Star Pulse is a Finished Quilt!

Star Pulse started as a quilt-along and pattern by Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl. The quilt-along ran from November 2023 until June of 2024. My quilt top was made in June 2024 with the intention of entering it into a challenge at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show, but it didn't get quilted in time to be entered. This year it was added to my list for the guild's UFO Challenge, and now I can present my finished Star Pulse quilt!

Star Pulse, 41.5" square

Yvonne's pattern makes a quilt that finishes at either 60" square or 60" x 72". The rules for the quilt challenge required that it finish at 30" x 40". For my original quilt top, I made the units in the quilt half the size of Yvonne's pattern and adjusted the rows at the top and bottom to get it to the right size.

Star Pulse quilt top 2024

30" x 40"

When I pulled this quilt top out for finishing earlier this summer, I decided that I would like it better if it were extended at the sides to complete the design. I'm so glad that I took the time to make that change because I'm much happier with the way it looks now.

Star Pulse quilt top before quilting

My quilting is very simple, and for the most part it barely shows. I would have stitched in the ditch next to the red, but that didn't work because my seams were all pressed open as suggested in the pattern. Instead, I quilted very close to the red bands, then added a triple star quilted in red at the center of the quilt. 

I had marked the center star with a blue wash-out marker, and it hasn't been washed away completely yet, just spritzed with a spray bottle. Unfortunately, spraying to remove the blue marks made the red dye run in a few spots. You can see traces of it in the music note fabric right next to the red. I'm very frustrated by that because I tested the fabrics before  making the quilting, and there wasn't any bleeding on the sample piece. I'll need to work on soaking that out later.

Backing fabric

That's one more finished project crossed off my UFO Challenge list. You can find more information about Yvonne's Star Pulse Quilt Along at her website, or go straight to her store to buy the pattern.

Linking up with:

Favorite Finish for August 2025 at Quilting Jetgirl

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Quarter Log Cabins is Finished!

Just in time for tomorrow's quilt guild meeting, my Quarter Log Cabins quilt is finished!

Quarter Log Cabins

53.5" x 63"

Our quilt guild is making throw quilts to be donated to the local chapter of Meals on Wheels. The quilts will be distributed in the fall to clients who are in need of comfort and warmth. 

I received the fabrics for this quilt from the guild's head of community service projects. The design I chose to make is the Quarter Log Cabin pattern from the Sew Can She website. Caroline at Sew Can She offers a huge selection of free patterns on her site, including several of the popular 3-yard patterns. My quilt is a little bigger than the pattern because I had a larger piece of the red print and made my outer border wider.

I got a little carried away with my machine quilting and ended up wishing I'd done something looser and simpler, but it turned out well. I stippled through the logs in the blocks, did a couple wavy lines in the narrow light border, switchbacks in the navy border, and large swirls in the outer red border. I had just enough of the navy print to use for the binding.

The backing fabric is similar to the red print on the quilt front, but a little lighter/duller in color. 

Finishing this quilt was one of the projects on my list for the guild's UFO challenge, and it feels great to be able to cross another item off that list!

Linking up with:

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Chinese Coins is Finally Finished!

One of my very oldest quilt projects was completed recently, and I can't believe how long it took. This is my Chinese Coins quilt, which was started in July of 1998!

Chinese Coins, 44.5" x 51.5"

Some of my memories of this project are a little fuzzy, but I know it was started at a quilt shop sewing day in '98. I had been collecting teal and turquoise fabrics with plans to make a Storm at Sea quilt, and I enjoyed using them in this quilt. The quilt shop named the design "Chinese Coins," but they look like Snowball blocks to me.

The quilt top, batting and backing were pin basted together soon after I made the top, but I struggled for a long time with figuring out how to quilt it. It would get pulled out of the closet on a regular basis, but always ended up going back again unfinished. I did start quilting it in 2014, but I didn't get far before I returned the quilt to the closet again.

It was our guild's UFO (UnFinished Objects) Challenge that finally motivated me to get this quilt done. I decided that I would rather continue with the quilting that had already been done than pick it out and do something else. It feels great to finally get this scrappy beauty finished and out of the closet. It deserves to be seen and enjoyed!

Linking up with:

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

UFO Challenge 2025--Report #1

Our quilt guild recently started a UFO Challenge (UnFinished Objects, in case you didn't know), with each member submitting a list of UFOs and what they hope to achieve on their projects. The challenge is running from April until October. For each goal successfully completed, we get our name entered into a prize drawing, and for each goal not completed, our penalty is one fat quarter. Those fat quarters become part of the final prize.

As usual, I greatly overestimated how much I am likely to get done on my UFOs. The list I submitted contains 13 different projects! Most people listed three or four. This week I buckled down and completed two of my UFO goals.

Sewcialites 2, 9" blocks

The blocks shown above were made as part of the guild's most recent Block of the Month, Sewcialites 2 from  the Fat Quarter Shop's website. I finished a quilt top with 3" blocks from the same pattern (see it HERE,) but lost interest in making more of the 9" blocks. My UFO goal was to join them together into a baby quilt top.

Before joining the blocks together, I decided to rework two of them that bothered me as part of the group. Those were the blocks at the top right (that bright blue isn't used anywhere else) and the bottom left (needs more of the background fabric.) I changed the corner squares in the bottom block to half-square triangles with the dark blue background, and I'm much happier with that look.

Instead of taking apart the block with the bright blue, I picked a different block pattern to make from scratch. This was a very easy block to piece.

After those were done, I figured out a plan for sashing and borders. It took a couple days, but I now have a finished quilt top. UFO Challenge Goal #1 completed!

Sewcialites 2 quilt top

39.5" x 50"

I didn't waste any time after that UFO success before I pulled out another project. This was a small quilt that had been pieced several years ago, then the quilting was started in 2022. Each fabric has been quilted with a different design in a different color thread. Here are some close shots of the fabrics and the quilting.

This photo of the back really shows the texture of the quilting. The backing is a flannel print.

All that needed to be done on this quilt was to finish quilting the borders, then add the binding. I took care of those items, and now it's a finished quilt. Goal #2 completed!

Diagonal Squares baby quilt

38" x 45"

It feels so good to have completed two of the goals from my UFO Challenge list. Maybe that will motivate me to keep pushing through the other projects I've chosen. If I can average completing two goals per month, it will be a very successful challenge for me.

Linking up with:

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report & Stitching Time 3/23/2025

Somehow I missed writing a blog post last week with my Stash Report and 15 Minute Challenge updates. We were getting ready for a family gathering that evening, and preparations for that were the priority. It was quite a surprise that I didn't have any blog posts during the last two weeks. I've certainly been spending time in the sewing room, I just haven't been doing well at documenting my progress.

Flannel baby quilt, 35" square

One recent finish was this cute little baby quilt for our quilt guild. It started as a kit of precut squares, plus one yard each of the two fabrics in the borders (light blue solid and large dots.) All of the fabrics are flannels. I quilted it with wavy diagonal lines in the center of the quilt, plus more wavy lines around the large circles in the outer border. The only fabric from my stash was 1/4 yard for the binding.

In preparation for the family dinner last weekend, I finished off the last four placemats to complete a set that had been started about a dozen years ago. The one at the lower left shows the fabric that is on the backs of all of them. 1-3/4 yards of fabric used for these.

Here's a photo from a 2012 blog post when I originally made six of these placemats and a matching table runner.

Earlier this month we felt the need to get away for a couple days and took a quick road trip to Paducah. It was a huge treat to visit the quilt museum and have the place practically to ourselves. They had the "Option Expedition" series by Victoria Findley Wolfe in one gallery, plus a fantastic display of quilts from their collection in the main gallery. It's so hard to pick a favorite, but I'll try.

From "Option Expedition" by Victoria Findley Wolfe

Seeing the next quilt at the museum was like rediscovering an old friend. I believe the first time I ever saw this quilt was at the Sun Prairie, WI quilt show in 1997, the year before it won for Best Machine Workmanship at the Paducah show in 1998. This is Sweetheart on Parade by Diane Gaudynski.

The colors in my photo are off a little bit. The areas that look brown are actually a very dark olive green. This quilt inspired me so much that I started making a similar design in 2000, but it is still mostly a collection of small half-square triangles. I had the good fortune to take multiple classes with Diane in the late 90's/early 2000's while I was living in Milwaukee, and I still refer back to her lessons on machine quilting.

Naturally, the trip to Paducah also included a visit to Hancock's. I didn't have anything particular that I went in looking for, but for some reason I got a little obsessed with the Grunge fabrics. These are the ones that I'm planning to use in a new quilt, and there were some other purchases too. 10.25 yards total added to the stash.

2025 STASH TOTALS

Used last two weeks:             2.0 yards

Used year to date:            27.125 yards

Added last two weeks:         10.25 yards

Added year to date:             20.75 yards

Net used in 2025:            6.375 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. There has been plenty of quilting going on, along with lots of time spent figuring out plans for a new project. 

15 Minute Challenge for 2025

3/9 - 3/22            14 of 14 days

2025 Total            81 of 81 days

Success rate                100 %   

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Hummingbird Quilt Finished!

My most recent finish was made as a special gift for my husband, Ed, who loves watching the hummingbirds at our feeders in the summer. We are both fascinated by their behavior, but Ed is the one who makes sure the feeders stay filled.

Tiny Jewel, 18" square

The pattern is called Tiny Jewel, and it was designed by Sylvia Schaefer of Flying Parrot Quilts. The hummingbird is foundation pieced, and three different block sizes are included in the pattern (9", 12" and 18" finished sizes.) I made the 12" block, then added the gradation of green solids as a border.

I pieced the top for this little quilt almost two years ago, soon after I bought the pattern, but it hung around my sewing room unquilted until just recently. I found the perfect fabric for the back at Hancock's of Paducah last December, and that helped motivate me to get this finished. It is now hanging next to our back door, waiting for the return of our favorite little flying acrobats.

Linking up with:

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Another Strippy Baby Quilt

The quilt guild sewing day was held last week, and we had about a dozen members in attendance working together to make baby quilts for a local pregnancy center. I decided to use some older batiks from my stash to make another Quicker Strippie quilt. Like my previous version of this pattern, I changed some of the strip sizes, cutting all of the widest strips at 9.5".

Quicker Strippy baby quilt

38.5" x 44"

My fabric choices for this quilt top were based on the beautiful flannel print that was used on the back. I remember buying this fabric when the Hancock Fabrics chain was having their going-out-of-business sales, probably 8-10 years ago.

I might have enough of these fabrics to get one more baby quilt out of them if I reverse the placement of the green and the peachy/orange batiks. Maybe I'll go ahead and cut the strips to keep together as a kit for when I'm in the mood for a quick and easy project.

Linking up with:

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Woven Ribbons for Project Quilting 16.2: Ombre

Ombre is the theme for the second challenge of Season #16 of Project Quilting, hosted by Kim at Persimon Dreams and Trish at Quilt Chicken. Participants are required to use an ombre or gradient in their project. I love working with gradients of colors, so this challenge is right up my alley!

I started by looking through the various ombre projects I have saved on Pinterest, plus patterns I already own, both digital and paper. This Woven Sunrise pattern was a leading contender, but I didn't want to rush through it, so it will wait for another time.

Instead of the Woven Sunrise, I decided to do a design that I've wanted to remake for several years, Woven Ribbons. My first time making this pattern happened back in 2004-05. I bought the pattern and an 8-step gradient bundle to make it. I loved the way the fabrics worked together, but ended up giving the quilt to a friend several years ago.

Woven Ribbons #1, 42" x 49.5"

There were scraps left of the gradient bundle and the background batik fabric from the original quilt. I scaled the pattern down a bit and made a smaller version for this week's challenge. This is my entry for the Project Quilting Challenge 16.2: Ombre--Woven Ribbons #2.

Woven Ribbons #2, 21.75" x 26.5"

The gradient sections are stitched in the ditch around each set, and the batik background is stippled.  The binding was made from the same batik. The colors in these last two photos are more true than the shot of the first version hanging in my friend's stairway.

Check out all the different projects inspired by this week's Project Quilting theme at Kim's blog, Persimon Dreams. The next Project Quilting challenge will be posted there at noon CST on Sunday, February 2nd. Come join the fun!

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Strippy Baby Quilts

At the end of the this month, our quilt guild is having a group sewing day to work together making baby quilts for a local pregnancy center. I had offered to make a sample of a quilt-as-you-go style quilt to show at our most recent guild meeting, and I ended up making two. They are so quick and easy, making this a very fun, satisfying project.

Quick Strippy baby quilt, 38" x 48"

The first baby quilt was based on the Quick Strippie pattern from maryquilts.com. I cut my largest strips, the swirly print, a little smaller than her pattern, but otherwise followed her cutting instructions.

This quilt has a pretty blue polka dot flannel on the back for a cozy finish.

Quicker Strippy baby quilt, 40" x 42"

The second baby quilt features a pastel print that I've had for at least two decades. This quilt was based on Mary's Quicker Strippie pattern, although again I changed some of the strip sizes. The wide strips of the pastel print finished at 9" high, so I added a couple horizontal lines of quilting on each to hold them in place.

I used the same pastel print fabric on the back of the quilt too. It feels good to finally have found a use for that cute fabric.

Making one of these quilts was my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for January. I will be joining the One Monthly Goal link-up, hosted by Anne-Marie at Stories from the Sewing Room when it opens later this month.

Linking up with:

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

One Monthly Goal at Stories from the Sewing Room

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

30's Pinwheels--First Finish of 2025!

One of my top quilting goals for 2025 is to finish more quilts. Like many other quilters, I am much better at starting quilt projects than finishing. To tell the truth, I don't really enjoy doing the machine quilting, and I certainly can't afford to have everything I make long-armed. That has resulted in a closet full of unquilted quilt tops, and this year is the time to do something about it.

One theory I've read about ways to reduce your number of UFOs is to start with the ones that need the least work to be completed. This little quilt was an easy choice from that perspective. The top had been finished back in May, 2016, and it was quilted later that same year. I even went ahead and made the binding back then too, but for some reason, it never got bound, until now. This is 30's Pinwheels Baby Quilt #2.

30's Pinwheels Baby Quilt #2

39" square

Here's a closer look at some of the fabrics in the current finish. I wish I had more of that diagonal plaid, but it's quite old. Actually, most of my stash of 30's fabrics is at least 20 years old, with the majority of fabrics purchased between 2000 and 2005.

For a bit of style contrast, I used a fun tie-dye swirl print flannel for the backing. That's another fabric I would use again and again if I had more.

This little quilt is a companion to another baby quilt that was finished early in 2016. At the time I made enough pinwheel blocks for both quilts, one of which got finished right away and given to a new great niece (now 8 years old!) I couldn't find any photos of that first quilt finished, but here are all the blocks for it on my design wall. The plaid in the large pinwheels is the same design as the border fabric in the new quilt, but the colors are different (more pastel, pink instead of red.) 

30's Pinwheels baby quilt #1, 2016

When I was checking my box of 30's fabrics to see what I had left of the border/sashing/setting fabrics, I made an amazing find--two Ziploc bags with still more 30's pinwheel blocks. According to a note in with the blocks, there are close to 150 of them! I looked back at past blog posts and discovered that I made them as leaders and enders at various times between 2018 and 2020. What a treasure trove to discover! I am envisioning several more pinwheel baby quilts to come.

Stacks of pinwheel blocks

Linking up with:

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA