A few weeks ago my niece had a baby girl.  So of course I just had to make a quilt for the new baby.  

 

Homeward by Monika Forsberg for Anna Maria Horner Conservatory by Freespirit Fabrics.

But I didn't really do the maths first and I ended up with left over squares.  So I decided to make a little dolly quilt for the baby's almost two year old big sister. 

But then I still ...

On Monday I went to a class with visiting Australian tutor, Chris Jurd.  We spent the day making one big 18" Mariner's Compass block.

I'm really pleased with how my block turned out, especially as I made it all from stash!!  I didn't have enough of my favourite green for the background, so Chris encouraged me to alternate it with another green and it's worked out well. 

The fabrics I used were all left over from my Endless Lockdown quilt made back in 2020. The kit I had purchased was very generous with the fabrics, so ...

I have another finish to share with you today.  

This is "Material Girl", a quilt that I started in a class with Anna Maria Horner back in November 2019, in Wellington, New Zealand.  It's based on Anna Maria's pattern called Cross Country. 

My plan was to use a lot of Anna Maria Horner's fabrics in this quilt, but somehow I gravitated back to my Kaffe Fassett favourites as you can see below!

A Finished Quilt.

Here's one that I made earlier! I finished this quilt top back in March of this year. It seems like only yesterday, and also a lifetime ago. Back then we were living in a covid "normal" world where you could leave your home and visit friends and family. Right now, we're back in a covid lockdown situation whilst we wait for the largely unvaccinated population to get vaccinated. There is plenty of time to sew, and I have been taking advantage of that, plus this week I have dusted off my camera and taken photos ...

We’re rounding out our Stashin’ with Stephanie week with an interview with Homeward fabric designer Monika Forsberg.

Monika is an accomplish illustrator who was recruited by Anna Maria Horner to become a fabric designer when she was building her Conservatory Craft collective for FreeSpirit Fabrics.

We talk about the development of her career, how she made big changes when she became a mother, how she manages to stay diversified so she can make a living as an artist and how creating a fabric collection was a long-time dream since she sewed with her mother as a girl in Sweden ...

This month’s Stashin’ with Stephanie pattern is perfect for all those fabrics in your stash that are labeled, “Too Pretty to Cut Up!”

The fat quarter friendly pattern uses strip piecing and just a teeny bit of mindful cutting to make sure your favorite motifs are front and center in the final quilt. That means you can show off your favorite prints with NO FUSSY CUTTING!

I turned in my third book to my publisher last week so I got a late start on the quilt and was able to make the entire quilt start to finish in two ...

63 x 63 Color Outside the Lines, Bear Paw + Sawtooth Star Blocks

Happy Friday, y'all!  I have a quilt finish to share with you today!  I finally put the last hand stitches into the binding of my Color Outside the Lines quilt last night, wrapping up a languishing WIP (Work In Progress) that I started way back in 2014.  Woo-hoo!

I Hope You Appreciate the Azaleas...

bonjour à toutes! Tout d’abord, je tenais à vous remercier pour vous nombreux messages de voeux de santé! Je vais mieux , j’ai eu de la chance de ne pas avoir une version dure de la Covid. Je n’ai pas encore retrouvé une énergie folle, les beaux jours vont y remédier! J’avais eu la chance … Continuer de lire The Wheelhouse Medaillon Quilt d’Anna Maria Horner

Earlier this week, since I was all caught up with customer quilts and right on-track with the kaleidoscope blocks I'm making for Anders' high school graduation quilt, I finally -- FINALLY -- got my UFO Bear Paw quilt out of the Purgatory closet and loaded it on my frame for quilting.  I am so excited to finally be finishing this quilt for myself!  I stewed over how to quilt this one for three years, but when I discovered this digital edge-to-edge quilting design, Graffiti E2E #7, by Karlee Porter,  I knew it would be perfect for this top.  

I'm Loving ...

Look at this! It's a finished quilt!

Sometimes you make a quilt and you're done, you've gotten either the pattern or the fabric out of your system.  Other times, you just can't get enough.  Often, with a favorite fabric designer you find yourself really falling in love with something.  This happened to me with Anna Maria Horner's Sweet Dreams fabric and her Rainbow Blur pattern.

I started off with a set of fat quarters and a few half yards to make this Rainbow Blur quilt just as the pattern prescribed.  It was a fun sew, quick and easy, with lovely fabric to keep ...

This week I've been working on my Cross Country quilt, designed by Anna Maria Horner.

Times like this can remind us of what we are grateful for.  Just yesterday I sent the final version of my dissertation to the dean's office at my university.  It feels so good to have achieved my goal of becoming a Doctor of Education.  After a long road I can get back to focusing on my family, friends, and sewing!  It also feels like a good time to do some blogging.  While many of us are apart physically, we certainly are lucky to have virtual places to socialize.  

I'm still plugging away at my Spirit Song quilt top, albeit intermittently.  So far I have four of the twelve 16" blocks completely assembled:

Four 16 Inch Blocks Assembled, Eight More to Go

Welcome back!  I know these posts have been few and far between, so thank you for visiting or visiting again if you've been here before.  I continue to be occupied with graduate studies and am happy to fit in any sewing or quilting possible. 

2019 is almost over.  I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas with family and friends.  We certainly did here.

This week was so special.  I got to attend a lecture AND a class with Anna Maria Horner.

Anna Maria Horner with the quilt I made on her behalf