Queen Bee in March ‘19

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Quilting is in my Blood

It is my turn to be the March Queen Bee for our IG HoneyBees 2019 swarm, and I’ve chosen the Treasure Hunt block by Alyce@ Blossom Heart Quilts. I’ve loved this block since Ophelie chose it for her Stash Bee hive members to make blocks that she used to make a comfort quilt for her terminally ill father in 2017. Please take a look at her Stash Bee post, read her story and see photos of her beautiful quilt. This is a fairly simple paper-pieced block. The colors that I have chosen are dark pink, medium or dark grey, mustard, teal, and aqua. Below is a photo that shows four sections for a block that have not been sewn together.

The reason that they are not sewn together is that I also don’t want my swarm members to sew their blocks together either. I would like my swarm members to send me the four sections of their blocks, and then I will create a scrappy quilt by making blocks out of different people’s 6 1/2” sections.

Each section is divided into six segments. I’ve made a choice to have two dark pink segments and would prefer two different dark pink fabrics be used in the block to increase the scrappy factor.

The colors of two sections for each block (the left side of the above photo) go as follows:

  • A3 Dark Pink
  • A2 Medium or Dark Grey
  • A1 Mustard
  • A4 Dark Pink (a different dark pink than A3 if possible)
  • A5 Aqua
  • A6 Teal

The colors of the other two sections for each block (the right side of the above photo) go as follows:

  • A3 Dark Pink
  • A2 Medium or Dark Grey
  • A1 Mustard
  • A4 Dark Pink (a different dark pink than A3 if possible)
  • A5 Teal
  • A6 Aqua

In order to create the Treasure Hunt “X” the sections need to be oriented as shown in the photo below:

So far I have paper-pieced a total of 16 sections. Below is a pic of the sections mixed up to form four scrappy blocks. The alternating teal and aqua diamonds are created by alternating the teal and aqua colors in the A5 and A6 sections.

A Few Tips to Help with This Block

  1. When the pattern template is downloaded, there are  directions on how big to cut strips for each segment. I think the 2 1/4” width works fine for segments A1, A2, A4, and A5, but I recommend cutting the strips for the A3 and the A6 segments a little wider. I found that 2 1/2” strips for A3 and A6 worked better for me.
  2. You can always use wider widths and longer lengths of fabric than what is suggested because the extra fabric will be trimmed off.
  3. An inexpensive metal ruler to fold the paper is extremely useful.
  4. I would not even attempt to paper piece without this Add-A-Quarter Ruler.
  5. I have found that the Treasure Hunt templates that I printed from my iPad were undersized, but the ones I printed from my laptop where I can scale the printing at 100% were the correct size. The templates should be exactly 6 1/2” which includes the seam allowance.

I’m really looking forward to getting happy mail this month and hopefully turning these scrappy blocks into a finished quilt this summer.

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February ‘19 OMG Finished!

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Quilting is in my Blood

My February ‘19 One Monthly Goal was to finish the quilt top for the 52” x 52” quilt I am making to commemorate my friend, Kristen’s fantastic accomplishment in getting her Master’s in Social Work in May (while working full-time and being a single mom who is doing an awesome job of raising her 10-year-old son). Read on for more details, but cutting to the chase, today I am able to share a finished quilt instead of just a finished flimsy.

Kristen is a kind and loving young woman, but she also has an edgy side that she totally embraces. I’ll give you an example. Back in 2015 when we were working together, I told her that I was thinking of starting to write a blog called Quilting is in my Blood to chronicle my quilting journey but also in homage to my mother who was an avid quilter. Kristen loved that the name of my blog honored my mom, but she also liked that it had the word “blood” in it for its edgy factor.

The flimsy went together quickly, especially as I was able to use my AccuQuilt strip cutter to cut all the 2 1/2” strips that were subcut into different lengths for the 16 log cabin-esque blocks used to make this quilt top. I was able to send it off to Amy Ellis of Amy’s Creative Side to quilt it for me on 2/11/19 and received it back from her on 2/19/19. Amy occasionally offers long-arm quilting at a very good price. I’ve sent two quilt tops to her, and I’ve been so pleased by how quickly she returns the quilts as well as her quality craftsmanship. Below is a close-up of the quilt which shows the “edgy” element to this quilt: the “Broken Glass” quilting pantograph.

This the first time I’ve made an entire quilt from Art Gallery Fabrics. Their slogan is “Feel the Difference,” and I have to say it is the softest quilt I’ve ever made. Below is a photo of the back of the quilt featuring the scrumptious Hazy Daisies in Scarlet fabric.

I finished binding this quilt last evening and was so pleased to wake up today to a sunny morning, so I could take the quilt outside to photograph. I was going to duct tape the quilt to my side fence, but I was afraid the fence might be slightly moist from a dusting of snow yesterday and even more concerned that the fence might be dirty since the quilt has a fair amount of white fabric. I wiped the fence with a paper towel, and it was filthy! So I went with Plan B. I grabbed the old aqua comforter that goes underneath whatever quilt is on my bed, hung it over the fence, and then pinned the quilt to the comforter. I have to say Plan B worked pretty well since I got it photographed in 20 minutes and didn’t even have to leave my yard! Of course the aqua comforter went straight into the washer when I was done!

I’ve decided to call this quilt, Commemoration. See my Feb ‘19 OMG  post for information about the pattern and fabrics used in this quilt.

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: Feb ‘19 OMG Finishes. This was my “iffiest” 2019 Qtr 1 Finish-A-Long Goals, but I’m so glad I got it done in plenty of time for Kristen’s graduation. Linking up to 2019 Qtr 1 Finish-A-Long Finishes.

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Feb ‘19 OMG

Posted on February 1, 2019 by Quilting is in my Blood

My February 2019 One Monthly Goal is to finish the quilt top for the Memoir quilt that I will be giving to my friend, Kristen, to celebrate her getting her Master’s in Social Work in May. I am using the Memoir quilt pattern by Art Gallery Fabrics that was included in a quilt kit that I purchased last year from Hawthorne Supply Co featuring the AGF Splendid Fusion collection. I finished doing all the cutting yesterday and sewed the first three pieces together for 16 blocks:

Below is photo of the pattern and the fabrics included in the quilt kit. The fabric on the far right is the binding fabric, and I actually purchased a half-yard extra of it (Flowered Medley in Splendid) after the kit arrived, when I saw that only 1/3 yard was included for binding using 1.5” strips for binding. That’s too narrow of a binding for me!

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: Feb ‘19 OMG.

 

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Random Intention Baby Quilt Finished!

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Quilting is in my Blood

I have completed the first finish of my 2019 Qtr 1 Finish-A-Long Goals thanks to my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us whom I got to know after she started commenting on my blog posts over a year ago. I’ve shared with her that I’m much more comfortable with the piecing and design aspect of quilting than the actual quilting, and one thing led to another, and on 12/31/18 I sent my Random Intention Quilt Top that I designed and made in September 2017 as part of a fat quarter contest to Roseanne to quilt it for me. And am I ever glad I did! I had a basic orange peel quilting motif in mind, and Roseanne took my idea and ran with it. And then she came up with a perfect idea for quilting the borders which I had not even thought about. Roseanne shared about quilting Random Intention in her Quilting on A Friend Going Home post. I received the quilt on Friday (Jan 25th), spent part of my weekend binding it, and was actually able to take some outside shots of it because it was a sunny day, and the New Mexico winds were hardly blowing. Below is a pic of the front of the finished 36” x 36” baby quilt.

Here is a close up of the quilting:

This is the back of the quilt:

And a close-up of the quilt label that I intentionally did not put a top border on as I often do (see my Quilt Label Tutorial) because I wanted the label to blend better with the hedgehog backing fabric.

I’m really happy with how this quilt turned out and am thinking about putting it up on my bedroom wall. Photo below just added:

Linking up to Cooking Up Quilts: Main Crush Monday, and I will be linking up to the 2019 Qtr1 Finish-A-Long Finishes when that Linky Party opens in early April.

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My Biggest DrEAMi! Project Ever

Posted on January 26, 2019 by Quilting is in my Blood

Sandra with MMM Quilts has a monthly link-up for people to share their DrEAMi! (Drop Everything and Make It!) projects, which I have linked up to in the past. Sandra also refers to these kind of projects as squirrels which I think is also an accurate description of these spontaneous projects. Anyway, I was off from work for the Martin Luther King holiday on 1/21/19 and happened across a blog post by Carole@From My Carolina Home where she shared about the Carolina Hurricane Quilt Project. Carole requested new or nearly new bedsize quilts for victims of Hurricane Florence and Michael which inspired my first 2019 DrEAMi! project. I definitely did not have an extra bedsize quilt on hand that I could donate, so I decided to make a 76” x 76” quilt top using the free Fat Quarter Shop Layers of Charm Quilt Pattern. I first saw a quilt made with this pattern on Kitty at Night Quilter’s blog, and I absolutely love her version of it (and her awesome photography) featuring Carolyn Friedlander’s Doe collection. In my stash I had a layer cake each of Modern Background Paper and Ink as well as a charm pack of each, and I decided that these fabrics would be perfect for a fairly large gender-neutral quilt that could be donated to the Carolina Hurricane Quilt Project. (I seem to be on a roll recently with gender-neutral quilts!)

I made my quilt larger than the pattern by adding an extra row and column of blocks and opted for a random design, so that I could get this quilt top quickly made. (Almost all of the first column is hanging off the left side of the bed in the above pic). I will definitely make this pattern again if I need another quick finish. Just this morning I filled out a Quilter Needs Longarm Services form (link on Carole’s post) and hope to send off this quilt top and backing (black Carolyn Friedlander Widescreen) on Monday.

Linking up to MMM Quilts: DrEAMi! #24 and From Bolt to Beauty: Brag About Your Beauties

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Mercyful Quilt Top Finished

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Quilting is in my Blood

My January goal was to finish a gender-neutral quilt top for the quilt drive organized by Bernie of Needle & Foot for Mercy Hospital hospice patients. The quilts are used to comfort dying patients and then are given to their families to keep. I have a personal connection to Mercy Hospital as I grew up in Sacramento, CA, and my mother was a pink lady there (the adult equivalent of a candy striper). For my donation to this worthwhile cause, I made 25 Antique Tile Blocks (online tutorial by Piece N Quilt) using a Carolyn Friedlander Doe layer cake plus some additional yardage from some of Carolyn’s other collections. This past weekend I sewed the blocks into a quilt top that measures 60” x 60”, and this project went together faster than I thought it would, thanks to my best friend helping to press the blocks.

I will be sending this quilt top off to Jess@ Threaded Quilting Studio for her amazingly talented longarm quilting. I follow her on Instagram (@threadedquilting), and I have saved many of her posts to my Pinterest Longarm Quilting Board.

Linking up to Cooking Up Quilts: Main Crush Monday. I am also linking up to Elm Street Quilts: Jan ‘19 OMG Finishes.

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Quilts for Delhi Quilt Top

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Quilting is in my Blood

One of my 2019 Quilting Goals was to make a gender-neutral quilt top to donate to Quilts for Delhi, but a week or so ago I remembered that I had made a quilt top in 2017 that definitely is not “girly.” I was going to use it to practice my quilting skills. Well, I’m not saying that I’m never going to quilt a project that is bigger than a baby quilt, but I much prefer piecing quilts, and I’m itching to do more quilt design when I get EQ8 in a couple months. So, I was happy to send off this quilt top today to Katie (@katikat21 on Instagram).

The pattern is Forest Daybreak by Brenda Ratliff, and it is described as a “great beginner improv project”. It was featured in the May/June 2017 issue of Modern Patchwork, but a PDF pattern is now available for purchase and immediate download.

Linking up to My Quilt Infatuation: Needle and Thread Thursday.

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2019 Qtr 1 Finish-A-Long Goals

Posted on January 11, 2019 by Quilting is in my Blood

I have four projects that I hope to complete in the first quarter of 2019.

The first one is a gender-neutral Mercyful Quilt made from Carolyn Friedlander fabrics that will be donated to a hospice patient at Mercy Hospital in Sacramento, CA, and will eventually be given to that patient’s family. I have made 15 of the 25 blocks needed for this quilt top and am still deciding if I going use Kona Medium Grey sashing or not. Sashing will give the eye a place to rest, but part of me likes the lively energy that is created when the blocks are right next to each other. All opinions are welcome! Below is a pic of six of the blocks:

The oldest UFO on this list is my Random Intention quilt top. My friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us has graciously agreed to machine quilt it for me. I’m still thinking I might want to try scrappy binding with this quilt.

The third quilt I hope to get finished is my Rainbow Autumn Chain quilt top that I will be sending out for quilting in the next month or so.

The final project is the most “iffy” of the four.  A few months ago I purchased a Memorium quilt kit from Hawthorne Supply Co with the intention of making the Memorium quilt to commemorate my friend, Kristen, getting her master’s  in social work this May. I’m sure I will have it completed by graduation day but maybe not this quarter. Below is a pic of the front of the pattern with the beautiful fabrics in the kit. I especially love the fabric on the far right that I will use for binding.

Linking up to 2019 Qtr 1 Finish-A-Long Goals.

 

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Jan ‘19 OMG

Posted on January 1, 2019 by Quilting is in my Blood

My January 2019 One Monthly Goal is to make a quilt top that eventually will become a Mercyful Quilt that will be donated to a hospice patient at Mercy Hospital in Sacramento, California. I recently ran across the Antique Tile Quilt Block Tutorial by Piece N Quilt and have decided to make a gender-neutral lap-sized throw quilt comprised of 25 Antique Tile blocks using fabrics by Carolyn Friedlander. I’ve had a Doe layer cake in my stash for a few years and also have purchased some yardage from some of her other collections.

I finished one block today—only 24 more to go!

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: Jan ‘19 OMG.

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2018 Bee Hive Blocks

Posted on December 31, 2018 by Quilting is in my Blood

I participated in the IG Honeybees 2018 Bee Hive swarm this year, and it was such a joy because it was so smooth running (a big thank you to @Meredithadolf for all the work she put into organizing the swarm). I’m going to list the blocks with photos of each of the blocks I made and the associated tutorials working backwards from December to January.

December

Jen chose the Double Star block using a teal, black, and grey color scheme. These are some of my favorite colors, so it was a joy to make:

Double Star Block Tutorial

November

The Magic 8 Ball block was Rachel’s choice using Halloween fabrics. Even though I’ve enjoyed looking at Halloween-themed quilts for the past few years, I had resisted buying any Halloween fabric until I needed to get some for Rachel’s block. I’m afraid Pandora’s box may now be open!

Magic 8 Ball Block Tutorial

October

For the month of October, we made the super cute Bunting block that Sharon chose:

Bunting Block Tutorial

September

Amanda choose the Homebase block (since I’m a baseball fan, I’ve always loved the name of this block!) and let us choose whatever bright color appealed to use. No shock that I went the turquoise/teal route.

Homebase Block Tutorial

August

The Checker block was chosen twice this year, but the color schemes were very different.  For Susan’s August Checker block, she asked us to make this striking block in blues, greens, yellows, and black.

Checker Block Tutorial

July

Lorna asked us to make Star Plus block using the alternate layout which was challenging for almost all of us, but it sure is a nice looking block!

Star Plus Block Tutorial with Alternate Layout

June

The block that Sandy chose for June was the Treasure Hunt block in batiks.

Treasure Hunt Block Tutorial

May

Sondra was actually the first swarm member to choose the Checker block. Her color choices were pink, grey, and black. I wish I had more of that clumpy black plus fabric.

April

The Wanta Fanta block was Sherry’s choice made in bright colors:

Wanta Fanta Block Tutorial

March

Jan asked us to make a scrappy spring version of the Ripples block. I really love this block and may have to have my own brightly-colored Ripples quilt someday!

Ripples Block Tutorial

February

Meredith chose the Houndstooth block in a scrappy red and navy blue color combination:

Houndstooth Block Tutorial

January

You may have figured out that I was the January Queen Bee. I chose the Autumn Chain block using dark-medium-light rainbow monochromatic fabrics after falling in love with the blocks that my friend, Sarah Goer, and her swarm created. (Read more about this color configuration on her Instagram post). Below is my 48” square Rainbow Autumn Chain quilt top that I definitely plan to have quilted this year.

Rainbow Autumn Chain Quilt Top

Autumn Chain Block Tutorial

I will be continuing with the same swarm in 2019 (with some change in swarm members). We will be making two blocks for each queen bee. I’ll be queen bee in March, and I’ve already been sewing up some example blocks because March will be here before we know it!

Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

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