One Block Wonder started

Last year I met a long time online friend for the first time.  She was in my area and I drove to meet her.  We had lunch and I took her to a quilt shop.  We bought the same piece of fabric for a one block wonder.  I cut all the pieces and sewed the half hexagons and today I actually got them up on the wall.  My friend hasn't cut into her fabric yet!  After taking this picture and seeing it on my phone screen I can see I have a LOT of rearranging to do.  That's the thing about one block wonders.  There really is no right or wrong, it's whatever strikes your fancy.   Next time you see it, it will be very different! 

Linking up with Alycia on Finished or Not Friday

Jelly Roll Waves Quiltalong

I joined in a quilt along a few weeks ago and I have the top assembled.  This jelly roll was in a package I received on a trial basis from Quilt Sampler and it was not my favorite.  I thought this would be a great use of the jelly roll and would make a quilt for a teen in a group home my small group donates to.  The pattern was easy to follow and sewed up pretty quickly.  I haven't had much time to sew lately, so it was great to have a quick project!  Linking up with Myra at Busy Hands Quilts.  Next step is get it quilted for the final link up!

Jelly Roll Waves

Not a lot of Quilting Motivation

July has been a crazy busy month and I just can't seem to get back to the swing of quilting.  I do bits and pieces, but since it's August I need to get a move on before school starts up again!  I had a list of house projects to accomplish and I still have a few more on my to do list, but I have gotten a lot done.  They just take so much time.  I have a big house and it's hard to get rid of stuff, but I have been hauling carloads away.

I do have a bit about quilting at the end of this post!

Our biggest news this month was the birth of our fifth grandchild, Kathryn Ruth.  Her mom is my oldest daughter Amy.  Kathryn was born July 11th.  My sisters were here staying with us for a few days for a family memorial service and visit and we caravaned to Boise on the 15th.  Kathryn is adorable! 

I got to see my twin grandchildren, whose mom is my younger daughter Lisa. This is Remy

And this is Finn.  

On the 17th I brought Kathryn's brother and sister home with me.  Nicole is 5 and Jared is 7.  We had a lot of fun with them.  My husband took Jared on a 9 mile backpacking trip one night.  Nicole and I were the drivers dropping them off at one end of the trail and picking them up the next day.  The trail goes along Dworshak Reservoir (lake behind the highest straight axis dam in North America).  

One of my sisters came back up with her son and and we took our boat out on the same lake.  We love the swimming docks in the lake, the kids really enjoyed jumping into the deep water.

Dent Bridge in the background.

My sister gave the kids a ride back home on the 24th and I started in on house projects.  I finally got to my quilt room.  I pulled a bunch of fabric off the shelves and got it all refolded. 

 I got these three blocks done from the Enchanted Garden Block of the Month I joined.

I have been doing leader ender 9 patches with an alternate block out of Kaffe Fassett leftovers.

 I am machine quilting this quilt for a friend.

Other than that I have been organizing projects and cutting up scraps and staring at all the things I want to do!

Jelly Roll Waves QAL

I got behind on the Jelly Roll Wave QAL and I made all the blocks this week.  I had some adventures happening, and I am thrilled to be this far along now.  I will be adding borders and making this into a quilt for a teen in a children's home.  My small quilt group donates twin size quilts.

The fabrics are a bit funky for my usual taste, but they are fun!

I am linking up with Busy Hands Quilts this week.

Turning Twenty Seeing Stars Quilt

In 2015 I joined a mystery block of the month through Turning Twenty Seeing Stars kit through Tricia Cribb's site.   The link shows a precut kit, mine was not precut.  The pattern was designed by Sue Carter.  I finished assembling the top in Jan. 2016.  I decided to quilt it and finish it!  It used Kaffe fabrics with a black pindot background.  I am linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday.

Scrappy Trip Around the World

Last year I pieced this Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt top.  The pattern is from Bonnie Hunter on the Quiltville site.  I am out of quilts to be quilted from my last basting party and I had a flannel backing for this quilt.  I had fun quilting it, just filling in with swirls and loops and even a few stars.  It is twin size and there are some subtle Christmas prints in the quilt.

 Random free motion quilting.

 It is interesting what a difference an indoor photo makes on color!

 I love striped bindings!

Linking up with Design Wall Monday  and Monday Making and Main Crush Monday

Jelly Roll Waves Quilt Along

I saw Alycia's post about the Jelly Roll Waves Quilt Along.  I debated and debated and decided to reward myself for finishing UFO's and join in!  I had a jelly roll pack from a Quilty Box trial and I love the bright colors and it will make a delightful teen quilt. 

Tomorrow we start cutting!  It is not too late to join in with Busy Hands Quilts!

Mid Year Quilt Progress

On Instagram there was a hashtag for midyear roundup of projects.  I went through all my photos and put together collages of everything I have finished this year (with some exceptions).  The collages are not in a particular order.

In this collage they were all UFO's except the middle one and the middle right.  Those are baby quilts I started and finished this year.

This collage has five projects started and finished this year.  The bookcase quilt, the triangle baby quilt, the roses baby quilt, the flower wallhanging and Sew Many Strips is a top, not a finished quilt.  It had so much piecing I included it, but it is now a UFO!

 The 4 patch quilt and the pinwheel tablerunner were new proejcts this year, the others were UFO's and a couple of them were OLD.

These are 9 of the 10 quilt tops I made for my friend's quilt shop as shop samples.  Thankfully I didn't have to quilt them!

Now to see what I do for the second half of the year!

Two more finishes

So far this year I have finished 24 projects, 7 of them were start to finish (mostly baby quilts).  The rest were UFO's I finished, mostly machine quilting.  I also made 10 quilt tops for my friend's shop.

The first project I finished this weekend is an OLD, OLD UFO and it's UGLY in my opinion.  It is a 4 patch stack and whack with junk food fabric.  I purchased the fabric in about 1998 and made the blocks.  It eventually got set together but I am so not a fan of green!  I used fabrics I had on hand for sashing and borders.  I posted a picture of it on Facebook and my son-in-law likes it so it will go to him!  I just did a large stipple with variegated thread.

I finished this quilt this weekend as well.  It was a mystery quilt kit I did last year.  I was so excited it was a mystery with Kaffe fabrics and was honestly a bit disappointed in it. I do love the background light blue polka dot though!  I loved it so much I bought an additional 5 yards and I am using it in a Kaffe scrap quilt leader/ender project.  The quilt measures about 83" square and I didn't have enough fabrics to add to it at the time.

 I did very simple quilting and machine binding. 

I am linking up with Design Wall Monday.

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.