Fat Quarter Shop

Quilter’s Patch – Block of the Month – March finished!

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I got my lovely daughter, Katie, and grandson, Ben, to pose with one of March’s finished blocks. Last month I tried to get grandson Jacob to hold one of February’s blocks but he wasn’t having any of it. He’s nearly three years old and a man of action. After chasing him around the backyard for a few minutes I gave up. Maybe he will stand still long enough for a photo in April when he officially turns three!

My two blocks for March on the Quilter’s Patch block-of-the-month quilt are all done! Loved the fabric color choices and pattern on the “sidewalk and log cabin roses” block. It’s a really cute block! It amazes me how a block with well over fifty pieces can, in the end, measure the required 12-1/2″ by 12-1/2″. What did we do before there were rotary cutters and precision rulers?

The “petunias” block came together rather quickly! Easy block. Love the pinks.

I’ve probably got a week before April’s fabrics and instructions hit the mailbox. Time to work on unfinished projects while I’m waiting!

Quilter’s Patch – Block of the Month – February

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So yesterday, I finished blocks 2 and 3, the cat block and the nine-patch daisy, from Fat Quarter Shop’s block-of-the-month for February. Hope I can keep this up! I consider it a victory to not have fallen behind when life gets in the way … yet!

What I love about these types of quilts is the opportunity to review piecing skills and to learn new ones! So far so good.

Bring it on March quilt blocks 4 and 5!

Quilter’s Patch – Block of the Month – January

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The minute I laid my eyeballs on Edyta Sitar’s Quilter’s Patch quilt featured on the Fat Quarter Shop’s website, I was in serious love. Sitar, of Laundry Basket Quilts, is one of my favorite quilt designers. Her butterfly and elephant quilts are currently in my quilting queue to be pieced.

I could tell from the Quilter’s Patch photograph, the quilt would be a challenge using a variety of piecing techniques. And since I don’t really have a beautiful quilt that screams “SPRING” in my little quilt collection, this one was going to be IT! I reserved a spot on their website for the block-of-the-month quilt late last year.

So January’s installment arrived a couple of weeks back, along with Edyta Sitar’s book, and I just this moment finished my first two blocks. The year-long project features first the Cosmos and Delphiniums flower blocks. Lot of fabric pieces to piece … great directions … no shortage of fabric. This is my second block-of-the-month through Fat Quarter Shop’s website. They are pros and do a great job! Hopefully, I can keep up the piecing pace to have all the blocks finished during the proper month.

I understand this block-of-the-month is full, but Edyta Sitar’s awesome book is available. I feel certain for the adventurous soul, it would be fun to come up with alternate color choices. Happy piecing!

Quilting projects finished in 2016!

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pop-pop-and-dr-jacob
So taking a look back on 2016, when the year began I would have never guessed the subject of cancer would have overtaken this blog, and our life. But it did. Hubby is doing great. But he is just halfway through treatment.

So despite how the year unfolded, I still found time to finish five quilting projects. A few of the quilt projects had been started in 2015. For me … the creative outlet of cutting big colorful pieces of fabric into little pieces, and then sewing them back together, is a huge stress reliever. Sounds crazy … I know. But quilters totally get it!

The projects finished include an I Spy quilt for St. Martha’s Catholic School fundraiser. I used a jar quilt pattern purchased from Missouri Star Quilt Company, along with a layer cake of novelty fabric also purchased from MSQC. Kim Norton used the digital pantograph called “Graffiti.” Personalize It Kingwood embroidered the label!


I also made my grandson, Jacob, an I Spy quilt using the same pattern and novelty fabric. I altered some of the “jars” to include a few special pieces of fabric. I named it “I Spy Jacob.” Jake picked out the binding fabric. Kim Norton machine-quilted using a multi-colored thread called Cleopatra. The digital pantograph is called “Circle Swirls.” Again, Personalize It Kingwood embroidered the label.

The Christmas table runner was made out of extra squares placed on point from my “Santa Baby” quilt for my little sister, Gretchen. My adorable sister picked up two 2016 Row-By-Row patterns/fabric for me in her part of Texas. Making her a Christmas table runner was the least I could do! I gave it to her at Christmas. Unfortunately, the photograph of her with the table runner turned out too dark. The lighting in my family room sucks! The table runner was machine-quilted by the amazing Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin with Raspberry Ripple colored-thread using a digital pantograph called “Star Dance.”

I also finished a 2015 Mystery Quilt for my lovely sister-in-law Bonnie. The block-of-the-month was purchased through The Fat Quarter Shop, one of my go-to online shops for quilting fabric and projects. Bonnie, who lives in faraway Oklahoma, received the quilt in time for Christmas. This quilt was so fun to make and was my very first mystery quilt. Each block was designed by a different quilt designer. I named it “Town Square.” The quilt was machine-quilted by Kim Norton, of A Busy Bobbin, with Canaan-colored thread using a digital pantograph called “Creeping Fig.” The quilt label was embroidered by Personalize It in Kingwood.

My last finished project was for my brand new grandson, Baby Ben. He is a doll! Ben turned two-months-old this week and now he has his monkey quilt just in time for “tummy time.” The quilt pattern is by The Teacher’s Pet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After piecing the wide fabrics, the monkey and Ben’s name were fused, zig-zagging around the fused edges. A couple of years ago I made Jacob a baby quilt using their giraffe pattern. So cute. They also have a flamingo and alligator version. Kim machine-quilted Ben’s baby quilt with Limestone-colored thread using a digital pantograph called “Whole Lotta Bubbles.” Personalize It Kingwood embroidered the quilt label.

I spy charity quilt finished!

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At the beginning of the year, I made a list of all the quilts I was going to complete this year. The list reads: two I Spy Jar quilts (one for charity and one for grandson Jake), 2015 Texas Row-by-Row, an adorable mystery quilt from Fat Quarter Shop … and then there is a baby quilt for a new grandbaby that will make his debut in November. I really gotta get started on that last one. Yup … Jake is going to be a big brother! We are like the cow in the nursery rhyme … over the moon!

When I made the list, I thought five quilts seemed reasonable. Then cancer knocked on our front door and I took up knitting in hospital and clinic waiting rooms. The scarf … it is about five miles long now.

In April, I did manage to finish an I Spy quilt I had promised to St. Martha’s School in Kingwood for one of their charity events. Hope it made a bunch of money for the school!

I have several other quilts in various stages of progress. Whenever I have a spare thirty seconds, I’m in my sewing room working on one. It keeps me sane.

But back to the I Spy Jar quilt. The pattern is by Missouri Star Quilt Co., one of my favorite online places for patterns and fabric. Store owner, Jenny, has great online quilt tutorials. The pattern comes with directions for either pint or quart-size jars. My quilt has pint jars. At the time I purchased the fabric, MSQC also offered an adorable fabric pack of ten-inch squares with novelty prints that were perfect for this quilt. Made it so easy and with the 10″ squares I have enough to make four quilt tops in anticipation of future grand babes! I added a couple of novelty Minion fabrics that will appear in Jake’s quilt.

I used the fabulous Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin to longarm quilt the layers and Personalize It for the quilt label. Oh … did I mention the cute lady bug fabric outlining the quilt label? It is a Charlie Harper fabric. I have provided the link (search for “Charlie Harper”) as they have some pretty cool fabric you might just need to have for your very own!

Quilts made in 2015 … and what I’m working on!

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Thought I’d do a little recap on quilts I’ve made in 2015. This year I finished five quilts. That is one more than last year. I counted the paper-pieced Nativity Quilt as one of the “finished” quilts even though it was a group project. We all clocked lots of hours on this one. It was such a privilege getting to work on such a lovely project and we finished it in ten weeks. So … two of the quilts were given to charities, two were gifts, and I kept the 2014 Texas Row by Row quilt.

I started piecing several quilts in 2015 that will be finished in 2016 … a mystery quilt … it is the Fat Quarter Shop’s Designer Mystery Quilt. And then I have a couple of rows finished on my 2015 Row by Row. The theme for the rows in 2015 was water. This year my rows are not exclusively from Texas. My friend, Michele, picked up two awesome rows for me from quilt shops in Louisiana. Can’t wait to get this one finished.

I am looking forward to see what adventures in quilting await in 2016! Stay tuned!

Working on a mystery quilt!

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Just so you don’t think my sewing machine has been idle, I have several work-in-progress quilts on my cutting table. One is this year’s Row-By-Row quilt and the other is my very first mystery quilt. I signed up earlier this year for the mystery quilt through the Fat Quarter Shop and having the most fun. The owner had a lovely booth at the International Quilt Festival this year and I managed to snag a photo with her in front of a portion of the Mystery Quilt. Several blocks have yet to be revealed. Just keeping the mystery intact!

Basically, every month, for twelve months, her shop mails out great instructions and a generous amount of fabric to complete that block. So far I have been mailed six blocks and four are completed. Each block is designed by a different designer which keeps things spicy. You never know what will arrive in your mailbox.

The mystery quilt has been a great little quilt to work on while I am pondering the quilts for 2016!

2015 International Quilt Festival

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I attended Preview Night last night at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. I’ve been going for decades and this year was absolutely the best! It is so fun to go and shop and fall in love with the new quilt trends. But to do it with your great friends was the buttercream icing on the cake! Loretta and Toni moved away some time back and came to Houston to join Tina and Gwenn and me for an epic adventure.

If you have never been … let’s just say it is five days … 60,000 people from all over the world celebrating quilting. There are classes, quilt exhibits, demos, lectures, tons of shopping (1,100 booths) and more eye candy quilts that you have ever seen under one roof! I really should have taken more photographs but I was concentrating on those future potential projects to purchase.

Trends I noticed … lots of primitive quilts, modern, and so much more! I snagged Edyta Sitar’s “Elephants” quilt pattern and stencil (awesome design), a pillow kit for Fall, a cowboy boot quilt kit, and the most important was a chunk of Minion fabric for my grandson’s Jake’s future I Spy quilt.

The International Quilt Festival ends on Sunday, November 1, so get your walking shoes on and head on down to the George R. Brown Convention Center.