Callie & Co Mystery Block of the Month 2025

 Corey Yoder from Coriander quilts is doing the cutest mystery block of the month. These are Blocks 1, 2 and 3, not necessarily in order.

I think that each block is so cute and scrappy, each piece being a different color and print. I know I can catch up! I'm going to make mine out of a "Miss Kate" fat eighth bundle by Bonnie and Camille, 2017. I always try my best to use what I have even though it's so tempting to buy more cute current fabric!

I'll let you know about my progress :)

Quiltcon 2025

 

Quiltcon is a national quilt show for modern quilts, held once a year. This year it was in Phoenix, just an hour from my home. A group of my friends got together and drove to the Phoenix Convention Center and we had a wonderful day! 

Our first order of business was to wait in line for the Ruby Star Society booth. We waited in line for an hour and a half! It was worth every minute. During that time, we got to meet the lovely and oh so talented Miss Melody Miller. She came up to me and asked if she could see my quilted jacket. Do you see her examining it?  I felt so special ❤️ She saw all the Ruby Star fabric and her name on one of the selvages on my collar. 

Here I am in the Ruby Star booth 💗💗💗 Thanks Nedra for capturing the moment ❤️

I also got to meet Elizabeth Hartman, eeeeeeeeek!!!!!! I've made and loved and admired so many of her quilts.  My grandchildren thank her!

Awesome Ocean, Fancy Forest, Penguin Party, Llamas, and more.

Our quilting friend group ❤️

Nedra made the quilt that is displayed behind us. Such an honor for it to be displayed for everyone to see and enjoy!

Here are some photos I took at vendor's booths.

I love looking at traditional quilts, but modern quilts inspire me even more.  I mean the ones that were displayed and some that won awards. I noticed a lot of straight line quilting.  I know I can do that on my sewing machine. There are lots of techniques I can take from those creative quilts and use it in my own quilting.  

I only went for one day, and walked my feet off!  It's the slow walking that makes me tired 😂 Maybe next time I'll go for two ❤️

Thanks for following me :)

English Smocked dress

 Izzy really wanted me to make her a dress, an English smocked dress. I meant to have it ready for Christmas 2023, but ran into a lot of problems. I had such a difficult time seeing my guide threads.

She loves her dress!

I think the color looks really good on her too.

I piped around the Peter Pan collar, making the piping myself. 

I used vintage buttons too.

I piped the yoke, the sleeve band, and the back drop yoke.  I thought of adding a sash, but they're really difficult to tie with this cotton fabric.

You can see the smocking design better below, a heart design.

The construction of the dress was very easy for me, I have made countless little girl dresses in the past. All of the seams are French seams, encasing the raw edges. I'm so happy that Izzy loves her dress! The pattern is Basic Square Yoke dress by Children's Corner.

Quilt Retreat

 

I went to a fun quilt retreat with 7 other women last week. There was lots of delicious food, tons of laughter, a Cheetos ball fight and a toilet paper war. I think one of the tricks to a quilt top finish, is to go with a few blocks premade. I finished my "top knot" quilt top, designed by Lindsey at Pen and Paper Designs.

I started my Strawberry baby quilt too.  

I wasn't able to get as much finished as I had planned, but I did pretty well. Thanks for following, I'll see you next week :)

My Quilted Jacket is finished!

 I did it! I finished my jacket! It was fun using blocks I already had and outlining them with 1 1//2" and 2 1/2" squares. I used selvages, made some economy blocks and my jacket was born. The most difficult part was finishing the inside of the arm sleeve.  You go as far as you can from the bottom, then back tack. Then you go inside of the sleeve to the spot where you stopped. It was a little like wrestling a bear.

The jacket is one size fits all, but not quite...I'm tall and have long arms.  I would have made the sleeves at least 6" longer. I used a cute Ruby Star fabric with its selvage on the end of the arm so that when the cuff is turned up, you can see it.  If I turned up the cuff, I would have a 3/4 length sleeve.

This coat is pretty colorful! I used mostly orphan blocks and leftover half square triangles from a few quilts that I made.

Each one of the blocks that I used in the economy blocks, have a sentimental meaning to me.

This embroidery is one that my youngest son Sean stitched when he was 8 years old.  I drew it and he stitched it. I held onto it for 23 long years,  hoping to use it in something....

I love the Union Jack, it was also Canada's flag until they turned 100 years old in 1967. Then they created the maple leaf flag, from sea to shining sea.

I only used my favorite Ruby Star selvages on the collar.

There were a few areas on the quilt that I had to use some filler.

I love Hello Kitty 💗

All 3 of our sons are in law enforcement. Cops are brave!

Thanks for following, see you next week!

Road to California

 We drove to Road to California together, just a 5 hour drive! 

On our way to the quilt show, we shopped at Cotton Gin, the cutest fabric store.  It's located in Redlands, California.

Here are some of the cute quilts they had on their wall.

Now, on to the Ontario Convention Center. Our favorite vendor was Minky Kim, and her creations are adorable, just like she is!

Minky Kim is the only vendor where we  spent our money at!

The next day, we went back to the quilt show to enjoy all their beautiful, breathtaking quilts.

This quilt won grand prize, it's mostly needle turn appliqué.

There were hundreds of quilts, these are a few of my favorites.

This quilt is incredible!  Even the frame is part of the quilt!!!

Then we got in the car to drive to M&L fabric store in Anaheim. It used to be a grocery store, but has been a fabric store for 60 years!   The fabric is end of bolt and goes on and on. It's Riley Blake and Robert Kaufman fabric for $3.98 a yard!!! You see how big this aisle is, there were 5 of these aisles with fabric on both sides.  We stocked up on backgrounds for our future quilts :)

This is what we bought $$$

We went to Paul's Place for a late lunch. They have the best onion rings I've ever had!  I ordered a Patty Melt, it's a hamburger patty with melted cheese and grilled onions, grilled on caraway seed bread. It was soooooo good!!! Not that healthy though....

The next day we drove home, but not before we stopped at one more quilt shop on the way home. Trish Tac Sew in Desert Springs.

I'd like to thank Nedra for taking all the photos ❤️❤️❤️