My June blocks - guild and Moda

Today I worked on my blocks for both of my quilt groups, quilt guild and Moda Friendship. I actually got started relatively early in the day, which was good thing, because if I hadn't I probably wouldn't have finished them today. A strong thunderstorm came up this afternoon so I had to stop sewing a little earlier than usual. When it is stormy I usually don't sew because the dog comes into the sewing room (from outside) and I like to unplug my sewing machine for fear of lightning damage. So here they are, my blocks for this month.

Here is my snowman for quilt guild.  The original pattern was featured in blue and white, I went with red and green to match the blocks I've already made.  The embellishments are just basted in place.  I didn't want to permanently attach them, because I'm probably going to have the quilt long-armed, but I wanted to see how they would look.  The original also had embroidered stick arms, but because my background fabric is pretty busy, I'm thinking I will leave those off.

These are my Moda blocks, two 12-inch blocks and one 6-inch blocks.  I'm really happy with how they turned out.  I was thinking that I would take a picture of all the blocks I've made so far, but when the storm came up I had to hurry and so I didn't take a picture of all of them.  Maybe next time.

Rail Fence quilt in Ellie Ann fabric

After many, many months of deliberation, the quilt top is finally finished.  It is made from the first layer cake that I ever bought, back in August of last year.  As I mentioned previously, I had a pattern in mind when I bought the layer cake, but once I had it in hand I decided against that pattern.  I went around and around trying to figure out what to do with it.  Back in March I thought I had it figured out, but I decided against that layout, too.  After looking at the picture for a while I decided that I didn't like the dark green in the center of the quilt like that.  So I opted for the diagonal color pattern over the diamond color pattern layout, even though my kids had picked it as their favorite.  Oh well, it's my quilt, I'm the one who has to like it, right?

So, anyway, the finished quilt top measures about 67 inches by 92 inches.  It is shown here on a queen size bed, but it is intended to be used on a twin size bed.  The border is supposed to mimic the rail fence design in the blocks.  It is a little hard to see in the picture because the outer border hangs off of the bed, but you can see it at the bottom if you look for it.  Now to get the backing fabric figured out and off to the quilt shoppe it will go to get long-armed.

Echoes of Laughter

This quilt is also from the second edition of the Squares for Cyndi pattern.  It is the original pattern with a 3 inch border added to make it finish approximately 40 inches square. 

It is machine pieced, machine quilted, and hand bound.  The hand binding on this one was also done our recent car trip.  I started it on the way to New Jersey, and I finished it on the trip back home to Alabama.  I made and attached the label today.

Candy Coins

 I finally finished the pink coin quilt that I started many months ago.  It is machine pieced, machine quilted, and hand bound.  After quilting the other coin quilt that I made from the same jelly roll, I was hesitant to quilt this one in the way.  I had quilted in the ditch around all the coins, but did not sew through the sashing strips, and that made for a lot of starting and stopping.  Which in turn, made for a lot of thread ends to bury.  But I just couldn't decide on another way to quilt it that I thought I would be pleased with.  So finally I just gave in and quilted it just like the last one.  I figured that since we were going on a long car trip, it would give me something to do in the car, and it did.

On the way to Illinois, I finished burying the threads and started hand turning the binding.  On the trip from Illinois to New Jersey, I finished turning the binding.  I actually finished it while traveling on I-695 East around Baltimore, MD.  Watching traffic makes me nervous, so I like to have something else to focus on, but burying all those thread ends was still quite annoying.  If I ever do another one with this pattern, I might opt for a nice, all-over pantograph design instead.

I made and attached the label today.

Update: This quilt was given as a baptismal gift to a baby in my church.

Another Shop Sample

Here is a picture of the larger version of the Squares for Cyndi pattern, made with a layer cake instead of a charm pack.  I'm hoping to have the second edition of the pattern, which will include this size along with the other sizes, ready next week.  When it is all finished it will be available at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe and at my Etsy shop.