Mostly White with Red Patchwork Quilt.

 I think this is such a fun quilt, now it's ready to go to a new home.  I've listed it here.

May your bobbins always be full,

Two down, Four to go

These two are a lot alike.  Red, white and blue and I used the exact same fabric for both quilts.

The first one is definitely "baby"-sized, 41" x 46". The top and back of this quilt were finished up, last October!  I really love how it turned out.  I've listed it in my etsy shop, here.

Another finish, for today.  I'm really happy with how well the HST's turned out when I set them on-point.  It makes such a simple design very special, in my book.  I also, love the way the back turned out.  This one is listed, here.

This was also ready for the long arm quilter in October.  I've had many trials with different long arm quilters, and have finally settled on Janiel Miller, right here in Murrieta.  She was slow getting these back to me because I gave her permission to delay them.

May your bobbins always be full,

Polaroid Block Exchange

I've finished the 12 Polaroid blocks I needed for the exchange.  (Only 3 are in my photo, because they're all the same!)  I'm really happy with them: I hope the gals in UT will like them.  I'll get them in the mail tomorrow.

P.S.  As I was finishing pressing the finished blocks, Bob told me that they were really neat.

May your bobbins always be full,

Sew, I'm not Betsy Ross

I was invited to participate in a Polaroid Block Exchange, by my friend Ella.  I'm the only non-Utah member.  Each quilter is responsible for 12 Polaroid blocks representing the assigned month.  My month is July, and I decided to use an American Flag motif.

First I auditioned the fabric from my stash:

I decided to use the stars with the first red and white stripe.  The stars are Peoples's House by Susan Stamilio for Robert Kaufman, and the stripes are Penelope Mini Ribbon Stripe by Holly Holderman for Lake House Dry Goods.

Then I got busy cutting and sewing.  Here's my "flags", ready to be surrounded by the Kona Snow borders, then the Kona Coal borders.

Bob wanted to know what I was making; so I explained everything to him.  His response was, "Those aren't American Flags!"  I told him I was a quilter, not Betsy Ross.

May your bobbins always be full,

Baby Quilt ~ Red White and Blue

This is the design I decided on for the 42 four patches I made last month.  I seldom use borders but I really thought the additional white set-off the four patches, nicely.

This is the back.  I used leftover HSTs from my previous quilt, and made some flying geese.  I hadn't planned on anything else for the back, but I had to do a lot of unplanned piecing because this is the absolute end of the Kona white bolt.  New bolt arriving sometime this week.

If you're looking for my giveaway, it's here.

May your bobbins always be full,

Red White and Blue Quilt

It's been hot here, and it's going to be even hotter today, record-breaking hot for October.  The weather gurus are thinking 104 to 107 degrees!  In my pj's this morning I got out early to snap these.  I've finished both the top and back of this quilt.

I'm totally smitten with this quilt.  Can't wait to get it to the long arm quilter.  For the back I planned on using more Kona white, but I didn't have enough on the end of the bolt!  Time to re-order.  I like Plan B just fine.

If you're looking for my giveaway, it's here.

May your bobbins always be full,

Red White and Blue Quilt

I'm joing my blocks together, but before I started I had to figure out a little problem.

I didn't want traditional setting triangles for this quilt, so I made HSTs setting wedges.  I didn't want to use entire blocks, this way I minimize fabric waste.  I have a cousin, Craig, who is a rocket scientist, I think Craig would approve of these shapes

In other news, I got a new iron.  My old iron was over 25 years old, so it was time.  This Rowenta DW100 was inexpensive, comparitively speaking and it's about a 1000% improvement over the old iron.

I went to the San Diego Zoo, yesterday.  It was hot, humid and smoggy, not a good combo.  There were some horrible fires near the border and the smoke was effecting the air quality.  I sat down on a bench to cool off and was joined by this local guy.

May your bobbins always be full,

Progress and disappointment

I am making progress on the Red White and Blue quilt.  Not as much as I'd like, but progress none the less.  I spent a lot of time yesterday making an on point grid that would help me with deciding size and setting triangles.  Here's where I am, today, before I dash off to teach Tai Chi.

Two shots, to show that my dining room table is too small for this quilt.

Tomorrow, I should be able to get a lot of the "joining" accomplished.  In the afternoon I committed to speak at the Parkinson's Support Group at our Senior Center, about Tai Chi.

Plus, I spent some time on the contest that I mentioned in my last post.  Pin to win fabric, what a great idea; however  Randi, of I Have To Say  changed the rules and more that halved the time allowed to get the repins and I was 2 short.  Bummer.

May your bobbins always be full,

Red White and Blue Quilt

My next step is partially done.  I've sewn blocks of 4 matching HSTs together; 42 blocks, so far.  I'm still winging it and didn't want to go all crazy and sew everthing together without a firm plan.

I had to pay attention when I did the blocks with the stripes.  They really looked wacko, if all the stripes didn't go the same way!

This fellow was visiting my garden, and was kind enough to pose for me.  I haven't participated in Macro Monday for a long time.  Today, I'm linking up with Lisa for Macro Monday.

May your bobbins always be full,

Red White and Blue Quilt

I've now gone from this ↑, to this ↓ !

I have also decided on a design.  All the time I've been cutting, sewing, slicing and pressing, I wasn't sure how I was going to assemble these HSTs.  Today I'll start sewing them together, it'll take a couple of days, for sure.

May your bobbins always be full,

By The Sea Baby Quilt

One of the best commenters on this blog, Cherie, left a comment yesterday, and she inspired me to rename this quilt.  From HST Baby Boy Quilt to By The Sea Baby Quilt; I think it's a much better name, don't you?

Yesterday I finished the quilt top, and today the back.  Here's some shots.

For the back, I used all my left over strips and added the fun large polka dot, that I've used several times.  I'm almost out of this red polka dot, I'll have to keep my eye open for more.  As you can see a breeze has come up this afternoon.

May your bobbins always be full,

HST Baby Boy Quilt

 

I bought this FQ stack, called My Blue Heaven, over two years ago.  Since that time I've "robbed" a couple of FQ's for other projects.  Yesterday I had a total of 18 remaining; of those I eliminated the very lightest, the ones that "read" almost white; and threw in a splash of a red print for interest..  I cut two 7" squares from each of the FQ's   I paired each of these with a 7" square of Kona White, sewed around all sides and cut on the diagonals, to make my HST's.  This is a peek at what I'll be sewing together, today.

There are a total 10 rows x 11 rows should work out to a 40" by 44" quilt.

May your bobbins always be full,

Patriotic Zig Zag Quilt