Quilting is in my Blood

I am joining the #2024QuiltingQ3CheckIn hosted by Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl. I’m pleased how many of many goals I was able to get accomplished in July-September. But first I’m going to share the guilty pleasure I’ve recently been enjoying–making Halloween quilted items.

Some of you may remember me falling head first into a rabbit hole making Halloween projects. Well, this year I revisited that rabbit hole!

My favorite Halloween finish is a Sugar Skull pattern by Ingrid Alteneder of Joe, June, and Mae. I really enjoyed reading her post, Top 3 Things to Know about Dia de los Muertos. Below is a photo of the pillow with our cat, Minime, on my Halloween quilt from last year.

I made a small wall hanging from a block by Tiffany of Village Bound Quilts. It’s called Eerie Abode, and the pattern is available here.

A similar size wall hanging (approximately 15″ square) is my Crow, pattern by Kristy Lea of Quiet Play Designs, pattern available here.

I also made some coasters. The two purple ones are by Kristy Lea of Quiet Play Designs. The Heart of Pumpkin is free by commenting on her Instagram post here. The Cat-o-Lantern is available in her shop as part of a Lil Spooky Pattern Bundle. The pumpkins are also a free pattern by Sweet Potato quilts. Comment on her IG post, and Christina Lee will email you the pattern.

Here’s a Breakdown of How I Did with my Third Quarter Goals

• Make a fabric bucket for my friend, Ed, who will turn 50 on July 13th. Done, see post here.

• Finish my Baseball Star quilt. Done. See post here.

• Finish my Ranges quilt. Done. Read post here. I want to make another version of this quilt someday.

• Gift the quilt for Kristen’s baby boy due in August and take pics at her baby shower. Done. See post here.

• Work on a Color Burst mini quilt. No progress.
• Start to work on a Christmas quilt for my best friend, Mary. Done except for a finished photo after binding.
• Re-bind a quilt that my mom made for my niece, Mary Frances, when she was in high school. Done. See post here.

• Write a post about the sawtooth star blocks I received and possible projects where I might use some of them. Done. See post here.
• Possibly work on some Fussy Fuel blocks. This project is officially on hold.
• Possibly make some scrappy color gradient blocks. As is this project.
• Make more progress on a Sashiko Japanese tea mat in different shades of purple. Minimal progress.

My Favorite Unplanned Project

In June I found out that a very special couple are expecting another daughter. Read more about this baby quilt here.

What’s on Deck for the Last Quarter of 2024

I’m deliberately keeping my 4th quarter goals rather vague as I will be helping out family in California in the next month or two with some health-related issues.

• Possibly make another Halloween project or two.
• Finish a memento of my trip to Europe in August.
• Work on some Christmas projects.
• Possibly work on some mini quilts.
• Work on one or more Sashiko projects.
• Make progress with my online Foundation Paper Piecing Design class with Melissa De Leon Mason.
• Write a 10 Years of Quilting post.

 .Linking up to #2024QuiltingQ3CheckIn.

My favorite September finish was re-binding the Dusty Rose quilt that my mother, Cleo Ringer, made for my niece, Mary Frances, in the 1980s. The quilt measures 48″ x 63″, and I believe the quilt block used is the Antique Monkey Wrench rotated on point. It looks to me like it was hand- quilted, though I have no memory of my mother doing any hand-quilting. I do, however, have a memory of her sending her quilts in the 1990s to the Philippines for quilting! Like mother, like daughter, though thankfully I don’t have to send mine out of the US for long arm quilting! When I visited my niece in Michigan in March, she showed me the quilt, and the edges were quite frayed. I told her that I would re-bind it for her and took it back home with me to New Mexico. I looked in my mother’s fabric stash and found two different fabrics that I could combine to make a new binding for the quilt. I put those fabrics away in a “safe” place, and to this day, I have NO idea where I put them, but they can seen in this post along with the frayed edge of the quilt. I cut about a half inch off the perimeter of the quilt and put a small swatch of the fabric in my wallet, so when I went to Liberty of London, I was able to find a fabric that would work well for the binding. See a close-up of the fabric in this post.

I finished re-binding the quilt mid-September and sent it off to my niece, and then remembered that I had not taken any pictures of it when I was finished! I blame it on post-COVID brain fog! Mary Frances was nice enough to take several photos in her home built in the 1930s. This quilt looks like it was made for her home. Below are several more photos that she sent to me:

As an aside, I made the indigo pillow on the bed for Mary Frances several years ago from other fabrics from my mom’s fabric stash:

My mom never included any quilt labels on her quilts, but I thought it was important to add one:

I did not have my act together in time, so I was unable to link up to Quilting Jetgirl’s September 2024 Favorite Finish, but I hope to do better with my October Favorite Finish!

Hi everybody! I’m writing my August recap post when we’re already one third through September. But I have a good reason for being so delayed. I went to London and Paris from Aug 18th-27th and had a wonderful time! Unfortunately, I came home with an unplanned souvenir–my first case of COVID. The last couple days of my trip, I had minor cold symptoms, but as soon as I reached American soil, I knew that I didn’t just have a cold, which I confirmed as soon as I got home. Thankfully, since I’m retired, I was able to take the time to rest and recuperate, and I’m feeling much better these days, though my energy levels are still lagging.

I really wanted to soak up all the history and gorgeous architecture of both London and Paris and didn’t spend much time thinking about quilting, but I did prioritize going to Liberty of London which was a couple miles from our hotel. I bought a meter each of the three fabrics below. I don’t have any plans for either of the animal prints, but they were both so unique that I couldn’t resist. I’m going to use the bottom maroon print to re-bind the quilt that my mom made for my niece, Mary Frances, in the 1980s.

Prior to my trip to Europe, I finished and gifted three quilts:

• Baseball Star quilt
• Ranges quilt
• Elephants quilt

I also finished the Awesome Sky Christmas quilt for my friend, Mary. Below is a photo that Cara with Sew Colorado Quilting took before she sent it back to me:

I also finished my Christmas Tell Me A Story blocks and sent them off to my swap-mates, but I didn’t take a photo. I’ve been getting some happy mail and will share a photo of the two blocks I made and the ones I’ve received in next month’s recap post.

September Goals

1. I’ve been working on a memento of my trip to Europe and may have it finished by the end of the month.
2. Finish another Merrily quilt top.
3. Re-bind the quilt my mom made for my niece.
4. Maybe work on a Halloween project or two.
5. Start organizing and ordering necessary fabric for a few small Christmas gifts.

Linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday.

My favorite finish in August is a baby quilt I made for some special people who are expecting another daughter. They are not comfortable with being named on this blog nor having any information shared on social media. I found some 12″ adorable elephant blocks on JoeJuneandMae’s Etsy site and combined them with some simple grey 12″ nine-patch blocks, added a 2.5″ outer border, and the quilt finished at 40″ square.

My great-nephew, John, has had a very eventful 2024. He got married in June, his master’s degree in Computer Science from Cornell in July, and moved to California to start his new job as a software engineer at Intel in August. The whole family is so very proud of him. I know my sister, Jackie, who has been gone for seven years, would be bursting at the seams with pride. I’m pretty sure she is well aware of John’s accomplishments. Sometime in June, I was awakened at 1:00 a.m., and it seemed like Jackie whispered to me, “You need to make a quilt for John.” I tossed and turned for awhile and started thinking about what quilt would be good for John. I knew I wanted it to have clean lines and a modern aesthetic. I decided to make Modern Handcraft’s Ranges quilt pattern in sunset gradient colors, and I knew I wanted the quilting to be wavy to reinforce the mountain vibe. Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting suggested the Modern Waves–Gentle quilting pattern, which I think works perfectly for this 64″ x 78″ throw-size quilt, and the thread she used is called Desert Sunset. The Kona fabrics used for the quilt front were School Bus, Kumquat, Flame, Red, Watermelon, Sangria, and Bordeaux.

I used Kona Berry for the binding and the back of the quilt along with a strip of all the fabrics used on the front.

I love it when recipients of my quilts send me pics of them with their quilt. Here is one of John after he received my package with a photo bomb by their dog, Jack, named after my sister and also my father, Jack Ringer.

I wanted to include a photo of John and his beautiful bride, Bekah, and John sent me this lovely photo:

John and Bekah live about 20 minutes from where I grew up in Sacramento, CA. I definitely hope to see them soon, hopefully on my next visit to California.

I have known my friend, Peter, since we both moved to New Mexico for grad school in 1994. He is from St. Louis, Missouri, and I moved to NM from northern California. We both started following baseball teams from the states where we lived when we were young–Peter being a die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fan and me being a dedicated San Francisco Giants fan. Awhile ago I decided to make a quilt for Pete celebrating our 30 years of friendship, and when I saw the Baseball Star Pattern by Heather of My Sew Quilty Life, I knew it would be the perfect quilt for Peter, and his 11-year-old daughter, Aila, who shares his devotion to the Cardinals. For the front of this 60″ x 60″ throw-size quilt, I used the same colors as the pattern cover as those are the colors of the St. Louis Cardinals.

I found a Cardinals fabric on Etsy that was perfect for the back.

The close-up below shows the wonderful Play Baseball quilting pattern used by Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting. It also shows the quilt label which should have 11 years of friendship with Aila instead of 10. Somehow I lost a year!

Both Pete and Aila were thrilled with the quilt. It was really fun to be able to give it to them in person. Both of our teams are still in the race to be Wildcard teams for the playoffs that start in October. It would be fun if both the Giants and the Cardinals make it.

My cousin, McKenzie, has made two versions of the Baseball Star quilt. The first one was for her grandmother (and my aunt Lois) whose husband loved the Seattle Mariners. The pic below shows McKenzie and Lois with that quilt.

The second one was for McKenzie’s husband, Jeremy, who follows the Giants (as does McKenzie). We had the Giants’ game on behind McKenzie when I took the photo.

I just might have to make my own Baseball Star quilt in San Francisco Giants colors!

I worked on several different projects during the month of July. For my friend, Ed’s 50th birthday, I made him a bucket with a paper-pieced carrots using Leila Garduno’s free pattern. The second photo below shows a gardener’s hand shovel, pattern by Liza at Liza Taylor Handmade. The bucket pattern is available through Liza’s Paper Piecers membership.

I finished a Baseball Star quilt for my friend, Peter, and his daughter, Aila, who are die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fans. My quilt looks just like the pattern cover because it featured St. Louis Cardinals’ colors. The back has actual St. Louis Cardinals’ fabric. I will be giving it to them tomorrow and hope to take some photos of them with the quilt. I plan to write a post about this finish in the next week or so and will share photos of it in this post.

I also finished a quilt top for my great-nephew, John, and his new wife, Bekah. I used Modern Handcraft’s Ranges quilt pattern in sunset gradient colors.

I joined in on Kristy Lea’s of Quiet Play Designs free teacup challenge in July on Instagram. The pattern is now available at her FPP Pattern shop on her website. I used some Liberty of London fabric to make a teacup mug rug for my friend, David. He used to be my boss 30 years ago before I moved to New Mexico for grad school. We reconnected in June when I visited Monterey, California, and spent a good portion of our visit talking about quilts as David has been collecting antique quilts.

My friend, Mary, asked me to make a Christmas quilt for her to put on her bed during the upcoming holiday season. She found a quilt kit on Etsy and bought it. I pieced the quilt top in July. The traditionally pieced teeny-tiny half-square triangles just about made me lose my mind!

In July, I found out that some special people are expecting another daughter. They are not comfortable with being named on this blog or having any information shared on social media. I found some adorable elephants on JoeJuneandMae’s Etsy site and put together this 40″ square quilt top below:

For anyone who hasn’t seen the T-Rex quilt I made for my friend, Kristen’s baby boy due later this month, below is a pic and see a link to the blog post here.

Lastly, I signed up for a Tell Me A Story Holiday Block Swap. I have been making some blocks in traditional Christmas colors that I will share in my August recap post later this month.

 That’s about it. For August, I’ll be focusing on finishing up Ranges, Awesome Sky, and Elephants quilts and writing posts about them as well as finishing my blocks for the Holiday Block Swap.

My favorite finish in July is a baby quilt I made for my friend Kristen’s baby boy who is due August 21st. I used a great paper pieced pattern for an 18″ square T-Rex dinosaur designed by StarsandSunshine Etsy Shop. I made a border using this cute Dinosaur panel, so the quilt measured 36″ square. The Dino Tracks quilting was done by Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting.

In May I participated in a Sawtooth Star block swap (unfinished 6.5″ with fussy cut centers) hosted by Mashe Modern. I made five sets of 10 blocks each plus an additional block for me to keep. The blocks that I made are in the last row except for the rainbow block which was made by a different swap participant. I’m really pleased with the assortment of 50 blocks that I received. The first four rows have adorable fussy cut animals except for the last two super cute roller skate blocks in the fourth row. I don’t have any immediate plans to use these blocks in any project, but I have made a list of patterns/tutorials that feature sawtooth star blocks in interesting arrangements or combined with other blocks.

• Star Shower (pattern by Mashe Modern)
• Sawtooth Stardaze (pattern by QuiltCakes)
• Sashing with Stars (tutorial by The Cloth Parcel)
• Ironwood (pattern by Holly Clarke Design)
• Smalls Stars from Luminous Layer QAL (pattern by mmmquilts)
• Rising Star (pattern by Vanessa Christenson)

I have several other projects that are currently on my to-do list, but don’t be surprised to see some of these sawtooth star blocks show up in a project in the near future.

I am joining the #2024QuiltingQ2CheckIn hosted by Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl. I’m pleased with what I was able to get accomplished in April-June. Definitely my favorite finish is my Rainbow Cheetah pictured above with my cat Sunny letting me know she is a much better looking cat than the cheetah on my quilt! Below is a photo of the quilt that measures 70″ x 80″. For details, please read my post here.

I’m also thrilled with my Star Pulse quilt finish. I donated this 60″ x 60″ lap-size quilt to the Mercyful Hospice program in Sacramento, California. See details here.

• Made a baby quilt for my friend, Kristen’s baby boy who is due in August.
• Made 50 sawtooth star blocks for a Modern Star block swap.
• Started working on a Baseball Star quilt for a friend who also loves baseball.
• Started working on a Ranges quilt in sunset colors for my great nephew, John.
• Worked very minimally on a Sashiko Japanese tea mat in different shades of purple.
• Made five log cabin hearts appliqued to grey sweatshirts (photo below shows my cousin, McKenzie, wearing hers), pattern from the Liza Taylor Handmade’s Paper Piecers Membership.

• Appliqued a paper pieced hummingbird block (pattern was available for purchase when I joined The Paper Piecers Membership with  Liza Taylor Handmade) to a grey sweatshirt that I hoped to wear to the American Quilter’s Society quilt show in Paducah, Kentucky, in April, which didn’t happen since I accidentally left it behind at my friend Annette’s condo in Florida. Yep, I felt rather foolish!

• The other item I left behind in Florida was a Fairy Wren mini framed using a trivet frame that I was going to give my friend, Kelly, when I saw her in Frankfort, Kentucky, after not seeing each other for decades! So I had to send it to her after I got back to New Mexico. More info about this project can be seen here.

I did not work on any Geeky Bobbin Fussy Fuel 2024 Block of the Month blocks nor did I get any scrappy blocks made.

What’s on Deck for Quarter Three of 2024

• Make a fabric bucket for my friend, Ed, who will turn 50 on July 13th.
• Finish my Baseball Star quilt.
• Finish my Ranges quilt.
• Gift the quilt for Kristen’s baby boy due in August and take pics at her baby shower.
• Work on a Color Burst mini quilt.
• Start to work on a Christmas quilt for my best friend, Mary.
• Re-bind a quilt that my mom made for my niece, Mary Frances, when she was in high school.
• Write a post about the sawtooth star blocks I received and possible projects where I might use some of them.
• Possibly work on some Fussy Fuel blocks.
• Possibly make some scrappy color gradient blocks.
• Make more progress on a Sashiko Japanese tea mat in different shades of purple.

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