Block of the Month Quilt 2013

Over the years I have enjoyed participating in Block of the Month quilts.  I think Jan Patek’s were some of the first that I did.  The catch with doing them is making sure you aren’t doing multiples at a time.  It’s easy to get behind and difficult to get caught up.  There are a ton of really great patterns out there too so it is hard to choose.  Over the past few years I’ve sworn them off, mainly because I have one or two in my quilting queue just waiting for me to get motivated!  Several months ago I quite by accident came across the Temecula Quilt Company website.  I love their style and they specialize in Civil War fabrics and smaller quilts.  So I’m a frequent stalker of their website as well as a customer now.

I decided to bite the bullet and try one of their block of the months using solid fabrics, making 5 blocks a month, each 5″ square.  Now 3 months into it, I am proud to say I’m not behind….yet!  To help keep me on track with the project I decided to display my blocks so that I can always see them.  A piece of jute twine is strung just below the crown molding of my sewing room and using lots of tiny clothes pins from Michael’s  I have one side of the room lined with 15, 5″ squares.

The patterns we are using to do these blocks are Lori Smith’s, Road to Freedom.

I will be updating you on my progress in a few more months when the next wall is full!

Summer 2012  Quilts

I have made a concerted effort this summer to get back in the quilting groove.  Honestly, the stack of unfinished projects I had is embarrassing.  Many of my UFOs (un finished objects) I started 11 years ago when I worked at this fabulous quilt shop in Leesburg, VA, Memere’s Garden.  Sadly they are no longer in business.  I taught classes for them and made many of the shop samples.  As a result, as I would make a quilt top for the shop, I’d make one for myself…never totally completing the top or getting to machine quilting before the next project was handed to me.  So this summer…my goal was to get some things completed and in a useable form.  While I seem to always have more to do, I feel good about my progress this summer.  Here’s what I managed to complete…

Elfriede’s Stars…this is a small tabletopper made from Civil War fabrics and a gift to our German landlords, Walter and Elfriede Goettel.  They are lovely people and welcomed our family with open arms some 20 years ago.  My husband had a business trip to their area this summer and arranged to visit with them.  I made this for them and later received not one but two phone calls from Elfriede.  Our phone conversations are very interesting now…my German is dusty from being in the attic for nearly 20 years but I’m amazed at how much I still understand.  Needless to say she was thrilled with this small gift.

This is the pattern I used for the beginning quilt class.  Half square triangles in an extended star pattern.  This is a single block in a Christmas theme and then there is….

a 6 block version that makes a lap size quilt.  This is called Amish Stars and I used hand dyed solids from Cottonwood Fabrics to make this quilt.  It does have a little appliqued flower and leaves in the cornerstones.

I had some batik fabrics that I pieced for the backing and here you can see the pumpkin seed quilting and flower & vine that I free motion quilted.

“Flag Day” was inspired by a quilt I saw on Pinterest and I knew I had the perfect fabrics for this quilt.  I need to do a close up picture because I love the shirting fabric I used in the sashing and I like the quilting I did on it.

And my final and favorite quilt for the summer is “Summer Picnic”

I honestly love this quilt and it was a quick one to machine quilt!

I’m in the process of making my UFO completion list for the Fall.  Wish me luck!!

One of my favorite drives in Spring is the Colonial Parkway between Williamsburg, VA and Yorktown, VA. This year was no exception. The dogwoods are just beautiful and inspiring.

These blooms reminded me that I had taught a quilting applique class that used a dogwood bloom and I had a dogwood quilt to complete. The pastel colorway is not my normal style but it does have a bit of a vintage feel. So in April 2012, I completed this quilt, “Colonial Dogwoods.”

“Polish Pottery” framed quiltlet in a vintage transom window.

Making this folkart quilt brought back memories of a bus trip to Poland with our squadron spouses. It was an incredibly fun time and I bought Polish pottery like I would never see it again.