What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 My Friday group meets at the library. There are 3 of us, that meet regularly, and, we have another 5 that comes many times, but, off and on. They are all very talented, and approach quilting differently. That's why I enjoy it so much. I just like to make quilts. I may not have a reason to make one or a plan on what I am going to do with it. I may have several projects going at the same time, and, I tend to bounce around from project to project. I quilt my own quilts on a longarm ...

When I heard Mary (@mary_thecuriousquilter) was hosting a charm square swap I jumped in with both feet and my considerable collection of 2.5" squares of fabric. I've had some really good luck and some really bad luck with swaps in the past. I went into this one with high hopes and I was not disappointed. 

The first step, for me, was sorting through my collection of 2.5" squares. I have been cutting these little pieces of fun for quite a while now. This is what the collection looked like before I started sorting.

 Heather at the Sewing Loft put together a fun swap for all of us who signed up!

I made a new friend "down the road a-piece" in Georgia, and received a cool package of goodies! 

First, though, let's look at what happened at my end of the swap! (Grin)

I heard that pinks and a little teal were her "sweet spot" for colors, so I dug out some of my "Sophie" scraps.

I constructed a tiny scrappy block for the front, and a strip (foundation pieced) block for the back and sewed them into a pincushion "envelope," then stuffed ...

I still find it very difficult to find some sewing time. Either I am spending my evenings looking for a job or, when I am not, I find myself lacking motivation, energy, brain space to do anything at all. I am lucky that I have had interviews and am progressing with a few companies for now until I get finally an offer that works for me and for all but it is rather a draining process. Anyway, over a few sessions, I have finally managed to sew the binding down on this long-time UFO. 

We had a visitor to our little Friday quilt group. She had made these little fabric star ornaments for each of the guild members for our Christmas meeting. We were all thrilled. When she made a visit with us she taught us how to make them.  I could follow along with her and made mine, but, I don't think I could do it again on my own.

Yesterday I shared the gift I made for the BAM holiday gift exchange. Today I'm showing off the lovely gift I received from Cheri.

First, she made this adorable Hanukkah gift bag to wrap my gift in. As I declared at the party, this could have been the gift! In case you missed my earlier tutorial post, I'm on a quest to make a bunch of reusable Hanukkah gift bags.

I opened the gift and was a little perplexed. Thankfully it came with an introductory note explaining that it is a magic wallet for quilt blocks. It fits ...

Today was our holiday part at Bay Area Modern Quilting. There's an annual tradition of a gift swap among members. In 2017, I made this apron for Gerre. And last year I made a pair of fabric trays for Joelle. This year I was assigned to make for Mary, and she indicated that her favorite colors were purple and teal and that she'd like "anything." I knew immediately that it would be fun to create something for her and decided her "anything" would be a bag, making it a twofer as it fits the requirements for the November ...

It was a long weekend, I have been slowly cleaning for company and Thanksgiving. Not my favorite thing to do. So, I do it very slowly with as many distractions as I can find. I did dig the Christmas tree out of storage. So far it looks a little pathetic.
I made another sand castle block. This quilt is in the book string frenzy. I started it here and here and here.

I am starting to see what this wonky courthouse steps quilt will look like when finished. I am joining squares together in sections to make it easier to assemble. More here.
I have really enjoyed making this quilt in the evening when it is dark and cold. It adds a little bright. It is s free pattern from Bonnie Hunter at quiltvile.

I have a dozen of these batting boards to use for block piecing. I never remember to use them, but, they came in handy for preparing my basket blocks. I really enjoyed making the blocks once the hard decision was made about which baskets to put where. It was really easy to chain sew, without the pressure of choosing.

My one monthly goal for October was to make a plan for 230 swap baskets I have, and decide a plan. All I needed was a plan, and, the next thing I know, I am obsessed with these scrappy baskets.

I have my swap blocks finished for October. It wouldn't be that hard to just finish the year, if I stuck with it, but I feel behind on some other projects so I will leave them for now. I started this quilt here.

It's that time again - a new month - a new set of swap blocks to make.  These are some that I have received from my friends in the swap. I really enjoy making these blocks, and, I have thoroughly enjoyed swapping. The year will end soon enough and it will be time for the hard work of assembly to begin.

Ehe der August vorbei ist will ich Euch den Block für den Simple Nine Patch Swap nicht vorenthalten. Die Farbwahl für diesen Monat war blau und weiß. Was lustig ist, ist das die anderen Blöcke auch alle in Meerestfarbönen gehalten sind. Wer interessiert ist an den anderen Blöcken findet sie im Patchwork und Quiltforum. Before August is over I want to share with you this months block for