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In 1899, an unknown quilter began stitching fabric scraps on a paper foundation. Alas, the quilt was never finished. (It happens to us all!) The incomplete top is on display at the Virginia Quilt Museum, and the paper is still intact.

Candy Lane

Can you guess what that paper foundation is made of? Old letters! I’d sure love to inspect those tiny bits of history!

Skyward

 Not long after I first started quilting, I decided I would make a Double Wedding Ring quilt for my parents' 30th wedding anniversary. 

I bought John Flynn's book to use his method where you cut strips of fabric that you assemble. You then slice the pieces and you sew back to make an arch. It is quite difficult to explain but a lot easier and quicker than cutting some shaped pieces. Before starting on "the" quilt, I decided I should practice so I picked some Christmas fabric to make some blocks. 

I am happy with the top of Aunt Eliza's stars. This was my one monthly goal for May. Which I didn't get ready on time. It turned out larger than I expected. 82x 92. My favorite part is the border. I am not sure where it came from, but, I know it is a vintage piece since it was 36 inches wide. And it is so cute.

It is time for this quilt to live in the ...

After finished the Modern HST sampler, I didn't want it to sit there for ever. So we got the quilting frame out about a week ago and I duly quilted it over the weekend. 

I want for an easy all over pattern and added a few personnal notes for the recipient. 

For the back I used a floral I had in my stash and that was just big enough!

It is all squared up ready for binding now. And I've cut the binding this weekend for the leftover fabric I had so hopefully it should be finished before ...

I sewed the rows at retreat, but after joining several rows, I realized I had turned a block wrong. That is when I stopped for the weekend on this project. I came home and took the row apart and resewed it.  I still have 3 rows to add to the top. Once one block is wrong, the rest of the row is based on the wrong one and the whole row has to be redone. The fabric is really wild and beautiful, and, this is not like anything I have ever done. I was a missourri star kit. They buy ...

At retreat this weekend, I sewed the last 4 blocks I need for sea swept. I ordered studio 180 template for the sashing. I think it will save me the headache of math "to fit" what I have already made. I have the squared squared template. I ordered diamond rects. hooray.  I still have many cut pieces - I may make it larger.

There is always something scrappy going on at the sewing machine. This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern from her book addicted to scraps called Carolina Chain. I had the blocks done in April.  I use them as a ...

3 Radiant Star Quilts, 3 Machine Quilting Options

We started another 3 quilt machine quilting comparison series. This time we are looking at my Radiant Star quilt.

The first machine quilting option uses free-motion and ruler quilting to create a beautiful surface design. 

WATCH

Watch the replay of Quilt Conversations LIVE! Episode 4  to learn how it was quilted with rulers to create space for  free motion quilting.

The second Radiant Star quilt is a patchwork of color.  This option looks at using the patchwork to contain free-motion quilting. This is perfect for practicing new quilting patterns.  

WATCH the replay ...

We had a sleep in your own bed retreat yesterday and will have one today. My main project to work on was my ode to Joey quilt. I worked on piecing the rows and joining the rows. I plan on using it as a visual aid for Church class on Sunday. I made the words according to the color of the month for rainbow scrap challenge at so scrappy. It is a rectangle the wrong way, so, I need to figure out what I want to do for the top and bottom.

someone was taking pictures

I have 3 quilts ...

The half square triangles are turning (at least some of them) into a quilt.

The blocks are ready. And assembly is started.

I hope to have a finished throw by the end of the weekend.

ps–My blocks finish at 8″. The throw will be 56″ x 72″.

I have a finish -bonnie Hunter quilt zuckerwatte from her book string fling. It is a smaller quilt than I thought when I started it. It is about 58 x 70. I started working on this ufo in January at a retreat, I had started at the beginning of January with only string blocks made. I made the string blocks in June 2017. I cut a gazillion  HSTS - (half square triangles)... sewed a bunch together, and made  rows. and blocks. It is really pretty in person.

I used a plain pink sheet for the backing that I had in my ...

 Do you know what stinging nettle is? It is a mean little weed that has spines all over it's stems and leaves, and, if you touch them, it injects a little bit of acid into your skin for a day's worth of burning and itching. Sometimes rubbing a maple leaf over it will neutralize the effect. When we bought our property 30 years ago, we had a forest of stinging nettles and burdock to clean out. We have worked very hard to eliminate most of them. So this year, I have watched youtube videos about gardening and herbs ...

 I have been making the waffle stamp blocks this year as part of the rainbow scrap challenge at so scrappy. I cut for about 50 at the beginning and then used the color of the month to cut more. And to sew them together according to the color of the month. This month, I cut purple and that gave me 168 cut. I am sure that is enough. So, now I can add the finish of this quilt to my regular, any time, sewing.

Now that I have all the pieces cut for the waffle blocks, I am going to ...

Boy, photographing a queen-size quilt is a challenge.  I finally hung it from the rain gutter, above the garage door.  I really love how this turned out.  It's a housewarming gift for a great couple.

I had 6 quilts to put the binding on and this is #5, only one more to go, and it's another Best Friends quilt.

May your bobbins always be full,

A fun finish to share with you in this post. I shared this table runner in progress in my recent Quilty Tube, so if you’ve watched that, here it is, all done and ready to be used. 

Moda HoneyBun Project: Quilted Table Runner

There are affiliate links within this post that I may earn commission from. Read the full disclosure here. 

This project is one of the Sew Sampler Box projects and I tweaked the pattern a little bit to make two table runners instead of one single long one. 

I love the fact that the Sew Sampler Box ...

I have been making 7- 10 sea swept blocks every Friday with my quilt group. I have collected a nice size pile. I thought I would take an accounting and decide where to go from here. I was pleasantly surprised to realize I have 38 made. and 7 in process with 2 rounds. I need 42. This pattern calls for a sashing that will make a wonderful star. The pattern is also for paperpiecing. And the finished piece is smaller than what I am doing. SO, I will need to "invent" what I will need for my block. I think ...

A section of my shelving is devoted to Potential Projects. Most often these come as groups of scraps in hand-me-down bags, or even partially finished projects.

And I have a lot of them.

So many, in fact, that I am going to take one bag or pile each month and decide to either make it into a project, or put the fabric back into regular circulation, or even just get rid of it.

This is the first pile.

And this is the first idea of what to do with it. Hmm…should be interesting.