An Old Sampler Quilt

Back story:  In the late 90's I joined a yahoo group called Washington State Internet Quilters.  I did not live in Washington, but had gone to college in Washington and I live only an hour from the border.  I shop in Washington a lot, as that is where Joann's, Costco, Walmart, etc. are, crossing the Snake River between Idaho and Washington.  We abbreviated the group to WASIQ.

The group did a LOT of swaps.  We started a block swap where someone had a month and sent out fabrics to the others and got blocks back.  We didn't have a name for the group, it was called Swap Without a Name.  I shortened it to SWAN and it caught on.  We swapped for several years.  This quilt is made from one of those swaps.  I pieced the top YEARS ago!  The blocks were from 2003 or 2004.  It marinated long enough and I quilted and bound it and finished it this morning. 

SWAN floral quilt

detail photos

my dog Leia got in on the photo session

Interestingly two friends made me wallhangings to match the quilt!  I finished them and have been saving them all these years waiting to finish the quilt!  The first one was made by my late friend Debi.  She sent the top and I quilted it myself.  The second one was made by my friend Joann.  She asked for extra fabric and made a "big block".  I added the borders and quilted it.

I pieced this shop sample for Your Best Friend's Quilt Shop.  Christina (owner) had the stratas sewn, I cut them and assembled the top.

I am linking up with Alycia at TGIFF.

Wizard's Chess Quilt

I pieced this quilt a year ago from a pattern in McCall's Quick Quilts magazine.  The pattern is available for sale online.   I loved the cover quilt and picked up the issue for that quilt.  I collected fabric and finishing piecing the top in May 2018.  I basted it for quilting in November and now it's quilted and bound!

I love this quilt, the contrast, the blues/purples, and the checkerboard.  Mine resembles the original, not something I do all the time, but the maker picked such great colors!

 It is hard to see teh quilting detail.  I did straight lines in the white checkerboard and then a swirly design in each of the blocks.

 The backing from the massive amount of leftover checkerboard I had.  I was making the quilt bigger than the pattern and slightly miscalculated how much checkerboard I needed!

Linking up with Design Wall Monday.

Kaffe Fassett Blocks and a finish

I joined a block swap on Instagram using Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  There are 14 members in my group and we make one for each person in their color choices.  I have not yet made my own block because I will look at the others when they come back and see what I need to finish.  I am mailing these out this week!  No two are alike and I didn't really make a dent in my Kaffe stash!  But I have gotten some ideas for more quilts!  Two are going to Canada and two to Australia.

I have been doing a LOT of outside work and have had a variety of appointments with three more this week.  I finished up a quilt that was basted in my last basting party.  It was quick and easy.  It is not a quilt top I made, but was from my quilt guild.  I am a charter member from the early 90's but can rarely make it to a meeting since they are in the day time.  I quilted and bound this top and it will be donated to some organization.  I did simple organic quilting 

 You should not attempt to take outside pictures on a windy day!

Linking up with Design Wall Monday.

A Quilt Finish!

School is out!  We had a sleepover at school Wednesday night and a barbecue Thursday to end the year along with field trips earlier in the week.

I have a couple things I am working on, but decided to grab one of my basted quilts from my last basting party.  I did a lot of in the ditch quilting in the blocks and feathers in the open areas.  This was Clementine sew along from Fat Quarter Shop.  How long ago I don't have a clue!

I have no idea what I am going to do with this quilt, but it's done!

Clementine Sew Along

These pictures were from one of our field trips.  We had four stations, fishing, hiking, water/soil, and kites/wind.  It was a lot of fun and we will definitely go back to this small reservoir.  The top picture shows our school bus when I was with a group on a hike!

 
I am linking up with Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, and Monday Making.  Check them out!

Sew Many Strips Quilt

I finally finished piecing the top for my Sew Many Strips quilt.  It was a long project, since it is all made with 1 1/2" strips and the quilt finishes at 86 X 102.  The top is heavy with all those seams!  My normal colors of choice are purple and turquoise, but I had a lot of Bonnie and Camille fabric and decided to use them minus the navy.  I had fabric from a few collections and I wanted them to play nicely together.

Just FYI, it is not a good idea to try to take outdoor pictures in the wind!  It's also interesting how all the coloring is of the quilt in different lighting!

Sew Many Strips

I put the quilt back up on my design wall last night and snapped the above picture.  I got home from work today and my dog followed me downstairs.  I turned around and saw this!  I snapped the picture then got her off the quilt!

Here are a few outdoor pics of the quilt top!

The field behind has garbanzo beans growing.

My favorite picture taking spot in our woods.

I am in a small group and we are making wallhangings or pillows in a birthday exchange.  The person I was given requested a wallhanging but I had no idea of her color likes!  I was also in a half square triangle challenge and we had to use at least 40 fabrics.  I decided to combine the two projects into one.  I took the clematis flower applique from the book Flower Show Quilts, but designed the background.  The wallhanging measures 16 X 20 and yes there are actually 41 fabrics in the quilt counting the yellow flower centers!

 I LOVE purple iris!  I am not a flower gardener and have a lot of work to do on this section.  It's a slope between my garage and driveway.  Don't look at the weeds! 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday