Quilting is in my Blood

At the beginning of 2022, I decided to pull out an old Work-in-Progress to make a 60″ x 60″ quilt for a donation quilt for the 2022 Hands2Help Comfort Quilt Challenge. I was a part of Alyce@ Blossom Heart Quilts‘ Bee Hive for three years and in 2019, I had Bee Hive members make scrappy Treasure Hunt block units that I used in this quilt (read the details about these blocks here).

I sent it to Amy@Amy’s Creative Side to quilt one of my favorite quilting designs–diagonal plaid, and I really like how this quilting complements the piecing.

Originally I was going to donate the quilt to one of the charities listed on the Hands 2 Help Kickoff post on Mari@The Academic Quilter’s blog. But this spring we’ve had some terrible wildfires in northern New Mexico, and one of my former graduate program professors lost everything in one of the fires, so I decided to donate this quilt to her. I gave it to Linda a couple weeks ago, and she was very grateful for it.

Linking up to The Academic Quilter: Hands 2 Help Final Link Party.

If you spend much time on Instagram, you may have seen all sorts of gorgeous strip quilt tops and even some patchwork squares and improv layouts. Alison Glass has been hosting a Kantha sew-along where participants simply piece colorful quilt tops and then embellish them with simple Kantha running stitches. I really wanted to make a Kantha quilt, but what I realized when I finished sewing my color gradient strip quilt top is that I wanted it to be quilted fairly quickly and NOT by me! I have started a Kantha pillow cover that is about one-ninth of the size of my quilt top, which is much more doable for me. I’ll be sharing my progress about my Kantha pillow next week. But today I am happy to share my Color Gradient Strip Quilt finish that is made mostly with Alison Glass fabrics with a few favorite Giucy Giuce fabrics thrown in. The quilt measures 54″ by 78″.

I sent it to Cara@Sew Colorado Quilting to quilt a modern waves design, and she did a lovely job and got it back to me within a very decent timeline.

Right now it is folded on my recliner in the living room, but it might have to spend some time on my bed in the near future, so I can enjoy all the colors.

Linking up to Sarah Goer Quilts: TGIFF .

My May 2022 One Monthly Goal was to make a beautiful and colorful quilt top using the Nene pattern by Eye Candy Quilts and Giucy Giuce’s gorgeous Quantum panels (second and third pics below).

I first saw these amazing panels in the Nene quilt made by Eye Candy Quilts on Jessie@Threaded Quilting Studio’s blog post Hiring a Longarm Quilter: Footnotes Edition. If you open the link, scroll down to the fifth photo to see this spectacular version. I have used coordinating Kona solids for the stained glass strips (Mediterranean, Celestial, Oasis,Glacier, Ultra Marine, Prussian, Grass and an unknown darker green–because when I first started quilting, I didn’t label my solid fabrics, Grellow, Papaya, Cedar, Cerise, and Berry) and Kona Charcoal to outline the triangles. My background fabric is Kona Titanium. This has been a project I’ve wanted to make for over three years, so I’m excited that I’ve finally made the quilt top. The blocks measure 11 3/4″ x 22 5/8″–not the most straightforward block dimension!

I have sent the quilt top and backing off to Rebecca@Rebecca Grace Quilting. I’m on her long-arm quilting calendar for the week of June 20th. We’ve decided on a quilting design and have discussed possible thread choices that will be finalized once Rebecca receives the quilt. I can’t wait to see this project quilted!

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: One Monthly Goal May 2022 Finish.

I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) 2022 organized by Quilting Gail. Because I sent my quilt top off for quilting, I was not able to participate in the SAHRR 2022 Finale Parade. I’ve had it back from Melissa@Sew Shabby Quilting for a few weeks and finally got around to getting it finished this past weekend. I would’ve liked to have taken a nice outside photo, but I live in northern New Mexico with a wildfire that is scarily close, and there’s no way I will expose any of my quilts to the ever-present smoke in the air. Hopefully the firefighters will get the fire fully contained in the near future, and going outside will once again be a good thing.

Here is a close-up of the center French Bulldog block that shows a little of the royal blue minky backing with the Scribble quilting.

I wrote about each border in the following posts:

• Curves
• Diamonds
• Stars
• Signature Blocks
• Applique
• Shoo Fly Blocks

I made a quilt with many of the same borders for my stepson, Drew, with a paper-pieced Boston Terrier center block, in honor of Drew’s beloved Boston Terrier named Sushi. Read about the finished quilt here. And see a cute pic of Sushi with the Sushi quilt below:

Now I can’t wait for SAHRR 2023!

Linking up to Faith and Fabric: TGIFF.

My May 2022 One Monthly Goal is to make a beautiful and colorful quilt top using the Nene pattern by Eye Candy Quilts and Giucy Giuce’s gorgeous Quantum panels.

I first saw these amazing panels in the Nene quilt made by Eye Candy Quilts on Jessie@Threaded Quilting Studio’s blog post Hiring a Longarm Quilter: Footnotes Edition. If you open the link, scroll down to the fifth photo to see this spectacular version. I will be using coordinating Kona solids for the diamonds and Kona Charcoal to outline the diamonds. My background fabric is Kona Titanium.

This has been a project I’ve wanted to make for over three years, so I’m excited to get it started!

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: May 2022 OMG.