Two Brake Light Quilts complete

My friends and current "Quilt Models", Lori and Charlie, met me in the parking lot at the clubhouse to help get photos of these two quilts.  You can read about the process of making these two quilts here.  

When I got home I remembered that I hadn't taken any cell phone photos, so I had to get creative.

I used some hangers with clips and hung both quilts from the gutter in front of the garage.

I used a long arm quilter that usually does custom quilting for me.  I left all the decisions up to her and I'm happy with the results.  My only displeasure is that when she mailed these two quilts back to me, she addressed the package incorrectly.  My street number was wrong, and my street name was misspelled.  I'm going to think long and hard before using her services again.

May your bobbins always be full,

The Biggest HST I ever made!

At our FB Room meeting last month, the Temecula Valley Modern Quilt Guild president issued a challenge.  Easy peasy, make something using charm squares.  I'm always up for a challenge, so I looked at some of the charm square tutorials on the web.  I settled on The Brake Lights tutorial by Moda Fabrics.

I had a bunch of charm packs that I'd picked up at a couple of Quiltcons, freebies from the vendors.  Each pack had 5 to 10 squares.  I picked Caribbean Blue for the foreground fabric and Winsor Blue fr the background.  After I read the instructions, I decided, NO Way!  I came up with Plan B, and made the above 60" square from the charms, cut in half, and foreground 4/5" rectangles.

I then made a matching-sized background square.  Laid them out, right-sides together, drew the diagonal line, and stitched 1/4' from both sides of the line, cut on the line, and pressed.  That's how I made these huge HSTs.

But I wasn't finished.  I cut another 60" length of Windsor Blue, cut it in half, along the fold, and stitched the new addition to the top of each section.  I now have two Brake Light Quilt Tops.  I sent them off to my friend Georganna for quilting.  When complete, they will go to my favorite twins!

May your bobbins always be full,

Breezy Quilt, #2

While making the Breezy #1 quilt top, I thought it'd be fun to have more colors in the background.  For Breezy #1, I used Kona Windsor and Coty.  For Breezy #2, I used Kona Turquoise, Chartreuse, Citrus, Red, and Surf.  Thank heavens for a fabric stash!

This is a fun finish for me.  Each month I make 4 quilt blocks, 2 to donate to my quilt guilds' Charity BOM project, and 2 to keep for quilts like this one.  One of the blocks in this quilt are from a class I took at Quiltcon a couple of years ago.  The quilt back is made from fabric I purchased; I thought it was printed madras patchwork.  So much for thinking, it's actually pieced; lots of squares of madras sewn together.

May your bobbins always be full,

Breezy, Quilt #1

 

This is a fun finish for me.  Each month I make 4 quilt blocks, 2 to donate to my quilt guilds' Charity BOM project, and 2 to keep for quilts like this one.  Three of the blocks in this quilt are from a class I took at Quiltcon a couple of years ago.  The quilt back is made from fabric I purchased; I thought it was printed madras patchwork.  So much for thinking, it's actually pieced; lots of squares of madras sewn together.

May your bobbins always be full,

More house blocks

And then there were 4! Two will stay here and two will be donated to the #TVMQG #charityquilt #bom project.

May your bobbins always be full,

Tree Quilt Block

At the March meeting for the Temecula Valley MQG, I'm presenting the BOM.  I got these done early and the tutorial scheduled on the TVMQG website because my life is busy!  The was an easy block to make Kristy has very good directions.  I recommend paying attention to her seam pressing suggestions.  You can find the tutorial here.

May your bobbins always be full,

Breezy Quilt Tops

When I make charity quilt blocks for my quilt guild, the Temecula Vally Modern Quilt Guild, I make 2 to donate and 2 to keep. I threw in some orphan blocks and made these quilt tops from the keepers. Two quilt tops done, same pattern, different look.

First I made the quilt top on the left.  While I was making it, I was inspired to make the brighter version.  Thank heavens for an abundant stash!

For Breezy #1, I used Kona Windsor and Coty.

For Breezy #2, I used Kona Turquoise, Chartreuse, Citrus, Red, and Surf.

This is a new design for setting the 12" blocks, it may be my favorite. I'm calling it Breezy because I was fighting a strong breeze when taking the photos.

In other news, I'm in ❤ with my new iron!  It's heavy and makes pressing quilt seams a breeze. I ordered it from the Vermont Country Store, in case you want to check it out.

May your bobbins always be full,

Wonky Stars BOM

These are the TVMQG's BOM for January, Wonky Stars.  Our meeting was on the 17th, so I'm late!  Life just got in the way.  Two of these will stay here for future quilts, and two will be donated to my quilt guild.  Now to work on the February BOM, a Scrappy Log Cabin Heart.

May your bobbins always be full,

Maple Leaf Blocks

These are for my Modern Quilt Guilds' Block of the Month Charity Quilt project.  Each month a different member chooses a block to present.  Once enough blocks are collected, we assemble them into large lap-size quilts to donate to a local charity. 

This month's tutorial can be found here.  Rather than use yardage, I had this great Charm Pack that I thought would work perfectly.  I had to improvise a bit, but I think the Maple Leaves turned out great.

May your bobbins always be full,

Freckled Fox Mug Rug.

This Fancy Forrest Freckled Fox may or may not be part of my quilty gift exchange at the December guild meeting.  For the exchange this year we decided to do wrapped gifts of anything quilty or quilt related.  The exchange will be done by a Yankee Swap, which is always so much fun!

In case you've never heard of a Yankee Swap, here are the rules:

The rules are the same as a White Elephant Gift Exchange.

I'm traveling for 11 days in early December, so I wanted to finish this early.

May your bobbins always be full,

Giving Love Quilt Top

My quilt guild, the Temecula Vally Modern Quilt Guild, makes quilts to give to Thomas House.  We're a small guild and we manage to give 12 quilts a year to them.  This quilt top was made from donated Block of the Months.  The blocks are 12.5" and the HSTs are the same size; those are the larges HSTs I've ever made!  I'll turn this quilt top into the Charity Quilt Vice President at our next meeting, then someone will quilt it and someone will bind it, maybe me!

I came up with the quilt design, if you want to make your own, the tutorial is here.

May your bobbins always be full,

Fast, So Fast!

These were the "fastest blocks in the West"! So fast. They are the November #bom for the #TVMQG charity quilt project. The name of this block is Whirlwind. I can see the possibility of an entire quilt made from these blocks. It'd be finished in a couple of days!

What are you working on?

May your bobbins always be full,

X and Plus Blocks

My guild is still making 12" blocks for our Charity Quilt Project.  These are the BOMs for this month.  I got them done early because I'm leaving on a Jet Plane before our next meeting.  I've handed them off to Jessica, she will turn them in for me.

Here's the guilds' blog post for this tutorial, we used the original tutorial by Bad Skirt but changed the dimensions to make a larger block.

May your bobbins always be full,

Charity Blocks

The Bow Tie block is one of my favorites. I'm getting a head start on my blocks for April because I want to concentrate on a Red and White Quilt! These are the 12.5" BOM for the TVMQG Charity Quilt project. Two will be donated and two will stay here.  You can find the tutorial for this block here.

May your bobbins always be full,

Starflower BOM for March

This the Strawflower quilt block chosen for my quilt guilds BOM this month.  It's a delightful block, but the tutorial was a nightmare.  If I was a beginning quilter, I would have cried, thrown my hands in the air and quit!  Many steps were left out.

May your bobbins always be full,

Giving Love Sampler Quilts

Ta Da!  These are the two Giving Love Sampler Quilts I made to show my guild.  You can read about the project here.  I hope they like my idea if they don't, I still have two new quilts to give away.

May your bobbins always be full,

Giving Love Quilt Tops

I decided to come up with another layout for my quilt's charity quilts.  This version is super easy, you need 13 12.5" blocks and 12 12.5" HSTs.  The blocks I used were from the guilds BOM program.  Every month we have a different block and ask members to make one and donate it to our Charity Quilt Challenge.  Every month I make 4, 2 to donate and 2 to keep for my own use.  I really like how these turned out.  If you want to make your own Giving Love Quilt, you can find the tutorial here.

If you're curious, below is the previous version of the TVMQG Charity Quilts.  It uses 12 BOM blocks and 2.5" strips and 1.75 yards of fabric.  This tutorial can be found here.

May your bobbins always be full,