I am focusing on kaleidoscope quilts lately.  Something about those isosceles triangles, the octagons and the secondary patterns I am finding intriguing.  This quilt is a from a free pattern on the Moda web site called 2wenty-Thr3e .  I am using a huge fat quarter pack that has been languishing in my stash for a few year.  It’s a Moda line called ‘Mama said sew’.  The prints are red, black and grey with white, it is a nice assortment of pattern names, quilt blocks and graphic patterns. I added in the white and gray from my solid stash for the (right) triangles that make the octagons square.  I think I have enough to do  border or two.  I’m also using the Marti Mitchell Kaleidoscope ruler, so strips are quickly transformed into triangles.  Yay geometry!  Chain stitching these blocks four at a time, pressing and then pining them to the design board is calming to me.  I was going to say cathartic, but that word seems too serious and overstating the feeling.

The weather here has been rainy and cold, very unlike May in California usually is.  I’m itching to do things outside, gardening and outdoor maintenance, but have to fit it in between the storms.  The weeds are much easier to pull now and the soil is easier to plant in.  Once the summer really gets here, everything dries up and waits for the fall rain.  The good thing is that I don’t have to turn on the drip systems yet, the bad thing is that I haven’t been able to see if they are still in working order.  My container veggies are growing nicely, and I planted some peas in my raised beds that I should go pick.  Staying dry in the sewing room is better though.

 

I finished quilting three quilts this week.   The photo below is of “Curls for Mother” a Wasatch panto.  After this quilt was done, I loaded a long piece of backing on to the frame and I am now quilting four quilts on it.  I feel like I am getting my moneys worth out of this backing.  Using the same pre-wound bobbin color for all four, as it matches the back, plus not having to load four quilts separately has its perks.  I’m on the third quilt, it’s an Irish chain, I have a bunch of roses in the center of the chain and I am trying to figure out how to fit trailing leaves into the chain parts.  The digital pattern I have is made for 2 inch squares and my squares are smaller, 1 ½ inches.  I thought about it for a while yesterday, and I have a few things to try today.  Keeps it interesting, I must admit.

Linking up with Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday today.

Mrs. Krabappel, voiced by Marcia Wallace, was Bart Simpsons teacher.  She usually wore green and put up with a lot of Bart’s mischief.  This quilt is named after her.  I made it from Bonnie Hunters pattern, “Crab Apples”, in her book, Adventures with Leaders and Enders .

It started out simply enough, I had a bunch of scraps left over from a layer cake I had used to make this quilt below. It’s from the pattern “Lombard Street” by Sassafras Lane Designs.  It was fun to make, paper pieced, and the Bonnie and Camille fabrics were cute with the turquoise.

I started cutting up the scraps into 1 ½ ” squares.  Then I added a few green fat quarters that were laying around.  Pretty soon the tree tops were done, and I was paper piecing the tree trunks.  I looked through my stash to find some kind of contrasting fabrics for the sashing and setting triangles, but couldn’t find any thing to match.  Luckily I was able to get more Bonnie and Camille fabric, it wasn’t from the same line, but they tend to use the same color ways and tints/hues.  My version is a bit smaller than Bonnies, I only had enough to make 18 blocks, hers is 25.  It used up most of the scraps, I probably have about 20 little squares left, and I had to supplement about a yard and a half of new fabric, so I didn’t make much of a dent in the stash.  It’s controlled scrappy :).

The second scrap project this past week was the baby quilt top on the right.  The one on the left is a Jolly Bar pattern from the Fat Quarter shop called “Egg Hunt”.  I cut the scraps into 3 ½” squares, sewed them into four patch blocks and then cut 1 5/6″ strips off the side and then bottom.  When I sewed them back together I got the cute square surrounded, sort of a disappearing nine patch approach.  Set on point with a bit of baby pink Moda Bella, surrounded with the rest of the scraps and a outer border of more pink.  The fabric line is Lollipop Garden by Lella Boutique Fabric.

I worked on part four of the Scrap Dance Minuet Quilt at From my Carolina Home  This has been a low key sort of project, I’m making the twin size version.  Clues are released on the second Friday of the month, I have about a month to complete the step, usually takes about an hour.  I’m using stash fabric that I got on sale a few years ago, so its also a controlled scrappy project.

On the frame today is the 1930’s scrappy top I made last year.   Wow, that was a shock, I didn’t realize it had been a year until I looked at the picture date.  This quilt was an attempt to use up the scraps from my 1930’s Farmers Wife quilt.  Still plenty of that stuff in a bin.  Going to be a rainy next couple of days, there will be quilting on my schedule, especially since I just stocked up on back fabric.

 

Linking up with Sarah for “Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?” Friday.  Hope you are inspired to create something too.

I posted about these quilts earlier this week, Quilting the quilts .  I wanted to add a little commentary to each one, for the May 5th link up.

These quilts went to Jacks basket.  The pink gingham one I originally made for a baby girl who was born recently.  I decided not to send it to the parents, as I felt, sadly, it wouldn’t be used or enjoyed by them.  I felt better about sending it to Jack’s basket, I know it will be appreciated and given to a child that will also.  The backing is Cuddle/minky and super soft.  I quilted this one with a fresh daisy panto.  The bright yellow quilt was made from the scraps of the larger one I made from a pattern “Triple Twenty”  by Doug Leko at Antler Quilt design.  I used 2 ½ inch strips instead of the 3 ½ as the pattern calls for and made pinwheels for the feature blocks.  The backing matches the fabric I used for the outer border of the larger yellow quilt.  The quilt came out smaller and a good crib size, I quilted it with a baptist fan motif.

 

These quilts went to Quilty Hugs.  The one on the left was a mystery quilt I made a few years ago.  I used a bunch of fabric from the “Catkin” line by Julie Paschkis.  Once I finished the top, I realized that the borders were wavy and put it in the closet to rest.  Last summer I pulled it out and fixed the borders and got it on the frame to quilt it.  I practiced using the software on my automated system.  I was able to place quilted motifs and did some free hand stuff in the sashing.  I then folded it up and put it back in the closet.  I came across it earlier this year, all it needed was a binding and off it went to Quilty Hugs.  The quilt on the right is one of Sarah’s of Confessions of a fabric addict Rockin’ Rectangle quilts called “Place your Bets”.  A quick and easy quilt to make, and I had two charm packs of a cute space themed fabric.  This one was quilted with a rocket and star pantograph.  I hope an aspiring young astronaut gets it.

 

These two quilts went to Merciful Quilts.  Both were made with the Triple Twenty pattern.  They were easy and pretty quick to make up, the blocks are large rectangles. The one on the left was made from stash fabrics and a 7 fat quarter pack of asian themed fabrics.  I did have to buy a yard of red kona cotton to finish it off.  The backing was a dark green print I had in stash too. I quilted it with a swirl and leaf panto, that was just enough to give it a little texture, the prints were busy enough.  The quilt on the right was also a pack of 20 Fat quarters, all bright oranges, reds and pinks.  The borders and white geese came from stash.  The backing on this one is a news print clipping print that has positive messages about love and life.  This one is also quilted with a baptist fan, but a larger size than the smaller matching quilt above.

 

 

Hope you were inspired to make a quilt or two for the Hands2Help challenge too.

Linking with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict today, check out what everyone else is doing.

I’ve been experiencing computer problems, had a bit of vacation and some general busy-ness lately.  I have been working on finishing the quilts for the Hands2Help drive.  I have five finished, although two have been hanging around here for a while, and one is on the frame waiting for binding.  I couldn’t make up my mind as to which charity I wanted to make a quilt for.  All are worthy and touch my heart for different reasons, I ended up with two for Quilty Hugs, two for Jack’s Basket, and two for Merciful Quilts.  I had already sent two to Carolina Quilts a few months ago, when Carole at From My Carolina Home first started to collect them.

 

Making these quilts was gratifying for me because I felt that I could do something in a positive way for people and it wouldn’t be taxing on me.  I have plenty of extra fabric, lots of ideas to try and time in which to do it.  Now that these quilts are done, I find that I am looking for my next project.  Maybe a Bonnie hunter quilt, I didn’t do the Good Fortune quilt this year, but maybe one of her other ones.  I have been wanting to do the one called Emerald City, but I’m afraid I don’t have enough greens.  I think I could do it in blues though, and call it Atlantis.  My eldest son has a friend who is getting married in the summer, he was saying something about a blue and white quilt, but not scrappy, and possibly a kaleidoscope one made with batiks.

I did whip up this little quilt (below) last week, finally used up most of these scraps.  I used my Accuquilt Go, and the pieces were cut in no time. By hand I cut a whole bunch of 1 ½ inch squares from the scraps of a different quilt too.  I am thinking I want to do a similar quilt to Bonnie Hunters Crabapple one.  It’ll be baby/crib size though, as the real one has over 800 squares in it.

Yesterday I made the next installment of blocks for the Mrs Millers Apprentice BOM.  The little one (3×3) goes in the center section of the quilt.

Last, but not least, I finished an UFO.  This one was about 18 years old, it was started and languished for a while, and restarted and finally last summer I finished a row or two and called it a done quilt top.  I had just enough backing fabric on the frame after quilting the  Rockin rectangles quilt, called “Place Your Bet”.  A scrap of batting and it was quilted in a few hours.  Its a bit off kilter, it drifts to the left a little.  I think its due to the curving pieces and maybe it wasn’t square to begin with, done is done, and its kinda pretty.

Hope you are finishing projects too.

Linking with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I get a Whoop Whoop? today.

I’ve been working on my donation quilts this past month, along with a bunch of other things.  I found these patterns from Doug Leko at Antler Quilt Design, you get three in this one called Triple Twenty . There are directions for the three variations as well as multiple sizes.  I made two of the throw size, and one I tweaked a bit to use up the scraps, turned into a good crib size quilt.  What I like about these patterns are that they are scrap friendly, and fat quarter friendly, plus they work up quickly with their large rectangular blocks.

For the crib sized top, I used 2 1/2″ wide strips and pinwheels instead of geese or snowballs like the two larger ones.  The pattern calls for 20 FQs, I had a pack of the yellow, orange and pink, and eight FQs of Asian themed ones.  The added scraps and solids played nicely together.  Here’s a photo of the block of the Asian block before putting them together.

A few months ago, Sarah (the coordinator of Hands2Help) posted a tutorial for this quilt called “Place Your Bet”.  It is a good way to use up those pretty charm packs and a bit of background.

Now on to the quilt frame with these four, and off to their donation sites.

I have been working on my Christmas Figs BOM.  This month was the last set of blocks, the school house and the little spools block.  Next month is setting blocks and sashing, then borders for the finish.  I think this will be done for Christmas 2019 🙂

I also made month two of Mrs. Millers Apprentice, such a difference from making the 16″ fig blocks to 6 inch ones.  I finished my Shell Cottage socks, the first installment of the Curious Handmade sock KAL.  These are prettier than the photo shows the color has more shades of blue-gray and white in them.  The next pattern comes out Thursday, the 11th.  I have a few different skins of yarn to choose from, so depending on the pattern, I’m ready to cast on.

 

Lastly, I got my Forest Floor quilt bound this morning.  As soon as it warms up a bit, it’s going on my bed.  I was thinking about the many hours I spent quilting this giant of 11,236 square inches.  If I was to charge myself for the quilting it would be .07 x 11236 = $786.52.  Wow, maybe I should insure it lol.  Nancy over at Wasatch Quilting really out did herself with this set of designs.  Forest Floor digitized quilting patterns The sewing pattern is by Wing and a Prayer and is currently starting as a BOM over at Homespun Hearth

 Thanks for stopping by today.

Be sure to check out what everyone over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict is doing for “Can I get a Whoop Whoop?” Friday.