A finish and some catching up!

 Once again I am finding myself playing catch up with my monthly obligations...like QALs and sewalongs and charity blocks. I think that maybe I over committed this year but I have a hard time NOT joining in. It leaves little time for my own designing and for sewing for my family, friends, and me.

So when I found out that a close friend's daughter was going to have a baby, I needed to get busy and make and complete a baby quilt. 

Forest animals is the theme for the baby's room and shower. So I found some paper pieced animals and trees designed by MadebyMarney on Etsy. Mary's style is unique and cute. I added the squirrel designed by Protoquilt. I did change the patterns a bit and I embroidered the eyes, noses, and other markings (instead of buttons). I added the words and designed the layout. 

The blocks are all paper pieced except for the Forest Friends which is appliqued.  The sashing and border print is a woodland animal print I found at Joann's. The backing is one piece of another woodland printed fabric. 

The animal blocks are 8" squares and the tree block is 12" square.

I quilted with a stipple across the quilt being careful not to sew over the embroidered features. The quilt finishes at 37" x 40". 

                                     I hope mama and baby like it!                                            Linking to Favorite Monthly Finish @Meadow Mist Designs.

In August, I participated in the #30daysofimprovqal on Instagram. This was the 2nd year. Each week there is a shape that was the focus: stripes, polygons, triangles, and curves. On 5 days of the week a new prompt was announced to help you make your block. All the fabric that I used was from my stash. The last week focused on composition. At first I thought I would do a more traditional layout giving each block its own space. But the more I looked at it hanging on my design wall, I wasn't satisfied. I ripped it all out and began rearranging, adding and stitching it back together. This is how it turned out. 

I straight line quilted every 1/2" from the top to the bottom. 

I added corners for hanging. 

This quilt finishes at 27" x 31.5" This quilt is gifted to a friend.

It is now nearing the end of September and I just got started on light blue for my RSC blocks. They came together pretty quickly.

Hang Ten in blue and all nine colors.

Squiggle in blue and all 9 colors

And my 3rd RSC block in blue and all nine colors

I'll keep working and hopefully will be ready to go before October comes. I got a few more things to catch up on!

Progress Update

The Quiet Play Pattern Club blocks for January were released a bit early!

I was excited to get started! 

I had already sorted through and organized by color all my solids (mostly Kona) so I was able to get started. I downloaded the patterns and printed off 2 of the paper pieced blocks. I will be making the background of the word blocks in a color with the letters Kona Snow. The object blocks will have a Kona Snow background and a rainbow of colors in the block. Here are my January blocks!

The background is Kona Hibiscus.

There are 17 colors (besides Kona Snow) for the rainbow spool of thread!

I still haven't completely finalized my fabric pull for the Block of the Month Optical Illusion blocks. This will be as much as possible from my stash. 

I'm rethinking the Scandinavian Flowers as I don't think I am ready for this level of applique and it would require a fabric purchase.  I will still download the monthly patterns for later. 

Instead, I will try reverse applique using the book, Dutch Treat, that I purchased many years ago. 

I also previously bought fabric for this project. Must use what I got! I won't do all the blocks (some are very complicated) but will pick some of the easier blocks. I will prepare this project for my trip in February. 

Here is a peek at the start of my medallion quilt. 

So many HSTs! 276 to be exact!

This week, I carved out some time to sandwich my Save the Bees quilt, a leftover from 2018. I plan to do meandering loops over the top of the quilt to mimic the flight of the bees. I am thinking of naming this quilt, 

The Plight of Bees. 

Lastly, I will leave you with a sweet picture of my cute grandson! The hat he is wearing is one that I knitted from a vintage pattern. It is a bit big but ties to stay on! It is very soft as it is knitted with bamboo yarn. 

2019 is under way!

With the New Year comes new goals, quilt alongs, BOM and projects. I have set some goals this year and joined some quilt alongs and BOM. Hopefully I didn't do too much! 

It is so hard to resist! 

One of my goals is to make charity blocks for Covered in Love. You can read more about this charity at Kat & Cat Quilts. Every 2 months, the block changes. For January and February the block is a variation of a string block. 

Here are my blocks that I will send to Covered in Love.

I will continue the monthly Rainbow Scrap Challenge hosted by So Scrappy. January's color is red. This year I will make the reverse rainbow starburst block.

You can find the tutorial here.

I will link up to Scrappy Saturday.

I also joined the Quiet Play Pattern Club. Each month, around the 15th, 3 patterns will be released and emailed. One word block, one picture block and a bonus block from her favorites. Quiet Play is known for her foundation pieced, rainbow, geometric blocks. I'm excited to get started!

I was intrigued by the Bitty Block Follow-A-Long over at Quilt Art Designs. I love the challenge of working with tiny pieces (and it was a challenge!) This is another paper pieced block project. 

This month the Bitty Block is a Tiny Bee.

I will also be doing the Block of the Month Optical illusion with Nine Patch blocks over at Heleen Pinkster Quilt Design. It appears that you just make this at your leisure as I don't see a link up for it. I haven't pulled fabrics for this yet. 

I like the optical illusion challenge of this quilt!

The last BOM I'm interested in is Scandinavian Flowers over at Angie's Bits and Pieces. This is an applique BOM which is not usually my thing but I will be away from my sewing room for 2+ weeks in February and I thought that I could practice this skill. I will get January and February blocks ready before I leave to bring with me. Time to perfect this skill!

I also started a medallion quilt. I don't have pictures yet. This is a quilt that I have had in my head for a while. Materials were purchased back in late summer/fall. Stay tuned. 

 Of coarse, I need to catch up on quilting the quilts left from 2018. 

I did finish Dog 'n Quilt, one of my Rainbow Scrap quilts. 

In this picture you can see the stand that my hubby got me for Christmas. I can hang my quilts to make taking photos easier!

The quilting is a simple straight line, 1" apart and stitched in the ditch around the dog. 

The back is a purple floral from my stash.

This quilt was made entirely from scraps and stash. Yay! 

It finished at 43" x 53" and will be donated to charity.