Sister's Choice Quilts

Star Studded Event Quilt: Finished!

I am happy to tell you that I finished my second UFO of 2023! This is the Star-Studded Event quilt, started in the summer of 2018. This was a block-of-the-week kit/program sponsored by Primitive Gatherings. The pattern is now available on their website. 

It's a great scrap quilt project, and once you get those center 2-inch stars completed, the rest of the piecing is easy. I really like this quilt, especially its generous size! It ended up being 84 inches square, which as you can see, fits great on a queen size bed. 

I did remove the dark pink blocks but left in the light blocks that had some pink in them. In the grand scheme of things, the pink isn't particularly noticeable in the lighter-toned blocks. I made some additional lighter "dark" blocks in pale blue, sage green, and light brown. Before I did that the quilt had a somber tone to it, as one reader mentioned. I much prefer it now that it has been lightened up. I have lots of leftover blocks. About 10 pink ones, and some navy, black and dark brown. I will probably end up making a table runner out of the pink ones. For next year's Valentine's Day.

I am totally happy with the finished quilt top, as well as being thoroughly sick of working on it. I'll send it to the quilter as soon as my backing fabric arrives. Once I get it back from her it will go right on my bed. 

Hope your week is going well. Eva has been staying with us this week because her daddy has come down with the flu. She's been lots of fun, and as always, keeps us on our toes. I forgot to tell you that we finally got our new oven. It works great. Baking is now fun rather than a frustrating exercise in adjusting the temperature up or down depending on how it is working.  We have made chocolate chip cookies, a quiche, and various snacks for Super Bowl with great success.

A Well Loved Quilt

Well, this quilt has been well-loved. I made it for my nephew probably 20 years ago and he has definitely used it. 

We were at my father's house this past weekend to go through closets, books, and other possessions for donation, and the subject of quilts I had given to the family came up. My brother-in-law was telling me that his dogs had damaged a quilt I had made for my sister. She loved the quilt and it had been on their bed for years. Since she has passed away, the quilt had special meaning to him. It has been so long that I couldn't recall which quilt it was that he was talking about. (That is a sign of making a lot of quilts over the years!) I asked him to text me a photo of the quilt in question and that I would try to replicate it for him.

Then my nephew brought out the quilt in the photo above. I encourage you to enlarge the photo to get the full scope of the condition.

Sometimes we quilters complain that the people we give our quilts to don't appreciate them enough, or the effort that went into making them. I'd say the lack of verbal appreciation is offset by what your eyes tell you when you see one of your quilts loved to smithereens. 

I have to say, it's kind of fascinating to see the anatomy of a quilt after all this time. 

Anyway, it looks like I have some new quilting assignments coming up in the near future.

Red and White Sampler Quilt

Have you made a red and white quilt? I have made a few of them, and never get tired of that color scheme. The one above is a sampler quilt I did as a sew along a number of years ago. I do recall that I got the idea for the setting from something Carrie Nelson did.

What I can tell you without any hesitation is that I sure wish I had added a border to this quilt. It came out an awkward size, which would have been mitigated if I had put on some borders. It works well as a hanging quilt, but I sure wish I could use it on a bed during the holidays. It would be such a cozy, festive touch.

If you want to take part in a sampler quilt sew along at some point, don't be afraid to tackle a two-color quilt. It would be beautiful in red and white as I have done, or perhaps blue and white, for another classic color combo. What a fantastic scrap-buster this quilt was. 

I have lots of wrapping done, and just a few more things to go. My shopping is all finished except for a couple of stocking stuffers. Still waiting on a couple of deliveries, which of course means more wrapping. 

Our son Ahren is arriving this week from Ireland! We are so excited to see him. They are having some super cold and even snowy weather in Dublin lately, which can throw a monkey wrench into travel plans. Ireland doesn't get snow often, and when it happens, things tend to shut down. So I won't relax until he is safely here!

My posting may be spotty over the next couple of weeks, with a house guest, some entertaining, and last-minute holiday tasks. I'll do my best to keep you updated on our doings. Hope things are going well for you and your holiday preparations. If you travel, be safe!

Acorn Love Table Runner Quilted

Doesn't this acorn table runner put you in the mood for fall? The pattern is Acorn Love by Lori Holt.  The fabric is Cozy Up by Corey Yoder (plus some scraps from my stash). I love how this turned out, and how the quilting adds such great texture without being overwhelming. I will be enjoying this one in November. 

Ever since I have been embracing doing my binding on the machine, I have been so much happier! The technique is easy and takes so much less time than sewing it on by hand. I still haven't tried to bind a full-sized quilt on the machine, but the time is coming. I watched a tutorial by Lella Boutique a while back and I was hooked. I started small with mug rugs and moved on to table toppers.

No more letting the quilts pile up and not get used because I am too lazy to get the binding on. I wish I had the love of hand-sewing bindings like some of you do, but I missed that gene. 

Hope your week is going well. I made crock pot beef stew this morning, and as I am writing this my house smells SO good!

 

 

 

Moda Blockheads 4 is a Finish!

This is my Moda Blockheads 4 quilt top, all pieced and finished. I sure do seem to enjoy these sampler quilt sew-alongs, evidenced by how many of them I have done! The patterns for this quilt were all free contributions by Moda designers and can be found on the Moda Fabrics website in the "archives".

The setting I used was one by Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts. 

I don't use many of these colors in my decorating, so this quilt will be a gift to someone who does. I really enjoyed working with these aqua, yellow, and grey fabrics which are colors different from what I typically choose. They are a mix of fabric collections designed by Linzee McCray for Moda Fabrics. 

I made it a priority to finish this sew-along before starting up on a new one. I made it just under the wire, as Fat Quarter Shop is starting Sewcialites 2 this Friday. I thought I would use a bundle of Corey Yoder's Buttercup and Slate, but at the last minute, I changed my mind. I decided to go with Lella Boutique's Flower Pot, in the prettiest colors that will go with my decor. 

My fabrics are all starched and ready to go! Are any of you participating in this sew-along? What fabrics did you choose?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank You To All For Your Kind Words

Thank you to all of you who offered such comforting words of sympathy for the loss of my father. It was so sweet to read your kind comments. While his passing was not unexpected at his age, it still leaves a great hole in our family. It also leaves a great hole in how I spend my time each weekend. I am so used to leaving home on Fridays to keep him company and care for him through Sunday. It was so difficult this past weekend not to be with him. Besides missing our conversations, I found myself checking the time often and thinking of what we would be doing at a certain point in the day. It will be a big adjustment not to have him around. 

I did keep myself busy this past weekend and found getting deep into the project of sorting out my neglected sewing room was a good distraction. I sorted out piles of leftover fabrics and did a major tidying of the closet. I will share all that with you in another post this week. I should have taken a "before" picture. It was a mess.

My quilter returned four quilts to me a week or so ago and I can't wait to share the finishes with you. She's had these for a long time due to her family making a move from South Carolina to Florida. So my quilts have had quite a journey. They even got to go through Hurricane Ian, but fortunately were not affected. Can you imagine? You send your precious quilts out for quilting and your quilter has to inform you "Sorry, my house was destroyed by a hurricane and your quilts too." Luckily that didn't happen. 

That is my Sewcialites quilt in the top photo, and this is a close-up of the quilting design we chose. Actually, my quilter suggested it, and since she probably knows better than I do, I went with it. I like it. In particular, I like how the quilting thread does not stand out too much. It's tricky when you have a light background with black fabrics in the quilt top.

I hope your week gets off to a good start. Wish me luck as I adjust to my new "normal".

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?

Christmas Among the Stars Again Quilt Finished!

Woohoo!  I am doing a happy dance over here because I finished a full-sized quilt! It is Christmas Among the Stars Again, which was a Block of the Month project from a Just Sew Emma book published by Fat Quarter Shop. As a matter of fact, if you think you want to make this fun and easy quilt, FQS has an entire kit available, which is on sale right now for $144, a heck of a price. 

I am so excited to get this quilted and use it on my bed this Christmas. It's been a while since I made a new Christmas quilt, so I can't wait. 

Here is another angle that shows off the border better. 

I will say that being quarantined and waiting for Covid symptoms that never showed up had some advantages.  I stayed home all last week and sewed like I was possessed. There are a lot of projects to share with you this coming week, so stay tuned!

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Finally, Three Quilts Ready To Send To My Quilter!

I know most of you have seen these quilts (all but borders), but I am showing them once more to prove I actually got the borders on at last.  They will be mailed off to the quilter today.

The first quilt is Sewcialites, a free sew along sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop last year. I really enjoyed sewing along with that one. 

This one is called Serendipity, which was another Fat Quarter Shop sew-along. This one was for charity, and they asked for a small donation for the block patterns. I used fabrics by Corey Yoder from Coriander Quilts. I think I have decided that row quilts are not my thing. Love the fabric and all, but the design layout doesn't thrill me.

Last is a Designer Block of the Month by Fat Quarter Shop from back in 2011. Talk about a vintage UFO. Well, it is finished now and will be great as a summer quilt on my bed in the master bedroom or our guestroom. It is a big one for sure. It doesn't even all fit in the picture! Once I get it back from the quilter, I will get a better picture.

I have several days free to sew this week, so expect some more quilty updates! Happy June everyone. Whew, now that May is over, I am hoping things will calm way the heck down as far as my schedule goes.  Still spending every weekend with my dad, but homeschooling is pretty much over.

One Quilt Finally Off the Design Wall

Sewcialites is finally off the design wall! Woo hoo!  All the rows are sewn together and the borders attached. I have to say, those blocks all came together pretty perfectly. No fudging was required when sewing them together, which is unusual. I credit careful cutting, a strict 1/4" seam allowance, pressing seams open, and starching the fabrics before cutting. I love the way it came out. Once it is quilted, it will go nicely in my library/reading room.

And here is a new look for my sewing room design wall!

This is the Designer Mystery 2011 Sew Along. I am toying with layout ideas, which will be a bit different from what the directions say I should do. The official version of the quilt is 79" wide and 94" inches long. Now, if I put that on a queen-sized bed, I want the sides to drape over. The upshot is, I want a wider quilt than what the designers made.

I was thinking of doing four columns of three flowers instead of three columns with four flowers. Do you think that would be weird? Any ideas for a layout that is wider than 79" would be welcome!

I went to the Fat Quarter Shop website and searched for "Designer Mystery Quilt Finishing patterns" and came up with a good number of past layout patterns for the DM quilt alongs. Take a look and see if you think one of them might be a good choice. I am flexible for sure, and have a lot of fabric.

I've made 12 12" blocks, but could make more. I've got yards of finishing fabric, so there are lots of options. I could even scrap the stems and do a diagonal layout with alternate blocks....

 

I made one of the "stem" blocks to see how it looks, and I think it's pretty cute, but I'm not committed.

I invite you all to weigh in with suggestions!