What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Sometimes, you have to disassemble a thing. What is this thing? Well, that is the tension assembly for my Innova long arm. 
It seems, after several years, the shell has been worn down enough by the spring that it just won't work properly any more. I had a spare on hand so I grabbed the manual and YouTube and got busy changing it out. I was done in no time and back to quilting. Don't be afraid to work on your own sewing machine. They are pretty simple machines.

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I spent the week quilting this charming quilt by doing a couple passes a day. I love how that texture shows up with afternoon light. 
The quilting is subtle as I used a matching cream colored thread. 
Quilted and trimmed. Now for some binding. 

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After assembling my quilt center, and adding a narrow border, it was time for the wide border.
There was some miscalculation with the wide, outer border but I didn't let that discourage me. Those borders are pieced, but just a little bit. Then I got it loaded onto the longarm frame and ready for quilting. This one will take a few days.

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I got around to sewing the four-patch fun blocks into a quilt. 
I popped over to my local quilt shop to pick the perfect border and some backing fabric. I also grabbed some of their marked down remnants and a few yards of that fun green for charity quilt backing. 

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I've had these charm squares for a silly amount of time. Time to cut them up and use them!
The charm packs don't have enough light colors to do what I want, so I am going to add this print that I picked up recently to pair with the darker fabrics. What block did I choose? A simple block by Bonnie Hunter that works great with two fabrics and I can make one using just four contrasting charm squares. Here is a link to Bonnie's free pattern for Four Patch Fun. 

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Every year I tell myself that I'm not going to buy fabric without a plan. And every year I buy fabric without a plan because the deal was just that good. Or, the fabric was too awesome to leave behind. A local quilt shop owner retired and the shop changed hands. 

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I finally loaded this great quilt onto the frame. 
While it was quilting, I made the binding. 
I used Overlapping Crop Circles for the quilting design. Look at that lounging kitty!
It's trimmed and ready for the binding.

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Friday afternoon I zipped over to the closest fabric store (they were having a sale) and grabbed some essentials. From the bottom up, backing for my BBMQ, three yards of blue floral because it was in the clearance section, three yards of light gray solid for an unplanned quilt, and four fat eighths. They are like candy in the check out. 

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After a rough start, I started quilting my 2024 Summer Sew Along quilt. This quilt top came out so much better than I thought it would. It was a free pattern by Karen Montgomery. Such a great teacher. Remember, finished is better than perfect!

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I finished the center of my BBMQ.
And even managed to add a border. Now I need to go shopping for some backing fabric. 

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I stacked up my block units.
And I sewed a bunch of blocks.Then, I put the blocks and the sashing strips on the design wall. I'm sure I'll get them sewn together soon. I'm still working out the borders for this one. This one was really fun. 

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I realized I hadn't been sharing my BBMQ clues. Let's just work through them since the big reveal is coming up on Saturday. I made some 4-patches
I made some great square-in-square units.  
And these units with contrast corners. I'm excited to see what comes next and how all these units will fit together. 

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Sometimes I have a really large print that can become a little quilt without much piecing. Cutting these fabrics into squares will give you squares that don't look much like the overall fabric. For those large prints, it is a good idea to use them like you would a panel. I had less than a yard of this print and it was a good candidate for this kind of quilt. I started by cutting my center to 30.5" by as long as the fabric I had available. In this case, I my center was cut to 30.5 ...

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So many strips to make this quilt. The Creative Grids Stripology XL Ruler has been so great for this project. 
Here is my finished clue #1. I'm excited to see where this mystery is going. 

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I don't know what it is about these mystery quilts that I love so much. That doesn't matter. I popped over to The Crabby Quilter, one of my local quilt shops, and picked up a kit and the Creative Grids Square on Square Trim Tool (3in or 6in).
I admit I chose it because of those cute, little kitties! I'm excited to get started on this project. Every year this is an adventure that takes me outside my comfort zone. I'm here for it!

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I finally got around to sewing my summer sew along blocks together. 
I cut and made the binding. 
And added the borders. Now all it needs is some backing and quilting. 

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I finally finished one of my Brown Bag Mystery Quilts. This kit was purchased from Mountain Creek Quilt Shop. I purchased two kits from them but I may have misplaced the other kit in my sewing room. More on that another time. The quilting motif is Hours from Longarm League.

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I finally finished all of my Summer Sew Along blocks and put set them out so I could put them all on the design wall. 
I'm pretty pleased with this layout. 
I pulled them all down from the design wall in neat little stacks so I can start to sew the rows together. 

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I joined the Stamp Quilt Sew Along by Alison Glass. I bought the above fabrics for my stamp quilt.
The video instructions for how to make the block are great. Here is my first block inprogress.
I've done mitered corners before, and these aren't perfect, but it is nice to challenge myself. Only 31 left to go!

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