Perkiomen Valley

I worked on this project while Bonnie Hunter hosted Quilt Cam Saturday afternoon.

Image exported from EQ8

I've had a tab open in my browser for a couple weeks to make a few blocks to support the efforts of the Ventura Modern Quilt Guild in making quilts in the wake of the Thomas Fire and the mudslides that followed. I like it when quilters come together to make a difference in the life of someone touched by tragedy.

Image exported from EQ8

I looked at my collection of fabric and decided I would try to pull enough fabric for a quilt top. It didn't take long before I had a collection of fabrics ready to go. After playing with layouts in EQ8 for entirely too long, I came up with a setting for 6 blocks by 7 blocks that I liked. Well, in truth I came up with about four settings, but this is the one I decided to use.

After printing my block and quilt designs, I pulled a collection of fabrics and got cutting. It took most of the morning, but I got it all cut by lunch time. I used the EZ Quilting Easy Angle 6.5-inch ruler to cut the half-square triangles.

I started with the half-square triangle blocks after lunch. It wasn't long before I had the pieces ready to be assembled into blocks.

I pieced for much of the afternoon and I think I've made it almost halfway through block construction. I think there will be at least one more of these in my future. Because these fabrics were pulled from my collection so this goes soundly in the Sew My Stash 2018 category. Sadly, it also adds to my list of projects to finish this year.

Look at that binding!

I pieced all the blocks and laid them out for assembly. This one is going to take a while to finish but it will be worth it.

Directions to make the Perkiomen Valley Block can be found on the Ventura Modern Quilt Guild's blog.

Others bloggers talking about the Thomas Fire and the Quilts from the Ashes project:
From my Carolina Home
QuiltShopGal
Super Buzzy - this site has great info with many more links and has a list of those that have already contributed

Have you made a block or two to help out people touched by hurricanes, floods, fires, or other natural disasters in the last twelve months? Do you have a project that is close to your heart? Add to the comments if you would like to share your story.

Mystery Quilt: On Ringo Lake

The progress report edition!

I've been working on the On Ringo Lake project as my leader and ender project while working on other projects. This is normal for me when a project is a huge Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt. Bonnie hosted Quilt Cam on the 27th and I joined in to work on some projects. A couple flying geese units and sashing units were put together while she shared her sewing time with the quilting community.

I have all the units pieced and it is time to make blocks.

I pieced the setting triangles and have them ready to go.

I'll work on these blocks between other projects. With all the units ready, I should be able to sneak in a couple blocks every evening. Slow and steady is how you make a Bonnie Hunter Quilt.

On Ringo Lake is now available as a a digital download. Check it out when you get a chance.

Charity Quilting

I worked on a few more charity quilts for  Annapolis Quilts for Kids over the the last holiday weekend.

Each of these was pieced by another member of the group. 

I just load them up and quilt them. Then hand them off for the next member to bind. I recommend everyone that wants to get better at piecing should work with their local quilt charity. They hand you kits and can often help with those wanting to learn more about quilting.

2018 Charity Quilt Count: 8

Get It Done UFO Challenge 2018 - January

This is the first installment of the Get It Done UFO Challenge 2018.

For January was number 5. What is number 5?

Number 5 is this stack of charm packs and coordinating fabric. This is one of those projects that ended up on the list because I fear I will never use up all these charm packs.

I picked up this great template at a quilt shop in Connecticut a few years ago. I've definitely gotten my money out it, too. I've made several of these tumbler quilts and this template makes quick work of cutting the 256 tumblers you need to make this quilt.  You can find the template at the Missouri Star Quilt Co. They even have a YouTube video showing how to use it.

I also find the Fiskars 8x8 Inch Rotating Cutting Mat makes the work go even faster.

I usually cut 4-6 layers at a time so just giving the rotating mat a half-turn and cutting the other side is so much quicker than trying to shift around that stack of fabric.

I spent entirely too much time playing with the layout. I use the 72" White Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall when doing quilt layout.

I webbed the tumblers together into two halves. Then joined the rows until I had the top and bottom sewn up.

Then joined them into the center of the quilt. A little trimming, the addition of a border, and it was ready for quilting.

I found the perfect backing for this quilt at Spring Water Designs.

The quilting was this great flower motif that is perfect for covering a quilt quickly but in something more interesting that a meander.

Labeled and bound! That's a wrap for the January Get It Done UFO Challenge 2018!

Have you finished a fun project this month? If not, what are you waiting for?

Royally Striped Finish!

It has been so long since my last update on my Royally Striped sweater.

That was December 2017! In case you haven't heard about this sweater, it is Stephen West design. You can find the pattern on Ravelry (link at the bottom of the post).

I finished this one up in January. Not a bad first knit-finish of the year. This sweater is so warm and squishy!

The construction is such that it didn't take long to weave in the ends.

One of my favorite things about this sweater? westknits liked it on Instagram! How cool is that? Totally check out his feed to see all the amazing things he creates.

Pattern: Royally Striped by Stephen West available for digital download on Ravelry
Needles: Knit Picks Options Interchangeable Nickel Plated Circular Knitting Needle Set
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted (available in over 40 colors)

Charity Quilting

I made a big push to get a handful of charity quilts quilted before the January Annapolis Quilts for Kids workshop. 

There were so many great quilts from 2017 that didn't get quilted before December so they were waiting for the beginning of the year. 

It was nice to get them quilted up.

In January I passed nine quilts to other members of the group to get the binding done. I have more pieced tops ready for quilting so I have plenty to keep me busy in 2018.

2018 Charity Quilt Count: 5

Green Hour

This was my mashup of Bonnie Hunter's 2017 Leaders and Enders project. I wanted to use up a bunch of my 2.5" strips but I didn't want to make a bunch of tiny hourglass blocks. I decided to use the same fabric for the center strip of my strip unit and made hourglass blocks that way.

The result is an interesting effect. I pieced until I had used up most of my green 2.5" strips (almost all of those width of fabric) and had enough for a top.

The layout is 6 blocks by 7 blocks, each block finishes at 12" by 12".

I added a 3.5" wide border. The border was cut from leftover backing fabric. I used two different fabrics. I really like how it frames the blocks. The finished size will be around 78" by 90". That isn't bad from a bunch of leftover fabrics. This one is number 1 on my Get It Done UFO Challenge 2018 list.

Cutting tools:
Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
EZ Quilting Easy Angle 6.5-inch
The Strip Tube Ruler
Tucker Trimmer III

Geese in Flight

When I join in block bees at guild I seem to have trouble picking a block. This year I decided to ask for flying geese blocks. In 2017 I joined in the stash bee. Meaning you were supposed to pull fabrics from your collection and not buy new fabrics. You can read the directions for my bee blocks in this post from April 2017. A paper piecing pattern is available if you want to make big flying geese.

During the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild retreat I pulled out a bunch of geese and decided to use up some of my leftover fabrics, add in some low-volume blocks, and add some black geese to the mix. I played with layout but didn't make any decisions. In January I decided to pull out the blocks and come up with something I liked. I tried the geese in different directions, but decided I wanted to limit the geese to flying either North, or East. Why? Because I needed some sort of rules for the layout.

I made some changes as I went along.

Another challenge came in when I got to the borders. I still had a couple geese left over. I also had a few black and white half-square triangle units that I thought would be great for cornerstones.

Then, I put together a border with only low-volume background fabric. I think it is big enough to be a quilt now. Maybe not a big quilt, but a quilt. Now I just need some backing so I can get it finished up. This one is number 4 on the Get It Done UFO Challenge for 2018.

Cutting tools: Wrights 4.5" Easy Angle, Wrights Companion Angle, Tucker Trimmer II, Creative Grids 6.5" Square, and Deb Tucker's Wing Clipper II

Charity Quilting

Sometimes I have to pull out all the thread. Okay, not all the thread, but several different threads and then decide which color, or colors, I want to use. I narrowed it down to four colors for this quilt.

This is the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild's charity quilt. The blocks were made by the members of the guild. I volunteered to do the quilting.

I decided to quilt with swirls, waves and whatever else struck my fancy.

There are areas where the quilting is specific to the block.

And others where it is more like a background filler.

I quilted until I didn't think I could quilt it anymore.

I really like the effect. I hope this quilt brings someone happiness and warmth.

Get It Done UFO Challenge 2018 Edition

I decided to join in the fun for another UFO Challenge. Again, I had a little trouble coming up with twelve quilts for the year. This is not because I don't have enough ideas. Just that I don't have a dozen half-done projects hanging around at the end of the year. If you want to see how Spring Water Designs does their challenge, check it out on their blog.

I put together my list and sent it over to SWD. I wanted to share it on my blog because I referred to the 2017 list at least once a month when the new challenge was put out.

1. Green Hourglass (COMPLETED March 2018) - finish blocks, trim, assemble into top, quilt and bind. 
2. Carpenter's Star - (COMPLETED JUNE 2018) Top constructed. Quilt and bind.
3. Quilter's Quest 2014 (COMPLETED May 2018) - this one just didn't get finished in 2017. Quilt and bind. 
4. Flying Geese Bee quilt (COMPLETED April 2018) - Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild Bee Block swap units. Assemble into a top, quilt, and bind.
5. Oasis Charm (COMPLETED January 2018) - tumbler or disappearing 9-patch, assemble top. Quilt and bind. 
6. Batik Curve (COMPLETED May 2018) - curved improv piecing experiment. Continue the experiment until it is a quilt top. Quilt and bind. 
7. Weed Whacker (COMPLETED February 2018) - Bonnie Hunter free pattern to use up some of the 2.5" strips I've been collecting to excess. Make blocks, assemble top. Quilt and bind. 
8. Batik Churning Fourteen - (COMPLETED June 2018) top constructed. Quilt and bind.
9. On Ringo Lake (COMPLETED March 2018) - Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, finish units and assemble top. Bonus if it gets quilted before the end of November when the next mystery quilt starts. 
10. Sissy's Quilt (COMPLETED March 2018) - 1930s reproduction print quilt. Top constructed. Quilt and bind. 
11. Cherry Christmas (COMPLETED December 2018) - this tumbler quilt top was constructed as number 3 for 2017 UFO challenge. Now it needs to be quilted. Quilt and bind. 
12. Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild (COMPLETED March 2018) Mystery Quilt - top constructed. Quilt and bind. 

Number 1: Green Hourglass. This project started out as a way to use up a bunch of strips because I have So Many Strips. I'm going to get a quilt out of those bins of 2.5" strips this year.

Number 2: Carpenter's Star (or Carpenter's Wheel). This project started out as a way for me to work through some of my fabrics. I pieced the top and the binding before the end of 2017.

Number 3: Quilter's Quest 2014. Yes. This one continues to haunt me. Maybe I'll get it on the frame this year. At this point, anything to get it finished!

Number 4: Flying Geese Bee quilt. These are the blocks I received as part of the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild block bee in 2017. I know these geese want to become a quilt and I'm going to try to do just that this year.

Number 5: Oasis Charm - COMPLETED. This was a last minute arrival. I have so many charm packs that need to become something, so these will likely become another tumbler quilt.

Number 6: Batik Curve. This was my foray into curved piecing using a bunch of my batik fabrics with some solids thrown in for flavor. It is so much of a work in progress I fear it will never be finished. On the list it goes.

Number 7: Weed Whacker. This is a Bonnie Hunter free pattern that I'm going to adapt to use up a bunch of these 2.5" strips. I don't know if I'll be using this stack of strips, because there are several more where this stack came from, but I thought it made for a good photo.

Number 8: Batik Churning Fourteen. This one is a made from a pattern by Sam Hunter. It is all pieced and ready to be quilted.

Number 9: On Ringo Lake. This is the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt. These quilts are not difficult, but they are not for the feint of heart. Thousands of little pieces put together in an easy and methodical way. I think I become a better piecer with every one of her quilts.

Number 10: Sissy's Quilt. This fun 1930s reproduction print quilt has been a challenge. I would like to finish it up and send it off to its proper home.

Number 11: Cherry Christmas. This is one of the charm quilts I pieced last year. I have the binding made, and the backing prepped. I just need to get it quilted.

Number 12: Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild Mystery Quilt. This quilt challenged me as it worked with the bias so much more than I would have chosen to if I knew about the design before I started.

Let's see how many of these I can accomplish during the year. Setting them as goals and sharing the list really helps me accomplish more than I would otherwise. Have you set any quilty goals for the year?