What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

No, not a quilt finish but a finish nonetheless. I believe that I started this one the summer before last but it's done, in a frame and ready for its close up! I had to laugh when I read Mary's Country Threads blog the other day and she referred to quilters who've taken up cross stitch as "jumping ship"! I haven't gone all in, as in totally overboard, but I do stitch to unwind in the

No, not a quilt finish but a finish nonetheless. I believe that I started this one the summer before last but it's done, in a frame and ready for its close up! I had to laugh when I read Mary's Country Threads blog the other day and she referred to quilters who've taken up cross stitch as "jumping ship"! I haven't gone all in, as in totally overboard, but I do stitch to unwind in the

     Using Leader/Enders and scraps- win-win! I love scraps. I love when they are precut up into useable shapes and sizes. Such a wonderful palette.
     If you plan it out and make all decisions ahead of time, it is not confusing and makes piecing easier. I am not a Bonnie Hunter groupie, but I love some of her quilts and especially the Leader Ender ones which are usually free.
     I plan out and precut all the pieces and put them next to my right hand, so I can grab them easily between piecing. I keep a little box to throw ...

     Since the nine patch stripe quilt is sewn, I need to supply some leader enders at the machines to keep going.  Besides the red crumb center blocks, I decided on two. Both are Bonnie Hunter patterns because they use size of scraps I save and can accumulate until there are enough blocks.
     The first one is Triple Treat as I have lots of pieces of 2 1/2" strips and 1 1/2" squares. This one is a free pattern on her site.

     The other one is Sugar Grove which is a new pattern ($) from Bonnie . It uses 2 1 ...

      Sometimes I have no idea how I get down a rabbit trail (squirrels). I saw Jo Kramer's post and video on red center crumb blocks, so I cut some small red squares and used blue, green strips to create blocks as leader enders. I used the cut off triangles from attaching binding strips to sew around 1 1/2" red squares. Then I added strips to build blocks. Lots of fun. I have a pile of blocks in various sizes sitting here.
     I haven't the faintest idea how to put them together. I enjoy sewing them as leader ...

"Zippity Doo Dah" is all quilted, off the rails, trimmed up and ready for binding. This quilt measures 76" X 64" and removed 192 light colored 2.5" X 4.5" "bricks" from my precut scrap bin. That might sound like a big number, but I still couldn't manage to even get the top on the bin; it remained full-to-overflowing. I knew that I could do better. As I posted last week and the week before, the

"Zippity Doo Dah" is all quilted, off the rails, trimmed up and ready for binding. This quilt measures 76" X 64" and removed 192 light colored 2.5" X 4.5" "bricks" from my precut scrap bin. That might sound like a big number, but I still couldn't manage to even get the top on the bin; it remained full-to-overflowing. I knew that I could do better. As I posted last week and the week before, the

Have a look at the fast-accumulating Potato Chip* blocks that are appearing, L-E style, as I continue to set together the Stitching Kindness quilt. That one is currently residing on the design wall as the rows are being stitched which is why these blocks are currently occupying the design floor. I just love the happy, chaotic, scrappiness of this one. The original idea behind this leader-ender

Have a look at the fast-accumulating Potato Chip* blocks that are appearing, L-E style, as I continue to set together the Stitching Kindness quilt. That one is currently residing on the design wall as the rows are being stitched which is why these blocks are currently occupying the design floor. I just love the happy, chaotic, scrappiness of this one. The original idea behind this leader-ender

What to do with a full-to-overflowing bin of 2.5" X 4.5" bricks? Grab a fistful and put together some Potato Chip blocks! I found this free pattern somewhere on the Internet, it was all the inspiration that I needed and this has become the perfect leader-ender  project, going together sew quickly I can hardly believe it myself; plus, this is so much fun! I should easily be able to get a couple of

What to do with a full-to-overflowing bin of 2.5" X 4.5" bricks? Grab a fistful and put together some Potato Chip blocks! I found this free pattern somewhere on the Internet, it was all the inspiration that I needed and this has become the perfect leader-ender  project, going together sew quickly I can hardly believe it myself; plus, this is so much fun! I should easily be able to get a couple of

      My leader and ender quilt at this time is Scrap Jar Stars. I have all the 16 patches made, I am working on the corners, and then I will do the HSTs for the points. I am content to work on this bit by bit as it is scrappy and small piece components. All the centers are done (need 20 blocks) and I am making the corner pieces (half done) and then the HSTs for the points. I made two sample blocks to make sure it all works.
     I just keep a stack of the pieces next to the machine ...

My last post was a November "wrap-up" post and today we are mid-way through the month of December; that's a good indication of the busy-ness of this season that's upon us. I'm sure it's the same at your house. I'm ordinarily very organized regimented(!) about my approach to decorating the house and preparing for Christmas. Typically, I assign a task a day in the beginning of December and then

My last post was a November "wrap-up" post and today we are mid-way through the month of December; that's a good indication of the busy-ness of this season that's upon us. I'm sure it's the same at your house. I'm ordinarily very organized regimented(!) about my approach to decorating the house and preparing for Christmas. Typically, I assign a task a day in the beginning of December and then

     Having finished the Wonky Star quilt, which was a leader-ender for a couple of years, I have been trying to get another one established. It has to be interesting, scrap based, and friendly. I have had a hard time finding a good candidate.
     I tried Bonnie Hunter's Shoo fly, and it did nothing for me. I tried her new Leader-Ender, but endless squares did not hold my interest. The other day, I tried her Snail's Trail scrap blocks, drafting my own pattern, but when I did 6 blocks, the result seems menacing to me. 
     I like the Wonky ...

YAGOF = You're A Grand Old Flag! Yep, the Flag-A-Day project has progressed into YAGOF. This flimsy is made from the "Stars and Stripes" Thimble Blossoms pattern by Camille Roskelley, it measures 56" X 71".  I used a mushroomy beige/gray setting fabric; this quilt will be used on our new screened in porch this summer, it will live on the back of the sofa out there for comfort on chilly

YAGOF = You're A Grand Old Flag! Yep, the Flag-A-Day project has progressed into YAGOF. This flimsy is made from the "Stars and Stripes" Thimble Blossoms pattern by Camille Roskelley, it measures 56" X 71".  I used a mushroomy beige/gray setting fabric; this quilt will be used on our new screened in porch this summer, it will live on the back of the sofa out there for comfort on chilly

I have another tumbler quilt off the rails, this will be a donation quilt.  I used a new (to me) Pantograph (thanks, Santa!) for this scrappy quilt;  "Flower Child". It worked out perfectly for this project and is super easy and FAST! Like my old FAST favorite: Loop de Loop, this one is forward motion all the way, no points or starts and stops until one gets to the edge (or runs out of bobbin

I have another tumbler quilt off the rails, this will be a donation quilt.  I used a new (to me) Pantograph (thanks, Santa!) for this scrappy quilt;  "Flower Child". It worked out perfectly for this project and is super easy and FAST! Like my old FAST favorite: Loop de Loop, this one is forward motion all the way, no points or starts and stops until one gets to the edge (or runs out of bobbin

I teased with this picture of stacked stars in a previous post. This quilt is a welcome transition from all those bright fabrics used when making Frank. This is a long-abandoned project that needed to be brought to the front burner. I am inspired by Country Threads and their "Dirty Dozen" challenge this year. (The premise: identify 12 UFOs and give each a unique number from 1-12. Each month a