Quilting

Here’s my design wall showing what I got done on pink blocks this week. I did a twinkling Friendship Star block. I made two a month last year & wanted more so am making one a month this year. Below that are the five pink blocks for the Tula Pink sampler. I was a little annoyed that my fabrics weren’t as contrasted as I thought when I chose & cut them. Especially the upper left one. It’s hard to tell the pattern unless you are close up. Grr. The string blocks on the right are the border blocks for Catching Rainbows by Bonnie Hunter. Next week I’ll tackle the actual blocks.

After doing some pink, I wanted to move along some other projects a little bit since it’s only halfway through the month & I have time. So I put together some Rocky Road to Grayson blocks by Bonnie Hunter. They are the blue stars. I have several BH projects going right now & love them, but if you’ve ever made one of her patterns you know that each block requires a lot of piecing. After making lots of the parts, I wanted to make some blocks to feel like I’m getting something done. So I also started sewing together the scrappy yellow stars I’m making for September Sky. The lovely rainbow circles are some progress on Cookie Cutter by Jaybird Quilts with my virtual quilt partner. We sewed all the bottom halves of the circles together & had time to sew 5 whole blocks! That was awesome because, again, it felt like real progress after months of sewing parts. A few more weeks & this WIP will be a flimsy! Hers uses solids like the pattern & mine uses some Tula Pink fabric.

After taking a month off because there were no yellows in the jelly roll I’m using, it was back to ombre Shine blocks. These are the two that can be considered pink. I’ve wanted to make this quilt for forever so I almost squeal each month when I pull down the box & get started.

I cut all the pieces for this Sweet Kisses quilt in January, so now it’s just a matter of pulling it out & sewing up the month’s color. (Same with Shine) I did this last year with a couple projects & it helped me get more done during the year when I only had to cut out a couple projects each month.

I did it! Here’s the top in the final week, #5, of the Hyalite SAL from Plains & Pine. I finished up sewing the large diamond blocks into the four quadrants with the background triangles, then did this week’s task of sewing the four quadrants together. This was a fun project & I definitely got better as I went along. It’s all bias so one quadrant is a little stretched, but I got the rest done well. I’m so happy to have tried something new, plus used some really old stash fabric that I love.

Having done the border yellow string blocks earlier in the month, I got the actual yellow blocks for Catching Rainbows done this week.

It’s a flimsy! I started On the Move by Melissa Corry as an RSC2022 project but got carried away & kept going on it when I realized how much planning I had to do to make these Spotted charm packs work out. I did the remix on her blog using the Charming Baby Quilts book, so it’s the throw size & will probably end up as a graduation quilt for a niece or nephew. Background is a white Grunge.

It’s week 4 of the Hyalite SAL from Plains & Pine and this week’s task for the lap size was to sew the large diamond blocks into the four quadrants with the background triangles. I got it laid out out on the design wall & one quadrant sewed together (not shown). It’s been a busy week, so the rest will have to flow into the last week of the SAL, which is only sewing the four quadrants together. So I think I can finish on time even though there won’t be any sewing this weekend.

My donation quilting has stalled a bit because I haven’t made quilts the right size, colors, techniques, etc. for various groups. So I’ve decided to be more intentional about what I make. Covered in Love takes tops & other volunteers will quilt them, so I decided to do what I do best: piece. Then I can make patterns I’ve been wanting to try, use my stash, & still feel useful. CIL says they need more masculine quilts so I’m going to focus there. Shopped my stash & cut out this quilt to make for L&E’s. It has gray background.

A little finish this week: “Puzzles”. It was an early COVID-19 project to use up the last of the puzzle fabric from a larger quilt. I sewed up the top & let it sit, but finally got it quilted with variegated thread in a puzzle design. I just made it without a pattern. Lots of people call these Happy Blocks.

I got back to work on yellow & made the Sweet Kisses blocks which only called for four each in yellow.

Another twinkling Friendship Star block to add to the pile from last year.

These are the four yellow blocks for the Tula Pink sampler. I’m enjoying my progress on this project.

It’s week 3 of the Hyalite SAL from Plains & Pine and this week’s task for the lap size was to put the 4-patch diamond blocks from last week into 24 of these large diamond blocks. Next week we start turning them into a big star.

“Simply Hexie” is done! My quilting partner & I bought these kits in July 2019 & kept saying we would make them when….. (fill in the blank). Late last year we pulled out the kits & via our FaceTime quilt group, worked steadily for a few sessions to piece the top, the back & make the binding. Then it was off to the quilter where it was done in an intersecting triangle motif. I finished the binding last night while watching TV, so here it is!

The back. The fabric is more gray than it looks in the photo.

So…squirrels. Remember those Rockabilly Swing blocks by Bonnie Hunter I said I was going to work on a little at a time? Well, after all the yellow cutting & prep at the beginning of March I decided to take a day to sew them. They are using up my little scraps in various sizes so it’s a mess of piles all over when I’m working on the paper piecing. The next day I decided to keep going. And the next. Then I decided to do some calculations & see how many more I needed as I’m doing a smaller quilt than the pattern. I kept going. Because there’s no quilt police that says I have to do anything in any particular order. Sew what’s fun! In a week & a half of sewing, I got them all made, then spent time sorting scraps & cleaning up. And I’m happy, even though it wasn’t what I planned at the beginning of the month.

I am also doing the Hyalite SAL from Plains & Pine on a whim. (no quilt police, remember?) I’ve done the week 1 cutting & am halfway through week 2, which is sewing the diamond blocks. So cute & all cut from Blueberry Park fabric bagged together in my stash, waiting for the perfect project.

And here’s the progress from this week’s quilt group. We’re working on Cookie Cutter, another long-time project we’re finally getting done. We have four of the quadrants sewn & decided to deviate from the pattern to sew the first three quadrants together to make the half circles & feel like we are getting somewhere. So cute!