Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I saw a star made with lots of triangles. I used that as my inspiration for my most recent BAM BOM blocks, Birds in the Air.
This grouping is made up of 12 blocks. I may not arrange it this was, but I am enjoying looking at it.
We distributed the schedule for finishing the tops made from these blocks, so I need to get serious about making more blocks, or not.
Others have made blocks for my stepdad for the Quilts of Valor quilt.
I think they have done a great job making the blocks look lively (not boring). The placement of the colors in a limited palette is really good.
My stepdad is ill and I wanted to get him a Quilt of Valor quilt.
I tried back in 2016 and never heard back. I reached back to the woman I had spoken to and her email address no longer worked. I left a request with the situation on their website and haven’t heard anything.
At SueS’ Sew Day I asked if anyone had a contact. Suddenly, a quilt was being designed and everyone there was picking out blocks to make for a quilt. The block above is a 26″ block that I made.
I am so grateful to the guild members. The quilt won’t be a ‘real’ QoV quilt, but I think the sentiment will be just as meaningful.
I made my goal of 30 blocks this month plus some! I am not stressing myself out over the goal, but I do want to celebrate when I can.
I quickly made the Bow Tie block before the meeting deadline last weekend.
This is not a favorite block design, however I am, again, being a good guild citizen and making all the blocks.
I used the Mini Simple Folded Corners Ruler** and it went very quickly.
We are nearing the end of the BAM BOM, so I need to get serious about my blocks. I need to re-make the Friendship Star wreath and see whether I need to make more blocks.
**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this website.
Sheesh! I haven’t posted about this since April. Well, it is a little bigger! In fact, I finished the top last weekend.
I probably should make it a little longer, but I don’t want to. I am done with this process for the moment. I might quilt it with straight lines myself – a gentle curved line that is one of the decorative stitches on my new machine.
I finished the second of the May/June blocks the night before they were due. I try to make them before or as soon as we announce them, but I didn’t this time. As a result, I almost didn’t make the deadline.
In addition, I ended up remaking the X Plus/Lozenge block. Now I have two of them. I’ll use the first one on the back. I don’t want to make it into something else, because the piecing is less than stellar, but it will look fine on the back of the quilt.
I made the Drunkard’s Path/ Quarter Squares right away. I was in the frame of mind with Chaos with a Twist, so took the opportunity to make a few more in my BAM BOM fabrics.
A lot of people are participating, which made me really happy! There were some fantastic blocks shown.
I sewed a chunk of the 1-2-3 Mosaic table runner together. I think it looks great.
I wasn’t 100% convinced that the project was going to work out when I saw it on the design wall. After sewing this bit together, I am much more optimistic.
I think it looks a lot better sewn together.
I sewed it in between sewing all the other things on which I am working, but it still went together pretty fast. I’ll know soon if I need more blocks.
I am glad I didn’t make it wider as it will be the right width for the buffet when I put a facing on it.
I spent the other day prepping about 20 blocks for the 1-2-3 Mosaic table runner. I want to get this off the design wall and it won’t happen magically.
I felt like I needed some additional blue blocks so I concentrated on those. Not all of the 20 came out the correct size so some went back on the board waiting for another round of fabric. I made enough of them to feel like I am nearing the finish line.
I spent some time rearranging the layout. I am happier with how it looks and will soon start putting some chunks together. The bottom looks darker than it is because the ironing board is shadowing the bottom corner of the design wall.
I have made the photo really large so you can see it more clearly.
I know there will still be some rearranging as I begin to sew, but I think I am pretty much ready to sew some chunks together. It will at least tell me what other blocks I need to make.
As an aside, I finally made the travel board and am using it for this project. I cut up pieces, laid them out in order and then was able to sew them in an assembly line fashion. I haven’t figured out where to store this board, but while it is in use, it is very handy.
I finished the Pacifica Quilter’s Club Lucky Blocks last week. It took me longer than I thought, but I am pleased to be contributing to another good cause.
I finished the Patchwork Palooza top in January and now the whole quilt is complete: top, back, quilting, binding, sleeve. Done.
I am pleased with how I finished the edges. I think completing the diagonals looks nice.
There are blocks that I wish I had moved, but that will probably always be the case.
DH actually commented that he really liked this quilt. Maybe it will be a gift for him?
I will be entering this quilt into the Fair.
It must be some kind of record! I started this quilt on about September 6, 2025. Here it is, 6 months later finished. I am really happy and kind of stunned as well.
The Pacifica Quilter’s Club also has a donation block program called “Lucky blocks”. I missed the first round, but picked up the instructions at the last meeting. I have slowly been starting these blocks and over the weekend made some good progress.
I have to trim all the HSTs, so the work takes longer PLUS I am working on about 12 projects at a time.
I accidentally cut 4 blocks. Either I didn’t read the instructions carefully or I skipped reading them. I made a bunch of HSTs and there were enough for 4 blocks. I’ll sew them together in time for the April meeting. If I can’t make it, I’ll drop them off with the coordinator.
I was able to use some 5″ squares I had cut from scraps for this project, which made me very happy. That scrap processing effort isn’t wasted!
I found a tutorial for hourglass blocks. The Quilting Daily site also has a 3 color quarter square triangle (hourglass) block tutorial. I found these while reading the Love of Quilting magazine. They have a lot of basic tutorials. I decided to try it for my Bay Area Modern Block of the Month for March blocks.
The tutorial includes a 1.5 minute video with jaunty music.
I made two first just to see what I thought of the technique. I thought it was fine and something different, so I cut some squares and went to work. I went a little crazy and made quite a few QSTs!
As I was laying them out I realized that I could make pinwheels since I used the lime green in all of the blocks. I don’t know that I’ll do that in the final layout of the quilt, but it was kind of fun to see what such a layout would look like.
I just got a Technique Sheet from Studio 180 Designs for the Split Recs Ruler**. I love that ruler and may make some Elongated Hourglass units. Stay tuned.
**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this website.
I have been working a bit at a time on more Mosaic blocks.
I think I need to sew some of them together, so I can figure out how many more I need and where.
I have added some more fabrics to vary the contrast and make each block stand out. A two color (ish) color palette can be tricky.
I have been working on making a ton of smaller (2.5 inch) blocks. Lorraine said we would need a lot of them. The size of the blocks I made after I got home from the workshop kept creeping up. I suddenly realized that I wouldn’t be able to put the thing together without more small blocks, so that is my current focus.
Friend Julie wrote a really good post about the workshop. She got some great photos that I neglected to take.