Friday, November 29, 2019

A Finish from the Back of the Closet

First, I hope all of you from the states had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I was thankful for all my great friends and that I didn't have to drive anywhere!



I don't think I have ever shared any in-process photos of this triangle quilt I finished this week.  This was a project one of my clients asked me to adopt.  She had all of the triangles cut but didn't find sewing together all those triangles together was very much fun.  It has been stored in the back of the closet for months.  I thought I would get it out and finish it this year.



I think her plan was a bit different for this quilt.  But I didn't like how it was looking so I simply laid these triangles in the above random layout.  The fabrics are neon bright and were fun to work on.  



I took my quilting inspiration from the black fabric - I simply quilted in a traveling loop horizontally across the quilt.



She gave me all of the fabric she had purchased for this quilt - so I used all the leftover pieces on the backing and the binding.  



Next time I see her, I will offer it back to her all finished up.  This is a nice napping sized quilt and she has a houseful of teenagers!

A big Thanks to all of you who follow along on my quilting journey.  
I really am very grateful!




Linking Up:



...and if you are going to be making any purchases from any of my affiliates, I would appreciate using the below links.  There are some great deals to be found!


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Connecting Threads is a great place to pick up fabric for backings, thread, batting, books and notions.



Fat Quarter Shop Black Friday Sale 2019


The Fat Quarter Shop is having a sitewide sale!


Cut Time, Quilt More

Lots of great deals at Accuquilt - whether you buy a new system or purchase more dies for your machine.



***This post contains affiliate links.  I appreciate the support!


Sunday, November 24, 2019

Oh Scrap! : Buried Treasure

After finishing a few quilts, it was time I straighten up my sewing room this week.  I try to keep all the fabric together for a project until its completion - or I will inevitably use the needed fabric on something else. 


I admit there is a LOT going on in my sewing room right.  There are piles and stacks of projects everywhere.  As I was moving things around, I found buried one of my last orphan block stacks I was planning on making into a quilt.  I had completely forgotten about it!



I didn't have any of the light gray in my stash so I used a darker gray and turned all the orphan HSTs and leftover bits into these fun 9.5" blocks.  


I was only able to make 12 blocks.  Rather than use them as the center of the quilt, I am thinking I might use them as an outer border and do something with this dark plum fabric in the center.  Hanging to the right is the print I will probably put on the back.  It is a narrow strip of an extra wide print so it will require quite a few seams.

This one might be in the "thinking stage" until I get my next inspiration.  I am sure it is buried in my chaos somewhere just waiting to be found!

So I am curious how many of you build your quilts as you go on a design wall/floor.
I rarely know what direction my quilts are taking until the bits start going on the wall!


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It is now your turn to share what you are making with scraps.  Here are the details for linking up: 

  • This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.
  • You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
  • If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
  • If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
Quilting is more fun than Housework
You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter


Friday, November 22, 2019

Oh, I like this Finish

I decided to elbow my way onto my longarm between my client quilts and finish up my Kaffe Fassett scrap quilt.  I really like this one and wanted to see it finished.



The seeds for this scrap quilt were some Kaffe Fassett backing trimmings from a previous quilt.




I cut the large floral into a 4.5" x 6.5" rectangle.  Then I used scraps to create these fun 9.5" x 10.5" "tunnel" blocks.  Every block has the same floral and black fabric - after that, I just pulled coordinating strings from the scrap bins.




Here it is all finished up!




I did use a number of Kaffe Fassett scraps but I also dug out some solids, geometrics and pretty much any scrap that was the right color.  I needed the quilting to be quick so I could get back to my clients' quilts.  I simply applied some straight line quilting in each strip of color.  With just a bit of backtracking, I could do a whole row continuously.


Sometimes I just can't believe my luck with backings from my stash - I don't think I could have chosen better!



 As I was sewing on the binding, one of my quilt buyers offered to buy it.  Now I need to decide if I am going to keep it or send it off on its way.  I really don't need another quilt.....

And it isn't like there won't be more quilts in the future!





Linking Up:


Sunday, November 17, 2019

Oh Scrap! : RSC Test Block

It is really hard for me to find much time to spend in my sewing room this time of year.  Almost every day, I am busy at my longarm playing one of Santa's elves working away on client quilts.

 By the end of the day, I am too tired to do anything.



But I did spend some time cutting and sewing up some test blocks for one of my new 2020 Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts.  I made these three blocks from some red 2" strips - the blocks measure 12.5".

My plan is to make 30 total blocks (a 5 x 6 layout) - that means every month I will make three blocks.  I am hoping that the fabric "value play" will make for a fun quilt.

I still have to settle on one more block design (okay, maybe two) for the coming year.
I am already looking forward to January's color!

*********************************************

It is now your turn to share what you are making with scraps.  Here are the details for linking up: 

  • This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.
  • You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
  • If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
  • If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
Quilting is more fun than Housework
You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter





Friday, November 15, 2019

Turning Bits into Beauty

Last month, I shared some blocks I made from some scrappy leftovers a friend gifted me.
At the time, I was able to sew them into blocks but it wasn't until this month that I put the blocks together.  Are you ready to see this cute little finish!?


Here is a bit of back story.  I was gifted a bunch of trimmed off bonus triangles and some 1.5"ish strips from the side of some layer cake squares.


I quickly turned them into these fun 7" squares but due to other priorities, the project was hidden away so that I could finish some other items.


Once I had time to get the blocks back out, I sewed them up on point so that the strips on the sides of the block made a fun scrappy sashing.


That meant I had to sew a few more strips to the outer edge blocks which made sewing in the inset triangles a bit challenging.  Plus, some of my strips were not quite long enough.  

What to do?  I just trimmed those points right off and made it a design element!



I then added a small background border in Kona Shadow so the blocks float.  I bound it in an orange sketch print and quilted it with a panto called Popcorn.



I found a cute black and white print for the backing which looked like it belonged with this collection of fabric.



I used almost every bit of the leftovers that were given to me.  I spent very little time cutting anything - I used the pieces in the size they were given to me.  

Those little bits just wanted to be turned into a cute little quilt!





Linking Up:




 The Big Sale 2019


Monday, November 11, 2019

Fun in Southern Oregon

I recently spent a few days with the Umpqua Valley Quilters Guild in Roseburg Oregon.  
They are such a great group!

(In fact, you should mark your calendars - they have a wonderful Quilt Show coming up in April 2020.  You can check out their Facebook page here to learn more.)




I am very bad about getting out my phone and taking photos but I did snap a photo of everyone with one of their finished blocks in the Spin! class.  This group had a wonderful selection of colors and fabrics.  I look forward to seeing some finished quilt tops soon!




I did receive some photos of other Spin! quilts from some previous students I thought I would share.
Such pretty color combinations!

If you have a group that would be interested in hosting either a lecture or a class, feel free to email me.  I still have some spots in 2020!





The Big Sale 2019The Big Sale starts this week at Connecting Threads!  I appreciate you using my affiliate link.

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