What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

It's great to be home!!!! I managed to get a bit more sorting done before we left shortly after lunch. It was another amazing retreat with great company, a new house, and a return date for next year! You can't beat that! 

My hand was a bit sore this morning when I woke up, and I'm guessing that was from all the cutting I've done. I'm surprised it wasn't sore before, but then I wasn't making big swooping cuts -- most of what I did was piddly little trimming. 

Once I arrived home, I ...

Not that I get around much, but there is one thing when you go to someone's house, or in this case, a retreat house, that always throws me for a loop. One thing every time, and it's in the kitchen. Can anyone guess? Almost everyone has one, and while they all look similar from the outside, they are NOT!!!! I'm talking about the microwave. The difference is the wattage? Power? I'm not sure what you would call it, but oh my --- they are totally different. 

I know from cooking oatmeal in many microwaves. Yesterday I struggled ...

I couldn't decide whether the strips should run horizontal or vertical so I made one of each.  I was making these to use up the 1.5" and 2.5" Kaffe strips that I had cut several years ago.  I did end up having to cut a few new strips to have enough for both quilts.  The spacer strips in the quilt on the left are in there because I needed a little more width and I didn't want to make any more blocks.  I'm not sure which quilt I like best because I like both of ...

Last night I cut the last stratas into sections and made some more Kaffe 16 patch blocks.  I love busy quilts, and I'm sure a few of you wonder why I'm not using white as every other square to "calm" it down.  I love all of the patterns in the fabric running together.  There are 2 of each of these blocks, so 18 total.

I really thought I was going to have blocks up on the design wall yesterday.  I pressed the final batch, sorted them into 2 piles with one light block and one dark block of each combination in it.  Then I took other projects off the design wall to make enough space to design the top half of the quilt.  That was it, no more ambition to get anything done. I'm going to blame the cold weather for it.  We got up to 17 degrees yesterday, a couple degrees higher than they predicted.  We have had sunshine for 2 days ...

After lunch I decided to use some 1.5" batik strips in a bag that were left from a previous project.  Here is that project on this post in 2009.  (I quilted the quilt in 2016.)  There were 170 strips originally in the bag but over the years I have used some strips out of the bag for other projects.  The strips are all half width (20" approx.) and I used 60 so far for this group ...

I spent most of the day working slowly, some quilting, some knitting, a little organizing in the basement.  One good thing happened; I found my missing Kaffe Quilts in Italy book which has been missing for several months.  I sewed 2 pieces of batting together with the triple zig zag for a piece 48" x 58".  I will check and see if that works for any of the small tops waiting in line.  If not ...

Create this scrappy quilt with stars using fabrics you’ve been collecting over the years. It will add vibrant colors to your home decor!

Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2025 Meredith Operations Corporation.
All rights reserved.

Spiral Galaxies appears in the June issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, hitting the stands on April 18! It measures 72-1/2″ x 81-1/2″ with 10″ star blocks and 9″ nine-patches with half-square triangles. It features bakits from my extensive collection. No single fabric was purchased for the quilt, including the (pieced) back, which I will show you soon.

One ...

      Not one thing particularily has sidelined me, just a lot of little things. I am not going to try a bunch of catch up posts. I have been keeping a list of photos to share, so I am just going for it even if it is not in order. Besides computer issues, nasty winter weather and physical pain stuff, I, at times, feel overwhelmed and just try to keep taking steps. I have finished quilts and been able to keep the comfort quilt pipeline going to recipients. I read all the great quilting blogs I follow. So that's good ...

It was 46 degrees yesterday and the wind finally died down.  We are expecting rain Friday morning.  We have a had a very dry winter so far.

On other projects, I found 3 light Christmas fabrics I can cut 2" squares from so I can use up the remainder of the dark squares.  I also took the floral star blocks off the design wall in columns ...