What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 This time of the year - I love it.  The cold, the early darkness, the winter sun.  Our December is a reasonable one with just the right amount of activities sprinkled in.  The busyness of Christmas Eve followed by the serenity of Christmas Day - perfection.  Every year I pray from one more Christmas (oh, and for one more Fall).  How lucky am I.  And how lucky that I love my sewing so much. 

One of the fun things about my Chicago Modern Quilt Guild and the MGG is that I have opportunities to play with fabric in a way I normally ...

Oh, how I love making these. They are just a project that I keep for comfort and happiness sewing. Someday, there will be a quilt. But, for now, I just love making these.

As we traveled to 2 great quilt shows last week, I noticed our lovely Indiana farmland. I live in a flat portion of Indiana, I sure think it pretty every season of the year. On the way to Lafayette, there are more rolling fields with corn ready to harvest. We saw amber waves of corn. How nice....

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wednesday wait loss

midweek makers 

I had a chance to assemble more of my rectangle wrangle quilt. It seems magical, as I add each row, and, see how the pattern emerges. There are a lot of seams that need matching, so, it is slower than my patience, sometimes. It is a big quilt, probably queen size, and very heavy. But I love it so far.

more ohio stars for the border

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TGIFF

TGIFF different   

please consider ...

After finishing my one one monthly goal for July - rectangle wrangle blocks, I rewarded my self with fun sewing on my ongoing snail trail blocks with shirting fabric. It looks like I have been adding to this project sine 2021. I really enjoy making these  blocks, and, look forward to sewing them any chance I can get. But, they are an 'extra' project and have to wait until I can reward my self with the pleasure.

I finished some

and I started another batch of blocks

I am so excited. I have all the blocks done for rectangle wrangle, and, I have started to assemble the top. I think it is going to be a fun quilt to make. Other than playing with the blocks to see how they will look together, I am just sewing twosies.

My One monthly goal for July was to have all 84 blocks finished And, I have met the goal. yipee

I have also played with making the ohio star blocks for the border. I think I have made 4. They are small, and, I need 56 of them. I ...

checkered past is finished. It is made using recycled shirt fabric from thrift store shirts.  checkered past is a free pattern from quilted twins. There are only 16 blocks which doesn't sound like very many, but there 48 squares around each center. that's 960 squares. The block is 16 1/2.

64 x 88 =18 yards

I used leftover pieces for the border

I used navy binding and free form swirls quilting

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I am finally working on the downhill blocks for rectangle wrangle. All of the uphill blocks are finished. I think the remaining strips are a little ho hum, but, I will use them. Apparently, I have pulled out all my favorites.  In such a busy quilt, they will fit just fine.

I want to finish all 42 downhill blocks for my July one monthly goal at elm street quilts.
I didn't finish my june monthly goal but, I did add three ufo finishes for june and the PHD report

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design wall monday 

oh scrap

Over time, as I work on this fun side project, I need to cut a few more pieces. I bit the bullet and spent some time cutting the rest of what I needed for 120 blocks. I didn't cut all the background, but, the shirts are all cut and ready for when I need a snails trail fix. This is one of my favorite blocks to sneak in between my "real" projects. I love the look and feel and the way the blocks just fit together. bliss

I have made progress on my rectangle wrangle quilt. I try to make 2 blocks every day. There are 84 blocks, so slow and steady wins the race. I tried to take it with me for a portable project, but, made too many mistakes. It has to stay home. poor baby

oh scrap

I have been working on rectangle wrangle. I try to make 2 blocks every day. I cut over 400 shirt strips in 2018. After, I sew the strip sets, and, make the tube, I can play with each block. I love shirt fabric, the feel, the colors, the plaids. And, I know the best part will be seeing a whole quilt come together. I think they are always striking. And, any combo of colors will work. I've had this quilt on my list for a long time. Slow and steady, I will work each day. The blocks are divided ...

I am finished with orange for the rainbow scrap challenge in May.  I made 3 orange stars from batiks to add to the stars I have been doing this year. I made them this morning. I am just getting up too early any more.

This week I worked on my lucky star blocks in purple for the rainbow scrap challenge this month. I still have a week to go before the end of the month. I may still get to work on my girlie girl.

I have had fabrics pulled for a quilt for a while now. I was not in the mood for piecing, so, I started cutting. I am using recycled shirts, and making a kaliedescope quilt found in this older book. I just needed to cut 4 1/2 inch strips. I have other colors that I still need to cut ...

At some point, I started cutting shirts, and, I wanted to organize them. I think it was when I pulled a new UFO project from storage called hand me down. I cut 11 quilt kits - 2 scrappy pinwheels, pineapple blossom, rail fence, 2 ohio star, snails trail, churndash, barnyard split nine, boxed shirts, and take 5. I have a kaliedescope quilt I want to cut.

I cut layer cakes, charm squares, 3 1/2 inch strips, 2 1/2 inch strips, and, I now have a large bag of crumbs and strings. I decided to spend March with my shirt ...

Once, I started cutting shirts for scrappy pinwheels, there was a cascade of shirt related cutting. Ohio stars was an easy decision. I have the accuquilt go die. I need a 5 1/2 inch strip of shirt to cut one block. So, While I was going through the box of shirts, I cut what I could get from a shirt in that size. Once I had been through the box once, I started cutting with the die. It wasn't until then, I checked my list of ufos, and, found I had a project box already cut. hmmm And ...

 I was anxious to start another round for snails trail. I needed to cut more background muslin. I really like the go die for this block. The pieces fit so nicely together.

Everything here has stopped as we are covid positive. I did play with snail trails again before....

I went into the grocery store Friday morning, early, and, when I came out, I had a surprise. By the end of the day, we had several inches. It was pretty, but, the day before it was nearly 70 degrees.

After working on my 5 quilts, even the parts that have languished. It was time out for fun sewing. I am starting another round of snails trail. I need to cut some more, which I find meditative, and then, I get to line up the triangles which is nice and tidy, then, I have the challenge of making the colors turn which is good for mental acuity, then, I get to wind bobbins which is satisfying, then, I get to chain sew which is efficient, then, I get to iron it flat which is just like Christmas morning surprises, then ...

It is time to say - see you later- to an old friend. I am retiring this project to the the UFO closet. I have enough pieces cut, I think, but, all shirts go well together. I was hoping for 80 blocks and I have 52 finished. I need to concentrate on some "other" languishing projects to get a bit of organization and less chaos. I  want to move some projects out of easy to reach areas and spread out my current projects. I keep misplacing parts and pieces and really need to clean up and assess where I am. So ...

I added 2 rounds to these 6 snail trail blocks. All I have to do is open the drawer, and I want to sew more. They are so lovely to work on, and turn out so nice. I may have to stick this project in a box and send it to the UFO closet, if, I want to finish up other projects.... but, what will I do for fun?

round 1

round 2

round 2

 I snuck in some sewing of blocks and pieces that are not part of my 5 quilt or rainbow quilting goals. I have a few projects with cut pieces that I like to sew every now and then for fun.

wedding ring

snails trail