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,

The Tile Quilt is finished!

This is my original design for the American Patchwork & Quilting Two-Color Quilt Challenge. It's a simple design using only two blocks.  If it's accepted, it'll be shown at Quiltcon in February. I'm not holding my breath about it being accepted because there will be thousands of entries from all over the world.! My design inspiration came from Athos Bulcão, a Brazilian artist.  It was quilted by a fellow TVMQG member Nancy Thomas.

If you want to make your own Tile quilt, you can find the tutorial here.

Project Started:  July 20, 2018

Completed:  October 25, 2018

Quilted by Nancy Thomas

Measures: 73" x 88"

May your bobbins always be full,

A couple of finishes

I started this quilt top last Saturday and finished it on Friday.  I used 6 charm packs of Cookies & Cream by Wilmington Prints and lots of scraps!

One of my guild members called this an Improv Butterfly Quilt; I guess I'll go with that name!  I really love how it turned out.

A couple of close-ups of the Butterflies. 

I also did a quick project, birthday gifts for my granddaughter Erin and her new husband Jaimie.  Jaimie is a firefighter and Erin is studying to be a nurse.  These are quick, but I took longer than the 15 minutes that the tutorial claimed! 

I've previously made several of these pillowcases; I recommend the tutorial by Leslie, The Seasoned Homemaker.  I usually make these to give as a gift to an older sibling when I gift a quilt to a new baby in the family.  I don't want the older children to feel left out.  In August, two of my bookseller friends are expecting additions, so I'll be making four more pillowcases in the near future.

May your bobbins always be full,

Charm Pack Challenge

While I've been President of my quilt guild, I've presented a new challenge every 6 months.  The goal is to encourage the members to "think outside the box".  Many modern quilters never use a pre-cut, with the exception of Fat Quarters.  So this time it's the Charm Pack Challenge.  You can read about it here.

I decided to use white on white 5" squares.  The charm pack is called Cookies & Cream by Wilmington Prints.  The packs have 24 charms each and I bought 6 packs; if my math is right I'll end up with a 54" square quilt, or a 49" x 58" quilt.  I'm planning on using scraps in the 2nd photo to liven up the quilt.

The Challenge isn't due until the September meeting, but with my busy life, I thought I'd better get it started and off to the LAQ.

May your bobbins always be full,