Just Sew Quilter

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Today is my day for the Wonderful World of Color hop hosted by Joan of Moosestash Quilting!

I've seen some amazing projects so far--lots of color and inspiration!

I thought I'd show a couple of older projects first...

I made the quilt below for my nephew, Matt, the middle school math teacher.

I made half square triangle blocks with a variety of fabrics from my stash. It is quilted in meandering triangles and the back has the circles on the fabric. Perfect for a math teacher, right?

He doesn't have it yet because we didn't get to visit him this year, as we had planned. (Don't tell him--it's a surprise!)

The table runner below was made for a Cerro Gordo Quilters lesson. I don't remember the name of the pattern, but you make strip sets and cut them diagonally. These fabrics were all scraps from another project.

Last Friday my local quilt shop, Stewart's Sewing Machines, had a lesson on this Braided Twist table runner. I had bought the book and template several years ago but never made it. This was my chance!

Below is the completed runner and the back.

I topstitched around edges to hold the pieces down.

This is the back:

Here is the book and template--by Cheryl Phillips. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

My next project is not done, alas! I really wanted to finish it, but we have been gone too much this month. At least the top (flimsy) is finished, and I have the back ready, so I can sandwich it and quilt it soon.

This is a free pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop, Jelly Roll Sizzle, with a border designed by Pat Sloan.

You can find both on their web sites. I used a Leather Snack Pack by Fabri-Quilt, Inc. for my 2.5" strips. The orange and yellow were batiks in my stash. It measures about 56" square.

I hope you get inspired today as you check out all the posts!

Thanks, Joan, for another great hop!

Here are today's and tomorrow's bloggers:

Thursday April 21

Just Sew Quilter you are here!

Beckys Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Friday April 22

Kathys Kwilts and More

Monday, April 18, 2022

Wonderful World of Color Hop starts today

This is the day for the Wonderful World of Color!

Below is the schedule.

Hop on over to each blog to be inspired!

Here are the colorful bloggers this week:

Thursday, April 7, 2022

One Block Wonder III

This is my third One Block Wonder, approximately 54 x 54".

You can tell the clothesline is a little shady, but that's my best photo spot, so there it is.

The fabric I chose was really busy, as you can tell, but still made a pretty neat OBW.

Below are closeups of some of the hexies. I FMQed it with meandering boxes/squares/rectangles, and I bound it with a nice green/blue/yellow stripe (last photo) which exactly matched those colors in the quilt.

Hexies are partially sewn on OBW IV, but that finish may wait until I have a few other projects done. Both III and IV were started as part of OBW classes I taught.

The Wonderful World of Color Hop is coming up, starting April 18. Joan of Moosestash Quilting is hosting. My turn in April 21. Here is the list of participants.

Monday April 18

Be sure to join in the fun!

Friday, March 11, 2022

Quilt Retreat and March Crafter's Edge Design

Our Cerro Gordo Quilters and friends had our annual quilt retreat at Threads of Time in Danville, IL.

During that time, I made my March project for Crafter's Edge with my Crossover II cutter and several dies.

This owl wall hanging is approximately 15 x 20". I have a friend who loves owls, and for some time now I have been determined to make something "owly" for her.

I wasn't into using bright colors--wanted a more natural look for it.

These are the dies I used:

the owls, of course, the small oak leaf, the leaves in the flower set, and the acorn (in the maple leaf set--I know, I know).

Below are some closeups. I appliqued and quilted it on my Janome 9400 since I wasn't at home with my Juki sitdown quilting machine. The Janome worked great, of course. I am just not used to using it.

Do you like my "hoohoo" quilted into it? :)

Here is our retreat crew:

Four of us made pincushions--I couldn't find one of them when I went to take the picture...

Kim finished her one block wonder top. She came to Cerro Gordo last fall and learned the process. Life got in the way as far as finishing it until this weekend.

I took Pat Sloan's String Bean challenge pattern and my leftover 2.5" strips.

Here are my blocks:

Rosie made one with just the centers using a jelly roll.

Jennifer used a layer cake for this pattern:

Leslie made this baby quilt using a panel:

Jo and I both bought the fabrics to make this lovely quilt.

We had a great time! Already looking forward to next year!

Sunday, March 6, 2022

Standing for Ukraine

Pat Sloan on her blog posted a pattern to help show our support of Ukraine and its people.

Pat is asking for a donation to UNICEF as "payment" for use of her pattern.

Here is my quilt--it's about 24 x 24.

I chose not to do much quilting, only stitch in the ditch and echoing around the center star.

My heart hurts for the Ukrainian people, but one small thing we can do is donate to good causes to give them some aid.

I finished my 2nd Susan K. Cleveland dresden project. The first one was in another post; this one is made with the leftover dresden blades, and the blades are quilted the same way Susan does. I need to press it all again, because in the quilting process the blades get creased, but I wanted to get this up for you to see.

Here is a look at the first and second project. I suppose I will give away the second one at some point. I can't imagine a time that I would want both displayed at once.

My daughter Sarah gave me a Gees Bend quilters puzzle for Christmas (which we just celebrated 2 weeks ago). Here is the finished puzzle. Daughter Natalie gave me puzzle trays that stack--very nice! So nice that I got another set. :)

Tomorrow is our annual Cerro Gordo Quilters retreat at Threads of Time in Danville, IL. We are SEW looking forward to it! I think there are 8 of us. Fun times for parts of 4 days and 3 nights!!

Friday, February 25, 2022

Hearts for February

I finished a project for February with heart dies from Crafter's Edge. I saw this project on Accuquilt, but I have the Crafter's Edge Nested Heart die set and wanted to use it. The way I arranged the hearts is rotated from the pattern, and it is several inches larger. I think the hearts are slightly larger too. My final project is about 34 x 34.

The center background piece, I think, was 28" square. Then I added the pink 1.5" inner border, a 2.5" outer border, and pink binding.

I'm not sure if you can see it, but I did straight stitch applique for the hearts and loops and hearts in the background. I also stitched in the ditch on the borders and did a loop to loop on the outer border. All of it was done on my sit down quilting machine, my Juki Miyabi QVP, using a light pink 50 wt thread.

Below are my leftover hearts--2 x 2.5" in size.

Here is the Nested Hearts die set I used with the larger used ones on the left and the small unused die on the right.

The Crossover II is a great machine for cutting applique shapes, and the dies are easy to use. It sure beats cutting those shapes out by hand!

Thursday, February 24, 2022

Belated Postings

I'm behind in posting some of my finishes.

Below is the Riley Blake pillow of the month for February. This comes in a kit, with everything included except the batting and the pillow form. Sew cute!

I made a purse for my hairdresser--one of my SILs requested a purse too.

This one is a crossbody bag that I love (I have made 2 for myself). Chris picked out the fabrics. After I made the purse, I thought she needed a Diva wallet too. 😊

My 2nd one block wonder from these floral panels (Tivoli Garden) from Wilmington Prints.

Another SIL loved my first OBW so I bought more panels to make her one. Instead of binding Marcia's, I faced it.

Below is the one I made for myself. I bound mine--wish I had learned about facing then, but I'm not giving away my first one. I love it too much.

Here is the panel I used. (It takes 6 panels.)

I fell in love with Susan K. Cleveland's Disappearing Dresdens a couple of years ago and learned about her Piping Hot Piping from a friend. After buying a bunch of Susan's supplies for each, I made my own Disappearing Dresdens with Piping Hot Piping. I had sew many Dresden blades left, that I made another piece and am almost finished with it. Other than having to hand stitch the binding on the back, I really like Susan's method for putting on the piping and binding. Hand stitching isn't the end of the world for me, but I tend to want to do all my binding by machine.

How about some grandkids' pictures?

Here we are with all 6 of them--last weekend was the first time we've all been together since last July.

Hailey and Connor met Sydney for the first time this past weekend.

The 4 bigger girls are behind a gate to keep the dogs out.

That was a great time! Love being with family!