Quilting is in my Blood

I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am that we’re already through the first quarter of 2025, but I’m overall I’m pleased with how things are going quilting-wise. Below are the two recap posts I’ve written this quarter that sum up the progress I’ve made on the three Block of the Month programs I’m participating in as well as SAHRR 2025:

• February 2025 Recap
• March 2025 Recap

What’s up for Quarter 2

The biggest thing going on in my quilting world is that in February I treated myself to a new sewing machine: a Janome TravelMate 50. I love that it is portable but also a powerful machine. I’ve had a Juki machine for a number of years that has never been a good fit for me, even though many of the quilters I follow swear by their Juki machines. It’s too heavy for me, and I really don’t like that the bobbin is hidden. So I’ve been sewing on two Brother sewing machines–one for piecing and the other for binding/walking foot quilting. Well, a couple months ago, I was trying to do some simple quilting, and the stitch length was stuck at a really tiny stitch length, and it looked terrible. So I ended up ripping out the quilting and the hand-quilted my Project Quilting 16.4: The Birthstone Challenge. A few days later I drove to Santa Fe for a quilt guild meeting, and after the meeting, I stopped by the Santa Fe Sewing Center and bought my new sewing machine which included a visible bobbin and three classes on learning to use my Janome TravelMate 50. A couple weeks ago I took that last class which focused on using the walking foot and free motion quilting with the darning foot.

Since that class, I’ve been practicing some basic free motion quilting (FMQ). I’m not looking to quilt large projects due to too much wear and tear on my shoulders, but I’d like to quilt some baby quilts including the one I’m currently working on for Stacey Lee’s Quilt Donation Drive 2025. I particularly like doing a loopy meander. I just got a copy of Lori Kennedy’s Free Motion Quilting 1-2-3, and I’ve been having fun with her Flower Power quilting motif. She describes it as the easiest motif every quilter should learn and gives a pictorial tutorial on her website here.

I’ve also been working more with EQ8, the most current version of Electric Quilt, which is a software for quilt designing. I drafted the log cabin triangle template for the birthstone challenge in EQ8, and recently learned how to create a PDF of quilt blocks created in EQ8. The last part of March I gave a paper-piecing demo to my quilt guild and shared the template with them. I demonstrated with a rainbow version of this 6″ block:

Below is a photo I took of the template. I would be happy to email a copy to anyone who wants one. If I’ve corresponded with you via email, I don’t need your address unless you want to me to send it to a different email.

To make it easier, strips can be pre-cut. A1 (2.5″ square, if fussy cut, the motif needs to be less than the size of a quarter), A2 1.5″ x 3.5″, A3 1.5″ x 4″, A4 1.5″ x 5″, A5 1.5″ x 6″, A6 1.5″ x 6.5″, and A7 1.5″ x 8″. Triangles for A8 and A9 can be be cut diagonally from a 4.5″ x 8″ rectangle.

The last thing I have going on is participating in Alison Glass’ Color Camp 2025. She is hands-down my fabric fabric designer, and I have a decent amount of her fabric in my stash. I gravitate toward the saturated colors that are predominant in her fabric, but I’ve been learning more about how lighter values and darker values can give more interest to our projects. This past week, we had the assignment to paint our own color wheel with the inner circle being the hue, the middle circle the tint (the hue color lightened with white), and the outer circle the tone (the hue color darkened with grey). Below is a photo of my rather bottom-heavy color wheel. Not surprisingly, it’s not as pretty as the one that Alison demo’ed 🙂

Linking up to #2025QuiltingQ1CheckIn.

My best friend who is also named Mary loves Tree of Life art. She ordered a Tree of Life panel from the ModernQuilter Etsy shop that she wanted to use as the center for a quilt for her new bed. We both recently treated ourselves to very comfortable adjustable beds. Mine is so tall that I keep a little step under the bed for a boost to get in bed! Mary and I decided to surround the panel with borders made from varying lengths of 2.5″ strips of grunge fabrics separated by thin strips of black. These grunge borders were then interspersed with solid Kona black borders mimicking the stained glass look of the panel. The finished quilt is 69″ x 77″, and below is a photo of the quilt front we took this cold, overcast morning, which I told Mary was perfect for quilt photography!

I knew I wanted to piece the back but wasn’t feeling particularly inspired until I searched Etsy again for Tree of Life panels and found a really cool Gustav Klimt Symbolist Painting panel at the Fieldsfabric Etsy shop. Later that morning I was on Pinterest, and Carolyn Friedlander’s Olive pattern showed up in my feed, and we decided that using five Olive blocks along with the panel and A LOT of Kona black fabric would work nicely for the quilt back. I’ll tell you a secret–the quilt back is actually more to my taste than the quilt front! I decided not to label this quilt so it could be easily used as a two-sided quilt.

The quilting was done by Cara of Sew Colorado Quilting. We chose the simple edge-to-edge Creeping Fig quilting motif in the Glide Vintage thread. Here is a close-up of the quilting that shows off the pretty gold fig leaves that absolutely shine in all that Kona black fabric.

Linking up to Sew Preeti Quilts: TGIFF.

I’m happy to report that I am caught up with all three of my Block of the Month (BOM) projects, that is until Tuesday when April blocks are available 🙂 Below are the Frightful Fun blocks designed by Kristy Lea of Quiet Play Designs. Toil and Trouble measures 18.5″ square unfinished and the six Dem Bones that are 6.5″ unfinished.

This is the first time that I am participating in a Murder Mystery Quilt BOM hosted by Deborah Moebes. She’s been doing this for several years, and the locales change every year. Last year it was set in the Greek Isles. This year’s  expedition is in Machu Picchu, and the protagonist, Dr. Kitty Campbell, is a botanical archeologist who reluctantly solves crimes on her expeditions. The chapters have been fun to read especially since I’m a murder mystery junkie. I particularly enjoy books that are written in series with characters that I get to know and care about. Some of my favorites are Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache books, Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series, Cormoran Strike books by Robert Galbraith (pen name for J.K. Rowling), The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman, and Sue Grafton’s Alphabet series which unfortunately ended with Y is for Yesterday because she died before she was able to finish Z is for Zero.

Earlier this month, I completed the Murder Mystery February’s block as well as March’s block. For both of these months, there were three options, and not surprisingly, I chose to paper piece both blocks. What is much more surprising is that February’s block also had some raw edge applique which is definitely not my forte. I used a blanket stitch to sew on the circle in the middle of the paper-pieced sun. It looks okay, but don’t expect to see a bunch more raw edge applique projects any time soon! Though come to think of it, I’ve been wanting to make a sea glass applique quilt for awhile. So we’ll see! The block below measures 18.5″ square.

I felt much more comfortable paper piecing the 9.5″ square llama option for March for the Murder Mystery quilt.

This month’s block for the Starry Signs BOM is the constellation, Pisces. The block below measures 15.5″ x 12.5″.

It was fun joining the SAHRR 2025 Quilt Parade. Below is a photo of my friend, Sue, holding her new quilt.

I also worked on a Tree of Life quilt for my best friend, Mary, that I sent off to Sew Colorado Quilting. I didn’t take great pics of the quilt top or quilt back. I’ll share photos after I finish the quilt and can hang it outside on my shed.

For next month besides finishing Mary’s Tree of Life quilt and working on April BOM blocks, I plan to make a baby quilt for Stacey Lee’s Quilt Donation Drive 2025. I have a couple other quilting-related things going on which I’ll share about in my #2025QuiltingQ1CheckIn post that I’ll be writing in the next week or two.

Circling back to some of my favorite murder mystery books, I’m wondering if you have any recommendations for good books to read–mysteries or other genres. I belong to a women’s book group, and we read a wide variety of books. Currently we’re reading Frozen River, a historical novel by Ariel Lawson. Other recent books include Orbital by Samantha Harvey, Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout, and The Backyard Chronicles by Amy Tan.

I am happy to share that I have finished my 2025 Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) quilt and have gifted it to two friends, Sue and John, who have been going through a particularly difficult time. Cara with Sew Colorado Quilting finished the quilting incredibly fast using a lovely orange peel design. The finished quilt measured 65″ square and is undoubtedly a little smaller after washing.

Below is a closer look at the quilting:

And here’s a photo of Sue holding the quilt:

For more information about the progress of my 2025 SAHRR, please see Center, Borders 1 & 2, Border 3, Border 4, Border 5, and Border 6.

I’m joining the SAHRR 2025 Quilt Parade hosted by Quilting Gail and also linking up to Quilting Jetgirl: Favorite Finish March 2025.

I was in catch-up mode in February after being gone for 2.5 weeks in January to help out with a family emergency in California and then coming home with a nasty virus that kept me away from all things sewing for another few days. In my #2025QuiltingPlanningParty post, I shared that I had committed to working on the SAHRR 2025 and three block of the month programs:

• Stay at Home Round Robin 2025 hosted by Quilting Gail
• 2025 Murder Mystery Quilt
• Starry Signs Block of the Month 2025
• Frightful Fun Block of the Month 2025

The hardest thing about working on four different large projects is keeping them organized. After I pulled fabric for all of the above projects, I put each of them in an IRIS Portable Project Case. These bins hold a decent amount of fabric plus folders of printed directions/templates. I rotate blocks on my design board and put the completed blocks in a large drawer or hanging from a skirt hanger.

The most fun project so far this year has been making blocks for the Frightful Fun BOM. I love Halloween decor, and it’s going to be delightful to have a new Halloween quilt this year. Below are the blocks I’ve made so far. They are obviously different sizes (witch hat and ghost 18.5″ x 18.5″), RIP 12.5″ x 18.5″, and candies 6.5″ square).

For the Starry Signs BOM, I’m mostly using hoarded fabric from my stash including Tim Holtz’ Eclectic Elements Provisions Indigo for the background and Alison Glass Kaleidoscope fabrics for the constellation stars. I purchased a different cross weave fabric, Artisan Cotton in Blue White for the constellation lines. Below is Capricorn (top) and Aquarius (bottom) each measuring 15.5″ x 12.5″.

I’ve only made one block so far for the Murder Mystery quilt that is set in Machu Picchu because I didn’t have enough different red fabric in my stash for the February block. It shouldn’t take me long to make once the fabric arrives. Here is the first block which measures 18.5″ x 27.5″

Yesterday I finishing making the back for my SAHRR 2025 project and got it sent off for quilting.

Finally I was able to participate in one Project Quilting challenge this month: the Birthstone Challenge.

That’s a wrap for February. I’m adding one unplanned project for March (of course I am!). My best friend, Mary, has purchased two Tree of Life panels and just NEEDS a quilt made with them. I’m trying to keep the layout relatively simple. Let’s see if I succeed!

Emily with The Darling Dogwood gave us our final border prompt assignment. She chose the Kite block. I drafted two different Kite blocks in EQ8 and then got to sewing! I made 8 larger 4″ fussy cut kite blocks using my Joel Dewberry Owls fabric and then 24 smaller kites that used Kona Pickle as the kite, Kona Cyan to define the kites, and my background fabric, Kona Zucchini, to frame the 2″ kites. The quilt top is now 65″ square including the outside Zucchini border. There are four more Owl corner blocks in my final pieced border, but left and right borders are hanging off the bed and don’t show in the photo below.

As a reminder, I saved my four Triangle log cabin blocks from SAHRR 2025: Round 5 to include in this final pieced border. Today I will sew together two large pieces of a Kate Spain Northwoods fabric for the back of the quilt, and I hope to get it sent off to Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting later on today. I’ve corresponded with her, and she’s going to try to get it quilted and returned to me in time for the quilt parade on March 24th.

Linking up to The Darling Dogwood: SAHRR 2025 Round 6.

This is the first Project Quilting challenge that I’ve been able to participate in this year. In January I had to be away for two and a half weeks in California due to a family emergency, and just this past week I felt that I had enough space in my schedule to join a challenge. And it is the perfect challenge for turquoise-loving me: the Birthstone Challenge! I’m a March baby, so I was able to incorporate the aquamarine color along with some turquoises and teals. Earlier this week I drafted a triangle log cabin block for the SAHRR 2025: Round 5, and I liked it so much that I decided to increase the size to a 6″ block for this Birthstone Challenge. I decided to hand-quilt it which was a challenge in itself wielding the needle through two layers of cotton (mostly Kona Oasis) and some 80/20 batting. But I’m very pleased with the overall effect. I then stapled it to an 8 inch blank canvas, and it looks rather hideous, so there’s no photo of the back! But here is the front:

Linking up to Project Quilting 16.4: The Birthstone Challenge. I only finished this one project in February, so it is obviously my favorite finish. I am also linking up to Quilting Jetgirl: Favorite Finish February 2025.

Brenda with Songbird Designs gave us our assignment for the fifth round of this year’s Stay at Home Round Robin. She chose the quarter log cabin block. I thought a different kind of log cabin block would look better in my SAHRR project, so instead I drafted a foundation paper-pieced triangle log cabin block in EQ8.

I only made four of these four-inch finished blocks. They will be centered in my last border, and I will use Emily’s Round Six prompt to fill out the rest of this border along with more owl corner blocks. Emily blogs at The Darling Dogwood. Check out her wonderful interpretation of this year’s SAHRR.

Below is a photo of my SAHRR 2025 project through Round Four (read about it here).

Linking up  to Songbird Designs: SAHRR 2025 Round Five.

Wendy with Pieceful Thoughts gave us our fourth round assignment: Sliced Square with Insert. I chose not to slice a square but instead used 2.5″ x 4.5″ strips of a pretty Joel Dewberry floral print with 1.5″ x 2.5″ side strips of Kona Celestial. It still has the look of an insert. Because this is such a simple block, I was able to add this border to my project and then add the 2.5″ coping strip border in a few hours of sewing.

When I was I working on my quilt top today, I remembered reading about a “magic numbers principle in quilting”. In my project, I am using 1.5″, 2.5″ and 4.5″ measurements. If I chose, 6.5″ strips or blocks would also work, but I don’t want that large of a border! Read more about this concept here.

Currently my quilt top is 53″ square. I am planning to combine Rounds 5 and 6 to keep the size of my finished quilt more manageable.

Linking up to Pieceful Thoughts: SAHRR 2025 Round 4.

Gail with Quilting Gail  gave us our third round prompt which is Stars. As a reminder, I am using Joel Dewberry fabrics that I’ve had in my stash for nine or ten years along with some coordinating solids. The background fabric is Kona Zucchini. So far all my borders have been four inch finished. I opted to make 12 Sawtooth Star blocks and 8 framed fussy cut stars. I used Lee Heinrich’s Perfect Geese templates to make the 48 flying geese (1″ x 2″ finished). They do turn out perfectly which is helpful when working with such small pieces. My project is 41″ square so far.

I can barely contain my curiosity regarding what Wendy has chosen for Round 4 next Monday!

Linking up to Quilting Gail: SAHRR 2025 Round 3.