Summer Break

A Flowering Snowball in the middle of this hot summer to cool you off! I am taking a break and will be back soon.

Kelly

Spools of Thread Mini Quilt

Technically it's not a mini but that is what we call them at our guild. Next year we have our Penn Oaks Quilt show and one of the main events is our small/mini quilt raffle. Almost every member makes one (some make more). We do this instead of a large raffle quilt which can be very specific and not to everyone's taste.

The quilt is 16" x 24" and they are all the same size. Every pattern or theme is welcome! The thread in my spools is about 3/8" wide to give you a perspective.

I like all the cheerful colors and hope I get some takers! Imagine this in your sewing room....

I really like the fabric for the binding, it makes it feel playful to me.

If you have the opportunity to attend any small local show please do so. For our guild it is the major fundraiser and helps us to pay for our programs. It is getting harder and harder for guilds, especially small ones to put on shows. For the price of a yard of fabric, you can see some awesome quilts and vendors! I promise you will not be disappointed!

Kelly

Basket Quilt

I am in love with this quilt and I just spotted a mistake......can you see it? In my rush to finish sewing it I didn't even notice. Get out the seam ripper, or do I leave it?
The baskets are paper pieced and you can find them here on the blog Diary of a Quilter They were a lot of fun to make and easy if you are new to paper piecing. I wanted to change it up and make it a little different than the original so I added the flying geese which I love! If you look at the last post I was trying to decide between tan or gray geese. I wasn't feeling either one. I had a stack of solids on the table and the greens happen to be on top. So I cut a few out and played around with them. It pays to not put your things away.....

As you can see I pushed the limits of the green palette but I like how they work together. Some of them feel like they glow. I now know green really is a neutral!

Here is the hole all patched up! Upon further inspection I realized that the fabric is just worn out and is not going to last much longer. I guess a new quilt is in their future!

Kelly

Color!

Today's post has lots of color. Aren't these pretty? The red echinacea is called Salsa. I bought it last year and it is loving where it is planted in the garden. It is rounded out with some yellow green coleus and almost gone yellow yarrow. Our neighbors are bee keepers and every day the bees come over to "taste" my garden and these are one of their favorites. It is fun to see when they have gathered up as much as they can hold they take off and go home, directly across the street. You can actually watch them go there.
They have kept me from trimming the flowers off the hostas (I don't care for them) because they are a favorite place too.

I need to make a decision and I am stuck. I want to make a flying geese border for a quilt and can't decide between the gray geese

or the tan. It is holding me back from completing it. I just may let it simmer overnight.

I have a much loved quilt to repair. I made this for my son, Colin when he went to college. It was a Thimbleberries pattern, the name of which I can't remember and all flannel. I just realized he is going to be 35 so it's like 17 years old! His wife Jenny snuggled under it while she was pregnant, their sons Jaxon and Cameron play on it and it was dadas quilt back in the day, a real family quilt! Jenny wants me to repair it and of course I will. I don't have any of these fabrics to match but I think an "intentional" repair might be better, to know how much it was loved.

Kelly

Baby Twister

Baby Twister 30" x 35"

You know it's been a while since I blogged when I had to go back and see what I posted because I couldn't remember!
At the end of last year Audrey of Quilty Folk had a quilt along where every day you made a circle block based on how your mood was that day. It's called Quilty 365, yes you are supposed to make one every day for a year. Mine is significantly smaller but I love it! I didn't exactly follow the rules but I don't think that really matters....
My husband Bob has named this quilt "Baby Twister".

There are a couple of blocks I really like and have been hoarding for just the right project.

Some vintage fabrics.

As you can see I did a grid quilting on this and love how it turned out. Next time I want to do it but have the lines at different widths. This quilting, it's 1/2" spaced apart.

I turned the edges under and appliqued them down by machine then cut out the background (behind the applique) to reduce bulk. I did not use any fusible.

Some of the fabrics are very light and fade out, I love that look!

Some are pieced and this one happens to be vintage fabrics as well.

I picked this out of my stash for the backing and love how the grid shows up.

This is a block I did for the Lancaster MQG, we are doing a round robin improv style. I used solids and some of my hand dyes for interest.

I accidentally sewed the blue triangle unit down instead of up. To keep it real I didn't change it!

I have had basket quilts on my mind and drafted this block. Even though it is a traditional block I will do it in modern colors, stay tuned!

Kelly

Friday Sewing

Maddy's quilt is finished, with a little help from mom mom. I am so excited to give it to her so she can hang it in her new bedroom. I see more quilts in her future.

I sewed this whole quilt up today and just have to sew down the binding which is glue basted right now. It is for a baby girl that was born last month. I think it is fun that the trend seems to be moving towards couples not finding out if the baby is a boy or a girl. I never had the option and am not sure what I would do, we will NEVER know!

I think this fabric is so sweet.

I started sewing these strips together to see how they were going to look. Little did I know I have to sew them in the same sequence or they don't match. Seven pairs of strips had to be "unsewn". Good thing I checked! I am hoping to make this a big quilt and so far I love it.

I am itchy to work with some solids. We have a Round Robin improv challenge for the Lancaster Modern Quilt Guild next month. I am trying to decide to use these or my hand dyes. So many good decisions to have to make!

Kelly

Art Quilt

How's this for a bright and happy quilt? The rows are not sewn together yet and I am excited to get it quilted.
My granddaughter Maddy made this yesterday. I spread out a bunch of solid fabrics and told her to pick out 2 fabrics she liked for each row. She very much took her time deciding (can that be hereditary?). I cut out a strip and then she cut out the rectangles with scissors. You will be so proud of me that I did not at all tell her to change any of her colors. The orange and blue (3rd from the bottom) made my teeth hurt but now that it is in the quilt I love it.
It was fun to see an 8 year old pick her colors and why. She was very particular about how the rows were to be sewn together and packed up the rectangles in order of sewing.......I can't wait to do this with my grandsons too.
I will be putting this to the front of the line to get it done. I am pretty sure I am going to make more of these pretty quilts.

Kelly