36 Patch Progress

So much going on here. This Saturday I am going to do my first ever craft fair. I am so excited for this. I have been making bags and pouches and other small goodies to sell. I am hoping this will be a way to make a bit of money to restock my sewing needs.

I am doing a bunch of other sewing as well. I am slowly amassing 36 patch blocks for my next quilt. I have long wanted to make a second one of these, after doing a quilt along with Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts about 8 years ago now. This time, I am doing blocks that are made of my most favorite fabrics and designers. But only what is in my stash.

Amy Butler

 Sarah Jane

 Rae Hoekstra

Farm Fresh





















Bonnie and Camille

Now I have 17 of the 36 blocks finished. Back to the stash to find some more pairs to cut and sew.
I have finished and mailed my Hands 2 Help quilts for Jack's Basket yesterday so that project is done. I will be sharing those quilts with you soon.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, a couple of roses out of my sister's garden. I will talk to  you soon.

Hands 2 Help Check In

Time for the first hands 2 help check in and I am ready! I had a big stack of 16 patch blocks that I made from a Kona jelly roll several years ago. Then, I couldn't quite decide what to do with them, so I put them aside. When this year's Hands 2 Help rolled around, I had just found them again, and figured out what to do.

 The first set, I arranged like this. I had two of each block so I made 4 quadrants for the quilt. It wasn't quite big enough,so I went searching for something that would cut at 2 1/2 inches to add a border.

 The second one is a bit more girly. I love the pinks and yellows on this one. I think that both of these will make great baby quilts for Jack's Basket.

And then I searched in my limited drawer of bigger chunks of fabric for backings. My Bernina has been in the shop for the last week being serviced, but we picked it up on Saturday. This week, quilting these is way at the top of the list. I want to get them in the mail before the end of April. I still am no sure about binding, but I will wait until I get to that point.
Thanks so much to Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for organizing this once again.

A Big Finish

I finally finished my 100 blocks 100 days 2018 quilt. Bound, washed and dried, and photographed. This is such a big sense of accomplishment for me you guys. I bought Tula Pink's book  about 6 months after it came out because I saw it everywhere on the internet. And then, it sat on my shelf. I was completely overwhelmed with all the blocks in this book.

I mean, think of it. It's 100 different blocks. Each cut out separately. No fast rotary cutting multiples here. And I know that there have been other 100 blocks sew alongs, but finally, last year I was struck with a great desire to do this. I saw lots of great inspiration on Instagram. And I figured out a way to make this a bit less overwhelming. Every 10 blocks I made in a particular featured color. So much easier for me to decide on fabrics.

 I took the blocks with me to North Carolina last spring, and my daughter helped me to figure out a nice arrangement for them. That was another sticking point for me.

      And I loved what she came up with.

 I took a couple of pictures outside, but it was way too sunny for great colors.

 With all the color on the top, I decided to put on a border of grey to frame it. I quilted the quilt in off white thread, but did the borders in red thread, just for fun.

 And I had two long-ish pieces of leftover binding in my stash, so I put them together to bind this quilt.

And for the back, I used some Bonnie and Camille fabrics that I love, but had been in my stash for a number of years, along with a couple other fabrics to make it large enough.

And there you have it. My big finish. Have a great rest of your weekend friends.

My New 36 Patch

So, I believe I mentioned awhile back that I was going to make a new 36 patch quilt. I made one a number of years ago as a sew along with Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts. It has always been a big favorite of mine. I have long wanted to make another one. This time, I am using a bunch of my favorite fabrics by some of my most favorite designers. Here is my progress report:

 These are a couple of prints from Laurie Wisbrun. The way I assemble the block, some end up upside down, but no big deal to me.

      These are a couple of Lizzy House prints.

   These are some very sweet Heather Ross butterflies in two different color ways.

     These are two more Lizzy House prints.

 These are a couple of Sweetwater prints from my most favorite of all time Sunkissed. I know there isn't as much contrast in these two, but I love them all the same.

This is a Heather Ross print, paired with a Dear Stella Mini Confetti Dots. I used to have that dot fabric in almost every color way. I am sad it's gone.

 This is two Denyse Schmidt prints from Flea Market Fancy reprint. A bit hard on the eyes, but kinda cool.

 Two more prints from the Sweetwater Sunkissed line. I have a few more from this line to include.

 And two more prints from the Flea Market Fancy reprint. This is the last of the grey seeds that I have and I just had to include them here.

Here are two prints from Sandi Henderson. The green is from Meadowsweet collection and the red is called Henna Garden, a classic.

I am doing this quilt, not only because I love the first one, but to sort of immortalize all my favorite fabrics that I have either been hoarding or am almost out of by now. A nice way of keeping just a bit of each one.

If you want to do something like this, it only takes two 2 1/2 inch x WOF strips of two fabrics to make a block. You sew the two strips together with a 1/4 inch seam and press it. I like to press it open. Then, you cut these into 2 1/2 inch units and sew them together until you have the 36 patch block. You will have some extra pieces to use either on the back or in another project.

Once there are 36 of these blocks made, I will join them all together to make my quilt top. If you want more detailed instructions you can search Crazy Mom Quilts. I know her blog isn't active any longer, but all her tutorials are still up there.

Today I am hoping to finish the last side of the binding on my 100 blocks quilt so I can wash it and have it to show you, maybe tomorrow?
Have a lovely Friday.

Jiggedy Jig

Remember that old nursery rhyme? To market, to market to buy a fat pig. Home again home again jiggedy jig. That's what I named this quilt.

 If you will remember, these were left from the panels that I used of Farm Fresh. I made a quilt and a table runner using the chickens and the roosters. This sweet quilt is for my son-in-law's nephew who is two. I hope he likes cows and pigs.

 And the bright rainbow backing is a couple of pieces I have had in my stash for years now. I know small children like bright pretty colors.

So this will go out in the mail soon, hopefully this week some time and now that this is done, I finally finished quilting the 100 blocks 100 days quilt and put the binding on it yesterday. I began stitching the binding down last night. A couple move evenings should see it finished and then into the washer and dryer for its crinkle treatment. I should have it ready to show you by Friday.

Today we are going to the Padres baseball game, so no sewing will happen. I am still working on my Hands 2 Help quilts and they are moving right along. I would think in two more weeks, they will both be done.
Have a great Wednesday.