SAHRR 2023

 This is the 3rd year for SAHRR (Stay at Home Round Robin). This challenge was born out of the COVID years. A team of quilters heading by Gail @QuiltingGail, announce a weekly challenge for each round. Starting with a center block (either new of orphaned) - Week one and continuing for 6 weeks of rounds. 

It is your choice on how to interpret the rounds and how you choose to make your quilt. There are really no rules to follow as it is your quilt!

This year I will start with an orphaned Halloween quilt block that I made back on 2012 for the Wicked Blog Hop. I am not a big Halloween fan (although my opinion has changed a bit since my grandson was born) so I don't have any Halloween quilts. I made one of the blocks from the blog hop into a wall hanging for my daughter but the rest are in the orphaned basket. 

I picked this haunted house block as my center block. It is a 12" block.

Even though I am not a Halloween fan, I do have a fat-quarter bundle of Halloween fabric that I won many years ago and a few other pieces. We will see how this goes as my schedule is pretty full. 

Looking forward to the next clue.

Linking to Quilting Gail

Stop by to see how others are starting their SAHRR this year!

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!

Secret quilting reveal

 Today I am able to show you the quilt I have been working on! 

I finally gifted it to my SIL last night. His birthday was in June but we postponed the celebration for 1) they were in the process of buying a house and 2) I wasn't finished with the quilt. 

I made the quilt to honor his heritage. Jose was born in Costa Rica and all his family still live there. Jose came to the US to get his master's degree. I wanted to make a quilt that included things that reminded him of his home country. After much research, these are the blocks I decided on using. 

I put this together using several different resources. The narrow sashing is made with Kona Prussian as are the words Costa Rica and the binding. 

All the blocks are paper pieced. 

The backing is one piece of a coordinating color I found at JoAnn's. The borders are also from JoAnn's.

I raw edge appliqued the heart and Costa Rica in the heading border. I used a free heart clip art for the heart and a font (don't remember which font) on my computer that I enlarged. 

I straight lined quilted in the borders.

In most of the blocks' background, I FMQ a stipple and did a 

simple enhancement of the shapes of the figures. 

The capuchin monkey pattern was purchased from On William Street, the sloth was purchased through Etsy @CreoNodo, and the tree frogs were purchased from Silver Linings Originals.

The hummingbirds are a free pattern online at lillyella.com, the sea turtle was purchased from KohatuPatterns at Etsy, and the macaw is from On Williams Street. 

The waterfall, the palm tree and the volcano were draw and pieced by me, the bird of paradise is from Kohatu Patterns, and the quetzal is from eQuilt Patterns. 

❤️ Costa Rica finishes at 56" x 60.5"

This quilt was labor intensive...a labor of love. I have to say that I'm glad that it is with my SIL so that I can move onto other projects. 

I'm linking to Can I get a Whoop Whoop? @Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link Party @Patchwork & Quilts, FridayFotoFun @PoweredbyQuilting, Off the Wall Friday @Creations -Quilts, Art, Whatever, Beauty Pageant @

from Bolt to Beauty, and Finished or Not Friday @Alycia Quilts

I finally finished it!

 I am excited to show you my finished Quiet Play Pattern Club 2019 finish! I named it~ Look on the Bright Side. This quilt is entirely paper pieced. I love paper piecing but it does take me longer to finish each block as there are many small pieces that go into these blocks. 

The top has been finished since late summer but I really didn't know how to quilt it.

The backing is a piece of rainbow stripe fabric.

I finally decided to just quilt an overall meander. 

This quilt makes me so happy! 

I bound it with Kona Navy. 

Here is the coloring sheet I used as I made each block. 

This quilt finishes at 51" x 61.5"

The Quiet Play Pattern Club is the creation of Kristy Lea.  She did run a club for 2020 but I didn't participate because I was still working on my 2019 blocks!

I will link to Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop? @Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Favorite Finish Monthly Link Up @MeadowMistDesign.

 

I also put together my RSC quilt! Here it is with borders added.

Linking to ScrapHappyBooDay @SoScrappy.

Linking to SoScrappy:Wrapping up the year

I promised to show you the placemats I finished to go with the Tossed Apples table runner. Here they are...

They are getting good use this Fall!

Hope you are enjoying the beautiful Fall weather! We have had some snow flurries but the colors were beautiful this year! 

Stay safe!

One Step at a Time!

I have been working on my Quiet Play Pattern Club blocks. I was a bit behind so I needed to do both February and March's blocks. The club includes a word block, a picture block and a bonus block each month. The blocks are all paper pieced. In February the word was Love, and the picture block was a flower. The bonus block was a butterfly. I decided to do all 3 of these blocks. 

Props for the Love block is my crocheted string of hearts! 

A rainbow of buttons I inherited from my mother add to the rainbow butterfly! 

A rainbow of sewing supplies found in my sewing room! I never new that I had so many different colored supplies. 

The March patterns included the word block 'dream' and the picture block is a rainbow. The bonus block is a mermaid but I did not do that one. 

I'm dreaming in spring green!

Of coarse, you will find gold at the end of the rainbow! I'm linking to Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication, To Do Tuesday at Stitch All the Things, and Let's Be Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.

A Finish, Progress, and Something New

Of coarse I must start with my finish as it is so exciting! I will warn you that this is a little picture heavy because I am in LOVE with it! 

I finished my Regatta Quilt!

 Yesterday my hubby and I headed over to our local Lake Park and did a photo shoot. 

What could be a better background for a Regatta quilt?

At first I thought I would piece my backing using all the cut offs from making this quilt until I found this fabric! It is the perfect colors!

Here you can see a bit of the front with the back! Thanks to the breeze!

Here is a detail shot of the straight line quilting. I did 3 straight lines across the quilt in each strip. I did not quilt in the ditch which gives it a nice simple pattern on the back. 

The binding is made using mostly the navy color with a little of 2 others darker colors in the quilt.

My sweet Nellie is enjoying the sunshine and the quilt!

Here it is in all its glory! 

The pattern is Regatta by Daniela at Block M Quilts and I followed the QAL at Home Sewn By Us. It finished at 57" x 74". This is my 3rd finish for 2018! 

My Temperature quilt now has 4 rows completed (with a few in the 5th row done). 

As your can see we had slightly warmer temperatures indicated by the greens and yellows! The Hope of Spring🌷🌷🌷!

What's new on my design wall? I've been playing with the alphabet! 

These letters are paper pieced and are 5" square done in reds from my stash. 

I've been playing with the layout. Not sure what it will look like but I will be doing lowercase letters next!

What's new on your design wall?

I'm linking up to Show off Saturday over at Sew Can She.

Project Quilting ~ Challenge 2

The second challenge for Project Quilting was announced last Sunday 

~ Carolina Lily.  

I really wasn't much of a fan but a challenge is a challenge!

 So I set myself doing a little google research. 

I didn't want to do a traditional block so I decided I would do a more modern version focusing on the blossom. 

I drew up a 6" paper pieced block on graph paper. 

I made 3 of the blossoms this size in a bright yellow orange (Kona paprika) with the bottom triangle being a bright green (Kona grass). To make the colors pop, I set them on a black background. 

While playing on my design wall with the layout I decided to make one more block that was 8" in size. So I enlarged the 6" block to 8" and using the same colors made one more block. 

After finalizing a layout, I began the puzzle of fitting in the remaining background pieces. 

This is what I came up with in the end.

The layout gave me plenty of negative space to practice some FMQ. I followed several tutorials from Lori over at The Inbox Jaunt. I used 3 different colors of threads, black, green, and bright yellow. 

You can see the quilting better from the back (besides the yellow Ü)

This little quilt finishes at 20" x 22"

Linking up to Project Quilting at Persimmon Dreams.

Created in Des Plaines, IL