Making Backings for Quilts of Valor

There was a national sewing day for Quilts of Valor a couple of weeks ago. I didn't have a current QOV project going, and I didn't want to start a new one (very unusual for me!) Instead, I decided to focus on making backings for some Quilts of Valor tops and other red, white & blue quilt tops.

When I checked the quilt closet, I found six different RWB tops. There are three definite QOVs, and the other three I might keep for now. They are all throw-sized tops, around 60" x 80". My goal was to come up with backings for every top. I had a bin of larger yardages of RWB fabrics which had been set aside to become quilt backs. I started with single fabric backs, then combined the leftovers to make pieced backs. 

The first one was the easiest. It is a wide backing fabric from the line "Saltbox Village" by Country Essentials for Connecting Threads, and I bought it in 2013. It will be the back for my version of Allietare, Bonnie Hunter's 2015 mystery, now available as a digital pattern.

Allietare, top finished 2/3/2016
67" x 81"

Up next is my Woven Squares quilt top, made in May/June 2019. This quilt is my version of a pattern from Fons and Porter's Easy Quilts magazine, Winter 2016

Woven Squares, top finished 6/6/2019
59.25" x 75.25"

I used another fabric from Connecting Threads for the back. It is "Patriotic Patchwork" from the "Liberty for All" line, made in 2015.

The last of the single-fabric backs was for my Musical Stars quilt. I made this top in 2018, using a block pattern called "Double Delight Star" by Lynne Hagmeier of Kansas Troubles Quilters. Her pattern was originally shared as part of the 2017 Moda Blockheads QAL.

Musical Stars, top finished 8/15/2018
59.5" x 76.5"

For the back, I used yet another Connecting Threads fabric. This one is "Cartouche" from the line "Symphony in Blues" by Jenni Calo, 2014. There is one long vertical seam running through my quilt back, but I got the pattern to match up so well that it is practically invisible!

At that point I had run out of big enough pieces to make whole backs. It was time to start piecing together the leftovers. First up was my Meadow Mystery quilt. This is my variation of the mystery pattern designed by Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs.

Meadow Mystery, top finished 3/12/2017
60" x 84"

The back for this quilt was made from pieces of the leftover "Patriotic Patchwork" print plus two other Connecting Threads fabrics. The light blue is "Bunting" from the "Liberty for All" line, 2015, and the red/white print is from the "Rhapsody of Reds" line, 2014. The quilt back is more symmetrical than what you see here--the left side is cut off by a doorway.

The final quilt back to be made is for one of the mysteries by Alycia of Alycia Quilts. This was Mystery #A-11, later named "Under the Starry Sky." If you aren't familiar with Alycia's QOV mysteries, you should definitely check them out. She just listed the fabric requirements for #A-12 "Dakota Inspired" a couple days ago. Get more info HERE.

Alycia's Mystery A-11, top finished 11/22/2020
60.75" x 81.75"

Like the last back, this one was pieced from multiple fabrics. The flag print was given to me; it is by Fabri-Quilt. Again, the left side is cut off by the doorway. The flag fabric is actually the same width on both sides of this back.

I have only one more RWB quilt top that needs a back. It is another of Alycia's mysteries, this was her Winter Quilt-Along from November and December of 2019.

Alycia's Winter QAL, top finished 12/24/2019
60.5" x 72.5"

My leftover pieces are running low. I might have to go back to the stash for some more options, or else do more piecing in the back for this quilt. That's feeling like a project for another time. I think five finished quilt backs is very good for this week!

Linking up with:
Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA  

Meadow Mystery Revealed

It's time for me to share my version of the Meadow Mystery quilt designed by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. As her blog heading states, Cheryl is an engineer by day, quilter by night. She is also a very talented quilt designer. 

I had seen several people's work on Cheryl's previous mystery quilt, the Midnight Mystery, and was intrigued by what I saw. When she posted the fabric requirements for the Meadow Mystery QAL, I was instantly inspired to follow along on the mystery and make it as a Quilt of Valor. Here are the color swatches that Cheryl showed in her fabric post:

I didn't completely match her colors, but they gave me a good starting point. The mystery design was for a 60" x 60" quilt. I knew that I would need to make mine larger for a QOV, so I made sure to have plenty of extra for each of my fabric choices (or so I thought!) Here's what I used:

The blue crosshatch replaced her gold as A, I stuck with red and royal blue for B & C, the white with stars for D, the secondary background, and the white with pale blue swirls (behind the other swatches) for E, the main background.

Cheryl's instructions were very clear and easy to follow. It was a pleasure to get a new set of directions each month, and I had very little trouble keeping up with the pace she set. 

The final reveal of Cheryl's design came in February. That was when I needed to figure out how to make my quilt longer. The original design had 12" blocks set 5 x 5, and I wanted to adapt the block designs to add another row of blocks at both the top and bottom. The one snag I ran into was running out of the darker blue fabric. I added some red triangles to the HST blocks at the outer corners to squeak my blocks out of the remaining fabric.

Meadow Mystery quilt top
60" x 84"

Making this quilt top was great fun from start to finish, and I look forward to the next one. Check out the Meadow Mist mystery quilts page to find all the info/instructions for this Meadow Mystery and also for Cheryl's earlier mystery quilts. There will be a parade of finished Meadow Mystery quilts/tops running April 5th - 7th at Meadow Mist Designs. Thanks so much to Cheryl for sharing her wonderful design with us all!

Julie in GA

Linking up to:   Sew Some Love at Kat and Cat Quilts
                      Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
                      Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
                      Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
                      

Design Wall Monday 2/13/17

My design wall is currently covered with most of my blocks for the Meadow Mystery quilt that I have been working on since last July. The original design of the quilt finishes at 60" x 60". I knew from the beginning of this project that I would want to make extra blocks in order to make the quilt rectangular, so I chose fabrics that had at least 25% more yardage than what the pattern called for. The final layout of the quilt was revealed at the beginning of this month, and I have been working on the extra blocks since then. 

Meadow Mystery blocks
Designed by Cheryl Brickey, Meadow Mist Designs

My blocks are all up on the design wall with the wrong sides showing. One of the challenges with a mystery quilt is not knowing which way to press the seams when making blocks. Cheryl, the designer of the mystery, recommended pressing seams open, but I prefer pressing in one direction. I have been changing the direction some seams were pressed to help them nest when blocks get joined to one another. One extra row of blocks has been added to the bottom in the photo, and there is another set of the same blocks to go across the top. My version will finish at 60" x 84". I hope to get these all joined together before the end of the month.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration! 

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 2/12/17

Last week was spent bouncing around between several different projects. I put together another Star Cluster baby quilt that needs the outer border finished before I can count the yardage. I made four more teal and turquoise Scrappy Trips blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, which you can see in yesterday's post. I also worked on more blocks for the Meadow Mystery quilt in order to make it longer. For the second week in a row, I had 2.75 yards used for the week. No new fabric was added to the stash.

Here is one of the new blocks I made for the Meadow Mystery. The pattern had all the HSTs in blue, but I ran out of my blue fabric. I am mixing in a couple of red triangles in each of these blocks.

2017 STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                    2.75 yards     
Used year to date:              16.25 yards

Stashed last week:                 0.0 yards

 Stashed year to date:             2.0 yards 

Net year to date used:  14.25 yards

I am continuing to join Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking how many days each week I manage to get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. My 100% streak is intact, going 7 for 7 days again. 

15 Minute Challenge:  
2/4 - 2/11                  7 of 7 days

2017 Total              42 of 42 days

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 1/9/17

The cold weather and icy roads meant extra quilting time for me over the weekend, hurray! Yesterday I was able to finish up the January clue on the Meadow Mystery project. Cheryl's quilt design finishes at 60" square, and we have now made all of the blocks. The photo shows my guess for how they might be arranged.

My plan is to turn this quilt into a Quilt of Valor, which will mean adding to the length of it. Once Cheryl reveals the actual layout of the blocks, I can come up with a way to extend the design at the top and bottom to make it longer.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration! 

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 12/12/16

Ever since late October, I've been trying to decide if I wanted to participate in Bonnie Hunter's En Provence mystery. I really enjoyed following along on her Allietare mystery last year and Easy Street a few years ago. For some reason, I haven't been able to come up with a group of colors that I like together, and that has kept from joining in.

There is another quilt mystery that I have been doing, and that is Cheryl's Meadow Mystery. One advantage with this mystery is that the new steps are posted every month, not every week--much easier to keep up! For December, we joined together units from previous months into blocks. The arrangement on the wall is my guess, not necessarily how the blocks will end up.

Cheryl's pattern makes a 60" x 60" quilt. I'm hoping to add 6-10" or so on the top and bottom to make it rectangular. That will make it a good size for a Quilt of Valor.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 11/13/16

This was another week with plenty of sewing, but not much usage to report. Only 5/8 yard used on the November units for the Meadow Mystery quilt. It feels good to have them finished nice and early. The next clue comes out on the first Thursday in December.

On the incoming side of the tally, I received some fabric I'd ordered from Connecting Threads. I'm such a sucker for their sales! I mostly got light background prints, plus some lovely blues. 6.5 yards total, which will put my numbers for the year back into the red (but just by a little!) It looks like I need to do a quilt with black-on-white prints

STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                 .625 yards     
Used year to date:          80.875 yards

Stashed last week:             6.50 yards

 Stashed year to date:       81.25 yards 

 Net year to date:  .375 yards stashed

I am joining Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking the number of days each week that I spend at least 15 minutes quilting. I know life is going to get even busier as we head into the holidays, but I will keep trying to get in my quilting time.

15 Minute Challenge:  
11/6 to 11/12                 7 of 7 days

Year to date            288 of 317 days

350 Block Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts: 

Blocks made 11/6 - 11/12: 57

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday

It's later than usual for my regular design wall post, but that is mostly because there was nothing to show on the design wall this morning. That all changed after I got home from work.  

The blocks across the top are Whacky Pinwheels for the 2016 Rainbow Scrap Challenge sampler quilt. They were made back in April, but I am getting ready to join them together into a column.

The other blocks are for my most recent new project, the Meadow Mystery Quilt. This is a monthly mystery, hosted by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. These blocks were the assigned clue for September, and I decided to join in on the mystery on September 30th (nothing like waiting until the last minute!) I also made a stack of HSTs with the same royal blue print and a lighter background. Our next clue comes out this Thursday, so I am very pleased to have these done before then.

I am sharing with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check them all out to see lots of wonderful creations!

Julie in GA