Projects Old and New

My quilting time this week was spent on one very old project, plus I started one new project. Here's the old project first. I pulled out an unfinished Hawaiian applique block in April, our month for purple at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and now the block is done! It will join three previously finished blocks. According to my UFO list, the first block of the set was started in 2001. I wonder where those other blocks are hiding?

Hawaiian Applique block, 20" square

The new project that I started this week is a block of the month by the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. Several members of our quilt guild are making their own versions as a group challenge. I had planned to use 30's fabrics for my block, then totally changed direction and went with a gradation of fall colors. This block is also appliqued, but I did this one by machine, straight stitching close to the turned-under edges on all of the hexagons.

NQM BOM Block #1, 12.5" x 24.5"

This block of the month just started at the beginning of May and will last until the end of 2023. You can find more info at the National Quilt Museum website HERE or on their Facebook page HERE (but you have to join their Facebook group to access it there.) Did I mention that the patterns are free?!

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday, and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. I'm also linking up my applique for Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts and Favorite Finishes at Meadow Mist Designs.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Square Dance Baby Quilt Finished!

It's my first quilt finish for September--the Square Dance baby quilt is complete!

Square Dance baby quilt

39" x 46"

The blocks for this quilt were made as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge throughout 2020. I made about 30 blocks each month using the assigned color of the month along with the next color of the rainbow progression. By the end of the year, I had the blocks all joined together into two small quilt tops.

The two quilt tops above each measured 40" x 60" When I decided to use one of them for this baby quilt, I decided to remove a couple rows of blocks, taking the size down to 40" x 48". After quilting and washing, it ended up at 39" x 46".

The quilting is wavy lines following the chains of squares that zigzag through the quilt. I used a whole rainbow of thread colors, matching each to the fabrics.

The backing is a flannel that I have used on multiple earlier quilts. I wish I had a whole bolt of this fabric!

This quilt should get packed up and mailed tomorrow. It is going to a niece who is expecting a little girl next month. We are planning a family visit in December and hope to meet the new family member then!

Finishing this quilt was also my One Monthly Goal for September. I will be linking up with Elm Street Quilts at the end of the month.

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Favorite Finish at Meadow Mist Designs

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Stepping Stones QOV

National Sew a Jelly Roll Day happened back in late September this year. I didn't have a jelly roll to use, but I've got plenty of 2.5" strips around. I decided to make a Quilt of Valor using my red, white and blue collection of fabrics, and now I have a finished top!

Stepping Stones QOV

56.5" x 72.5"

My inspiration came from a quilt shared by Yvonne at Sew Yummy. She made a quilt she named Cinnamon Bars from her unloved beige and brown fabrics, and I think she did a great job with them.  She originally got the idea from a design by Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times. Yvonne also made a green version that you can see HERE.

As you can see in this close-up shot, my light fabrics include both white and cream backgrounds with either red, blue or red and blue designs. The darker fabrics are a wide range of styles and colors of red and blue prints. 

I don't know if there is an official name for this quilt block. Judy's original design called it The Brown Quilt. I've named mine Stepping Stones because that is what the alternating rectangles look like to me. This was a fun and easy block to make, and I expect that I will use it again for a future project.

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Favorite Finish at Meadow Mist Designs

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Volcano Quilt Top Finished!

Some refer to them as "squirrels." Sandra at mmm quilts came up with the acronym "DrEAMi" which stands for "Drop Everything And Make It." Whichever name you like, it refers to a totally unplanned project that completely takes over your time and your brain, leaving you unable to focus on anything else. That's what happened with my recent squirrel, the Volcano 9-Patch quilt. I shared the beginning of this quilt two weeks ago in this post, and now I have a finished quilt top to share!

Volcano 9-Patch, 42.75" x 54"

This quilt was made from the leftovers of a Blooming 9-Patch quilt that I made in 2000-2001. I had run across a Zip-loc bag of scraps, strips and strip sets, and couldn't resist playing with them again. I was lucky to have extra of most of the same fabrics and added in a couple of others to complete the flow of colors. Instead of the Blooming 9-Patch layout that alternates 9P blocks with larger squares, this quilt is made up entirely of 9-patches, 111 of them total. Here's a closer look at the fabrics and some of the piecing.

I decided to use this crazy tie-dye style flannel for the quilt backing. It only needed one seam to make it big enough. I'm hoping to get this little quilt finished sooner rather than later.

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

DrEAMi #55 at mmm quilts

Favorite Finish at Meadow Mist Designs

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Sister's Choice Quilt Finished!

In an attempt to finish some of the many UFOs that are hanging out in my sewing room,  I am participating in the One Monthly Goal link-up at Elm Street Quilts. 

My goal for February was to finish the quilting on my blue and yellow Sister's Choice quilt. I didn't touch this quilt until the very last week of the month, but I am very happy to report that not only is the quilting is done, but I also added the binding to this quilt. It needs to be washed, but otherwise, it's FINISHED!

Sister's Choice, 52" x 66"

This quilt has been an on-again, off-again project for several years. It started in 2013 as a pile of scrappy blue and yellow 9-patch blocks. In 2018 I added the blue triangles to turn the 9-patches into Sister's Choice blocks. I stitched the blocks together into rows, then quilted each row before joining them together, my own variation on quilt as you go. The only part that still needed quilting was most of the border sections, and now those are done too!

This is one of my favorite blocks in the quilt. I especially love the center fabric with the bees. You also get a good look at some of the other fabrics, plus the quilting shows up well. There's straight-line quilting in the center star, meandering in the white background, wavy lines in the sashing (especially visible across the top,) and a diagonal grid in the border at the right.

The back of the quilt was pieced from chunks of several older blue prints. The horizontal seams line up with the seams where the rows of blocks and sashing were joined together on the front of the quilt. The colors don't really look as grey as they appear in this photo.

Linking up with:

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at soscrappy

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Favorite Finish at Meadow Mist Designs

Thanks God It's Finished Friday (TGIFF) at Rebecca Grace Quilting

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Blooming Onion Quilt Top

There were several different quilt projects waiting to be worked on last week, but one of them took over and wouldn't let me stop until it was complete. This is my Blooming Onion quilt top.

Blooming Onion, 60.5" x 80.5"

The name of the pattern I used is actually Blue Onion by Karla Alexander of Saginaw Street Quilts. Since my version isn't blue, Blooming Onion seemed like a better choice to me. Unfortunately, the colors in the above photo are a little bit off, making the purples look much more blue than they really are. The next photo was taken about 10 minutes later, and the sun was starting to hit the quilt top. The colors in this photo are closer than the previous one.

My quilt top was made entirely from batik fabrics, all pulled from my stash, except for one non-batik that I snuck into the mix. Can you tell which one it is? Here are a few closer shots for you.

I've been trying to think of a better name for this quilt, but haven't come up with anything clever. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

I was able to get a great stained-glass looking shot of the top half from behind as it was hanging over the deck railing. I love the way the colors glow!

Still wondering about the non-batik fabric? It's the purple in the block below.

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Favorite Finish at Meadow Mist Designs

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA  

Giraffes Baby Quilt finished!

My One Monthly Goal for April was to finish this baby quilt by the end of the month. I didn't meet that goal, but I did manage to finish the quilt before the baby was born!

Giraffes in a Row
pattern by Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts
37" x 45"

The quilting on the giraffes is all stitch-in-the-ditch, and I did a loose stippling in the background areas.

Here is another view of the adorable flannel print that was used on the back. That fabric may be my favorite thing about this quilt!



I'm already planning to make another version of this quilt, maybe using prints instead of solids.

Linking up to:

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Let's Make Baby Quilts at Michelle's Romantic Tangle
Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
Favorite Finish at Meadow Mist Designs

Julie in GA

Circling the Rainbow--A Favorite Finish!

Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs has started a brand new monthly link-up called Favorite Finish. It's a place for us to share our favorite finish of the past month. Her timing couldn't be better, because I have my first finish of 2019 ready to share, and it is truly one of my favorite quilts ever! I wish there were beautiful outdoor photos showing the quilt draped over a park bench or something like that, but all I have are straight-on hanging shots that were taken indoors.

Circling the Rainbow, 50" x 61"
based on "True Colors" by Nancy Mahoney
from her book Simple Circles and Quick Curves

This is my Circling the Rainbow quilt, which was started in January of 2015 as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Every month that year, I appliqued circles in the assigned color for each month to their black-and-white-print backgrounds. There are 143 applique blocks total in this quilt. Instead of arranging the colors in vertical columns as Nancy's design had them, I went with more of a wash of color across the quilt.

The quilting design was chosen to emphasize the circles and is done in grey thread. Each applique circle has three rings of stitching around it, and they overlap to form interlocking shapes. The beautiful quilting was done by Jan Walsh of Cat's Meow Quilting of Brookfield, Wisconsin.

For anyone wanting a closer view of my quilt, I am thrilled to announce that you will be able to see it at AQS Quilt Week in Paducah at the end of this month. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the show this year, but it is a great honor to have my quilt on display there.

Linking up to:

Favorite Finish at Meadow Mist Designs

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
Rainbow Scrap Challenge at soscrappy

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework