Category Archives: quilts

A Busy Weekend

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A lot of the weekend was spent reorganizing my fabric. By the time Sunday night rolled around, I had everything sorted and in a container. This is something I’ve been trying to get done for the past few weeks and, as we’re heading into hot and humid weather, I decided this weekend was time.

As I was sorting through fabric, I pulled out the piece shown in the photo. I remember buying it at Creativ Festival about 5 years ago. The minute I saw it, I had to buy it. Since then, I’ve pulled it out from time to time but have yet to use it. This time, though, I was struck again by just how much I like it. Some lime, pink, hot pink, a light blue, maybe even a black are going to be pulled and put with it and see where that leads me. Will it be some type of Dresden? Perhaps a clamshell design? A lot of ideas are already starting.

I wonder how many of us have pieces that we keep looking at and putting away again. Do you have a fabric which you keep looking at, wondering just how you’re going to use it?

Smudge is really enjoying the warmer weather stretched out on the windowsill.

Melons and Yin Yang — Oh, My!

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Lots and lots of melons printed and ready to stitch to the connecting cream bits. Lots and lots of yin yang pieces printed and ready to stitch. This is definitely going to be a very shabby chic summer.

Two more of the Dresden Plates are now done and ready. Before I get too much further with these, I’m going to play with some layout ideas. Hopefully I’ll get that done this weekend.

We had some computer glitches, so I’m recycling this photo of Smudge on the windowsill from last summer.

A Little More Shabby Coat

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I know, I know. I said I was going to stick with the little Dresden Plates but I couldn’t resist adding a bit more to the shabby Joseph’s Coat. I’m so thrilled with this new Inklingo collection that I really can’t leave it alone! It’s really quick to stitch and presses oh, so easily. Even with all those seams intersecting in the centres, it lies flat as can be. This could grow into a lap quilt rather quickly.

Quilts that go together as you stitch them, rather than having blocks to join at the end, always attract me. When I finish stitching the blocks, it’s done.

The back:

We had crazy weather Wednesday night. First fog, then rain, then thunder and lightning and heavy rain. Sounds like there’s more of the same in store for us today.

Smudge was enjoying himself, stretched out on the windowsill. That’s a definite sign that summer is here.

Stitching A Flying Swallows Block – Lots of Photos

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A bright summery block of flying swallows seemed right for this little tutorial. Mr. Q.O. calls them bats, but …

There are a number of pieces in the block, but it really is an eight-point star made up of pieced 90-degree diamonds. Each of the pieced 90-degree diamonds is made up of 3 diamonds and 4 triangles. First piece the 3 diamonds together.

Then take advantage of the continuous stitching opportunity offered when adding the 4 triangles to the diamond unit as shown in this photo. Following the arrows, it’s possible to stitch all the triangles to the diamonds without breaking the thread.

Make sure the top and bottom triangles are placed the right way so that you end up with a larger 90-degree diamond.


While I usually wait until a block is completed to press it, this block is an exception. Pressing the pieced diamonds before joining them to one another makes the final pressing easier.

Join the 90-degree diamonds to create the eight-point star, making sure all the swallows are flying in the same direction.

Add the setting squares and triangles and the block is done. This block finishes at about 15″ and is destined to be part of a stitching book cover. I made it using the 6″ LeMoyne Star Inklingo collection, which has all the shapes to make the block other than the outer setting triangle.

Smudge found this whole process so calming that he fell asleep with some soft stuffed toys to keep him company!

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It seems that our ISP is bouncing some e-mails from friends. If you have e-mailed me in the past day or two and haven’t heard back, please let me know in a comment.

Summer Plates

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Getting the Summer Plates done has moved up the list. Why? Because I really want to get this top done while we can still get good pictures outdoors. Somehow taking pictures of this one in summer seems right. So Monday night, although Joseph’s Coat was really calling to me, I got started and added the frames to two of the plates.

The blocks finish at 9″. I’m thinking this will be a small lap quilt that will look wonderful draped over a chair or the loveseat. Makes me think I want to find a wallpaper with huge cabbage roses in faded peaches and pinks for the living room and have a completely shabby chic look. Not sure what Mr. Q.O. would think of that.

The back:

Smudge, caught yet again just shortly after diving in his water bowl. If you enlarge the photo, you can see that his ruff is looking rather matted after getting so wet. Thankfully, his fur is so silky that it combs out in seconds.

Shabby Coat

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Did I get distracted this weekend? Oh, yes! Saturday a new Joseph’s Coat Inklingo Collection was released and I was immediately and totally captivated. Couldn’t resist. Thanks to the fact I hadn’t yet put away the shabby chic fabrics after cutting and printing Yin Yang shapes, I immediately grabbed a bunch of them, some background fabric and started printing. By late Saturday night the first ring was done.

Sunday evening, I added a bit more. The curves are so gentle that no clipping into the seam allowance is needed at all. More curved piecing. Irresistible to me. I know this will be a lap quilt so have printed 150 melons so far. Between this and the Yin Yang, I’m going to have a wonderfully shabby summer!

It presses like a dream. I followed the pressing suggestion in the Collection and pressed the seam allowances towards the melons.

Smudge was sitting in Mr. Q.O.’s computer chair after diving in his water bowl. He was just about dry when we got this shot.

Flying Swallows

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A friend asked me how I’d stitch the Flying Swallows block. I had to stitch one to figure out the best stitching sequence. It’s a rather fascinating block to put together by hand and actually went together quicker than I thought it would. I used shapes from the free Inklingo collection to make the block, which will finish at approximately 10.75″.

It’s easy to press.

Now that I’ve made one block and sorted out what I think is the best stitching sequence, I will make another and take lots of photos to do a mini tutorial.

Smudge was stretched out snoozing on the couch.

Shabby Yin Yang Blocks

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Nine blocks done. I don’t think there’s any chance of these blocks ever becoming boring to stitch.

In fact, I’m so sure they won’t that I’ve printed and cut out the shapes for another 25+ blocks. Next thing to do is to get more of the fabrics for the Contented Kitty blocks printed and cut.

Yesterday was a fabulous day — seeing my first sales of a pattern was a real thrill. Thank you all for the wonderful supportive comments!

Smudge was dozing on the floor, after spending most of the evening draped over my legs.

Joining the Pink Ice Blocks and …

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Over the weekend I finally settled on an arrangement for the Pink Ice blocks and have started stitching them together. I’m stitching the blocks into rows by  hand. Because there are many points and I want my seams to line up exactly, stitching by hand is the best choice for me. It doesn’t take long to join 5 blocks into a row and then join the rows to one another. So far, I have two rows joined and the third is waiting to be added. I have a couple of different ideas for a border treatment but won’t be making any decisions on that until the main body of the top is together.

What have I been working on lately that has been taking so much time? Well, over the past few weeks I have been working on a pattern for Chintz Circles. Along with that, I was putting together a web site. I’m very happy to report that late yesterday, the web site went live and my first pattern is listed. More patterns are in the works. Writing patterns has been one of my goals for some time. My blog will remain a place to talk about projects I’m working on, our activities and cat/cats.

We have had a stretch of relatively cool weather since mid-week last week.  Monday was more of the same but the forecast appears to indicate that by the time Wednesday arrives, we’ll be back to more summer-like weather. I can’t wait!

Smudge was content to lounge in the pink chair. There was no baseball game for him to watch Monday night.

One Shabby, One Contented Kitty Block

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While I got a lot of printing done over the weekend, the amount of stitching that was done was rather minimal. I’m still working on the secret project, but can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

More of the shabby chic yin yang shapes were printed — a total of 95 more, that is. To make the quilt the size I want, I need to print at least another 125 shapes. That I’ll work on over the next week or two. None of the fabrics for the contented kitty blocks got printed. Nor did any of the backgrounds for the Dresden Plates. Those fabrics are pulled and waiting on the disaster area known as my sewing table. That’s another job for this week or next or else I’m afraid there will be an avalanche.

I’m now so far behind on responding to comments that it’s embarrassing. Rather than promise to catch up, I’m just going to say I’ll do my best — and tell you that I do really appreciate all the comments. Once I get past one last hurdle with this project, things should quiet down a bit and I’ll get back to normal.  I hope.

Smudge was curled up on the couch while the baseball game was on — and close to Mr. Q.O.’s baseball glove.