West End Finish

I've had the best time this month working on this new pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.

 It's a nice mix of large and small X blocks with a few background swaps thrown in for fun.

I started with large blocks, which took no time and was super easy since the directions call for making the blocks a tad too big then squaring them up.

I did not relish the thought of piecing 170 plus small x blocks,

but I got into a routine of making a dozen at a time, and when I had enough to piece a section of the quilt top, I did,

breaking things up and making me want to piece those little blocks instead of dreading them.

The fabric is a collection by Timeless Treasures.

This fabric is a couple years old, a find from one of my rare quilt shop visits.   I had never seen this fabric before and have never seen it again, but I fell in love with the colors and designs and think I saved this fabric for the perfect pattern.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 227

The pattern is West End by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co

The fabric is by Timeless Treasures

It has approximately 2,083 pieces.

Add West End to your to do list, any style of fabric will work for this versatile pattern.

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It's an Easter Picnic

We are having the longest winter known to mankind, or at least it feels that way to me.  When March rolls around I'm ready to be enjoying some sunshine and walking outside, even if I have to wear a jacket.  Well this March has been as cold as February and I'm still wearing my winter coat when I venture out.  Since Spring has not sprung at my house I decided to bring some spring to my sewing room.

First off, the search for spring fabric.

These fat quarters are leftovers from previous projects that I saved. I store leftovers by color.

Then I googled basket quilts, because I was feeling the need for an Easter basket quilt.  It 's hard to choose just one basket quilt pattern, there are a lot of great ones.  I thought Carrie Nelson's Picnic pattern would look great in my spring colors.

I even had this pattern on hand which made the whole process even easier.  Carrie's Picnic quilt finishes at 34" x 34", I decided I needed a bigger quilt so I made everything just a wee bit larger.
I

I made the basket blocks 2 inches bigger than the pattern.  And I made them one at a time, which isn't the most efficient way to piece but it was fun selecting two fabrics for each basket, then watching them grow one by one on my design wall.  

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 223

I've named it Easter Basket

The pattern is Picnic by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co

It finished at 48" x 48"

It has approximately 461 pieces.  

I enjoyed every minute spent piecing this quilt top, it was easy,  practically went together overnight, and the happy colors improved my mood, considerably.  And the best part, I have a cute little basket quilt to hang up each year around Easter, regardless of the weather.

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Miss Rosie - Year of Thelma Sew Along Parade

It's parade time.   Remember how back in February I asked for folks to sew along any Miss Rosie Quilt Co pattern to help me celebrate the year of Thelma?  Well I ended up piecing 3 MRQC tops and had a few friends sew along.  If you have a quilt for the parade please send me a link to your blog or a pic and I'll add it to the parade.

Another quilt for the Year of Thelma MRQC Parade!

This Lucy was made by my Australian quilting friend Helen.  That's the nice thing about technology, we make quilting friends from all over the globe.  Far away friends, a wonderful gift for the year of Thelma.

And here is an addition that Kristen finished in May that I completely forgot about but am so happy to add to the parade.

Cracked Pots - This happy colorful version has me thinking I need to add this pattern to my 2018 Quilting List.  Read more about this quilt on Kristen blog Meadowbrook.


Here are my three, first up, perfect timing, Due South just got home from the quilter.

Connie from Quilts Plus in Indianapolis finished this top for me.  I'm so happy to have it home I put it immediately on the guest room bed.  A nice January quilt while I'm trying to decide where to travel to this year.  With the temps we're having right now, due south sounds perfect.

I also finished two Lucys

Halloween Lucy
and

and Falalalala Lucy.


Sinta and Gail also pieced Lucys.

Here is Gail's version of Lucy
and

 here is Sinta's

And here is Tracey's parade submission

Jellystone.


Great job ladies and thanks for sewing along.

I traveled between Christmas and New Years and then came home with the flu.  I'm just now starting to feel better but still have all my Christmas decorations to contend with.  It will be at least another week before I'm back in my sewing room, but I am working on my 2018 sewing goals which is the next best thing to sewing.    I hope to have that list done by next week.

I hope your sewing year is off to a great start, thanks for stopping by.

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Lifetime Quilt Number 200 - Due South

So once I had the perfect combination and placement of my geese, sewing them together was a breeze.  I sometimes struggle with setting triangles but this pattern has you cut them large then trim the sides to size, thank you Miss Rosie!

The next step is to add the outer border of geese.

This is the print I used to piece my star blocks.  I used the cityscapes for the stars leaving the city name print intact.  I struggled with how to use what I had leftover and finally decided to add the city name print between the center of the quilt and the outer border.

Once it was on I liked it, but I had to think it over for a day or two, probably just because it's different from the pattern.

But now I feel like those geese are heading to interesting and exotic locals, not just up and away.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 200

It finished at 77" x 86"

The fabric is by Cotton + Steel and Rifle Paper Co

The pattern is Due South by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co and is in her latest book, Farmhouse Favorites.

It has approximately 839 pieces.

Here's the pattern pic.

Here's a closeup of my additional border.

I fretted a little over my fabric choice for this quilt, after all it's my 200th finish, something special, plus I've had this pattern on my to-do list for years, and I didn't want to wait all that time to mess up the pattern with a poor fabric selection.   But now that it's done I could not be happier with the overall look.

Did you have a View Master?  Do you even know what a View Master is, lol?  I had one, and the majority of my viewing disks were travel related, I particularly remember a disk about Holland with beautiful colorful pictures of tulips, windmills, ladies in blue dresses with white aprons and white pointy hats, and wooden shoes.  So it was an easy choice to use this view master print for the back of my travel themed Due South.


So I may be the first person to have a finish for the Miss Rosie Year of Thelma Sew Along, but I think there are several more in the works. I'll be sure to share pictures when I get them, and remember, you have all year to finish your entry for the parade.

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Due South Update

Well my geese went together easily and speedily, I did not have to make them twice.  I used the Fit to be Geese ruler by Monique Dillard for Open Gate Quilts for my geese.  They are made bigger then trimmed to size, perfect every time.

When I put all the geese on my design wall the pink geese really stood out to me.  I like pink but wasn't in the mood for that much pink, so I replaced a few.

There's still pink, just not as much.

I'm liking how this is shaping up!  

Vicky, the LA Quilter has started her Due South but has yet to update her blog.  Hopefully she'll do that soon, hint, hint.  She's going with French General, a great choice, I think it will make a beautiful Due South.

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Due South - A Start, and A Re-Start

So I've started on Due South, by Carrie Nelson for Miss Rosie's Quilt Co, a pattern that's been on my to-do list for years, literally, years.

This is Carrie's Due South, mine will be very similar, except for that noticeably scrappy background, that's just not me.  My background will be scrappy but unnoticeable.

I think one of the things I've always liked about this pattern is the movement of the geese.  I also like  the name, Due South, like these geese have some place to go, sort of a traveling theme.

Rifle Paper Co has produced this canvas fabric that has a nice travel theme.  I'm sure it's supposed to be for bags and pillows, but I decided to chop it up for my Due South, to keep with that travel feel and theme.

I decided to start with the stars, I only needed 11.

So I fussy cut my center and points, made my inspiration/ test block, declared it a success and proceeded to piece the rest of the blocks.

TA DA!  What a glorious start.

Until it dawned on me that the star blocks were set on point, and I had just fussy cut all my centers wrong, making blocks that now looked like this. I knew I could not live with these sideways blocks so I took them all apart, cut new centers, and then,

TA DA!

Not such a glorious start, but I love them all the same.

 I like the heavy look and feel of the canvas and hope it makes the stars pop when set against the cotton geese, 212 geese.   Gee I hope I don't have to make them all twice.  

Don't forget, we're celebrating "The Year of Thelma" by everyone piecing a Miss Rosie's Quilt Co quilt pattern with me, ending with a parade in December to wrap up my year, I hope you join in.

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What's been happening in my world

There's not been much sewing going on at my house.

I tagged along with my husband on a business trip, which I would do more often if his business destinations were in great places, like this trip, on the beach.   Most of the time his travels are less scenic, and the weather not much better than where I am.

While sitting on the beach I studied this book,  Long Time Gone by Jen Kingwell.

I studied this book so hard the staples came out and all the pages came loose.  There's a whole lot of sewing going on in this quilt.

So much sewing that I've decided to spread the fun out over this entire year, making this my special Year of Thelma quilt.

The pattern is broken down into 6 sections.  I think I'm going to start with Section 2, it looks the easiest and least time consuming.  Section 5 will probably take me all summer.

Now I just need to decide on some fabric and get going.

Another task that I completed that was quilty related but not sewing related was my quarterly quilt refold.  If the quilt is folded outside I switch it to inside, folded lengthwise becomes widthwise, and so on.  I enjoy looking at all my quilts, organizing them again, usually by season, and putting them neatly back on my quilt racks and shelves.  They were a mess after my Pride of Prairie Trunk Show.  It normally doesn't take all that long, but my arms sure are tired when I'm done.

And finally, this is back out on my design wall, Zipper by Camille Roskelley for Thimbleblossoms.  When I blogged about losing my loving feeling for this top I got some great comments.  One quilter suggested making it a table runner, which I thought was a good idea, but making a bed runner an even better idea, and initially my plan.  Someone else pointed out that this quilt top was too pretty not to finish.  Well when I got this project back out I discovered I had more completed than I remembered, and it was too long and too narrow for a bed runner for my kingsize bed.

So now I've decided it is too pretty not to finish, I only need to add around 15 more rows.  I also now remember why I put this project in a project box.  I started the project using Little Black Dress, then decided to jazz it up by adding  Black Tie Affair,  both by Basic Grey for Moda.  To get the two fabrics to blend together I needed to un-sew a few rows, add some Black Tie Affair, then sew them back together.  That's where I am right now, separating what's already combined, then I'll sew some new rows.  The pieces are  all cut and ready, they just need to be sewn together, easy peasy.  And I'm not stopping until it's done!

And finally, thanks so much for the great response on Miss Rosie's Quilt Co's new book, Farmhouse Favorites, and joining me on a sew along.  There was such an enthusiastic response Carrie donated two books and I'm donating one.   The winners are Peggy in NJ, Debra from MD and Nancy Lewis from PA.  Nancy and Peggy, I sent you an email, I need your mailing address please. 

As far as the sew along goes, it's going to be very simple. Start when you want, do any Miss Rosie's Quilt Co pattern and finish by the end of 2017.  A nice way to wrap up the Year of Thelma.  I plan to start Due South the end of March.  Send me updates and pictures as you progress, I'll blog about any updates on Fridays throughout the year.  If you have a blog send a link and I'll add you to my blog roll call list.  And at the end of the year we'll have a parade of all the finishes.  I can hardly wait to see what you make, Due South so far seems to be the most popular pattern choice, I love nothing better than seeing the same pattern made with different fabric.  

Whew, I think that's it! Just one blog post this week, but a long one, I hope you made it to the end!

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How About a Sew-Along?

There's a new book out by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co., Miss Rosie's Farmhouse Favorites.  It's a compilation of some of Carrie Nelson's favorite quilts.  As luck would have it, they're my favorites too.  

The cover quilt is Birdseye, I made this quilt in 2011, it's Lifetime Quilt Number 77.  (Link Here). I get my Birdseye out in the fall, but it's made with Civil War Reproduction fabric, I sure would like a new one, maybe made using some of Corey Yoder's cheery Sundrops fabric.

The book has 12 patterns, and two of the patterns feature other MRQC patterns that I made.

One is Three Barns, Lifetime Quilt Number 102 (link here) using French General fabric.  I made this quilt back in 2013.  When it's not on the farm being photographed with sheep it's in my office.  I toyed around with changing up this pattern while I was piecing it but in the end stuck with the original pattern, a good call on my part.  I still love those fussy cut medallion centers in the cornerstones.

Lucy also made the book, Lifetime Quilt Number 142 (link here), which I made in the fall of 2014.

I love the quilt, particularly the quilting, those cobwebs quilted in the center of those background blocks became the standard pattern for most of the Lucy quilts I've seen pieced.   That quilt does not live with me, it has a wonderful and loving home in California, but I've already earmarked my calendar to make another one, for me, this fall.

So of the 12 projects included in this book, I've only made 3, something I plan to remedy.

I think first up for me will be Due South.

This pattern has been on my To Do list for too long, but not for much longer.  I think this Rifle Paper Company fabric would make an amazing Due South.

Out of all of the Carrie favorites listed in this book I'm sure there is at least one pattern that's been on your To Do list for too long.  Wouldn't you like to pick a pattern, some fabric, and sew along with me?

To make it easier for one person to sew along, Carrie is providing a book for a giveaway.  To enter  leave a comment on this blog post with your favorite Miss Rosie's Quilt Co pattern, one you've made or dream of making.  You have until end of day Friday, February 17th.  I'll announce the winner next week.

MRQC patterns are hard to come by these days, how nice to have a collection of them available again.

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