I wasn’t going to bring my Blueberry Park scraps with me, but at the last minute, I threw them in the suitcase. I used an EZ Dresden ruler to cut them into these shapes.
They became these fan blades.the spool of thread is to show the size. They are quite small.
Today, I want to appliqué these to the background squares.
Then I need to figure out what to do with those corners.
Have a great day!
Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts, Quilting is More Fun than Housework
It took me ages to come up with a plan for my daughter’s Quilt of Valor. I have always loved quilts with hexagons and I definitely wanted stars on it. I wanted it to be patriotic, but subtle. I wanted it to be very personal and meaningful with little hidden things to discover over time. Honestly, even after deciding on a plan, I had a very hard time actually starting this quilt. I’m not exactly sure why. Perhaps because this is such an emotional project for me. Here are a few sneak peeks.
A lot of this is Tim Holtz’ fabric from his Eclectic Elements line.
It is always good to take pictures of your works in progress. I see things in pictures that I don’t see looking at the pieces on my design wall. I see things here that I want to change. But I didn’t see them until looking at the pictures on my iPad.
This won’t be done any time soon. As I have started sewing, I have thought of a few more things that I want to add, things I don’t have on hand right here, like a scrap from her old uniform pants. I have sewn rows now, but it is a simple matter at this point to rip and switch out a few pieces here and there. I don’t want to rush this. I need to make sure it has everything in it that I want to say.
I need to ponder some more on this one. But at least it is started.
Have a great day.
Want to see the first charm pack I ever bought?
I don’t remember how long ago I bought this. Actually, I bought two of them and a bit of yardage of one of the prints. Before I headed out to AZ, I finally decided what to do with them!
It seemed a simple idea, but honestly, it took much longer than I thought for a small quilt.
I don’t think this top can be made without a design wall! Even then, I ended up doing some ripping. The 9 patches finish at 4 1/2 inches.
I didn’t bring that yardage with me. It will probably be used for the back and binding.
Have a great day!
Linking up withConfessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts, Busy Hands Quilts, Fort Worth Fabric Studio, The Quilt Journal
First of all, thank you for all of your wonderful ideas and encouragement on my Ugly Scrappy Trips! I enjoy making the blocks, so after taking a break, I will probably go back to it.
In the mean time, I have made all the Log Cabin blocks that I can. I have run out of pieces to make more blocks. I played around with the 24 blocks I have finished.
I think I like the above layout best, but then I have leftover blocks. Ugh.makes my OCD crazy! Here are some other ideas.
At the end of the day, I don’t love any of these. I think I need more blocks. I don’t have a lot of these fabrics left, but I might have enough for 12 more blocks. I’ve decided to set this project aside until I get home and can use my die cutter to cut some more. I am not at all interested in cutting these bits with my rotary cutter!
I feel good about the progress I made, but I know if I finish as is, I’ll never be happy with this. So I’m done working on this for now.
Have a great day!
Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation
Warning: This might end up as the ugliest quilt ever! I had accumulated 100 FQs of Cotton and Steel fabrics and decided to slice and dice them up before I left home. A Scrappy Trips Quilt following the tutorial by Bonnie Hunter has been on my quilty bucket list for some time. So I thought these would be perfect!
The individual blocks aren’t too bad.
But….oh boy……
Yikes! Not sure I like this all together! It’s pretty wild!
Adding blocks is not necessarily helping.
I do enjoy making the blocks and Bonnie’s tutorial is excellent. So far, this is making me sea sick. I think I’m going to set this whole mess aside for the time being.
Have a great day!
Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts, Quilt Fabrication
I got a library card last week! So now I’m settling in with some good reading.
I got my swap blocks last week from the Broken Dishes Swap hosted by Barb at Fun with Barb. Aren’t they beautiful?
I went to several quilt shops last week with some friends. I picked up some of this on clearance.
I think it will go perfectly with my swap blocks.
Have a great day!
The other day I showed you the HSTs I made from a charm pack of Marmalade and a charm pack of white. Once the HSTs were done, it was time to play with designs. Hereare some ideas I tried.
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I liked the first one a lot, but soon realized, I didnt have any more of this particular white with me. So if I went with that, the top wouldn’t get finished until I got home where I do have more of this. That changed everything for me. So this is what I ended up doing.
I will probably add a border of white when I do get home. But for now, I’m calling this done.
Bambi was quite curious about it
Have a great day!
Linking up with Patchwork Times, Love Laugh Quilt, Cooking Up Quilts
Last Monday I shared with you the beginnings of my current leader/ended project. I always have questions about this. Bonnie Hunter has a great explanation of leaders/enders here. Anyway, I decided to set my blocks into the fence rail pattern instead of making it the same as my previous scrappy rectangle quilt.
So far, I have twenty blocks made. Sadly, I don’t have near enough scrappy bits with me to make this as big as I would like. I want 64 blocks, although I could get by with 49 and border. This container is the size of a shoebox and these are all the pieces I have left.
This is what 9 blocks look like side by side. You can also catch a glimpse of one of my assistants in this photo.
I believe scrap quilts are my all time favorite type of quilt. The endless variety of prints, colors, styles…..it is always a wonder, but they end up making a unified whole. Each individual piece is a little bit of cotton cloth, not much by itself, but together, wow! The pieces don’t even have to match to be beautiful side by side. In fact, the result is often better when they don’t!
I believe there is a great lesson here for our deeply divided nation this week. We must remember that we are all like those scraps of cloth, individually we cannot do much. But we are all Americans, cut from the same cloth. Together we make up something so much greater than ourselves. We don’t have to be identical, our differences make this patchwork nation beautiful. But we are all pieces of the same quilt. This past election has been ugly, but it is over and time for our nation to come back together, to mend. The demonstrations and continued ugliness tear at the very fabric of our nation. Yes, there are many who are bitterly disappointed and say their grief must be acknowledged. They must also remember that there are many others who have felt this same grief for the past eight years. When one group hurts, we all hurt. I believe the Apostle Paul said it best:
“Christ is just like the human body—a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many. We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, or slave or free, and we all were given one Spirit to drink. Certainly the body isn’t one part but many. If the foot says, “I’m not part of the body because I’m not a hand,” does that mean it’s not part of the body? If the ear says, “I’m not part of the body because I’m not an eye,” does that mean it’s not part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, what would happen to the hearing? And if the whole body were an ear, what would happen to the sense of smell? But as it is, God has placed each one of the parts in the body just like he wanted. If all were one and the same body part, what would happen to the body? But as it is, there are many parts but one body. So the eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” or in turn, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part gets the glory, all the parts celebrate with it. You are the body of Christ and parts of each other.”
1 Corinthians 12:12-21, 26-27 CEB
Please join with me in praying for the healing of our nation.
Linking up with Quilting is More Fun Than Housework
This is another project that was a long Time coming to fruition. I cut the strips for these blocks when I cut the pieces for Daughter #1’s wedding quilt!
The strips were cut 2 inches wide, so each 36 patch finishes at 9 inches. If you are careful how you press, all the seams will nest.
I’ve wanted to make this for ages. Now I’m not sure what took me so long to get to it!
I love how it turned out. I will probably add a border when I get home and gave access to my stash. In the mean time, I stay stitched the edges to keep things stable.
Here it is on a bed.
I can’t wait to quilt this one!
Have a great day!
Linking up with Quokka Quilts, Busy Hands Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Here’s another Throwback Thursday post for you! Today I am sharing a few of my antique treasures with you. I bought this first one up in Traverse City , MI a few years ago while traveling with hubby.
It is not in good shape, but I couldn’t bear the thought of someone cutting it up! So I brought this home. The stitching is so very fine!
See the tiny piped binding? It has completely faded to white. I wonder what color it used to be.
This next one was made by my hubby’s grandma. Her embroidery and quilting skills were amazing!
She made this one as well. Isn’t it fun?
Here is another made by hubby’s grandma. You can barely see the leaves that have faded. I love this!
This one I purchased at an estate sale.
It is entirely hand pieced.
The edges are turned in and whip stitched closed.
Another family quilt! Hubby got this one because his favorite color was purple. I sure am glad that it was! This quilt is a masterpiece. The stitching is unbelievably fine.
This one came from hubby’s other grandma. It is quilted in Baptist Fans. I love this one too! It has been well loved. I sometimes use this one on my guest room bed.
This one was found laying in the dirt at a local antique festival! I scooped it up and gladly paid the lady the $20 she was asking for it.
This is likely the oldest quilt in my collection. As you can see, many of the fabrics have completely shredded away.
Check out that stitching! That grid is approximately 3/8 of an inch apart!
I cannot imagine how long it must have taken to stitch this up!
I feel fortunate indeed to be the current caretaker of these beauties.
Have a great day!
KatyQuilts 
