Monthly Mini and More

The 9-patches leftover from my December mini have been waiting to be used. I planned on making my March mini with them, and I had intended it to be a 2 color quilt, but a third color just slipped in.

I thought it made a very nice March companion quilt to the tinier one made by Barb. Linking up with Wendy, The Constant Quilter, for the Monthly Mini parade. Check it out!                                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                

 

 

Most of the quilting was simply done with my walking foot, but I did do a little hand stitching in the gold blocks.

 

 

 
My piece for Cecile's (Patchwork Inspirations) "Curves" SAL is complete. Covid Curves was very fun to make. I learned to do curved seams many years ago, but just made a few practice blocks and never applied the technique in an actual quilt. Now I have.                                                                                                                                                                             

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This finishes at 24" square--and it appears that I forgot to rub out the chalk lines I used for the quilting through the dark areas. Oops.

 

 You can see the quilting better in this pre-binding shot. I kept the quilting simple, and I learned that I need a good set of circle quilting rulers.                       

I signed up for Gay Bomers' Little Blocks 365, as I mentioned in my last post. I had intended to just save the patterns for another time. But I had to try them--just a few. 

They are like potato chips. I kept telling myself, "This is my last one." Before I knew it I was making another. I finally pulled away from them, but they are so fun. Finishing at 3", they are pretty stinkin' cute. I am (obviously) using batiks for all of the blocks. It will be saturated in color. I still don't plan to focus on this quilt this year, but I will sneak in a block every now and then.

I signed up for something else! What is wrong with me this year?!? For the first time ever I have joined in on Lori's doll quilt swap. I am out of my mind, for sure. Do you remember that I was making a house quilt and that scrappy churn dash by Pam Buda, "Every Little Bit"? They have been sitting idle as I jump on every bandwagon that comes along (practically).

If you will indulge me a minute more, I would like to do a little housecleaning. I know I was going to try and show before and after photos of my sewing room clean-up, but I forgot to take the "befores", and we have some family staying with us this week, and my sewing room becomes a dumping ground. So "afters" wouldn't look great at the moment. But I did come across a few things to pass along to someone else who would like to use them.

 

There are 233 homespun apple cores. Ten of them are already machine stitched together in a row. They were given to me by another quilter, but I realize I probably won't get them stitched. I think it is enough to make a lap quilt, and if you like hand stitching, it would be a great project for stitching with some evening TV or movie watching. 
There is a full kit for the Lori Smith Patchwork Sampler, and finally, a whole bunch of wool applique patterns (mostly from Buttermilk Basin). If you are interested in any of this, let me know in a comment--please specify which you are interested in, and if you never receive a reply to your comments here, you are a "no reply blogger". I need you to include your email in your comment or I cannot include you in the drawing. When I have closed the drawing I will post that here.

Got my first vaccine dose last week. Looking forward to my first grandchild hugs in over a year in a few more weeks! WooHoo!!

Until next time,

Janet O.

Drawing Now Closed

Catching up

Since I have been hopping on so many SALs lately, I thought I'd give an update.

These two are Barbara Brackman's "Hands All Around". It is just one block a month, but I always make two, using the same fabrics in both, but switching up the placement.

This is the Gay Bomers' "Heartfelt" block. It is a Block a Week program, but you may be instructed to make more than one of the block pattern any given week. This week only called for one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazingly, I have kept up with both so far. It hasn't escaped my notice that they are both using 8" blocks, so if I fall too far behind, I could combine them all into one quilt and call it "Heart and Hands". I've never made a pink/purple/brown quilt before. Hopefully I won't be doing it this year, either.  :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found a backing fabric I love for my "Curves" Challenge piece with Cecile at Patchwork Inspirations.

It is now basted and ready to quilt, but I keep changing my mind as to how to quilt it. Haven't struggled this much with a quilting design in a long time!
 

A week ago I caught a brief visit with Chookyblue and some of the other bloggers that enjoy Zoom sew-ins with her. Almost feels like the retreat I didn't get this year. This is my third time joining in and it is always a delight. As we chat it is interesting to see how different things are from one country to another--and also how alike.

 

 

Major rearranging going on in my sewing room in the coming week. Maybe I will even remember to take before/after photos.

And before I finish I should confess--I signed up for another Gay Bomers project! Her Little Blocks 365 was just too tempting!! I talked myself out of joining when sign-ups were about to close, and was proud that I had been so strong. Well, she had so many people beg requests for sign-ups to open back up, that she obliged. And I succumbed! Don't expect to see me making seven 3" foundation pieced blocks each week, but I couldn't pass up those patterns! And if you want to succumb too, sign-ups are open at that link until March 17!

Until next time,

Janet O.

 

Earlier this week we woke up to 5" of snow, but it melted by the next day. In scenes like this I think the mountains and sky look like a fake backdrop in a low-budget movie.