Sew Long 2019

I should have posted yesterday about my Final Four Finally Finished Quilts for 2019, but used whatever available hours I have left instead to meet this goal which I seemed to have come up with just days before the year ended. When I left for the Grandparent House on 12/26, I felt pretty good thinking that this was the second year in a row that I'd accomplished the quilty feat of finally finishing every quilt top started in 2019 by finishing the two quilts on the right of the above photo.  While I was compiling my year in review, much to my wondering eyes did see on my blog under 2019 Quilts were two tops that I had forgotten I made this year.  I knew to maintain my mental bragging rights, I was going to have to finish the two quilts on the left as soon as I returned home on 12/29 which I managed to do right before the annual NYE celebration with my peeps and our hubbies.

Here's a brief overview of these four quilts which were all mostly made with my favorite 2.5" strips from charm squares, jelly rolls, fat quarters and stash:

Max & Whisker Quilt was the first quilt cut and sewn at the Grandparent House sewing room which I refer to as my Two-dio.  The fabric line is from Basic Grey which I had purchased yardage several years ago.  This quilt measures 40"x52".

The quilting was done with a Connecting Threads variegated thread with orange being the dominate color.  I decided to use the brown stripe fabric from the backing vault instead of the yardage I had of another focus print which I decided I should use for another quilt since I still had plenty of leftovers of all of these prints.  I'm thinking of asking my 45+ year old niece who married for the first time this past May if I should save this quilt for a future bundle of joy but knowing the probable answer I'm sure she would love it for her menagerie, the dog and cat lover which she is.

The Alphabet Quilt, 37"x52", is made from a Jelly Roll and yardage of the Wee Woodland by Keiki purchased years ago, possibly the same time as Max & Whisker. It was maybe the first quilt top I made using a Jelly Roll and I can't remember the pattern or inspiration for this quilt.  I plan on using this pattern again, but maybe making it 40" wide. I suspect maybe the reason why I made it 37" wide for to make sure I could quilt it using a WOF length of fabric But since I have more experience with machine quilting than I did 5 years ago I don't mind quilting on the edge.  I also used another variegated thread with yellow being the dominant color for this quilt.

You can see that I pieced the backing (thanks goodness I made a note with drawing that the one yard piece of the lovely Alphabet print was to be pieced with the brown fabric) and yes I did grumbled a bit.  I'll be saving this for my sweet Granddaughter who will be starting PreK in March when she turns 3 and may need a sleep mat, so I think.

I originally named this quilt Beach Blanket Bingo when I had planned on backing it with either Minkee or terry cloth but since renamed it Malka Stripes when I decided to quilt it when I found some stripe fabric in the backing vault which looked perfect for this quilt.  The fabrics are from several of Malka Drubrawsky's fabric lines and yes it was purchased years ago.  The 8" blocks are made up of eight 2.5"x4.5" patches an offshoot of the Ernie pattern and set in an alternating block orientation layout. The quilt measures 56"x72". I used a Kiwi green thread which I think blended well with all of the colors.

The Liberty Lawn 8 Patch was made from four charm packs and yardage of the Liberty Lawn fabric lines again purchased years ago.  The 8 patch blocks were sewn last year while recovering from my broken left knee and I noticed that the blocks did not line up or click when sewn together.  I knew whatever I made with these fabrics that I would used the Anna Griffin green stripe fabric for the binding.  I do love the look of ticking stripe with florals. This quilt measures 40"x54".

You can see that I quilted all of the these quilts with wavy and straight line quilting which is my go-too favorite and, yes, the only way I quilt and have no guilt or qualms about not trying any other quilting.  I remember reading another quilter's blog who felt guilty about just doing meandering but the way I see quilting it's like your signature.  Sometimes I like to print  and sometimes I like to  do cursive which it seems may be a vanishing skill with the very younger generation.  I think my skills for straight line quilting was honed back in my grade school years when I had to write "I will not talk during class" one hundred times on lined notebook paper on more than one occasion so I'm used to repetition and monotony.

Also, worth noting, is that the Master Quilt Holder was not needed for these photos since I received a new light for the sewing area which can also be aimed towards the area where I sometime photograph quilts.  I thought the photos turned out great and yes it sure did beat taking them outside in the cold.  I'm sure the Master Quilt Holder appreciates the new light.

And now for my 2019 Year End Review:

28 quilts were a Finally Finish of which only two quilts used new fabrics purchased this year which meant 26 quilts were made from stash. (Here is a link to the 2019 Quilts). Eight quilts were UFOs which blocks or tops made either last year or years past. From these eight quilts, three quilts were tag-along finishes which means a current quilt with similar fabrics or background was made this year and was being quilted and it just wasn't good quilt karma not to also quilt a top made many moons ago.  Eighteen quilts were made from stash I been yearning to use, i.e., Tula Pink, Carrie Bloomston, Malka Dubrawsky, Kaye England, Hand Maker, etc. and three quilts were made from fabric/scraps given to recently or over the years.  I also should mention that I have four WIPs which I hope will be a Finally Finish in 2020.  It's still to early to determine if my quilt production will be impacted by all of the traveling we now do to the Grandparent House and there are times when we are there that I think I really didn't need Two-dio space since I don't have much time for sewing when the Granddaughter is visiting.  I will say I definitely am knitting more now.

I had a goal in 2019 to use 100 yards from my stash and to limit purchasing new fabrics.  I'm happy say I used almost 164 yards BUT according to my records I purchased 48.5 yards making my net total 115.25 yards.  I find the purchased number surprising since I didn't include any fabrics given to me or fabrics from a subscription like FQS Sew Sampler Box or purchased under the By/Buy /Days like Valentine, Anniversary, Mother's Day, Birthday and Christmas.  I will say that I didn't indulge myself too much during the By/Buy Days but must have made up for it on other days with this 48.5 yards of fabric purchased.  And there were weeks that went by without any fabric deliveries and I was certain that some of the online sites were going to do a wellness check on me.

I'm glad I made my goal, some of my bins have room, there are empty spaces on the shelfs and my studio is looking less crowded and more organized.  Although I'm not making it official, I plan on doing the same 100 yard reduction in 2020 because I still have some fabric lines in my stash which I still want to use.  And the same goes for purchasing too. This time I'm going to use a checkbook ledger to keep better track of what I bought and used.

As I'm writing this post, I'm doing so with a cold my sweet Granddaughter gifted me from our latest visit and still recovering from last night's NYE celebration.  We've been celebrating with the peeps and hubbies for maybe the past 15 years now and we're getting older now so last night we were a little bit more cranky and complaining about our ailments and wondering who invited our parents.  At least the food was delicious and we still enjoyed Christmas Bingo, Cards and laughing.  BTW, today is a Pajamazon Day for me.

Wishing all of my Blogland Buddies a very Happy New Year and hope everyone has 2020 vision to see a lot of love, peace and happiness. Being healthy and having a lot of time to sew would also be nice too.

Big Easy #3: Winter Woodland Quilt

My Winter Woodland Quilt is only the second quilt I made this year with some new fabric purchased this Fall during my Great Fabric Fast of 2019.  I finally finished this quilt several weeks ago and thought I should write a post now since we're leaving for another visit to the Grandparent House.  Also, this may be the last quilt finally finished for the year.

I couldn't resist buying yardage and fabric quarter bundles of six woodland prints and thought this would make a wonderful quilt for my son and his family who lives next door to the Grandparent House; something I tend to give them during the holiday.  I added three prints from my stash in order to make three different variations of Rail Fence blocks.

My next favorite strip size after 2.5" is 3.5" which is the perfect size for Rail Fence blocks. I realized while cutting the 3.5" strips that I did not have enough of the yellow Moon print and thankfully I found a substitute which was a twenty year old Little Quilt asterisk print which was the perfect yellow/gold.  Remember this color because it's mentioned again later in this post.

While I was grouping the fabrics in combinations of three, I thought laying them out in a stripe formation would work by making the center rail blocks 18" (finished) wide since these fabrics were the most vibrant and the other rail blocks framing it on the side be 9" (finished) wide.  You can see the rail blocks framing the center rail blocks have more of the accent colors and the side rail blocks play a nice second fiddle.  This quilt measures 54"x81".  

Since I was backing this quilt with fleece and only wanted to do simple and minimal quilting, I decided to also use fleece instead of batting.  I should mention that this made for a very heavy but warm quilt.

You can see the Master Quilt Holder had a hard time holding up this quilt by seeing his normally hidden fingers.

While I was sewing this quilt, I realized that this quilt would go so well in the Grandparent House, see the yellow/gold painted door, that I did the unthinkable--I decided not to gift this quilt to the family next door.  In my defense of doing this, I told Hubby that my Son from the family next door told me that I had made them enough quilts and he didn't want anymore. What a coincidence that after my Winter Woodland quilt was finished that I remember this conversation and now respect his request from several years ago. Do I feel guilty, not yet.

I may reconsider if the darling Granddaughter wants to take it home but might not be for several years until she's strong enough to carry it over to her house next door, this quilt is that heavy.  As a consolation, I promised her mother that I would make her a Frozen fleece blanket but it will have to wait until I can find the fleece in the store. It's very popular now since Frozen II has been released and lot of blankets need to be made for gifts.

One of the nice things about the Grandparent House, besides being next door to the darling Granddaughter, is that taking photos of quilts, both indoors and outdoor, is so much better there, especially since I have a front porch with bannisters, a backyard with a fence and hooks waiting for a clothes line.  I just hope that come Spring I will have some new quilts to photograph since I suspect my productivity for 2019 may be less than in years past.  My next post, which will be my year in review, will also detail how well I did during the Great Fabric Fast of 2019 and if I met my goal of minus 100 yards.  I better start calculating now to see if there are any last minute Tops to be sewn before the year ends.

A Nice and Not So Crazy November

For a lack of a clever post title, I'm calling what this November was all about despite being another month which went by so fast that I didn't realize until last weekend that Thanksgiving and the end of the month was happening this week.  Since deciding to only post once a month now, it seems that this only makes the month go by faster, especially when you're traveling to and from the Grandparent House.  It seems that again my Finally Finishes involve two quilts for the month; one being a have-to-make and a very old UFO which both was needed to decorate the walls at the Grandparent House.

We're at the stage where quilts are migrating to the Grandparent House, mostly quilts for the beds and chairs and a few for the walls.  I needed a wall quilt to hang on the wall in the living room opposite to my Country Threads 2014 BOM Quilt which I finally have a place to hang it up.  Fortunately the stars were aligned for me to make just the right wall quilt to complement the BOM quilt.

This is the year that I've been able to make quilts with fabrics sitting too long in my stash and I've been wanting to make something with a Kaye England collection of fabrics called Birds of a Feather purchased years ago along with some never-used Civil War prints.  Having just received my copy of Country Threads A Country's Call which is their latest book featuring traditional/Civil War prints and my wanting to make the "First Lessons" quilt pattern, I knew this would make the perfect wall quilt to complement the BOM Quilt.  With a little modification to the pattern because of the size of the Bird of A Feather panel and adding sashing to make the quilt bigger, this quilt was a dream to make.  If I had a Good Quilt Karma Reward Card, I got to use it for this quit.  The fabrics played nicely together, having the black and white crosshatch fabric, which is a ten years old print, in my stash for the sashing and binding and the backing was an old Jinny Beyer print already sewn and I was going to cut it up for rug weaving and I didn't--how lucky can one quilter be.  The "First Lessons" pattern is great for using a focal print/panel and strips in various widths.

One of the things I like about the quilts in all of the Country Threads Civil War Quilts series is the straight-line quilting which is may be unusual to see modern quilting on Civil War/Reproduction fabrics but it looks wonderful together.  For my Birds of A Feather Quilt, I did vertical straight line quilt, 1" apart, thank you quilting guide which made my stitching nice and even, with Connecting Threads' Essential Thread, Silver on the top and Gray on the bottom.  This quilt measures approximately 48" x 60".

Here's a photo of the two quilts on the wall and besides both of them being Country Threads patterns, they also feature Kaye England fabrics.

Here's a photo of Hubby, aka, Master Quilt Holder and House Fixer Upper, demonstrating he is also a Master Quilt Hanger getting ready to hang the Bird of A Feather Quilt next to his new recliner.  This is going to be a cozy corner for he and the Granddaughter who likes birds and the alphabet.

The other Finally Finish is another wall quilt which was a really old UFO from the twentieth century and had it not been for my creating a Cowboy Corner in the front hallway and coming across it while I was searching for something else in the cabinet, this may have not ever been finished.  The top was sewn over twenty years ago and I remember when I made it, the day after Roy Rogers passed away in July of 1998.  I used a Mary Ellen Hopkins pattern and some Cowboy prints I had in my stash.  Yep, this old quilter who had a 50's childhood liked her Cowboys and horses, especially Roy Rogers and Trigger.  I called this quilt Happy Trails and I know why I never quilted it because I wasn't quite sure back then how I wanted to and it just took me twenty years to figure out that simple diagonal lines quilted in black would do.

Happy Trails measures 30" x 38".  Like some of my other quilts finally finished this year, the weather did not co-operate, and I had to take indoor photos.  Hope you can see how vibrant the colors are in this quilt.  I love the Alexander Henry Cowboy print as well as the Cowboy riding the tornado which I remember a Pecos Bill cartoon with the same theme. I thought I was going to have a problem with binding this quilt because since this top was made so long ago and I had not yet instituted my learned practice from binding boo-boos of always putting away fabric for the binding right away in the drawer, I thought I was going to have to spend time looking for the right fabric.  Lucky for me I found a half yard of the black and natural Debbie Mumm print used in this quilt right away in my stash.  Whew!!!! And when the Roy Rogers prints came out years later,  you know I did buy yardage of it and made the quilt on the right  which is already sitting on the chair in the hallway at the Grandparent House and waiting for Happy Trails to hang right next to it.

I was looking forward to not having to shop both online and in the stores for the Grandparent House since I think we're pretty much done but now it time to shop for the holidays.  I'm starting on the Christmas quilt makes and hopefully things will sew well.  A nice and not so crazy December would be something to have now, wouldn't it.  I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving week and am glad I had one.  Have fun with all of your holiday sewing and let's not do crazy.

OH October!

There are 31 days in October but somehow it felt like only 31 hours because this month really flew by  fast especially after spending almost half of the month at the Grandparent house and way too much time at the home improvement stores.  Surprisingly I do have three Finally Finish quilts for October and thought I better post them before this month is over.

Disclaimer: The Master Quilt Holder was unable to provide his stellar quilt holding skills for these photos since he was unavailable due to the stomach flu gift he received from his granddaughter upon our most recent arrival.  I had to rely on this wooden bench my dear DIL found on the side of the road and put on our porch.  Nice substitute don't you think?

I did another pair of Finally Finishes like the ones I did in August which this time these two quilts were somewhat connected since they both were made from RJR fabric lines.  Daisy Days (right) is from a 2002 Thimbleberries collection which is when I purchased the fabrics.  As I have done with a lot of beloved fabrics, this pretty collection sat on my shelf for twelve years until I finally made a simple quilt with 4"x8" finished rectangles in 2014.  Pop Tarts (left) is made from the remaining scraps I had left of my Pie Making Days fabrics, also very pretty.  This is one of the tops I made while recuperating from last year's fractured knee accident, which may explain for some of the wonky piecing, and also one of the three 2018 UFOs waiting to be quilted.  I first purchased a charm square pack of the Pie Making Day in 2015 from a quilt shop near Yosemite and was drawn to this collection because the colors reminded me so much of the Daisy Days fabrics.  I just love the teals, cranberries, greens and yellow/gold in both of these collections.  I decided if and when I quilted Pop Tarts, I would also have to quilt Daisy Days since it wouldn't be right to finish one without the other.

Daisy Days was the first to be quilted with simple grid and wavy line quilting in a teal thread from Connecting Threads.  The backing and binding were prints from the fabric collection and yay for me for storing these fabrics safely in the backing vault and binding drawer.  This quilt measures 64"x72" and I am ready to snuggle with it; the Thimbleberries fabric is so nice and soft.

The quilting of Pop Tarts, with silver thread from Connecting Threads, started with just quilting straight vertical lines three inches apart which would have been fine, I thought, but my 1 a.m. brain said otherwise which I then at that time decided to do some research on some online quilting boards.  It would have been had I had used fleece which I was going to, but no, I used batting.  One comment I read that it would be okay but not recommended. Another comment which really stood out was that quilting should be enough for the quilt to withstand 250 washings which I may have to put on my labels that my quilts may not do this.  So after reading these comments I decided to do some horizontal grid lines eight inches apart which would have been sufficient but no 2 a.m. brain said let's add some more horizontal quilting four inches apart for true rectangular grid quilting.  Thankfully, June Bug, my Juki 2010 was all in on this late night quilting and quilted spectacularly with nary a pinch or a pucker where vertical and horizontal lines intersected even when quilted in different stages. I had enough of the teal fabric left from the Pie Making Day stash for the binding and the backing is a gray and white stripe Waverly print which I bought a bolt of since it makes for great backing. Pop Tart measures 56"x72" almost the same size as Daisy Days.

In case you're wondering, these two quilts were made from the charm pack, jelly-roll, fat eighth bundle and some yardage of the Pie Making Day fabrics which I can say I have very little left which is surprising since sometimes fabric never seem to get used up.  These two quilts will be used for the granddaughter's bedroom at our house but after both of us getting ill from her at our last visit, I'm having second thoughts, just kidding--payback is in the future and she might be taking care of us so she does need a bedroom at our house, right?

My third Finally Finish for October was this baby quilt which I've named Baby Emilio since it's somewhat related to the Baby Arturo quilt since it's for his future cousin, gender unknown, to be born in November and the future Mom's name is Emily.  Yep, my peep Mary is having grandkids born five months apart this year.  This quilt was made from Waverly Fat Quarters which I had in my stash and were just the right colors.  The backing was the same stripe print used in the Pop Tart Quilt, and that bolt of fabric sure comes in handy. Since the soon-to-be Dad is 6'7", I made this quilt longer that I normally do for baby quilts and measures 40"x56", long enough for at least a month or too I hope.  Baby Emilio quilt was quickly made and finished in between house visits way before the Baby Shower because I am getting my dates mixed up. I thought I was going to miss the last one of Mary's epic Baby Showers since Emily is the last of her children having their first baby but happily I was able to attend to be there.  

Usually, I take photos of my quilts on the day I write my posts just to add a little pressure but am so glad I didn't wait until today.  Just look at the snow covering my normal photo spot and imagine the whining that would have gone into this post about having to take photos indoors.  This snow is unheard of for Halloween and I don't remember it ever snowing on this day although they said it happened four times during my lifetime.  Today's snow has filled up my snow-quota for the year and I  better put out the Winter bed quilts now.  As one of my friends posted on her FB page, Merry Halloween!

DrEAMi: Sew September Slowdown/Downton Abbey Patchwork Throw

This has been one slow September on the Quilting front even though this month to me went by very fast. My Downton Abbey Patchwork Throw is my only second finally finished for this month and if it weren't for the movie opening on September 21st, there was a strong possibility that it might not have gotten it finished.  This throw wasn't even on my radar but while I was once again putting away fabric last month, I came across my small stash of Downton Abbey fabrics and realizing that it would be nice to have this for the movie coming out, I decided I would make this after I finished up some projects.  I considered this to be my September DrEAMi Come True project and it was finished by the time I saw this movie with my DIL and my darling Granddaughter this past Tuesday.

Since I only had two charm packs of the Lady Sybil and Lady Edith fabrics and 1/2 yards each  of the blue/green print from the Lady Rose line and the Downton Abbey logo I came up with a simple pattern of plain squares with rail blocks once I added the blue and green prints.  In order to make this work, I added the Nancy Gere's "Carolyn" print (red arrow pointing) for an alternating plain square.  

As luck would have it, I was four squares short of the Lady Rose blue/green print but was able to use the four squares of the same print in orange/green which I wasn't going to use at first since it didn't look right when it was next to the blue/green print.  I was able to place these squares in the center rows of the quilt away from the blue/green print which worked out very well.

This throw measures 44" x 68" and is backed with a gray chenille plush which is one of my favorites to use when making throws.  I normally machine quilt minimal vertical lines but this time I decided to do grid quilting which to me made this throw a little puffier and not as flat if I would have quilted it less.  It's still nice and cuddly.  I barely had enough of my Missouri Star Quilt polyester thread (not an affiliate link) to finish this quilt and need to order more since this sews so well with the plush fabrics.

Well this throw was ready for me to snuggle in while relaxed in the wonderful reclining movie chair, but it seems that my darling Granddaughter had other plans for it since she decided to take a nap with it after the movie started, thank goodness.  Doesn't she look embarrassed to be eating her popcorn not so properly out of a cardboard box.  She is watching Downton Abbey after all. I'll be taking this throw back home with me since I do plan on seeing the Downton Abbey again, this movie does not disappoint, with my other son whom I am pretty sure won't dare be seen snuggling under it at the movies. There is a promise that this throw will one day be Micah's. I do plan on making another since I do have a charm pack of the Lady Rose prints and I did break my fabric fast by purchasing some yardage of the logo print after I saw the movie.

I thought I would explain now why I have not been posting as much this summer.  My dream of a second home with views of the mountain or by the lake has been somewhat realized in June.  Instead of views of the mountain or lake I will have now have views of my darling granddaughter since we bought the fixer-upper next door to her.  I wasn't sure I wanted to do this but Hubby insisted that he did probably with me always being MMM-spired by Sandra, he caught the building bug with me telling him about MacGyver's remodeling feats.  I have to admit I am pleasantly surprised with all that he has done and Hubby recently told me that there are clothesline hooks in the backyard, so I'll have a place to hang quilts for photos. Also, the inside lighting is very good since there are a lot more windows at this house. I'm now at the stage now where I can set up my studio in the back one third of the dining room next to the windows which sure is nice because I don't see sunshine when I'm in the basement studio at the other house.  I managed to sew some strips, in between granddaughter visits, which I had with me since I did some beaucoup strip die cutting when I was home in preparation for sewing at the second studio.  My plan is to have ready to sew kits to bring since I don't want to have to do any rotary work while I'm here until I figure out how to handle the granddaughter getting into things since we are having a bit of decor versus toys showdown.  My two wooden birds once decorating the hall table are as good as hers now.

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Now that September is almost over which also mean the 2019 Online Quilters Meet & Greet is coming to an end.  I hope you had the chance to visit the Quilters participating, which I am one of them.  There's an opportunity to win some great prizes.  I realized that when I wrote my post for the Meet & Greet that I said that next month would be the start of my third year of blogging which I was wrong, it's going to be my fourth.  My how time flies when you're sort of having fun.  I love reading and being inspired by the many posts I read and of course the friends I made but not so happy with the technical challenges of this blog.  Once again, my blog is acting up and my comments are showing up in two separate areas which is hard for me to keep track and the frustration I have with not being able to get help from Blogger.  Also, I really wish Bloglovin' will allow you to block certain people since this month I picked up a handful of what I called "Undesirable" who have no interest in Quilting.  Am I the only one who thinks making my Blog private is the way to resolve some of my fears of being hacked? Thanks for letting me share my blogging thoughts and I'll keep on dreaming.

Linking up with: mmm quilts' DrEAM

2019 Quilters Meet and Greet

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Hello and Welcome if this is the first time you are visiting my blog something rosemade.  I am happy that Benita has invited me to participate this year and looking forward to visiting the other Quilt Bloggers online and finding new ones to follow.  You can check out the other Online Quilters posts by clicking on the link above.

I've been quilting and buying fabric for over twenty years now and only been blogging for two years.  Next month will be my start of my third year and "Wow" for how far I've come along but" My Oh My" do I still have a lot to learn.  I am just thankful that my posts, sometimes few and far between, go through without taking down the system.  But I'm even more thankful for the many friendships and connections I've made. Three out of the four fellow Bloggers who I became "Sistas" with from participating in the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Hop are also participating in this Meet & Greet also.  My blog wouldn't be if not from forming an online friendship by leaving comments on Susan Snook's PatchworknPlay blog and her suggestion to me that I should start a blog and it's easy and she'll help-which she did.  This is something that I would not be able to help you do but I may be able to find someone to help you start a blog.

Benita asked the Bloggers to include a photo of our favorite quilt and having made so many, I couldn't decide.  I sent her a photo of a quilt made last year "Big Cat Crossing" which I think represents my style and approach to quilting--lots of fabric and "making it easy" which is my theme for this year along with being on a Fabric Fast.  I love making simple quilts with just strips and squares and sometimes rectangles and have done several tutorials on making "Staggered Strips and Squares" which you can find here and here. Surprisingly, I have not made one this year but have done some sort of variation with quilts made with strips and squares.  You can see the other quilts I've made this year here. I should also mention that my favorite cuts are 2.5" strips and 4.5" strips or squares and it really helps that I use a die-cutter.

I've acquired quite a stash of fabrics over the year, i.e., Civil War, Reproduction, Asian, Traditional, Modern, etc., and I can still say I still enjoy the variety and love it when I can combine two different fabric lines like Modern (Cotton+Steel) with Traditional (Thimbleberries) together like I did with my Stacked Squares quilt made last year.  It was a great way to reduce the stash and the guilt of having these fabrics sit on my shelf.

Since being on a Fabric Fast this year, it has given me the chance to work with fabric that has been sitting far too long on my shelf.  So far, 9 out of the 15 quilts finally finished this year were made from stash; one quilt, Thirties Tart, was made from a bundle of fat quarters purchased thirteen years ago. Thankfully, the Sweettart Pattern designed by Shannon of the Fleming 9's came along to rescue this sweet bundle off my shelf. I also did not participate in many QALs this year since I really wanted to work on quilts I've already set aside the fabric with patterns.  If I did participate in a QAL, it was because I had just the right fabric.  

Sometimes I have the fabric but not the pattern in which case I then came up with one on my own which, of course, had strips, squares and rectangles like my just finished The Big Easy Quilt #1.  I like to let the fabric decide what the block should be and more often than not, the bigger the cut, the better.

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Enough about me and being a simple quilter, it's time for you to visit the other Quilt Bloggers.  It's nice that the Meet and Greet is for the entire month of September so you can take your time to visit.  Be sure to click on the link above to be eligible for the drawing.  The more Bloggers you visit, the more chances you have for winning a great prize.

Thanks for visiting and Good Luck in the drawing! And also a big thanks to Benita for putting together this Meet and Greet for our enjoyment.  I just love inspiration and eye candy.

The Big Easy #1: 16" Blocks with Carrie Bloomston Fabrics

A perfect quilt sewing week for me is to have my blocks ready to sew together, layout determined, top made, backing and basting done, machine quilting and binding done without a hitch; a finally finish in the matter of a few days with no magical twitching of my nose involved. And it happened with my Big Easy #1 quilt.  I've been planning on making this quilt with my stash of Carrie Bloomston fabrics since April when I used some of it for my Beothuk Star Quilt.  After playing with this fabric and then deciding on the five fabrics used for this quilt, I knew I wanted to make another quilt with these fabrics soon. I've been buying Carrie Bloomston (Such Designs for Windham) fabrics for six years now starting with her first collection Collage and her subsequent lines; Paint, Story, Dreamer and her latest Wonder, some of each of these fabrics lines are in The Big Easy #1.  I just love everything about Carrie's fabrics, the colors, the patterns, the many texts, the big, medium and small scale prints and that each fabric line work well with each other.  

Coming up with the pattern was easy after looking at the prints and deciding big blocks were needed in order to show off the prints.  Once again I used my trusty graph paper after I decided that a variety of 16" finished blocks would be perfect for the Carrie fabrics with its different scales and patterns. I started with fourteen different blocks and added a few different ones later while I was assembling the blocks so the pattern shown here is not what The Big Easy #1 ended up being.

Depending upon the fabric, they were cut either in 8-1/2", 4-1/2" and 2-1/2" strips.  The 2-1/2" strips were sewn together for the different size of rail blocks needed.  After these strips were sewn and the 8-1/2" and 4-1/2" strips cut to size, the blocks were ready to be assembled. The rail strips were not cut until they were paired with the other patches in the block.

Each block was individually laid out on the design and the patches were not sewn together until all of the blocks were laid out.  I think this fluid way of assembling the blocks and doing the layout at the same time helped me to make sure the colors and patterns were evenly distributed and it was while doing this I came up with some additional block patterns.  

Once I was happy with the layout, surprisingly there were maybe one or two changes, the blocks were ready to be sewn  together and then the top.

I couldn't decide until the next day whether I wanted to do straight line or curvy line quilting and then came up with alternating the two and am very happy with the way it turned out.  I used Connecting Threads/Essential Threads in Parchment.

There was no question as to what to use for the backing which was the last yardage I had of Carrie Bloomston's popular and famous Newsprint, 108" width.  The binding, which is the only fabric that is not from her line, was also the last piece of Lakehouse Two-Tone Mini Check in black and gray which was the perfect accent fabric to go with all of the different prints in this quilt.  

The Big Easy #1 measures approximately 64" x 80".  If you're wondering about the name, I thought it was appropriate since the blocks were big and this quilt was so easy to make plus it's getting harder coming up with names. I know there are going to be other big easy quilts to make from my stash and just changing the number is so much simpler than coming up with a new name.  Now I understand why George Foreman named his sons George I, George II, etc.  I'm looking forward to curling up with this quilt, I won't need a book to read since there are so many texts and I keep finding new ones the more I look at this quilt.

Just a reminder that Tuesday, September 3rd is the start of the 2019 Online Quilters Meet & Greet hosted by Benita Skinner of Victoriana Quilts and I will be participating.  I will be posting on this day  to give you the links to Benita's website to you can visit the other quilt bloggers who are participating and enter into the drawing for some great prizes being offered.