Summer Love Finish . . .

I love basket quilts and try to piece one new basket pattern every year.  When I saw Bonnie at Cotton Way's latest basket pattern I new it would be my next basket quilt.

The basket blocks are ginormous, they finish at 16". 

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 247

The pattern is Summer Love by Bonnie at Cotton Way

The fabric is all Bonnie and Camille for Moda

It finished at 84" x 84"

It has approximately 622 pieces

The quilt top is prettier in person, I've not seen the sun in months which has resulted in dreary photographs.

This is the first block I pieced and it's my favorite.  That doesn't happen very often, more often than not my first block doesn't even make it in the quilt top, but I never could top the fabric combo on this one, even though I tried every time.

This pattern is available from Bonnie at Cotton Way, click here.

I have a Fig Tree Red and Cream BOM that I started last year that I plan to work on next.  I don't even remember how many blocks I pieced or how many I have left to piece, I can hardly wait to open that project box, it's my last UFO.

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YoT 100 Block 6" Sampler

I'm still  updating my blog to match my 2017 sewing life and I have no idea how I almost missed blogging about this quilt, one of my favorites for 2017.

So one of my Year of Thelma goals was to piece a 100 block sampler made up of 6" blocks.

Here's a little something I've learned over the last few years, no one has enough time to make all the quilts they want to make, so in order to get through my long to do list I combine quilt patterns when possible.  That's what I did with my 6" sampler quilt.  I don't have enough time to make every  sampler out there, so I decided to piece my favorite blocks from all my books.

And to add to the fun I "graded" each block after I pieced it.  1 was a perfect block, perfect execution, great pattern and lovely fabric selection for that pattern.  2 was almost perfect, I just missed one of the criteria from 1.  3 was missing two of the perfect 1 criteria.  4's were total misses.

As I pieced my blocks I put them on my design wall under its corresponding grade.    When I was done I had mostly 1 blocks, hurrah, and I only managed one total miss.  There were a few 3s but I didn't get a picture of them, and some 3s did make it into my finished quilt.  Once the blocks were pieced I actually loved them all and I couldn't remember why I sometimes gave a block a grade of 2 or 3.

To finish things off I just added some sashing and floating cornerstones for a simple yet perfect for my taste setting.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 215

I've named it Year of Thelma 100 Block Sampler

It finished at 85" x 85"

The fabric is all Bonnie and Camille for Moda

It has approximately 2,081 pieces.

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Stars and Stripes

While piecing my Hometown USA quilt top I made a few extra flag blocks.  Then recently I remembered that I was sitting on a few flag blocks, made a few more, and put them all together, hopefully just in time to get the top quilted so I can enjoy it the month of July.  I made it exactly like the pattern,  because it was perfect just as it was.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 204

The pattern is Stars and Stripes by Camille Roskelley for Thimble Blossoms

It finished at 56" x 71"

The fabric is a mixture of Bonnie and Camille for Moda

It has approximately 138 pieces.

The pattern is only $5 and you can make this top in a couple of afternoons.

And speaking of my Hometown USA quilt, Emily Waterbury was the winner of the raffle.  Here she is on the left, getting the quilt from Twilla Coon, the director of the library.   The library collected nearly $3,500 in ticket sales, what a great effort.  Thanks to all who supported my hometown library by purchasing tickets.

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Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm all for any reason to turn a ho-hum day into a fun day, especially in February, when most days where I live are ho-hum.  So today I'm wearing red candy heart socks, a red shirt, and cooking a red dinner set to red candles,  plus I'm eating any fine chocolates that come my way, guilt free.  So let's all celebrate Valentine's day today, big or small, and go back to ho-hum tomorrow.

And what better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with a Valentine's Day finish?  (Ok, eating fine chocolates all day guilt free may be better, but not by much)

I fell in love with Bonnie's Love You Most quilt pattern immediately.  But I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon and piece the latest pattern craze, I have a schedule to stick to, and things to think about, like how to change it.  But then I remembered that this is the Year of Thelma-LX, and this is the year I DO jump on the latest craze, schedules should allow for some flexibility and more importantly, fun.

To add to the fun I gave myself a goal of finishing by Valentine's Day, which was a fairly unnecessary  goal, but luckily for me this pattern is a breeze to piece and I met my goal easily, no stress whatsoever.

I pieced the hearts first, this may be my all time favorite heart block.  It's the stripe down the middle, it just appeals to me.

My favorite heart, second row, first block.  I used up the last of my Vintage Modern pink on that block.  Although honestly, I love each one.  I love them so much I made two extra!

 I pieced the heart blocks in a day, one sewing day, which is probably more like an afternoon.

The hugs and kisses took longer, several days, but I enjoyed the process and time flew by.

I did change the pattern some, out of necessity, not out of a need to be different.  I didn't have enough aqua yardage to make all the hugs the same, so I made them scrappy instead.  Each block has the same hug and kisses fabric, but each block is different, if you know what I mean.

And here it is!

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 195

The pattern is Love You Most by Bonnie at Cotton Way

It finished at 72" x 72" (my favorite size)

I used an assortment of Bonnie and Camille fabric, no one family of fabric.

It has approximately 753 pieces.

I'm so happy I loosened up a little and pieced this top, a little spontaneity is a good thing. 

If you've not bought this pattern yet, give yourself a little Valentine's present and buy it today, you can make it anytime this year and be all set for Valentine's Day 2018. (click here for pattern)

I have a goal this year to not start a new project until I piece the backing and binding on the last one.  It's made me think about the binding and backing before I finish piecing the top.

Here's the fabric for the back,

it's by Riley Blake.  I figure after piecing a Valentine's Day quilt top why not finish it off with an over the top Valentine's Day feel backing.

And this is my binding fabric.

Bonnie and Camille basic.

I've not pieced either, but just having the fabric bought and in the house is an improvement over my past history, and I plan to piece both items today.

I hope you have a fun Valentine's Day, and if not a whole day of fun, at least a little fun, go buy your own flowers or candy if you have to, this day only comes once a year, why not enjoy it.

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Swoon Finish

One quilt off my Lifetime To Do List, a project that was on there way too long, what was I waiting for?

The fabric is by Bonnie and Camille for Moda, I picked my favorite prints from several different lines.

This block didn't make the cut.

I like it, it just didn't pop when it was on my design wall with the other Swoon blocks.  That's OK, I'll put it on the back.  I enjoyed piecing each block and didn't mind making 10, honest.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 194

The pattern is Swoon by Camille Roskelley for Thimbleblossoms

The fabric is by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.

It finished at 80" x80"

It has approximately 741 pieces.

I love how this quilt turned out so much I think I may have to splurge on a custom quilting job, after all it IS The Year of Thelma.

I think I'm going to try and squeeze this project in next, Love You Most by Bonnie at Cotton Way. (available here)

Over the years I've enjoyed seeing the Valentines Day projects and heart quilts pop up online, but I never saw myself making one, until I saw this pattern.  I think it's the hearts, I love their size and the slash of a different print down the middle.

My goal is to have it pieced by Valentine's Day!  But if I run a few days over that's OK too, it will be done and ready for next year.

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Block Play

Yesterday, Nicole at Sister's Choice Quilts blogged about a Courthouse Steps block sew along she saw online.  It got me to thinking that maybe that would be a good low volume project.  I have a huge stack of Bonnie and Camille low volume fabric that I think could make a cute low volume quilt.  I seem to be drawn to the bolder prints and rarely use the lighter ones.  I like the idea of a log cabin/courthouse steps block because they are real fabric eaters.

I'm thinking of going with 1 1/4" strips, wide enough to get a good feel for the fabric, but not too wide as to create a gigantic block.

This block finishes at 6 3/4".  I'm thinking of making all the center solids, but scrappy.

I'm also thinking that this would be a fun project to spread out through the year, maybe make a dozen a month or so.

I trimmed the block after each round.

Since I went with 1 1/4" strips I had some interesting results, I'm so glad I have this Primitive Gatherings ruler with the 1/8" markings.

Did you know that if your'e cutting strips for one of these types of blocks that you should cut your strips parallel to the salvage, lengthwise grain,  for less stretch and less distortion?   Try it!

Additionally,  I think you get better results when you press the seams open.

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Hometown USA

I've wrapped up my summer sewing before summer officially ends, but I cut it close.  I'm naming this quilt Hometown, USA, because I'm donating the quilt to my hometown library for a raffle.  They requested a bed size quilt, I think this quilt will fit most beds, and a queen size bed perfectly.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 185

I've named this quilt Hometown, USA

I combined the patterns Summerville and Stars and Stripes by Camille Roskelley for Thimble Blossoms.  

The fabric is Vintage Picnic by Bonnie and Camille for Moda

It finished at 98" x 98"

It has approximately 1,912 pieces.

The center portion of this quilt is from Summerville.

I replaced the outer border of Summerville with some pinwheel blocks.

For my outer border I used the flags from Stars and Stripes.

To keep the same feel on the borders that I added to Camille's Summerville pattern, I made my pinwheel blocks the same size as the 9 patch blocks, kept the big, small, big small, big size of the blocks in the borders, and continued the use of the 4 color star block.

All in all I think this quilt turned out very nice and I'm happy with it, but happier still to start some fall sewing, after I piece the binding and backing.

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I was needing a little color

One of my goals for something like the last three years has been to piece a Kim Diehl quilt.  I own every book she's published but just never found the right pattern at the right time to go with the right fabric, until now.

The quilt on the cover just caught my eye, it's Pie in the Sky.  A great pattern for my stack of Bonnie and Camille leftover fabric.

The pattern has 8 rows of 6 blocks, but I'm still in my square quilt phase so I went with 7 rows of 7 blocks.  

I ended up using a little over 100 different prints.  It was really fun mixing up the different families of fabric by Bonnie and Camille.  This is my favorite block, 

a little Happy Go Lucky, with a little Hello Darling and some Vintage Picnic,.

It's very rare for me to piece a quilt with no background fabric, but this pattern just suited me.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 181

It finished at 76" x 76"

The pattern is Pie in the Sky by Kim Diehl from the Simple Graces Book.
I've named it Wild Child.

The fabric is all Bonnie and Camille for Moda

It has approximately 1,629 pieces.

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Never Say Never . . .

I've finished my Picking Petals Medallion Quilt.  

For the center I started with Taunja's Picking Petals pattern.  (Available here)

I made  mine bigger and added more squares to the center block.

Then I added this pink and green border.  So far so good.

Next I added this red border, which I really like, but think it overpowers the rest of the quilt.  I should have added more red prints that had different colors in them, to tone down the red some.

After that I added a row of geese, big geese, 4" x 8" geese.

Now my quilt is 72" x 72", my favorite size.  But I don't think it looks done and the red is still bugging me.

 I decide to add some stripy Friendship Star blocks from the Sister Sampler Quilts book.  I made a 9" block first, but thought it wasn't big enough, the petal blocks in the center were big, so I thought the outer blocks needed the same look, I went with the 12" block.

I selected blue middles in the stars to pull out the blue border in the center and stayed with the scrappy theme, just like the center square, for the star points.

Which I think finished things off nicely.  

There's a lot to take in when you look at this quilt, but I think that last border helped with the red, my eyes are drawn more to the outer border and less on the red middle.  I'm also planning to use red binding which I think will help even things out. (fingers crossed)

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 176

The center pattern is Picking Petals by Carried Away Quilting

The fabric is all Bonnie and Camille for Moda, mostly Hello Darling.

It finished at 96" x 96"

It has approximately 1,944 pieces.

Making a medallion quilt was one of my 2016 Goals.  I'm very happy with how this turned out and enjoyed piecing every block.  I particularly love the center block, and if I didn't have so many other quilts that I wanted to make, I would make another medallion quilt using that center but go with different borders, I think the possibilities are endless.

Last year I blogged about being out of the kingsize quilt business, well this top finished kingsize, but that's just the way it was supposed to be.

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Something New

I started a new project.  I saw the pattern Picking Petals by Carried Away Quilting on Instagram and thought it would make a great center for a medallion quilt. 

The pattern is available here.

I changed it up a little.

I made my pieces bigger and added a few extra squares to that center block.

I'm going totally Bonnie & Camille scrappy.

After studying these books I've decided to add three additional borders.

This is the first border, two more to go!

I can't believe it's April 1st.  Where did winter go?!?!?  The good news, I promised myself I could get out my Vintage Tulip quilt today! Even though April showers bring May flowers, it's tulip time around here, outside and in!

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