that I need to try to erase, too.

I really had fun making this little quilt and I will enjoy displaying it through July. I also had fun trying to take pictures with my geraniums.

Just one more thing before I go…

I received my Sew Sampler Box from Fat Quarter Shop last week and am very happy with the contents this month. The fabric is Orchard by April Rosenthal. I may use the coupon that comes with the box to order some of the yardage in this line. The fabrics are really cute with summer fruits and berries.

This is quilt show week so I’ll be visiting my quilts in the show one day and going to the Preview Party Wednesday night where they announce the award winners. I’m looking forward to that. I finished my nephews quilt and will ship that tomorrow. After he receives it, I’ll be able to share the final quilt with you. The rest of this week will be working on the Halloween collection for Jacquelynne Steves The Art of Home Club. It looks like the weather has broken here and instead of mid 90’s, it should be back to more normal temperatures in the mid 80’s.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the parade with Sherri and Michele.

Happy Little Things Free BOM is Coming Soon

Hello Everyone! I’m excited to be a featured blogger again for Jacquelynne Steves new Free BOM, Happy Little Things.

It’s going to be a fun BOM with these cute flower applique or embroidery centers. The quilt is approximately 43″ x 53″. There are 5 parts and will run from August to December, and as always is free. If you would like to participate, you must sign up on Jacquelynne’s site to receive the patterns in an email on the first Monday of every month. Click the button below to take you to the sign up page.

Jacquelynne is offering it in two colorways, too.

You can purchase a fabric kit in either color way and she also has backing fabric available.

If you don’t really like to do applique or embroidery, Jacquelynne is now offering a pre-printed panel of the applique centers in either colorway, too. They really are cute and if you don’t the have the time to applique, these are a great alternative. If you are interested in purchasing a fabric kit, you should order soon as these kits do sell out.

Here’s just a little hint of what I’ll be doing with Happy Little Things.

I’ll be using Corey Yoder’s Sunnyside Up and this natural linen (either by Riley Blake Designs or Kaufman) to make a series of small items in the way of cross-stitch finishes. I was thinking about it and thought why can’t you finish embroidery pieces the same way as cross-stitch pieces? So I hope you’ll see something that you would like to make, too.

Monday is Minis and More Parade Day, so please stop by to see my entry in the Mini Patriotic Parade.

Thanks for stopping by!

Works in Progress and a Few Other Things, Memorial Day 2019

Hello Everyone and Happy Memorial Day! I hope you have a great day with family, friends or your favorite hobby, but I also hope you take a few moments to remember all those fallen heroes who served our country and honor those who have served or who are serving now. Thank you to my readers who have served or are serving now, also.

It really has been a red, white and blue sort of week around here for me and my projects. Our Minis and More Parade theme this month is patriotic.

I decided to go with the Mini Fireworks pattern by Camille Roskelley of Thimble blossoms. I’ve had the pattern for over a year and this was the perfect time to start it. I’ll share all the fabric details on the minis and more post around the first of June.

These patterns of Camille’s always seem to have lots of pieces. They are pieced in units, which also makes for good stopping places.

I finished piecing the units into rows yesterday and will probably spend the rest of today piecing the blocks together, adding the borders and getting it ready for quilting. This is a fun little quilt that will fit in nicely with the rest of my patriotic collection.

Last week, I also added the borders, pieced the backing, quilted and added the binding to my nephews graduation quilt. I kept the quilting simple, but it has a nice impact on the quilt. I need to hand sew the binding this week and get it shipped. My nephew graduates next week so after he receives it, I will write a post with all the pictures. It is a stunning quilt.

Where Liberty Dwells by Brenda Gervais

You can see I finished the star on Where Liberty Dwells by With Thy Needle and Thread. I thought it was perfect to use for my Memorial Day photo this year on Instagram. I’m stitching it on Winter Wishes 32 ct linen 2 over 2. The pattern calls for 40 ct linen stitched 1 over 2. When I started stitching the bottom of the star, I realized that I was going to run out of the Simply Shaker Sampler Threads, Schoolhouse, that I was using. I looked at the pattern to see if it called for 2 skeins, but no, just 1. Then I realized I was using twice the amount of floss called for because I was stitching with 2 strands of floss.

So…I went to my many boxes of DMC and pulled some reds and color 304 matched perfectly. The Schoolhouse is only slightly variegated and 304 matched the darker variegation. The top two threads in the picture above are 304 and you can’t tell the difference. I would stitch with a little bit of Schoolhouse, then a little 304 until the star was finished. I ended up using it on two sides of the star.

It will never be noticed in the final piece. I plan to make a pillow with this when I’m finished. I think the Riley Blake fabric looks really good with it. I have a few ideas on how to finish it. But I think I’m through stitching on it for this week anyway. I’m ready to move onto something else for a while.

Which brings me to plans for the next week.

I need to finish the binding on my nephews quilt and finish Mini Fireworks. I am also getting my three quilts ready for the quilt show. I thought I had shown you the quilts that were accepted to the show, but I don’t think I have. Here they are:

• 

• 

  I Love Home

• 

They all need hanging sleeves and on them. I also need to make sure there are no threads and other things hanging around. The show is the Georgia Celebrates Quilts on June 7-9 at the Cobb Civic Center if you are close enough to come. It’s the largest show in Georgia every two years.

I also need to get back to the Halloween Collection for the Heart of Home Club. I didn’t work on it much last week because I needed to get the graduation quilt finished, but I did get all the fabrics selected for the Trick or Treat bag and all the applique and embroidery pieces are finished for the bag and mug rugs. This is going to be a cute collection.

I think I’m going to finish up the third block on the Farmhouse Christmas cross-stitch early this week.

I only have a little left to finish. I’ll either start on a new block for this one or start the second chart for Jack Frost’s Tree Farm. That will finish up May, then I’ll have to come up with some plans for June.

I hope you have a great week. I’m off to spend the day with Fireworks (it’s too hot to do much outside) and Farmhouse Christmas. Thanks for stopping by.

Moda Blockhead 1 Finish and a Few Other Things

Hello Everyone! After all of our travel over the past month, it was nice to get back into my routine this past week. I did some yard work, cleaned the house and enjoyed some beautiful days outside with my stitching. I also finished up Step 5 of the Sew Your Stash Along, worked on the upcoming Halloween collection, worked on my nephews graduation quilt and finished the Moda Blockhead 1 quilt.

Moda Blockheads 1

I am so happy to finally have finished this quilt. I started it in March of 2017 when the first weekly Blockhead blocks were posted. I mostly kept up with making one block a week for 48 weeks. For those who may not know, the first Moda Blockhead BOW was free and used 6 designers. If you are interested in making the blocks now, they are compiled into the Moda Blockheads Book.

There are 48 6″ blocks. My quilt is 68″ x 80″ and I used Quilter’s Dream Wool batting. I started with a small bundle of red, cream and black fabric and used fabrics from my stash and some new fabrics. It took a while to find just the right red and black for the borders, but I found the perfect fabric at Jenny Beyers Studio when I visited the shop in December of 2017. They are from Jenny’s Palette for RJR Fabrics.

I designed the layout using the two alternate colors of sashing and setting the squares on point. I finished the top in March of 2018, then it took me over a year to finish quilting it. I used Auriful 50 cotton wt thread for the piecing and most of the quilting. The brown thread in the sashing and border is Pacesetter 50 wt poly. You can definitely tell that it is shinier in person, but the color matched really well. I’m all about the texture and not seeing the thread.

I quilted each of the blocks individually on my Pfaff 4.0 QE (domestic machine). With such a large quilt, it was easier to keep the quilting confined to a small area and use smaller designs and background fills. I used all free motion quilting in these blocks. Because the areas were so small, I didn’t use my ruler foot and templates. I did use the point to point method on some of them where I marked the points I was quilting to and from.

For the setting triangles and setting square between the sashing, I did use my ruler foot and curved rulers to quilt the curved cross-hatch.

My color choice and setting gives this quilt a more traditional feel to it, so I kept the quilting more traditional, too. To me, that means lots of feathers! I quilted feathers in the sashing, then around the outside border. I haven’t quilted large feathers in a border in some time and these were lots of fun to quilt. I quilted a ribbon candy in the inside border.

The back really shows the quilting texture well. The fabric is by Betsy Chutchian for Moda. I just love this quilt and am so glad that I made it. I thought about making Moda Blockheads 2 last year, but after seeing the blocks, I’m glad I didn’t. It’s a lovely quilt, but there are several different block sizes and I do like a little more conformity in my quilts than that one is.

Just a few other things that I’ve been working on:

Step 5 of Sew Your Stash Along

Step 5 of Diane Knots Sew Your Stash Along was a small checkerboard. I went back and forth on the colors for this one, but finally decided on the red and dark blue.

I needed darker fabrics because the star blocks are on the lighter side. Next up is 88 flying geese, which I haven’t thought about yet.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my post on my x-stitch and what I was going to start next. I decided to go with With Thy Needle and Threads (Brenda Gervais), Where Liberty Dwells Ohio Star piece. It’s that red, white and blue time of year.

That star reminds me of a piece of fabric I have from The Good Life by Bonnie and Camille.

Here’s my start on the fabric. I don’t think I’m using any of the called for colors because I didn’t have any. The red in the star is Schoolhouse Red from Gentle Arts and the White is DMC 3865.

By the way, I did finish the first chart of Jack Frost’s Tree Farm by Little House Needleworks.

I hope you have a great week. It’s going to be hot here, mid 90’s by the end of the week. Too hot for May! Thanks for stopping by!