Hello Spring quilt

I have a few quilt alongs that I've joined.  When I first signed up, it seemed as though I had the time to make them and keep up.  I've since had some time consuming things come up, and am racing to get everything done. Quilting is my happy place when I'm not with family, it's a chance to relax.

I'm making the Hello Spring quilt pattern by 

Lindsey at Pen and Paper Designs.

 

During the pandemic, I won this beautiful fat quarter bundle for another quilt along I was participating in.  These are colors that I wouldn't have chosen myself, but I really, really love them!

I think that Hello Spring would be perfect for this bundle from 

Lamb & Loom.

I've cut all my pieces and will be sewing 3 ladybugs and 2 flowers, this week.

I'm also working on the Collector's Edition quilt, and the Picnic quilt layout of Lori Holt's with my Criss Cross star blocks. 

I'll keep sharing my progress.  Thanks for reading :)

Collector's Edition quilt

 Once upon a time, I was browsing on Instagram, when what to my wondering eyes did I see? A beautiful quilt that would display all of my favorite Cotton and Steel and Ruby Star Society fabric that I've been hoarding, or collecting 😂

I ran to my closet and tore open the doors, now mushrooms, now apples, now strawberries too......just kidding!

Look at all these lovelies. Some of them are ten years old, others are very recent.

I cut them into the correct sizes, there were lots of pieces.  Some were big, others were pretty little.

The large prints and the ones I love the most, are what I used for the large pieces.

I found a purple Cotton and Steel with little pink dots at a quilt shop, that I thought would be perfect for the sashing.

I have a lot of projects going right now.  It seemed as though I had a lot of time and now I don't.  Sometimes when some of my assignments are a little overwhelming, I venture back to my sewing room and sew.  One of the things I really enjoy doing. ❤️

See you next week!

Criss Cross block exchange

 I told you last week that we're having a Criss Cross block exchange at my Farm Girls quilt group.  We only work on Lori Holt projects because we're such big fans! We walked into the room to this beautiful display! Nancy, our leader, always makes everything so much fun ❤️

Nancy had lovingly chosen all of our blocks and tied a ribbon around each roll with our names written on a cute tag.

One of the girls in our group is an over achiever and she got about 

56 blocks!!! 😂

Here are my blocks all gifted, I love each one of them :)

I went home and put all of my new blocks along with the ones I made, on my design wall in my sewing room.

We also exchanged 12 - 6" blocks, we'll be getting them at our next meeting.  I just have to make 3 more 6" blocks and I'll have enough stars for the picnic quilt setting  from Farm Girl Vintage.

I'm very inspired by Instagram, and am currently working on two QALs. I'll definitely share photos with you soon.  If only life wouldn't get in the way and I could just quilt all day long :)

Criss Cross Star blocks

 I'm making lots and lots of stars!  Criss cross stars that is, from Lori Holt's Scrappiness is Hapiness book. The points don't have to be perfect, the star sort of floats on the square :) 

This is my design wall right now.

I've made both 12" and 6" blocks.

I'm participating in a block exchange with my quilt group, 

Farm Girl Chicks.  We each make and turn in twelve 12" blocks, and we get twelve back. The same with the 6" blocks.

I will be making the picnic quilt layout, found in Lori Holt's 

Farm Girl Vintage book. 

The blocks must all be red, white and blue, not pinks and the points must be all the same color.

I just love block exchanges!  Even if you get an ugly one, it always blends into the quilt and looks beautiful!

I hope to put this quilt together soon :)

Heartfelt Charity Quilt finished!

 The Heartfelt quilt is  Fat Quarter Shop's 9th Annual Charity quilt.

( I wanted to be in the photos this time ❤️)

It is designed by Corey Yoder and you can read all about it here.

I absolutely love these quilt alongs, it's so much fun to make the blocks when they're released and then wait for the next group of blocks to be released.  I kept up with this quilt along, but it usually takes me a while to get the quilt quilted.

Pam Rackley machine quilted it for me, the design is called Arches. She always does a beautiful job :)

The fabric I used for the quilt was a fat quarter bundle of "Just Red" by Zen Chic at Moda fabric, which I bought at Hummingbird quilts.

 The background is a Corey Yoder fabric, the same one that Kimberly Jolly used in her quilt.

The back is a Free Spirit print that I also bought at Hummingbird quilts.

There are six different heart blocks in the quilt.

You can see one of my posts on these blocks here.

A special thank you to my daughter in law

 Mabulane (mah-boo-lah-knee) and my grand daughters 

Neo ( nay-oh)(12), Kylie (10) and Izzy (8) for making my photos so,  so much cuter!!!

Sew Be It

 The name of this quilt is Sew Be It by Lola Molina. It's 61" X 73".

To tell you the truth, I'm never crazy about making quilts with panels.   The panels are a little wonky and it's a little difficult to square them accurately.  Other than the panels, I really enjoyed making this quilt.  I had to pay close attention to the direction of the different Irish Chain style squares.  I think the color is cute and really love the sewing theme.  Pam Rackley at Sweet Pz's in Gilbert, Arizona will be selling kits for this quilt.

Many thanks to my friend Nedra, for taking the photo in her backyard.

Balderdash quilt

 I went on a quilt retreat over a month ago.  It was in Arizona, in the mountains of Payson. The night before we arrived, there had been a big snowfall.  Months before I had a dream that I was on a quilt retreat  where it was warm and cozy in the house with big picture windows, looking out onto a beautiful snowy scene. My dream came true and I felt like I was in a Hallmark movie with good friends and good food!

Before the retreat, I had all the fabric cut for Emma Jean Jansen's quilt pattern, Balderdash. I used a lot of my favorite Cotton and Steel, and Ruby Star Society fabrics. The most difficult thing about assembling the quilt, was making sure the half square triangles surrounding the crosses were facing the right way and that the directional fabric was going the right way too.  I only had a couple that didn't work out.  I hogged the whole design wall!

I love my new Balderdash quilt!  It's a great memory of my quilt retreat too.  Now I need to get it quilted!