Fall-la-la-la-la Finally Finishes

Deck the porch with two Fall Finishes,

Fall-la-la-la-la, la, la la la

I bet you can see that this Post title you can sing. I was hoping to Post on October 1st since it was the official date for my 10 year anniversary of my Something Rosemade blog. It really did seem like yesterday I was writing about my five year anniversary and a few more yesterdays when I typed my first Post which was only a paragraph with no pics. According to my Blogger stats, this is my 305th Post which I mostly shared my projects, finishes and pics of the Master Quilt Holder and the darling Granddaughter.

I thought with my 10th Anniversary Post, I would share a photo of my Fall-Elation Quilt which was made from fabric and a pattern purchased this past September. Normally, my fabrics and patterns simmered in my stash sometimes for years before anything is made and this is one quilt which I wanted to sew sooner than later.

The fabrics used was designed by Libs Elliott in 2023 called Kensington and maybe a few pieces from a Halloween line. Some of  the fabrics were purchased when we were in Iowa at Piecework’s Quilt Shop in Winterset, Iowa and I found the other prints on Etsy. I just loved the colors which are perfect for Fall. I’m still in love with my Sandy Gervais Fall stash but it’s nice to have something new.

While on our Colorado vacation l purchased the Elate pattern designed by Carolyn Friendlander after seeing it on IG.  I just knew it was my kind of pattern since I wanted to make it more than once; even the name is perfect. It’s funny I only realized at the beginning of October that the Kensington fabric and Elate pattern would be a great combination. The pattern is for four sizes and I chose to make the large size 72”x84” because I wanted to use up as much of the Kensington fabric, even though I’m really trying to make smaller quilts. 

One of the problems with a quilt this size is the Master Quilt Holder has a problem with holding it up straight so fortunately the Rookie Quilt Holder was able to assist although he complains as much as the Apprentice Quilt Holder (his older brother) did. I really wanted a nice straight pic to show the fabric loveliness and the three different blocks for the Elate pattern.

I machine quilted wavey lines spaced 2” apart with CT Essential Thread in Charcoal Gray. The wide backing of a text print was found in the backing vault as well as the black and gray binding which is not a Libs Elliott print —I thought both of the prints went well. I just finished sewing the binding by hand which was made possible while the the darling Granddaughter was at school.

And speaking of he darling Granddaughter, I finally finished her Halloween quilt which I was hoping was going to be my September surprise finish. Near the end of that month while I was rummaging through the Fall stash, I came across yardage of Sandy Gervais’ Pumpkins Gone Wild print which was designed in 2008. I had enough prints to make a rail fence flimsy which the plan was to make it a patchwork throw by backing it with an orange fleece. I did not have in my stash but I ordered it online and it arrived the next day. It’s a quilt because I ended up using Pellon Soy Batting since the fleece was too thin and I wanted more weight. I thought Karma was on my side when I found a spool of Wonderfil Ahora thread in neon orange thread in my drawer but imagine my surprise and disappointment when I saw the end of it fly off the spool when I was only two third done with the machine quilting. It took more than two weeks for the neon orange thread to arrive and of course it came the day before we were leaving for the GP house. (BTW, I loved this thread so much, I ordered three spools). I’m happy to say I was able to finish the machine quilting and binding so the darling Granddaughter can enjoy it before Halloween. I”m sad to say the Halloween pillow made Last month was not appreciated by her and there is a possibility that Orange is not one of her favorite colors, definitely not her favorite flavor.

Looking at this pic, I think her favorite color is purple, both in color and flavor.

I’m ready to start on some Christmas projects when we are home next week. This is the second month in a row which I didn’t feel like finishing my Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge project for this month. I’m in a mood which I think I’ve done a pretty good job with finishing some UFOs and using stash, so I’m going to be selective with projects now for the rest of the year and sew Que sera, sera-what will be, will be. As well as for blogging, I have mixed feelings about continuing since it seems there are less bloggers from when I started. But, I am very happy and fortunate for the friendship and camaraderie made through blogging and QALs and have to give a shout-out to my Down Under Tormentor, Sue, PatchworknPlay who encouraged me to start blogging. BTW, I wrote in my Five-Year Anniversary post that I needed a new laptop—I still haven’t yet…

September Sewpoke

I’ve been pokey this month with finishes especially since I did not finish my CT Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. During the first three weeks we were on vacation and then had a nice five day visit at the GP House where I was able to finish a Halloween pillowcase on top and the table runner/wallhanging flimsies on the bottom. All of these were made with Halloween fabrics which were sitting in the stash for too long.

I thought the Alexander Henry Pumpkin Party prints would make a fun pillowcase for the darling Granddaughter. These really are fun and easy to make  and also a great way to use some of the other fabrics waiting to be used. I’ve already have at least six groupings ready to be made.

Six years ago, I made a table runner with yardage and a fat quarter pack of Thimbleberries’ Mr. Halloween Party. I really loved the prints and so did Demando who asked if he could have the table runner for his new apartment. Like a good mother, I obliged him which you do especially if it’s quilt related. This fabric line came out in 2007 and can still be found on Etsy which I was able to purchase a half yard piece earlier this year. I had a few charm squares left and yardage of the stripe and plaids and added some other Halloween prints I had which went well with the Mr. Halloween Party prints to make this table runner measuring 20”x35”. I definitely won’t be bringing this table runner to the GP House since I don’t want my other Son to ask if he could have it.

I have to say The Haunted Hallow wallhanging is my favorite finish. I absolutely love how this came together using some fat quarters of The Haunted Hallow by Jacqueline Paton/Red  Rooster Fabrics and Sandy Gervais Halloween prints. The pattern is a modified version of Villa Rosa’s Clover patten and measures 20”x32”.  I spent yesterday decorating the house with all of the Fall/Halloween quilts (at least 20) and I have to say I really love seeing The Haunted Hallow on the wall. I had these fabrics in my stash for awhile so I’m glad to have finally made something wonderful with them.

While on vacation during our road trip to Colorado, I worked on two hand working projects I put together:

My latest EPP project, Carrie On Smitten Stars, using the diamond paper pieces from the previous Smitten quilts and my Carrie Bloomston stash. I need to make 40 stars and so far nine have been made.

I’ve been wanting to do some slow stitching with my scraps and embroidery floss and made this with a scrap linen strip. I am loving this and wasn’t sure what I was going to with it until I saw a small lime green basket which has been sitting in the kitchen for years. I’ll keep you posted.

I thought I was going to have a surprise finish which would have made up for the CT UFO project which I didn’t do but as luck would have it, I ran out of thread while machine quilting it. I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to do a September post but thought I should since next month would be ten years I started blogging. I definitely will have something to say next month.

Americana August

I thought I would do my August Post now since I don’t think I have another finish left in me for the remaining six days. We just returned from the GP House with the darling Granddaughter being a little under the weather but recovered just in time for the first day of school; she does love going to school. Last month, I spent some time with Jan Patek Projects and I continued finishing more this month. My CT Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge project was supposed to be finishing a king-size quilt with Kansas Trouble fabrics but didn’t feel like working on it so I replaced it with several Jan Patek UFO projects.

The first finish was a modified version of the Two Hour Couch Quilt designed by Mary Etherington/Country Threads. The Geranium focus print and several other fabrics was from Jan Patek’s Front Porch collection was purchased at Mary’s shop years ago before it closed. I can’t remember if these fabrics were for this quilt pattern since I had to modify it because there wasn’t enough yardage of the Geranium print but am happy to make it 56” x 72” which is enough for it to sit on the couch. Another reason I’m calling it a modified version is because I accidentally made the top and bottom borders wrong. I wanted to finish the couch quilt thhis month since August is the last Summer month, and I wanted to take a pic of this quilt on our front porch; it really is a perfect quilt for the season.

Here are some pics of the fabrics used for this quilt, some from the Front Porch and past collections and maybe some designed by Barbara Brackman. The red backing was not from the Jan Patek stash and found in the backing vault. I have to mention the color thread I used for the straight line machine quilt; it was Connecting Threads #21582 Essential Thread in Cantaloupe. I thought it blended well with all of the fabrics.

Another sort of UFO project I wanted to finish is the last of the Season Wallhangings (Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall) designed by  Jan Patek and Sue Spargo in their Seasonings Book published in 2001. One of these wallhangings is twenty-five years old, one is several months shy of  twenty-five years, one is twenty-three years old and the last one was finished less than 24 hours old when this pic was taken. Can you guess which one? I’ll give you two hints,  the title of this Post suggests which one and after the one which was made twenty-three years ago, I was tired and thought it could represent two seasons.

If you guessed Summer, you would be correct. Fall was the first one made, then Winter and finally Spring. These wallhangings measure 28”x27” and instead of traditional applique, I did raw-edged applique, ala Sarah Sporrer, a style I prefer for primitive quilts. These quilts have always been hung from the mantel in the fireplace in the Family Room except for the past few years because Hubby had his huge Speaker used for his band gigs sitting on the hearth which interfered with the wallhangings. I didn’t have the heart to ask him to move it because of his back issues but now that he’s recovered, the wallhangings are back. The Summer wallhanging is now hanging on the fireplace where it will hang until the end of September.

Here’s a pic of the Seasonings book and the wallhangings which I have been enjoying looking through it again. I’m thinking I would like to make a modified version of the cover quilt with only four blocks and using wool for the applique.

The last of the Jan Patek projects was this table runner made from the bin of fabric scraps of past projects. This measures 20”x30” and will be used for our kitchen table. It was a nice and satisfying make which I always feel when scraps, especially batting is used.

And speaking of Sarah Sporrer, I finally made this wallhanging, measuring 22”x29” which has been on my project list since we bought the GP House seven years ago.I thought it would be fitting for the Americana theme this month and already has a place for it in our farmhouse kitchen at the GP House.

I purchased Sarah Sporrer/One Day in the Country patterns around the same time as when I purchased Jan Patek books, which I loved because of the raw-edged applique style. These wallhanging patterns were cards which included an envelope which could be used for sending greetings and were only $5. I purchased thirty of these cards during my Quilt Shop days which meant I bought them at a 40% discount and have made 10 of these patterns.  The previous wallhangings were made with all fabrics but this latest one I did do wool applique which I like very much. The background and borders were from my Sandy Gervais stash. Sarah Sporrer patterns can still be found if you do a Google search. 

Now that my Jan Patek phase may be paused and to be continued at another time, I have finished piecing my Smitten Says quilt and have started removing the paper pieces. Once this is done, I will add the top and bottom border. Also, I have to make some Patchwork Blankies for the darling Granddaughter’s classroom before the next GP house visit….and then there’s projects for the upcoming road trip.

I thought I would share the darling Granddaughter’s first day of school pic, for someone who doesn’t like smiling for pics, this was no problem since she loves going to school.

A Jam Packed or Jan Patek July

It all started with #7 being pulled for July’s Country Threads Dirty Dozen Challenge which for me was to finish making a Fat Quarter Mixer quilt which I had already cut the patches last year from a stash of Jan Patek prints which I was saving for several years. Somehow I ended up finishing five projects with my much loved Jan Patek (JP) stash and/or UFOs. (I would like to mention for the ease of writing this Post, I’m typing JP fabrics even though some of the fabrics were designed with Linda Brannock up until 2016). I’ve  been collecting JP fabrics since I started quilting over twenty-five years ago and have accumulated a bit of a stash which I still dearly love, Thank You working in a quilt shop days. I’ve now made 17 quilts with JP fabrics and also have quite a few of her books and patterns.

As mentioned earlier, my July project was to finish making a Fat Quarter Mixer quilt measuring 72”x 84” with these JP fabrics, a mixture of her earlier and recent collections. I already had cut patches to make 63 8-1/2”x 12-1/2” blocks which is smaller than the pattern which is 10-1/2”x15-1/2” blocks. My plan changed when I realized that I didn’t want or needed a quilt this size to just sit on my shelf.

Instead, I made two quilts; a 56”X72” lap quilt which is my official #7 finish for the Dirty Dozen Challenge and a 24”x72” chair runner. Both of these will be for my family room and will be perfect for Fall. FYI, this is the fourth time, I have made a Fat Quarter Mixer quilt which I find perfect for the traditional and modern fabrics I have in my stash. I still have four bundles waiting to be made with this pattern. It is a free pattern available from Material Girl Quilts and you can easily modify the block size.

The lap quilt was machine quilt with vertical straight and wavy lines using a Star Thread in Gold. The gold print was found  in the backing vault and I was lucky to also find there the red and tan ticking stripe used for the binding.

The chair runner was machine quilted with straight lines spaced 1” apart using Star Thread in Mother Goose. The same backing and binding used in the lap quilt was also used for the chair runner which makes sense since they are a set. I like to mention that I love how the machine quilting looks with Star Thread which I think is a 30 wt (not an affiliate link) and sadly I can’t seem to find any more colors.

After finishing the first two JP projects, I was tidying up a shelf and found two more JP projects, one forgotten and one on my Dirty Dozen Project List for several years; can you guess which is which?

The chair runner, on the left, measuring 24”x48” was made with leftover patches from the Pinwheel quilt made in 2007. The chair runner was a flimsy made well over ten years ago and I had forgotten making. This happens when it was neatly folded under a piece of JP fabric which has been sitting in a basket for awhile. Since I was putting away my JP fabrics I thought it was time to put away this piece of fabric and voila’, there was the flimsy. I thought it would be nice to finally finish it, so the JP fabric, which was sitting on top of it, was used for the backing and the red and tan ticking stripe was used for the binding. I machine quilted horizontal straight and wavy lines using Star Thread Mother Goose. This chair runner will be for the GP House. I have to mention there was a time when I remembered all of Jan Patek fabric lines and now I only can name a few. The red border print for both of these quilts were from Linda Brannock and  her Porch Swing fabric line and I remember buying a fat quarter bundle. A funny side story is I was hemming and hawing about buying it, so I called Good Quilt Friend Carol to talk me out of buying it and her response was I already bought it so then I had to buy the fat quarter bundle too. There is no guilt in buying fabric when a good friend also buys the same fabric with you.

The Telly Star wall hanging was finally finished after I found the block made two years ago when Mary Etherington’s dog Telly passed away in May, 2024. I’ve met this sweet girl several times and thought I make this remembrance of her. The dog was appliqued on a black Buggy Barn block which was sewn wrong. If you’re wondering why this would be considered Jan Patek, the dog is her pattern. I did use several Sandy Gervais prints for the border which I thought would be okay since back in my favorite days of Moda fabrics which were in the late 90’s and early 2000’s (the same time frame as my working in a quilt shop). Sandy Gervais was Moda’s oldest designer and Jan Patek was the second oldest. I’m talking being a Moda designer and not their age now. Also, another side note, is Jan Patek and Mary Etherington are friends and Jan gave Mary the goat who may have been the father  of Susannah, the famous Country Threads goat.

My fifth and last JP project was a surprise UFO and the largest finish of the year so far; I’ve named it the Black Bear Patchwork Blanket which you will read later why this name was chosen. Two years ago, I started making rail fence blocks which ended up 15”x18” (finished)  and I made 36 of them in my favorite color combination of Red, Beige, Black and Sage, the official colors of the GP House. This was on my UFO project list and should have finished it in June but a different project was chosen. My original plan was to make a king size quilt measuring 108”x90” for the GP House and I would QAYG like my Gypsy King quilt. As much as I love quilts on the bed, to me, they are not warm and snuggly like what I call Patchwork Throws when there’s no batting in between and the backing is a plush fabric. I decided a patchwork blanket is what I wanted so the 36 blocks were laid out and sewn together. I was prepared to spend $60-70 for the plush backing but could not find anything I liked; I wanted either red or black. I then had an idea to purchase a $25 king size Toasty Warm Blanket in black from Walmart who used to carry my favorite David Textile chenille plush. The blanket was chenille-like with the lines running horizontal like the rail blocks. I was nervous about doing this since the blanket was supposed to be the same size as the flimsy and centering is a challenge for me.  It turned out to be 2” skinnier because it was hemmed and since this was a blanket and may be covered by the quilt already on the bed, I was prepared to trim the sides of the flimsy after the machine quilting. It was good that the blanket was longer so the corners, which were bulky, were able to be trimmed. Otherwise the hemming on the sides were not bulky and easy to sew the binding over. I did cut my binding strips 3” and used a red JP print which I had yardage in my stash. 

The Black Bear Patchwork Blanket was hung outside the screen room. I am really pleased with how it turned out and I would do this again. I did have some trepidation doing this and I really thought it would not be finished until the 31st but it turned out it was a finish on the 29th. I machine quilted vertical straight lines along each side of the 6” rail blocks with a gold polyester thread. My original plan was to use a black polyester thread but it did not sew well. I’m glad I switched to the gold and wasn’t concerned with how it would look against the black plush.

And here’s the Master Quilter Holder, who would not stand like Vanna White, showing off the beautiful black plush backing. The reason I named it Black Bear because it’s a big blanket, soft and heavy and I called it that after carrying it back and forth from the table to the sewing machine several times. And there was some wrestling or maneuvering during the machine quilting and was glad to have survived. The machine quilting took only around four hours but the pin basting took an entire afternoon and some evening hours. I am looking forward to sleeping under it this Winter, definitely not now with all of the hot weather we’re having.

I still have several JP projects to be made but I think I need to take a break now. I did take some JP scraps to the GP House to make some placemats so they may be made in August when the darling Granddaughter will be babysitting us for a week.

Besides my five JP finishes, I have another finish which was my first one made in July. I needed a Summer door hanging for the GP House and had bundled some Ruby Star Society prints last year.  This door hanging measures 30”x48” and I’ve named it True Concessions because of all of the fun and yummy prints.

True Concessions and the Washi Tape Salute wall hanging finished in March are now hanging in the niche in the dining room at the GP House where the darling Granddaughter spends mucho time watching videos and coloring. I am liking that many of the quilts  this year are being hung or used and not sitting on a shelf.

With six finishes for July, I am ready to call it a month. But, I am enjoying the last day planning my next quilt which will be, I can’t believe I’m typing this during another heat wave,  this year’s darling Granddaughter’s Christmas/Winter Patchwork Blanket. Yes, I ordered more Toasty Warm Blankets, one gray and one pink, and yes, both are for  her. But then, another Fat Quarter Mixer quilt might distract me as well as the new number pulled for August’s Dirty Dozen Challenge.

June-balaya

There was a lot of mish-mash  and jumbling of activities involving celebrations, Mother Nature paying a visit to our house, health appointments for myself, a family wedding and, of course, a whole lot of quilting that I thought June-balaya would be a good name for this Post.

June always involves the celebration of two birthdays, Demando’s and myself and it just warms my heart that we’re both the same age now (wink). And not to be forgotten, are Hubby and my youngest son celebrating Father’s Day. During the first two weeks in June, we experienced heavy storms and tornado warnings and the first of two storms which happened two days straight, we lost our 34 year-old Linden tree which had graced our parkway. So far this year, Illinois had 172 tornadoes and now leads the nation which makes me uncomfortable. As for my health, I had my annual vision exam, a bone density scan and a mammogram and thankfully all went well. To top off my had-to-do list, was renewing my driver’s license, which after my new photo was taken, the very nice security guard walked with me to the exit door when I told him a major crime had just been committed. I’ve been saying that mucho money can be made by charging an extra fee for a glamour or soft focus photo. But no...I have a photo of me looking like an old man.

We traveled to Wisconsin for the wedding of our grandniece who had her ceremony at a farm venue right across the road from her Grandmother’s (Hubby’s sister) house. Less than 24 hours before the ceremony I realized that I had  over fifty leftover signature blocks from my younger son’s wedding thirteen years ago and I contacted my niece (the Bride's mother) to ask her if I could make a wedding quilt with them. She said yes, so  during the two-hour drive, I altered the paper holding the signature blocks. The funny thing about doing this was, the Bride, was the one who handed out these signature papers during the wedding and reception at her cousin’s wedding. I jokingly asked her if she would have time to re-assume this duty but she was a little preoccupied so her future sister-in-law and my hubby did a great job passing and collecting them. Once the newlyweds are finished building their future home, we will decide  on whether a large quilt or smaller wallhangings will be made.

And finally, to the quilty portion of this Post. I had two quilts to finish and  a Post to write on June 15th for the Lyra QAL hosted by Sandra, mmm Quilts and another Post revealing my Secret Sewing project from last year which was my quilt made from Kelly Young’s 12 Days of Christmas Quilt Block Sampler Book released on June 16th. By then, I was ready to call it a month but then there were two weeks still remaining.

I thought I should finish my #11 of Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge which was the flimsy I made in 2024 after I had finished my Spectacle Square-tangle Quilt. For both of these quilts, I used the Easy Bricks pattern designed by Amy Smart, Diary of a Quilter which is a great pattern for a layer cake.

I enjoyed making the Spectacle Square-tangle quilt so much that I wanted to make the pattern again using a Whisper by Windham Fabrics layer cake which I had in my stash for several years along with other fabrics which went well with it. I had plans to make a queen size quilt but decided to make a 66”x88” flimsy instead. Unfortunately, straight-line machine quilting did not go as smooth as I wanted and I ended up having to rip out eight lines of machine quilting because I didn’t realize the backing was scrunching up. This has sworn me off of making large quilts for awhile but at least I was able to use my CT Essential Thread in Blush. I do like this quilt which I’ve named Birdsong though Bird Brain came to mind. I was tempted to make a simple one-patch Patchwork Throw with all of the leftover fabrics remaining because I may need a new one for traveling this September and I found the perfect plush in my stash, but I didn’t.

Instead, I decided to finally finish the quilting for my Peace Quilt which I started two month earlier. I made this 16” x 26” flimsy twenty years ago before going back to work full-time. During this time, I was making these small quilts which I call Patchbox quilts because I was making them with large squares of novelty prints. The Peace hands were fussy cut and then fused to two different black prints. My plan was to hand quilt this but after the Peace hands were  done I decided to machine-quilt the rest. It has laid on my table in front of my sewing machine when I finally realized that all I had to do was straight line quilting, grid style using a jewel tone variegated Star Thread. While machine quilting, I had another realization that this quilt needed to be finished, because……

I needed another quilt to hang on the front hallway door next to the gaMMMa galaxy quilt because the one I had hanging next to it did not complement it as much as the Peace quilt. I wonder if Eunice, my Studio Tormentor who lives inside my head and tells me what I should be finishing was guiding me. This time, it was most welcomed. Both of these quilts one days will be heading to the darling granddaugher’s bedroom at the GP House. I plan to hang the Peace Quilt outside her door as a reminder that her father when he was only in first or second grade, hung a handmade sign outside his bedroom door with a drawn peace sign and the printed words “Peace in Mike’s Room”. Hubby and I both thought what could have prompted him at such a young age to do this and realized he didn’t like our yelling at Demando to do his homework among other things.

There were still a few days left before leaving for the GP House for the weekend and thought the Rainbow House Flimsy would be a quick finish. While looking for background info on the Birdsong quilt, I saw that this flimsy was made in 2024 also and that it would be good to finally finish two 2024 flimsies.

The only problem I had was  I wanted to use the stripe backing horizontally which ran along the selvedge and would be too short for the 39”x45”flimsy by several inches. I added strips, of a polkadot print found in the scrap box, to the top and bottom. Since I already had the variegated thread still on my sewing machine, I used that to machine quilt with straight and wavy lines. The black print with teeny multi color dots was found in the stash. I’m glad the Rainbow House quilt was a finally finish because it reminded how much I love this rail pattern which uses only six fat quarters. I need to make some small quilts for the darling Granddaughter’s classroom by Fall and this would be a great pattern since it sew quick and very cute with the right fabrics which I’m sure I have in my stash. I will confess that I want to keep Rainbow House quilt because I love the prints so much but maybe will be ready to give it up by Fall.

Last but not least, all during June in the late evening while watching reruns of the Mary Tyler Moore TV Series on YouTube, I was handing piecing the Smitten Says blocks which I started planning on the last days of May. Fabric patches were cut for appoximately 500 diamonds and then basted to make 177 5”x6” hexagons. Originally I was going to use a combination of diamonds and equilateral triangles (like the Simple Smitten quilt) to make the hexagons but decided to use all diamonds instead.  All of the hexagons are now sewn and ready to be laid up on the design board. Then, the  next step is to sew the hexagons together in rows which I definitely will have to do on the big counter high kitchen table at home and, of course, watching more Mary Tyler Moore episodes which ran for seven years. The Smitten Says hexagons were supposed to be my road trip project for our upcoming September trip but I really enjoy EPPs now and was missing it after my Simple Smitten quilt was finished. I already have a new EPP project in mind for the road trip and can start cutting the fabric and paper pieces soon.

I’m thinking I should take it easy in July but July-balaya wouldn’t be a bad Post title and it’s also fun to say.  Have a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July holiday.

12 Days of Christmas Quilt Block Sampler Book Release

Today is the release of Kelly Young, My Quilt Infatuation, latest book 12 Days of Christmas Quilt Block Sampler: Perfectly Pieced Holiday Design” which provides step-by-step instructions for 12 festive blocks inspired by the classic Christmas Carol. I was excited when I read her Posts last year showing her quilt, working on the pattern and the plan to do a QAL starting in July. I emailed Kelly to let her know how wonderful her quilt was  and I was planning to participate in the QAL. The darling Granddaughter loves singing the 12 Days of Christmas song all year and I knew she would love the quilt for Christmas. However, plans changed when the book publisher agreed that Kelly’s wonderful pattern should not be a stand alone pattern but a book instead. This meant that the pattern and QAL would be delayed until this year.

Kelly knowing that I wanted to make the 12 Day of Christmas quilt to give the darling Granddaughter for Christmas, kindly gave me a draft of her pattern with the condition that I would keep it a secret and not post pics of my quilt until her book was released. This was the Secret Sewing Project I was posting about last September and would be revealed in May/June.

TaDa! Here is my big reveal! When I was discussing this Post with Kelly and asking her how I should explain receiving the pattern, she suggested that I say that I was asked to be a “Pattern Tester”. I mentioned that this may be hard to believe by those who have read my Posts and there would be a possibility that Sandra/mmm quilts would be spitting out her coffee as she reads this. However, I considered myself as taking a pattern test and followed Kelly’s instructions completely. Does my Dancing Lady look like she’s doing the Can-Can?

These are the fabrics I pulled from my stash which were: Basic Grey Grunge, Vanessa Christensen’s Confetti Ombre, Zen Chic Spotted Zebra, Jennifer Sampou Chalk, Timeless Treasure Gray Grid, Figo/Libs Elliott Workshop, Robin Pickens Thatch and Leanne Andersen Houndstooth. I used two different white Grunge prints for the background: Seeing Stars for the large areas and a Basic for the smaller areas.

As with the other books and patterns by Kelly, she writes great detailed instructions and provides wonderful illustrations for the  twelve blocks. I thought I shared four of the blocks and if you know me, a fan of the big patches, I really enjoyed making all of the blocks, even though I worked on a tight schedule of twenty days. Kelly offers great tips and hints for sewing the blocks (perfection is not required but it sure does look nice--these are my words). My favorite of all, a big game changer for me, was to use diagonal seam tape (which I had an unused roll of it stashed in my drawer for several years) to sew the many connecting corners. If I had a favorite block, it would be #10 Leaping Lord whom I’ve named Jethro but Gaston would have also been a good name too.

Kelly did an amazing job on machine quilting her quilt so I’m embarrassed to show that I only machine quilted horizontal wavy lines approximately 2” apart. The reason for using Basic Grey Grunge Seeing Stars fabric for the background and embroidering many gold stars throughout the quilt was to make it look more interesting. The same dark green Grunge used for the numbers was also used for the binding.

I wished I had a video of when the darling Granddaughter first saw her 12 Days of Christmas quilt. She had such a smug smile suggesting she knew Grandmin would make her this and knowing it was just for her. Her father, my youngest son, was so excited, took many pics and was given very ample warning not to post or share any photos. The quilt hung at the GP house until early January when it was taken down when the darling Granddaughter wasn’t around and brought back to our house for safekeeping. Would you believe the darling Granddaughter started singing the 12 Days of Christmas song on April 15th. I’m pretty sure her quilt will be hung up right after Halloween. BTW, this photo collage shows the first Kelly Young pattern I made, Purse Strings quilt 2013 and the latest; both quilts, as well as several other quilts made with Kelly's patterns, were bequeathed to her.

It should be no surprise that I am a big fan and follower of Kelly and have made  sixteen quilts from nine of her patterns; six of them with her Unruly pattern, my very favorite. I have all of her books and have participated in many of her past NTT Linky parties. Her latest 12 Days of Christmas Quilt Block Sampler book is an absolute gem. In addition to her patterns, there are some interesting tidbits that I never knew about the song. Even though my quilt is made, there are several blocks I would make again and would be perfect as a stand alone for wall quilt or pillows or combining several blocks to make a small wallhanging. My Grandniece just got married this weekend and I’m thinking of combining the Dancing Lady, Turtle Doves and Leaping Lord blocks to make a special First Christmas wallhanging. Also, there is a bonus Father Christmas pillow pattern which I definitely will be making. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Kelly's Post. Her book is available now at her Etsy Shop as well as Amazon and any other distributors where you purchase your books (not an affiliate link).

And lastly, a very big Thank You to Kelly for trusting and allowing me to make my quilt last year, it was very appreciated and much loved.  I hope readers will see that I can follow a quilt pattern and keep a secret.