What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Time to stitch all those strips into a top. So exciting!

I like to lay things out and consider my options.

This quilt has many prints and colors and it is probable that it will never be perfect, but I try to avoid color blobs.

When stitching long, pieced strips I don’t find it necessary to pin. Just stitch seam to seam, taking a moment to match them up.

The results will be beautiful in the end.

I love it when it all comes together.

Make sure to visit Katy and see how her version using larger pieces turned ...

There are many different ways you could assemble your piles of blocks into a quilt, but for this quilt we’re going to assemble all those blocks into strips.

First, sort them out. Make 7 piles of 20 blocks each of the 4-patch blocks. Make 8 piles of 20 blocks each of the fence rail blocks.

And sew them together.

NOTE: FOUR of your strips of four-squares should have light squares in the upper left; THREE should have dark squares in the upper left. And, don’t worry too much if you make a mistake. It will be easy to ...

My Friday Night Sew In (FNSI),(Wendy of Sugarlane Designs) began with an hour of sewing Friday morning, and continued with more time Friday night. And, continued into Saturday. Between other necessary things, I was determined to get the last 13 setting blocks for the North Star State quilt finished.

YAY! All that are left are the friendship star cornerstone blocks. It is so good to see it finally coming together. It seemed like such a good idea to do the quilt in miniature…or at least much smaller scale. I am glad to have found a use for my ...

How are your 4-patches coming? I hope very well. They are both endlessly interesting and a little mindless. Just chain piecing along…

This week we go to work on the rectangles. Make two piles–all the colored ones and all the backgrounds.

Piece one of each together. Repeat 160 times. Press towards the colored rectangle.

TIP: In case you didn’t know, pressing the seam flat, then pressing it open, helps prevent distortion. If you have noticed that your seams are a little wavy when you just open them up and press down, try this. It helps.

It is such ...

After all that cutting you are probably itching to get stitching. I know I am!

First we’ll make 4-patches.

To create each 4-patch you need two colored pieces and two background pieces.

Stitch each colored square to a background square. Pause a moment and press the seam allowances towards the colored piece. It really does make a difference.

Next stitch the pairs together, putting the colored pieces on opposite ends and nesting the seams.

The next step of pressing has many options. I prefer to press this seam open. It gives the benefit of reduced bulk without the fussiness ...

Have you got your scraps gathered? YAY! Let’s get going!

These directions are for a quilt finishing at approximately 60″ x 80″. Useful on a twin size bed, as a throw or couch quilt, or as a donation quilt. Or, you can make it exclusively because it is beautiful and makes you happy. That might be the best reason of all.

1. Divide your scraps into two piles: Colored and Background. My Colored is all red/blue. My Background is cream or coordinating low volume prints.

TIP: Generally, when cutting scraps, cut the largest piece you can/need first, then ...

Earlier this year, Katy shared a picture of this wonderful quilt.

I thought it was a great idea! A few weeks ago I cut out pieces to make a similar quilt. Katy and I got to talking and decided it was just too much fun to keep to ourselves, so we are inviting you to join us and build a Two And Four quilt of your very own.

I am building a version similar to the one above (based on 2-1/2″ squares and strips) and Katy will share directions for making a very similar quilt, but using larger (and ...

Merry merry Christmas in July!!  We've made it through the twelve days of Christmas (sort of) and the big day is finally here.  And speaking of the twelve days of Christmas, do you know how many gifts you would receive if you had someone who followed along with the song and gave you all the described gifts?  364!  Thank heavens for Google - I'm just not up to that kind of math - but it is pretty amazing, isn't it?  Today Karrin of Karrin's Crazy World is going to bring us home with a little bit ...

We're moving into the double-digit portion of the hop, which means we're almost finished - but there's still plenty more inspiration to come!    Today Carole of From My Carolina Home will be sharing some things to use to decorate your home for the holidays.  I don't know about you, but I can NEVER have enough Christmas decor!  I have some favorite pieces that come out every year, but then I pick and choose from the rest so that it looks a little different each time.  

We'll also be continuing work on the second set ...

Do you remember the anticipation you felt for Christmas as a kid?  That feeling that the day would never EVER get there - and yet it was such an exhilarating feeling.  (Does anyone else have the song - or an image of ketchup! - running through their head right now?) I kind of feel that way during this hop as I wait to see what our blog stops have in store for us.  Today we will have two stops to make, and two chances for some serious inspiration!  First stop is Kathy of Kathy's Kwilts and More, and then be ...

Welcome back to the 6th day of this year's 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop and Quiltalong!  I tried to write this post sitting outside on my patio, but whew!  The weather is not cooperating with my feeling all cool and Christmas-y at all!  So now I'm inside drinking a cool beverage and thinking wintery thoughts and trying to get back into a Christmas kind of mood.  And I have every confidence that today's bloggers, Katie of Katie Mae Quilts and Shasta of High Road Quilter, can help me get there.  If you ...

Hi, all!

Are you having fun yet?  I have been so inspired by the wonderful projects and ideas that have been shared so far, and there's still a lot to come in this year's 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop!  Today we"ll be visiting with Joanne of Everyone Deserves a Quilt (ain't that the truth!) and I just know she has something special to share.  We'll also be assembling the first block for the quilt-along quilt - a milestone, for sure!

And here's the schedule for the rest of the hop...

Guess what?  It's finally time to start counting down the twelve days of Christmas in July!  For the next twelve days here on the blog, it'll be all about Christmas as I show you how to make this year's Christmas quilt!  And we have a great line-up of bloggers ready to share some fun ideas with us, all designed to get us in the mood to start our Christmas crafting early.  Let's make it a handcrafted Christmas this year!

Today Joy of Days Filled With Joy is going to start us off with a ...

Ho win the world did Monday get here so fast?  I think I completely missed the weekend.   Summer days all seem to sort of run in together, don't they?  But it can be such a wonderful restful time, once it gets too warm to plant things in the ground.  I seem to be spending my time now daydreaming about what I want to do next year and asking the wonderful folks at my local nursery the best way to do things.  I'm really glad they're so helpful!

I did get some things done in the ...

The first quilt top created was the last one finished. That happens sometimes. But I am pleased with the outcome and look forward to sharing a round up of all of them (four sizes).

If you have a Star Kissed top/quilt you would like included, let me know. I would love to see how you finished yours.

The pieces in this one are SO TINY! It makes my heart happy.

For now it is staying here with the other three. I have some notion about doing a presentation of some kind on scale and setting options in quilts…I ...

When we describe anything as vanilla, it means plain, dull or lacking in imagination. However vanilla is a perfect plain canvas to build upon. Add warm chocolate sauce with a sprinkle of nuts and you have an ice-cream that is elevated beyond other fancy flavors. Have you considered adding chopped mango to vanilla ice-cream? You are welcome :-)

Such is this Plus block. Yes, it is plain. But that is exactly why there are so many layout possibilities. 

Here is ...

I would really like a marathon Friday Night Sew In, but even with only one or two hours Friday night and a little on Saturday morning, things do get done.

Some cutting and stitching on my version of North Star State Quilt.

And the binding finished on a small donation quilt. The top is made from a charm pack that came in a hand-me-down bag a while back.

Looking forward to June already.

I started my version of North Star State.

There are so many small pieces of 1930s reproductions in my stash and I had been looking for just the right project.

Because much of my fabric is small scraps, I am making the blocks 1/2 size. It will take a lot of them, but I am not in a hurry.