House Blocks Catch Up

I had a crazy February that resulted in me falling behind in a lot of my quilting projects. I am starting to get back into the swing of sewing again.

I am part of a 6.5 inch house block swap in a Facebook group. These are my blocks for February and March.

For the February block, my inspiration came from a baby quilt that was a single house made of scrappy blocks, and a roof made of long strips of fabric. So I replicated it in miniature. They are calling them the Minecraft House now.

For the March Block, I had the idea to use a sheer fabric to make a physical representation of the phrase "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." So I free-motioned a pile of stones, and then appliqued the sheer fabric to the block. I'm quite pleased with the end result (even if it doesn't show up well in pictures).

Modern HST Sampler: Blocks 1-6

I have been following along on Blossom Heart Quilts' Modern HST Sampler. I'm loving these. She gave some good instructions on several ways to make the HSTs (Half Square Triangles).  We get a block every other Monday. We are up to 6 blocks right now. I chose to grab fabrics as needed with the idea of trying to see what I could get out of the ones I pulled. I had to make block #3 twice because the first one I made didn't really have much definition because of the fabrics I used. I am really loving these blocks. They have not been too difficult which has made it really easy to keep up.

Go check out all the other fun variations on this over at her linky. My link should be around #66.

Play with Me QAL: Nine Men's Morris

The February block/board for the Play with Me QAL was Nine Men's Morris. I admit I have never played this game. It was fun to see it and to learn how to play...and to realize that it was one of those boards we had in a wooden multi-game set that neither my brothers nor I ever knew what the game was. I decided I wanted to go with an odd color scheme for this one, so I used a 90's feeling pink solid, and a cream with what looks like little chicken scratches on it. I'm actually very pleased with how it turned out.

Check out others in the linky here. It looks as though I am about the 94th one to link up, so there are lots of us following along on this journey.

Pink Baby Quilt: FAL2016 Finish

This is my first finish of 2016. It had been sitting waiting for the binding to be stitched down. It was started as an example for our guild Crayon Color Challenge. The point being that each member pulls a crayon out of a bag and has to make a monochromatic quilt. I pulled pink. Luckily, I have a friend pregnant with a little girl, though I think my youngest son did try claiming it for his own.

It finished at 48 square. I quilted it with a stipple with random daisies thrown in. Even the backing is all pink prints.

Red and White Wedding Quilt

 This quilt was designed for a friend who was getting married. She told me her colors were Red, Cream, and Gold. I love how this quilt creates circular shapes without have curves in it. It was all pulled from Scraps. I was worried I was going to need to use some extra red fabrics...but it didn't even use half of the reds I had.

It measured 92 inches square. I quilted it with a big stipple in red, which looked really amazing on the black I used for the backing. I managed to finish it the day I was giving it away.

Flying Geese Log Cabin

This fast and fun quilt is from a Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial. It really was quite easy. I used some Grey and White Strip Sets and FQ bundles for the background and roll of Michael Miller Shiny Dots that I got in a goody bag from a retreat for the corners. I love how it gave just a good pop of color. I gave this to the oldest boy who lives next door. I think he liked it.

It measured 56 by 80 and was quilted with straight lines on the diagonal following the lines created by the "flying geese."

2015 Payson Quilt Show Mystery Quilt

This cute little quilt was started at the Payson Quilt Show Mystery Quilt Class. It's a fun class taught by Becky Morganson where we are given some cutting instructions and fabric requirements beforehand, and get a little more throughout the night until she shows us the final quilt. We also get a great dinner with it too. This was the Quilt for 2015. I had a lot of fun pulling these fabrics from my stash. It was a little more tricky this time because it called for 20 fabrics and a background. I really like how the fabrics pop on this.

I had fun quilting it with Spirals in the circle cornerstones and outlines of the half Orange Peels in the backgrounds of the blocks. I finished up with just a medium to large size stipple in the outside border. The quilt measures 50 by 64.

It was a Christmas gift for one of the girls next door.

Grand Illusion 2

This is the second quilt I started during Bonnie Hunter's 2014 Mystery. She called the quilt Grand Illusion. For this one, I only did half the blocks, since I didn't have enough fabric to do another large size. It turned out to be a rather fortuitous as this was another lap sized Christmas gift this last year. It finished at 54 by 68. I used all Denyse Schmidt fabrics for it (even for the backing). It was fun to be able to use some of my loved fabrics to give this quilt a different look.

Chevrons

This quilt was started at the Peteetneet Quilt Show (now known as the Payson Quilt Show at Peteetneet) as a mystery taught by Becky Morganson. I pulled all of these fabrics from my stash (except 2 that were gifted to me by my friend Sue because she thought they went well with it).

I was just a couple months pregnant with Kyle when I started it, and still rather nauseous. It was a struggle to finish piecing it for awhile because all of those feelings would come back every time I pulled it out. But I'm glad I persevered and finished it.

I enjoyed practicing my quilting in this, and utilizing the shapes of the blocks to decide how it should be quilted. When my husband helped me take the picture I loved that because he was holding it up directly under the light it really showed off the quilting well.

It went to a new home for Christmas.

Play With Me Quilt Along: Checkers

This month for the Play with Me Quilt Along we did Checkers. It was super quick and easy. Each month she is giving a free pattern for a game board along with directions on how to turn it into an individual board or how to turn it into a quilt with all of the game boards. I haven't fully decided what I'm going to do yet, but I'm leaning towards doing a quilt with them and zippy bags that will hold the pieces for the games (or maybe just 1 big zippy bag for all the pieces). You can check out every one else's boards for January here. While I went with more of a traditional Black and Cream, it is fun to see the other fabric combinations that have been used.

2016 Finish Along: Q1 Goals

This is the first year, I'm going to link up with the Finish Along. I've seen many others do it in the past and have felt the twinge of desire to use it for motivation to finish things. However, every time I would shrug it off because I didn't think I really had that many unfinished projects. After cleaning up my craft room again...I'm sad to report that my number is 69 and I'm still finding more. So I decided to be overly, optimistic in my list. I'm including 17, and those are just the ones that I started in the last 6-8 months of last year, as part of quilt-alongs or mystery quilts. I guess as long as I work on them this year, I'm working towards my goals of using what I have. But I would love to get a few of these done in time to be counted as part of the 2016 Finish Along: First Quarter.

First I made myself a nice pretty list with all of them and all of the steps required to finish, so that I can mark off each step as I finish it.

Here they are in the order they came off my phone.

 9. 4-Patch X ready for me to cut the sashing.

7. Quinn's Baptism Book. (Her Baptism was in September). This may become a quilt instead.

 17. Community Sisters Quilt. Ready for Alternate Blocks to be cut (or Sashing...as they are pretty much the same thing in this quilt).

8. Pink Quilt- Just needs Binding. I don't know why I drag my feet so much on bindings. I love doing them.

 10. Winter from Cultural Fusion Quilts. Even if I don't get it done this quarter it must be done by the end of April...so getting it done early would be nice.

5. Double 4-Patch. This was a block of the day project in a group I am in. I fell behind in August I believe. Now it can all be completed.

 2. Jacob's Ladder I-Spy. This quilt was another quilt along where I chose to do big blocks. So the top went together quickly...and then I stalled. Each block is different.

11. HST 1 - This is a baby quilt using big blocks.

 12. HST 2 - This is the same as HST 1 (#11) but using different fabrics.

4. Easy Street -  This is basted and awaiting quilting.



















6. Allietare Mystery Quilt - I am in the middle of clue 3.

16. Shrunken Ribbons of Love- This will be a half sized pieces (1/4 size of full quilt) of a friend's mystery quilt she ran on her blog last fall.

 13-15. Ribbons of Love 1-3. These are full size versions of #16. That made it to step 4 during the duration of the Mystery Quilt that were put aside when a wedding quilt took over my time.

1. 9-Patch Baby Quilt- This is awaiting a backing and quilting. This is my own design, but was strongly influenced by a design in Mari Michell's 101 Nine Patch Quilts Book.

3. Lazy Sunday. This one is ready for me to cut Sashing. I also forgot to add to checklist that this has borders. So I will have to fix that.

Orange Crush (in Green)

This is my version of Bonnie Hunter's free pattern Orange Crush. It was a fun quilt to use up scraps and was a fun study in using what I had. It finished at 94 by 82 and has been given away for Christmas.

Bonus Post: Pat Sloan's Mystery BOM

I've decided to join in in the fun of Pat Sloan's Mystery Block of the Month for 2016 called My Secret Garden. I am still trying to use as much from my stash as I can, and I can successfully say that these fabrics all came from stash. This is the January Block: DC Botanic Garden. You can see what other quilters are doing here.

Puss in the Corner Quilt

This cute little quilt measures 44 by 63. It was started for the Sew My Stash 2015 Valentine's challenge to use something with hearts. I have been trying all year to pull things that have a more boyish feel to them. Unfortunately, I think the hearts and bows of the red just set this to the girl side. But either way, it was given as a Christmas present this year.

It was a lot of fun to quilt this one because I didn't want to do another all over with a stipple. So I followed the pattern of the blocks and tried to go with kind of a Celtic Knot look in gold for the quilting. It gives it a really cool design on the back making it look like interlocking wreaths.

You Zig I'll Zag

This quilt was made with the You'll Zig, I'll Zag tutorial that is available on the Moda Bake Shop. I didn't do borders because I forgot about them and had my back all pieced when I remembered. It is a good lap size quilt at 57 inches square. This used an April Showers layer cake that I got as part of a fund raiser. It will now be given as a Christmas present.

I tried to get the boys to help me by holding it up. I think Nate has reached the good point of actually listening and holding still. Kyle, however, thought it was hilarious to play peek-a-boo with the quilt instead. O well, I'll keep working with them on it. By the time, they are old enough to move out of the house, I think they will be be pros at holding up quilts (and probably completely tired of doing so).

Ginger Snap

This quilt is called Ginger Snap. It is my design. I made it for a friend from college who welcomed his first son with his wife at the beginning of October. It measures 48 inches square. I just did a simple big stipple in orange for the quilting.

Bonus Post: Allietare Part 2

I managed to get part 2 done for Bonnie Hunter's Allietare Mystery. I am quite pleased with how my colors are playing so far. My colors are completely different (because I was pulling from stash). I am also using constants for all of the fabrics.

To see what others are doing with this mystery go check out all the cool links here. I should be around Link number 137.

EZ Triangles Quilt

This quilt was created for the QuiltCon EZ Triangles Challenge. It was a lot of fun to make it and to let the triangles talk to me and make their own design. In my creating of this quilt, I really just let it build itself. It was a lot of fun to be able to quilt it myself too. I have to laugh at my little "fronds" that I attempted in the pink and green on the medallion. I think they ended up looking a little like the Trix Bunny's ears.

Approximately 1000 triangles were sewn for this quilt (though some did get cut off).

Bonus Post: Allietare Part 1

Woohoo. I managed to get all of my bits done for the first clue of Bonnie Hunter's 2015 Mystery Quilt named Allietare. This year my colors are quite different from what she called for. I'm still working quite intently on using my stash to sew things. However, I think it will still turn out well.

Go check out more people who are following along and linking up with her.

I'm number 125 to link up.

Lone Dresden Hexie

This quilt was designed and made for the QuiltCon Michael Miller Fabric Challenge. It measures 19 by 22. I have dreams of making a much larger quilt using this same Dresden Hexie design (I may or may not already have 2 others started).