It's a good thing these are quick!

I realized after they were finished, that I'd made the Hearts for New Zealand incorrectly. They were the correct size but the wrong design. Today I remade them, top row, and I'm sending both sets because both will work with their quilt design.

Now I'm all caught up and I'm going to actually start a project of my own, a Red and White quilt.  I've been wanting to make one for ages and I've been collecting fabric; so now I'm ready.

May your bobbins always be full,

Buzy Day ~ Quilters are givers

These heart blocks are so fast to make.  My guild is making and collecting 6.5-inch green heart blocks for the next two months.  We will mail them to New Zealand, where they will be incorporated into quilts to give to the families impacted by the tragedy in Christchurch.  If you want to make some. you can find the tutorial here.

May your bobbins always be full,

Heart Blocks

These are the Heart Blocks that I made for the Temecula Valley MQG Block of the Month ~ Charity Quilt project.  Each month we're introducing a new block as the Block of the Month.  We're asking members to make at least one block for our future Charity sewing and suggest making one or more to keep for herself.  

This month we used the Cluck Cluck Sew tutorial but needed to add new cutting sizes for the 12.5-inch blocks we're collecting.

Below are the blocks I made as samples to show at the January meeting.  I'm keeping these for myself.  These are so easy and so fast!

May your bobbins always be full,

A New Sampler Quilt.

My quilt guild, The Temecula Valley MQG is starting a Block of the Month program this year.  The goal is two-fold; first to make quilt blocks to be donated to our Charity Quilt Committee and the second goal is to have the BOM be a skill builder.  We're encouraging members to make another block or more each month for their own Sampler Quilt.

Each month a member will introduce a 12 inch BOM, it'll be posted on the TVMQG blog with a tutorial.  This is all new for us, but it should be fun.

Here is the fabric I've pulled for this BOM Challenge.

A 9 piece fat quarter set of Dear Stella by Rae Ritchie
Noe by Eric McMorris for Free Spirit (5)
Haberdashery Tape Measures for The Henley Studio Makower UK
Petal and Plume by Bari J. for Art Gallery
Nature Walk by Tamara Kate for Michael Miller (2)
Moon Rabbit, Autumn Rice by Rashida Coleman Hale for Cotton and Steele
Honor Roll by Ann Marie Horner for Free Spirit (2)
Tuesday Night Ladies Bowling League 1972 by Kimberly Kight for Cotton and Steele

This is a 12.5-inch block based on the directions at Cluck Cluck Sew.  Her measurements don't go all the way up to this size so I had to improvise.

The second block I made is the 8.5"-block with a border, to make 12.5.

And the final example is four 6.5"-blocks joined to make a 12.5"-block.

These are "my" blocks that I'm keeping.  I have a month to make the donation blocks.  Our meeting is on Thursday, and I'm excited to see everyone's response to this new program.

This should be a fun BOM Challenge, especially with all the different contributors.  I'm already working on a sampler quilt for the Solstice Challenge, but who doesn't need another quilt or two?!

May your bobbins always be full,

Quilts for Peace ~ Dallas MQG

After the tragedy in Dallas, the Dallas MQG put out a call for Blue Heart Blocks.  The blocks will be made into quilts for the survivors and the deceased officers' families.  I took a break from my current project.  The first day I selected the fabrics from my stash.  I love having a good stash!  Then I did all the cutting,  The Dallas MQG asked that the blocks be 10.5 inches and follow Cluck Cluck Sews great tutorial.

Then yesterday, I sewed them all up, took some photos, and put them in the mail.

This tragedy, the wholesale killing of police officers, broke my heart.  My husband was an LAPD officer for 28.5 years.  He worked in the Watts area, home of the worse criminal gangs in the country.  I didn't worry about him, he was mature and well trained.  Worrying solves nothing.

I love being part of the wonderful quilting community.  They jump right in, whenever there's a need.

The other big quilt drive is Quilts for Pulse, in response to the killings in Orlando.  Next week, I'm sending the Orlando MQG this heart quilt.  I happened to make this a year and a half ago, just for the joy of making a quilt.  Now, it'll comfort a stranger.  That's what quilts are for.

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt with HSTs

The LAQ, Janiel Miller, had three quilts back to me eons ago; my extra duties involved in being a caregiver make it difficult to just devote a chuck of time to creativity.  No complaint, just the facts.  I have decided to really try to get the binding on all three, before 2015 rolls around.

I'm really in love with this quilt, I spent some time "auditioning" fabric for the binding and settled on this warm gray diagonal strip from the Little Red Riding Hood line by Tasha Noel.  There are both warm and cool grays in the patchwork, and I thought this was a good choice.

Name of quilt:  Patchwork Heart Quilt with HSTs
Start date:  September 28, 2014
Finish date:  December 28,2014
Measurements:  48" x 48"

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt

 

When I purchased a FQ bundle of 1930's fabric, it just sat there, and sat there on the shelf .  I usually keep my quilts pretty modern and I wasn't inspired to use them.  After I finished the Patchwork Heart Memory Quilt for a little girl, I thought I'd make another using these FQs.  I'm really happy with the results.

I used a navy gingham check from the Dear Jane line by Brenda Papadakis.  I think it really adds to this quilt.

Name of quilt:  Patchwork Heart Quilt
Start date:  September 5, 2014
Finish date:  December 29,2014
Measurements:  48" x 48"

May your bobbins always be full,

Heart Memory Quilt is finished

This quilt was made for a 6 year old girl, who'd lost her Daddy.  It's made from his dress shirts.

The quilting is Heartthrob by Ann, and we used Lucerne Blue for the thread.  The finished size is 63.5 inches square.

I pieced the quilt back using the pockets from the shirt fronts.  The pockets had been close to Daddy's heart, it just made sense to me.

When we were discussing designs, this is the one the child picked.  I think my version is less childish, so she'll love her quilt for many decades.

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt Back with HSTs

For this quilt back I took all the leftover bits from making the quilt top, strung them together and put the panel in the middle of some Kona White.  I love making then using the leftover bits.

Here's the quilt top.

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt Top with HSTs

I finally feel like I know what I'm doing!  Yesterday, I got the center of this Heart Quilt completed; then I added the outer ring of patchwork to complete the 64 patch center block.  Then I started on the twelve 16 patch blocks needed to complete the quilt top.

Today, I finished up the outer blocks, spent some time arranging, then rearranging them, trying really, really hard to not have the same fabrics touching!  This afternoon I stitched the whole 49" x 49" quilt top together.

It's a bit breezy today, making photos extra fun.

May your bobbins always be full,

Heart Quilt Top, the slowness.

I finally found some sewing time, and started to work on this new quilt.  I decided to change it up a bit from the previous versions.  I wanted to make a new one, but not be bored or boring.  I'm really liking this so far.

These are the other two patchwork hearts I made for the centers of quilt tops.

May your bobbins always be full,

A New Patchwork Heart Quilt Top

I think I'm stuck in a rut, but I'm going for it!  I've decided to make one more Patchwork Heart Quilt.  Like the last one, it's for no one in particular!

These are the FQ fabrics I'm using:
Serenity Entwined Pearl, Ta Dot in Graphite, Triangle Tokens Metallic, Script Honeycomb, Zig Zag in Raspberry, and Bee Damask in Wine. Kona Cotton Solids in Snow, Coal, Ice Frappe, Curry, Pomegranate, and Crimson. Glimma Blueberry Kita, Glimma Fog Kita, Mormor Nopp Eggplant, Mormor Nopp Rubine, Mormo Trassel Mist, Mormor Trassel Myer Lemon, Mormor Blomster Mint, Glimma Dandelion Tove, Sweet Siesta Barcelona Pewter, Sweet Siesta Costa Del Sol Mint.

This is the B&W version, to help me select the darkest values.  I'm always surprised at how some of the colors "read".

May your bobbins always be full,