Part 2 - The Quilt Blocks

 My last post was getting a bit long so I thought I would continue on Part 2 for the quilt blocks I finished. 

For May, Angela announced sage and/or dark greens as the color of the month. I pulled my green fabrics and started cutting for the Hang Ten block.

The bonus of this block is the HST I use in my Squiggle blocks. 

Then I pulled more greens and some scraps of gray for my 3rd RSC block.

I will link up with Scrap Happy Saturday @So Scrappy.

I made 2 blocks in pink for the Stash Buster Challenge on FB.

Kat over @Kat and Cats quilts posted the new block for the 

May/June 

blocks for Covered in Love charity. Here are my blocks. 

On YouTube, I have been following Lisa Bongean for her QAL: Oh Say Can You Sew. This is a mystery QAL but I decided to try it because of the patriotic colors. Each month another clue is released. I finished working on Clue 1 for April.

Scrappy 9 patch blocks in blue and white!

I'm also getting close to finishing my Hands2Help donation quilt. Stay tuned for a separate post about this great cause!

A Quilt Rescue and Some Quilt Blocks

 My daughter gave me a baby quilt that she received when my grandson was born. She doesn't remember who gave it to her. As she was going through baby things in preparation for the new baby, she knew that she would not use it. It was clearly not made well (I'm sure whoever made it tried their best but the quality wasn't there). Instead of just tossing it out, I set out to rescue it. The binding was a single fold binding but the stitching was visible and knotted all around.

I removed the binding and then found that the batting did not extend out to the outer yellow border on all sides. There was no quilting in the borders. So I needed to remove the yellow border. 

There were many places that the quilting caused puckers especially in the printed border.  The border was also not measured correctly as it was wavy. Another problem was that some of the piecing stitches were loose causing a hole. 

To fix it, I added a small piece of fusible and then hand stitched it closed.

Although not perfect, better than the hole that was there.  

I did not want to take out the quilting as it appeared to be quilted on a long arm machine (no quilting in the side borders but still a lot of work), so I squared up the quilt as best I could, remade the binding to be a double fold binding and reattached it the proper way. 

It looks much better and will now be able to restand washings. 

This quilt will be donated.

I will link up to Finished or Not Friday @AlyciaQuilts, Linky Party @Quilting Patchwork, Friday Foto Fun @ PoweredByQuilting, and TGIFF @ Anja Quilts. 

A finish I can finally share!

 I'm excited to share my recent finish finish for my new granddaughter (due to arrive May 17th)! We had a 'Sprinkle' for my daughter today where I presented the quilt to her. She was thrilled with how it turned out. 

My daughter picked the pattern (Fresh as a Daisy by Linsey @PenandPaperPatterns) which I already owned (and previously made) as well as the color scheme. I did not show her my progress while I sewed to keep a bit of surprise for her. 

I named this quilt Simple and Sweet. The pattern is very enjoyable to stitch and the daisies are just so cheerful! They can't help but bring a smile to your face!

I changed the layout slightly from Lindsey's baby layout by shifting the columns up or down to get a finished quilt 43.5" x 52.5".

The background color is Kona Seafoam, the daisies and binding is Kona Snow, and the flower centers are Kona Yarrow, Kona Daffodil and Kona Mustard.  

I pieced the backing with large strips of the 3 Kona yellows 

and the Kona Seafoam. I also pieced an additional daisy into the back. 

The quilting is stitched in the ditch in white thread around the daisies, FMQ a swirl in the centers with matching yellow thread and the background is FMQ in a

 meander with matching green thread. 

Although I couldn't find daisies,  this photo makes me happy!

Linking to Finished or Not Friday @AlyciaQuilts, Linky Party @ Patchwork and Quilts, and Foto Fun Friday @Powered by Quilting

April brings on PINK!

 April! Bring on the PINKS! Angela announced pink for the RSC color for this month. I finally got some  time to pull out my pink scrap bin and start my RSC blocks! Here is my Hang Ten block, all pretty in pink!

The bonus blocks I get from the Hang Ten block are my Squiggle blocks!

I just love pink and gray together. Don't you!

I'm linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @SoScrappy

I also worked on a few more projects! Here are my first 2 Scrap Buster blocks for April. This is a Facebook group.

                      and here is the flimsy for Hands2Help. This year Mari @The Academic Quilter is hosting Hands2Help for Sarah.

Stay tuned for more updates. 

Linking to Finished or Not Friday @AlyciaQuilts and Linky party @Patchwork & Quilts

Last weekend I took a class from Craftymonkies and learned Improv Curves. This was a fun class. Here are the blocks I made in class.

And finally I will show you my March calendar journal. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend! It still is not warm here (-30º from last year's temperature). We will still enjoy some family time, Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets, and Easter dinner!

Wedding Quilt finished and Received!

 I made this quilt for a very close family friend's youngest daughter's wedding.         This past weekend we celebrated with them! We had so much fun and the bride              and groom were stunning! I am finally able to share with you the quilt,            'When the Stars Align'.

My youngest daughter grew up with the bride and she chose neutral grays and white for the colors, and liked the pattern I chose. The pattern is Christmas Star by Zen Chic. Instead of placing the blocks on-point I rearranged them and I also resized the pattern to fit the size wanted. 

I machine pieced and machine quilted the quilt including a 'ghost star' in the negative space. The fabric for the back is a white and gray marble extra wide piece with a strip of the lightest gray from the front. 

Its finished size is about 63" x 75"

Here is the happy couple opening the gift! I love that I got to see their reaction!

Congratulations Kim and Matt!

A New Finish!

I have a new finish!

I finally finished my Macaron Mystery quilt designed by Cheryl @MeadowMist Designs. This is the 3rd mystery by Cheryl that I have followed. I really love her designs. The QAL started back in July 2021 and the parade ends April 7th. 

I am so pleased with how this quilt turned out. At first I wasn't fond of the half blocks on either end but with adding a border of the same background, it works just fine. It also extends the length. 

I pieced the backing with the leftover fabric pieces from the front and then framed it with Kona Turquoise. The binding is in Kona Oasis.

I straight line quilted around the montifs and gentle arches in the larger turquoise blocks. I FMQ feathers in the white borders. My quilt finishes at 61.5" x 71.5". I'm linking to the Macaron Mystery linky party.

Go check it out and see the many variations!

SAHRR Parade and other things

 Today is the start of the Parade for the Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) challenge for 2022 hosted by Quilting Gail. Here is my finished quilt, Change the Ending! It debuted on IG for #igquiltfestday14. 

This year I started with an orphaned quilt block I found in my sewing room. Each week a new round was added. This year there were curves, diamonds, stars, signature, fence rail, and shoo fly. 

For the quilting, I thought it would be appropriate to use the quote by C.S. Lewis about changing the ending. I FMQ the quote into the center since my orphaned quilt block was transformed into this quilt!

(my attempts at showing the quote)

"You can't go back and change the beginning but you can start

 where you are and change the ending."    C.S. Lewis

My quilt finishes at 36" square.

I'm linking to the linky party @QuiltingGail.

I really needed to catch up on labels so I spent a few hours doing this. 

I have a few more to go.

Finally, here is my February calendar!