It's Monday

I have good intentions to post more during the week, but I don't get to it!

I finally put borders on a couple quilt tops I have had hanging around.  I mentioned this quilt and showed it without a border in this post.

Northern Cardinals

I showed this quilt in progress in August.  It was intended as a charity quilt, but I'm no longer involved in the organization I was going to donate it to.  It is queen sized and I will eventually quilt it, then decide what to do with it.  I was going for a more masculine type quilt.

I got caught up on my Quiltmaker Itty Bitty blocks through October.  I realized that I messed up on the sashing when I went back and looked at my notes. The quilt is getting so long and I have two more months to add on.  I meant to cut the sashing strips at 1.5", instead they finish at 1.5".  YIKES!  I will have to do some fancy work on the sides to widen the quilt.  November's block was announced today on the Quilty Pleasures blog.

Quiltmaker Itty Bitty Blocks

 I had leftover strips from making a quilt featured on this post.  I put them together into a throw size quilt top.  I have no idea what I will do with this one either as my couches are definitely not in this color way!  Gray, aqua and coral are popular right now, but I'm not redecorating.  I just love the gray print I put with the stirps.

 Check out other blogs at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

This past weekend I was at a quilt retreat in Lacey, WA.  It's a long drive for me, about 8 hours with stops each way, but I wanted to meet many quilters I have "known" online for around 15 years.  I knew three of them personally, having retreated with them in other areas of Washington.  I had a fantastic time, but all the photos are on my phone and I will get them off later. We were close to a lake that I walked to several times.  My main project is one I can't show for a couple of weeks!  I will have to keep you in suspense.  These pics are the other projects I worked on.

I purchased a layer cake and a charm pack at a retreat last year and found this pattern.  I had this dark green and I thought it would work well for a background.  It's okay, but there is not enough contrast in some areas.  I still like how intense it is though and different from my usual style. I need to add the green border on top and bottom and the piano key border

Christmas Candy

I showed this quilt kit last week, but this is my actual top without borders yet.  I dislike cutting and adding borders at a retreat.  I have a system at home, and usually miscut elsewhere.

Northern Cardinals - with Holly Taylor fabrics

In January I started participating in the Quiltmaker IttyBittyBlocks and got the top row done.  This is a partial photo, there are 16 3" bowties, 12 4" baskets and now I have 16 3" houses.  I have April, May and June cut out but not sewn and July and August have been posted.  I haven't decided on sashing between the rows yet.  The blocks are not yet sewn into rows so I can play with color placement.

partial view of 3 months of #IttyBittyBlocks

Two friends and I went out to 3 quilt shops and had a lot of fun.  I collected their row by row patterns and saw way too much inspiration!  I also met a quilter from another online group, it was great fun!

Linking up with Patchwork Times