Quilt of Honor #1

 

This quilt top is made from a version of a block that I got from a  Missouri Star tutorial.  The tutorial is for the 3 Dudes jelly roll block.   The block in the tutorial uses a different number of 2-1/2 inch strips per block than mine, but it uses the same technique. 

I made the first block for this quilt back in 2014 from scraps that I had in my stash.  I bought some more fabric at the quilt shop (the receipt was still in the box with the fabric, that why I know when it was.) to make a quilt out of it, but I never got around to making it.  I guess that I wasn't planning to put a border on it originally, because I didn't buy fabric for that at the time, so I had to buy some at the quilt shop this week.  The blue of the border fabric is a little darker than most of the blues, in the quilt, but since it is a scrappy quilt, I think it works fine.

I hadn't originally planned to put the white sashing strips between the blocks, either.  But when I laid the blocks together side-by-side, I thought that it looked too dark.  I like how the extra white brightens it up. 

I won't be quilting this one myself.  My quilt guild honors local veterans with Quilts of Honor every November, and I made this top for that purpose.  One of our members has a computerized long arm machine, and she bought a special 250th Anniversary (America turns 250 years old this year) quilting design pattern to use on all the Quilts of Honor this year.  I'm happy to let her quilt it, honestly. 

The top measures 51 inches by 65 inches. 

Pink and Purple Scrap Buster Block

 

I decided to keep the block that I originally made for the guild raffle, and make a different block to enter.  I don't feel any great desire to keep this one.  One of the other members made a block that was largely purple fabrics, and I thought that a pink and purple block could work well with that one.  It's hard to imagine that all the blocks together would make a cohesive looking quilt.  I'm not sure what I'd do with them if I won them.

Frogs and Bugs Charity Quilt

 

I finished my Frogs and Bugs charity quilt today.  The name is really unofficial because I don't generally name charity quilts.  Often times I don't even label them at all.  This one will have a label, but the charity has very specific things that they want on the label, and a name for the quilt isn't one of them.  The point person at my guild has labels printed, so I don't need to make the label either. But since it is made from fabric with frogs and fabric with bugs, I'm calling it my Frogs and Bugs quilt.

I quilted it on my longarm with a hand-guided all-over still water design. The thread is Isacord Spring Frost, and the batting is 100% polyester Soft Light-Loft from Mountain Mist (the charity requests polyester batting, but I don't like it).  The binding is attached by machine to the back of the quilt, turned to the front, and machine stitched with a straight stitch on the front. The charity also requests that the binding (and label) be attached by machine.  Apparently a lot of the quilts go to orphanages and they say having everything attached by machine holds up better to the orphanage's laundry practices.

Scrap buster raffle block

 

 

Another new thing with my quilt guild, now that I've started back going, is that they do a quilt block raffle every other month.  My understanding is that every block you make counts as a chance for winning all the blocks (sometimes half the blocks if there are a lot?).  Everyone uses that same pattern, but the fabrics are all individual and therefore different.  

I made this block for next month's raffle.  It is made from left over Kansas Troubles fabrics that I had in my stash.  I tried to focus mostly on red fabrics for the darker patches, and yellowed creams for the lighter patches to make a cohesive looking block.  The block measures 16-1/2 inches square.

The problem is that I really like the block, so I'm not sure I want to enter it in the raffle.  Maybe I want to keep it and make more blocks to go with it.  I could make a really pretty quilt for the back of my loveseat.  Maybe I want to make a block with totally different fabrics, that I don't like as well, to enter in the raffle.  I guess I need to decide.

Frog Block Quilt Top

 

I finished this quilt top yesterday.  The frog block in the center is an orphan block that I've had up on a design board for literally years.  I had originally planned to make 4 of the frog blocks for a baby quilt, but I decided against that idea.  I've been planning this quilt for a while now, but I've just finally gotten around to it.  The frog block is 15 inches, and I added a 1-1/2 inch border around it to make an 18 inch square for the center.  The surrounding fabrics are mostly blues and greens with both frog and bug fabrics, too.  Those are 6 inch squares.  The inner border is 1-1/2 inches and the outer border is 6 inches.  The quilt will finish at 45 inches by 57 inches.

This month I started back going to quilt guild and found out that my guild now supports Quilts Beyond Borders, a charity providing quilts to children in under-served areas of the world.  I had always planned to give this quilt to charity in some fashion, so now I have a good outlet for that.

Swan Kitchen Towels

 

 

I'm a little ahead of the game on these.  They are kitchen towels that I plan to give to my mother for Mother's Day.  I noticed that my mother has started collecting swan-themed items, so I decided to make her some swan themed kitchen towels.  The quilted part that wraps around the oven door handle is made with swan fabric.

The quilted part was done using my long-arm quilter in a swirl pattern.  I quilted a piece of fabric that was about 7 inches by the width of the fabric then cut it down into 6-1/2 inch squares.  I rounded off the corners of the squares and then attached bias binding to make the equivalent of a potholder.  I then sewed the "potholder"  to the center of the kitchen towel, gathering in the towel to make it match the width of the potholder.  I then attached a button to the side opposite the loop and use the loop as a button hole.

The bias binding was cut at 1-1/4 inches wide, but I think I will try 1-1/2 inches next time.  I think that would be a little easier to work with.

2025 Recap

At the beginning of the year last year I set out some goals for myself.  I reached most, but not all, of them. Here is the end of the year summary:

1. Finish UFOs = 4 of 4 (completed)
2. Use pre-cuts = 3 of 3 (completed)
3. Do window paintings = 2 of 2 (completed)
4. Do non-window painting = 1 of 1 (completed)
5. Sew sets of coasters = 5 of 5 (completed)
6. Sew small bags = 0 of 2
7. Sew tote bags= 1 of 2 

I couldn't decide if making the small bags was a good idea or not.  I think they are cute, but I'm not sure about the overall appeal or functionality.  I'm especially concerned about the closure.  Is a small Velcro closure enough?  Should they zip?  Have pockets?  I don't know.  I asked my 8 year old granddaughter what she liked best, and she said bigger with pockets.  I plan to take that under advisement.

The other tote bag, I just never got around to it. Somehow time just got away from me once we got back from visiting family in Washington last summer.  As you can see, there are no posts from July, August, or September.  We were gone during the month of July, but after we got back home I just couldn't back into the creative mindset.

And I thought I should note that I actually did a lot more than just one painting on paper.  I did several zen tangles, 5 mini-watercolors, and some full page watercolors. 

In total, I finished 8 quilts, 2 bags (one was for me so I didn't count it in my goals list), and 5 coaster sets.  I didn't create any new quilt tops without finishing them, so no new UFOs.  Not a bad year.