Charity Quilting: Fairy Dreams and Farm Life

I gave the fairy alphabet panel for this quilt to another member of Annapolis Quilts for Kids. She added in some blocks and pieced together this fun quilt.

This fun quilt was pieced by another member, too.  I really like to different setting on this one.  I love the bunny panel.

Here is the bundle of quilts that was dropped off at the last meeting of Annapolis quilts for Kids.

2015 Charity Quilt Count:  49

In the Mail Monday: Colorado Shopping

I recently traveled to Colorado on business and was able to visit a couple quilt shops after the day's work. Since I packed so carefully, I had no room for my loot to come home with me on the return flight, so I filled up a flat rate box and shipped my goodies home.

I took my paint chips along for my version of Bonnie Hunter's 2015 Mystery Quilt. I decided to mix things up a little, so my colors are not the same as Bonnie's.  I did this last year so I feel comfortable doing it again this year. Besides, I'm terrible at following directions.

First on my list was High Country Quilts. This was a great shop0 and I spent entirely too much time there collecting my goodies.

NOTE: if you have a quilt shop and offer a "buy 10 fat quarters, get one free" deal I will buy 10 of them. Every. Single. Time. I couldn't leave the measuring tape twill tape behind. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I now have three yards of it. I was pleased to see they still had the Row by Row plates so I grabbed one of those, too.

My next stop was Lady Bug Hill Quilts. This shop was so friendly and helpful. This is where I threw aside my selection of purple as one of my colors and pulled out these amazing magenta fabrics. I love how these play with the blue. I was pleased to find they had the Wrights Companion Angle ruler that Bonnie recommended for the mystery quilt. I love rulers so this was an easy purchase.

My last quilt shop stop was at Nana's Quilt Cottage. This small shop was small but so delightful! Very helpful staff and awesome service.

In the background you can see a couple larger pieces that I picked up from their discounted rack. I couldn't leave them behind at such amazing prices. This was a shop that I could spend my afternoons in if I lived nearby.

I also made one stop at Woolly Works Knit Shop.  I picked up this yummy yarn from Blue Ridge Yarns.

I knew the name looked familiar, and when I got home and looked up the maker I understand why. I likely have seen this vendor at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.  This is Kaleidoscope in the Waterfall colorway; a superwash merino in worsted weight, 200 yards. I think it will make a wonderful cowl or scarf for my DH.

During my travel, I started working on The Doodler, a mystery knit along by Stephen West. I love knitting as a take-along project. If you follow me on Instagram you can check out my progress on this and other projects.  Right now I have three knitting projects on the needles. I will not start another until I bind off at least one. I like to keep my options open.

Have you discovered any new shops in your travels? Small businesses need your patronage to continue to offer the wonderful products. Shop small!

Friday Finish: Scrappy Bee Blocks

Earlier this year the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild had a few quilt bees.  For my month as queen bee, I decided I wanted scrappy stars.  Any star would do, as long as it was low-volume against a good contrast background fabric.

I posted my directions for a Friendship Star and for a Wonky Star so everyone had easy access to the directions.

Any star would do, as long as it was low-volume against a good contrast background fabric.

I used my new design wall to decide on placement of my blocks. I have a project bin full of 6" and 12" blocks that I've been adding to throughout the last couple years. This was the perfect opportunity to use them.

In an effort to avoid working on a very strict grid, I did end up with some short seams. I'm really pleased with how the quilt turned out, but short seams are such a pain!

Once I had the top together I realized I had added an extra row. I was aiming for a 7' by 8' layout and had managed to create a top that was 8' by 8'. Too big! So I did some surgery to remove a row. I rarely rip, so this was important enough that I just hunkered down and got it done.

Here is the final layout. Every star made by the bee is in there.

I pieced the backing and it was a close call with the sizing. This quilt is no small piece of work. This is how I make sure the backing is big enough for the quilt. I fold both the top and the backing into quarters and lay the top on the backing making sure I'm matching the width and length. This means I don't have a have a huge area to lay out the quilt. The top is significantly wider to make sure there is room for the side clamps on the long arm frame.

I selected thread that matches the backing fabric. I wanted to use So Fine! because it is a very understated thread and it quilts up beautifully. The bobbin thread is Omni. This quilt took 8 bobbins to quilt. (The average crib quilt with medium/light density quilting takes about one bobbin.)

The quilting isn't easy to see on the top since it is such a scrappy quilt. This is a view of the back of the quilt while it was still on the frame. This motif really added some amazing texture to the quilt.

Quilted and off the frame!

The texture of this quilting is so much fun!

I dug into my binding bin and found the 10 or so yards of binding ready to go. I attached the binding by machine with a machine-finish. (My tutorial for machine-finished binding can be found here.) I put it on the bed and it is a perfect fit!

Have you been part of a quilt bee this year? If so, did you finish your bee project?

Charity Quilting: Orange Garden

Another fun quilt made for Annapolis Quilts for Kids. The top was pieced by another member of the group and given to me for quilting.

The color choices on this quilt are fun and fresh.

I quilted this one with a fun flower motif. This is one of my favorites.

2015 Charity Quilt Count:  47