Curve It Up - Sawtooth Star

The second set of instructions for the Curve It Up Quilt Along were posted today. If haven't joined in yet, I really suggest that you do. This block went together really easily and has that neat twist of curves in the star points. Can't wait for the next one!

88 Blocks

Got my hands on a template that worked and machine pieced this 9" Double Wedding Ring block for my Just Takes 2. Not perfect, but okay. Not sure if I would be up for a whole wedding ring quilt! Still hoping for sunshine!

87 1/2 Blocks Completed

A little update on my Just Takes 2 blocks.  I completed 4 1/2 blocks of the November 1st installment.  I am need to figure out how I am going to proceed with the yellow Wedding Ring block.  Those arcs are meant to be hand appliqued to the background.  The small yellow arcs were supposed to appliqued as well, but I was able to machine piece those in successfully.  I do not have the skill, patience or desire to do a decent job of those large arcs at the moment so I am trying to figure out an alternative.  There was no template provided for the white center, so I may have to draw one myself if I a want to try to machine or hand piece it.  I will let it sit for a while, and hopefully lightning will strike.


It is once again time for the Quilt Maker Magazine 100 Blocks Blog Tour.  If you click the button below it will take you to the Quilty Pleasures Blog that will lead you to all of the fun.  There are 100 blogs to visit over the course of the week, and chances to win copies of the magazine as well as some other great prizes.  I have been very lucky on this tour in the past, and I hope it continues this year.  Make yourself a cup of tea and check it out.

Hopefully we get a break in the cloud cover here in the "City of Sunshine" so I can get some quilt pictures taken to share with you too!

Happy Halloween!

We had some fun pumpkin carving today. Have a Happy Halloween!

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

This is my first time participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Thanks for stopping by to have a look. I decided to pull an older quilt that has a really neat story behind it. In 2008 our guild hosted a round robin.  We started off with any block for the center and participants were given instructions to follow for each round.  It was really fun watching the changes every month.

 This was the block I brought.  It was a mystery block that was paper pieced.

Lynn got my quilt first and the instructions were to add a pieced border.  I think the Easter eggs were the perfect touch.

Next the instructions were to make the quilt "not square".  Sandra enhanced it with an egg shape.

Eileen was to add a border, keeping the "not square" shape.  Eileen could see that less was more in this situation and added a border that didn't overpower what was already there.

Robin was next and her instructions were to "Return to square/rectangle."  I got some bonus appliqued butterflies too!

Last of all Marg added the final border and embellishments. Pieced border, ribbon embroidery, hundreds of buttons and a chick!

Then it was my job to quilt it. I quilted this one on my Janome 6600 as it was long before I owned my longarm. I had a lot of fun and pushed myself to do many new things.  (I only broke a few buttons in the process.)

As I didn't want to take away for the cool pieced border I used a facing method instead of a traditional binding to finish the quilt.

Now for a few quilt stats:

Finished size: 25 x 32

Techniques Used: Paper Piecing, applique, embellishments, Round Robin

Quilted by me

Category: Best Wall Hanging

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again!  Be sure to check out all the eye candy during the Festival.

Curve It Up - Churn Dash

First installment of the Curve It Up Quilt Along complete. It went together beautifully. It's not too late to join in!

Lost City

This is Carol's Lost City Quilt.  It is a free pattern for the new Moda fabric line "Cuzco" by Kate Spain.  You can find it here. (Carol has the fabric at her store.)  I have to admit the the acres of open white spaces had me stumped for awhile, but I am very pleased with the final result.  Deciding what to quilt is always the hardest part.  Once you get that figured out the rest is play time.

I snuck into the neighbour's front yard to take advantage of all the fresh maple leaves on the ground for this photo shoot.  As you can see the leaves were raining down as I took the pictures.

I decided on diagonal lines in the colored portions, and simple curls in the border and sashing strips.

 A double whimsical feather follows the shape of the piecing and gives some movement to the white areas.

I always like to know what the back looks like too.

 I don't always remember to take a before shot, but it is nice to look back and see how much quilting changes the look.