What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

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.

Dear Quiltmakers,

It's been a while since I wrote a post for Scrappy Wednesday!  It's just been so busy, and I didn't really have anything special to share - but I've joined in the Me Sew Happy quilt-along and now I do!  

It is amazing what a difference scale and setting options can make.

Here is the latest size version of the Star Kissed Quilt: 2″. The top finishes at 75″ square.

Here are all 4 together: 1-1/4″, 1-1/2″, 2″, and 2-1/2″.

There are certainly more ways to set and finish them, but hopefully you find these options inspiring.

It is SO much fun to play with tiny squares, and there are SO many ways to use them.

There are a lot of quiltalongs going on out there, but this one caught my eye: North Star State.

Consider joining us.

And now you can can you have heard.

I am so glad Susan told me about the Days Filled With Joy Mystery Quiltalong.

And I am even more glad that the quilt is now finished.

It is an allover quilting panto called Pipeline.

Taking these pictures just as the sun topped the mountain in the morning had the unexpected side effect of making the quilting pop.  Who knew?

Days Filled With Joy understands her job.  If you are in a funk, there is nothing like a good mystery to get your mojo going in a positive direction.

I don’t know that I was really in a funk, but any excuse for a good scrappy quilt, right?!

I am so pleased with how this turned out.  As I chose to add sashing between the blocks I ran out of the original background piece and had to (after looking at FOUR different stores) do the outer border from something different.  Indoor light and quilting will hopefully minimize the differences ...

Step 8 of the mystery quilt was revealed today. While I love the blocks, I was wanting a slightly larger quilt.

So I’m trying out an idea to see what happens.

I might be getting ahead of myself, as she says borders are coming, but here I go anyways…

Susan introduced me to Joy, of Days Filled With Joy, who is currently hosting a quiltalong.

Yesterday I did steps 1 and 2.  Today 3 and 4.  I am not sure when the next one is coming, but if you already have 2-1/2″ squares, or can easily cut some, you might want to consider joining.

No, I don’t know what it will look like; it’s a mystery (ooo…oooo…spooky music).

No, I don’t know how big it will be; it’s a mystery (ooo…oooo…spooky music).

But, won’t it be fun to find ...

Here is a second finishing idea for Star Kissed blocks.  This little quilt is blocks that are based on 1-1/2″ squares, but I can easily see it in any block size and as a large bed quilt.

The sashing is the same width as the blocks and laid out in a scrappy-happy way.

The quilting is a panto called Cotton Candy.

The binding was a quandry; I almost went with white for the first time in my life, but found this polka dot in stash and it seemed to work.

How are your Star Kissed blocks coming?  I am ...