Sister's Choice Quilts

Showing Moda Blockheads 4 Some Love

Now that the red white and blue blocks are off the design wall, I have room to put another sew-along's blocks up so I can look at them. And wouldn't you know, once they were all up there, I saw four or five that I just didn't like. It just goes to show that it is a good idea to display your blocks on a design wall as you progress. It is important to see how the blocks "play together". There always are a few misfits. But if you can see them all together, you make better decisions on what colors to put together in your next blocks. 

So I made one new block for this week, and re-made four more!  All the block patterns can be found on the Moda website in the Blockheads archives. 

This is the new block for this week.

This was a block pattern for another sew-along I did a year or so ago. I love those fabrics together!

I remade the yellow/navy print units on this block.

My other Crown of Thorns block looked nothing like a crown of thorns, so I remade it with different color placement.

And here's the last one I remade.

I will continue to play around with colors and placement as I made a few more blocks to finish up the quilt top. I think I need a couple more "pops" of the navy to make things balanced. I think that darker color draws the eye and I want it to be distributed carefully throughout the quilt top.

You may be wondering, how I managed to get any sewing time in, since I have been singing loudly about how busy I am. Well, here's what happened yesterday. I had Eva for the day, and she wanted to invite her bestie over for a play date. They occupied themselves brilliantly all day, doing a complicated project that involved cardboard boxes, fabric scraps, and a glue gun. Honestly, they took over the kitchen counter and collaborated on this activity all day long. 

Since they were working adjacent to my little desk/work area, I really couldn't concentrate on doing my writing job. So I went upstairs and sewed!  Win win. 

Well, This is Progress

It isn't finished, but it's nearly there. I got all the rows put together for the red, cream, and blue quilt I have been working on this summer.

It is a BOM from Piecing the Past called Peace and Healing. At least that's what I think it is called. All their BOMs have names that sound alike, so I can't keep them straight. They have a new one starting up in September with a name so similar I had to email the organizer and ask if it was a repeat of one they had done before! She emailed back and said it was "a new one". LOL The sew-alongs they offer have names like Rest and Refreshing, Comfort and Blessing, Peace and Healing, Comfort and Healing. It makes me dizzy.

Hmmm, I did some checking, and the sew-along Piecing the Past is offering in September looks to me to be an absolute repeat of the Comfort and Blessing one they did summer of 2020. Same name, all the same blocks. So, not new.

I had some major issues sewing the lattices on this thing. Nothing wrong with the pattern, just lots of different-sized setting triangles that I managed to sew on wrong or omit completely so nothing fit right. I finally put my concentration cap on and studied the layout diagram and eventually sorted it out.

I still have to sew on some large corner triangles and get the borders on it. Not sure when that will happen, but it sure won't take as long as me fussing with those lattices did! 

Working with these fabrics and making the blocks each week was very enjoyable this summer. It will be great to have the quilt on my bed next year.

 

Conservative Late Summer Decor

Eva and I put away the red white and blue decor that has been out since May. We aren't full-blown Fall by any means, just some gold colors and lots of sunflowers. This color scheme can stay out until September when we return from Ireland. Then we will go all out Fall. The runner on my hall table is so pretty. Here is a close-up of the design. I got it 12-13 years ago at a decor shop in Carmel. It is quite beautifully made.

This pretty table topper is called Jersey Girl, and was a Schnibbles pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. I'd be surprised if you could still get it.  (You can!  It is on Amazon of all places!)

I remember loving this fabric collection, which has a Western "Inner Cowgirl" vibe. I want to say it is by Urban Chiks? Correct me if you know the name of the collection.

This next little topper is called "Fat Quarter Flourish" by Carried Away. You can get the downloadable pdf pattern from Fat Quarter Shop. It is so darn cute.

Here is an unobstructed photo.

You need this pattern, right? I want to make it again in the appropriate colors for every holiday and season.

I forgot to take a picture of my coffee table, but that's enough for now. It felt good to change things up a bit!

Did anyone notice that I changed up my blog banner? I need to do that more often to keep things fresh. Only it always takes me about three hours, so I procrastinate.

Good Book, Good Movie

My husband and I attended the movie "Where the Crawdads Sing" yesterday at our local movie theater. And you know what?  It was pretty great.  I have to say, the movie version was 95% true to the book version, which is rare. The main thing I noticed was that the movie was perfectly cast. Almost every character in the movie was exactly the way I had imagined them while I was reading the book. 

This is a story where you have to suspend rational belief. An eight-year-old child, abandoned in a North Carolina marsh, lives on her own with no parental support or supervision. And thrives into young adulthood?  On her own? Seriously? And Romulus and Remus were raised by wolves? Ok then, I'm in.

Nevertheless, the movie was really good. If you haven't read the book, you will enjoy it, and if you HAVE read the book, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how well the director kept to the plot. The hardback version of the book is only $12.39 on Amazon, so it's a good deal if you want to read the book before seeing the movie.

Here is a link to the movie trailer, if you haven't seen it. 

Did you have a good weekend? Summer is drawing to a close here. School starts on Aug. 17, so our days at the pool are numbered. This week I hope to put away all the July/red, white, and blue decor and bring out the late summer/early fall stuff. Mostly things with a sunflower motif. My husband's birthday is next weekend, so I ned to plan a fun dinner menu and come up with a good gift idea.  What's up with you? Have you seen any good movies? Read any good books? Share in the comments!

 

Two Delightful Books

I am in the middle of these two wonderful books right now. Usually I don't read two physical books at a time, but I had started The Bodyguard by Katherine Center and just picked up Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt just to see what all the raving was about, and was hooked.

Remarkably Bright Creatures is such a different sort of book. Do you enjoy books about curmudgeons? If you liked A Man Called Ove or All the Lonely People, I promise you will love this book too. Tova Sullivan is a lonely widow in her 70s who cleans the Sowell Bay aquarium after hours. Marcellus is a grouchy giant Pacific octopus who lives at the aquarium, and who is nearing the end of his life. The two form a very unlikely friendship, which will tug at your heartstrings and not be soon forgotten.

The Bodyguard is a romantic comedy about Hannah Brooks, an "Executive Protection Agent" (aka Bodyguard) who gets hired to protect superstar actor Jake Stapleton from a crazy stalker. Jake's mom is ill and he wants to be by her side, so he needs to travel to Texas to stay on the family ranch for a while. Only he doesn't want the family to worry about him needing a bodyguard, so he has Hannah pose as his girlfriend. You can see where this is going. The writing is amusing and the story is sweet and I am all in. Great escapism and full of heart. Author Katherine Center has written several other books which I have enjoyed very much. Things You Save in a Fire, Happiness for Beginners, and What You Wish For were so good too.

Even though I am only halfway through both of these books, I highly recommend them. And just look at those covers, will you?

 

 

Putting Midnight Moon Away For Awhile

Midnight Moon is a sew-along I have joined where we make blocks in Halloween fabrics from Carrie Nelson's great book "Summer Moon". In the book, the instructions call for making each of the 28 or 30 blocks in THREE different sizes. The blocks are then framed with half square triangles for the very unique setting. I thought that was too much work, so I opted to make my blocks only in the 6 1/2" size. It's been fun and I have enjoyed making the blocks and think this will be a terrific Halloween quilt.

I planned to set the blocks on the diagonal with an alternate plain block (or maybe blocks that would form a chain-I hadn't decided). 

What I hadn't factored in is how small the finished quilt would be when made up in 6-inch finished blocks. Seriously? If I had 30 blocks and set them in a 5 x 6 setting with an alternate block, my unbordered quilt would measure 42 1/2" by 51". Now I'm wishing I had gone for the larger size block.

So, here's what I think I will do. To get a decent size quilt, closer to the size of the top of a queen-sized bed, I'm going to need at least 49 pieced quilt blocks. A quilt top without borders made in a 7 x7 diagonal setting would end up being 59 1/2" by 59 1/2". By the time I added a couple of borders it would be the size I have in mind to use as a lap quilt or to fold at the foot of my bed.

Ok, wake up now if you fell asleep during the math. I need 19 more quilt blocks to make the quilt I have in mind. I have a fat quarter bundle I haven't even touched of the fabrics I've been using, so I am good there. I also have scads of the background and some likely contenders for the border.  Over the next few months, I am going to make the additional blocks for the quilt. There are plenty of patterns for 6 1/2" quilt blocks, so that won't be a problem either. 

I won't worry about finishing the quilt for this Halloween. It will be an ongoing project. It is going to rest for now in its project box, but I promise I will keep working on it. Time to focus on a couple of other tops I started this summer and get them wrapped up.

Rediscovering Quilts

Do you ever forget about quilts that you have made? I keep mine in my walk-in closet, on two high shelves. Since I need a ladder to get them on or off the shelves, I don't spend much time rummaging around looking at things. Typically I have a specific quilt in mind that I want to use seasonally or for some occasion. I just make a beeline for that one and pretty much don't register the others.

Last week my friend Barbara H. emailed me about a Loose Change quilt she was making. A light bulb went off in my head and I recalled that I had made a Loose Change quilt a few years back. My quilt is more of a lap quilt, too small to use on a bed, and I have never really used it. Now that I pulled it out I sure wish I had made more blocks and could use it as a bed cover. I love the way it looks.  

This is a picture of it before it was quilted. 

The different shades of tan and cream I used really make the eye move around over the surface of the quilt, don't they? This was a true scrap quilt, using bits and bobs of leftover scraps I had leftover after making numerous Civil War reproduction fabric quilts.

While I was pulling Loose Change down, I rediscovered this pretty Stars and Baskets quilt. This was a Moda kit from 2016 or 2017. I pulled that one down too and am really enjoying it now that I have put away all the red white and blue July quilts.

Not the best photo, but we have all the blinds drawn because it's over 100° outside. Here's a picture of it before borders and quilting. I think you can see the colors better.

So, what's on your bed? Do you like to switch up your quilts with the seasons or when the mood strikes you?