Make It Monday: Wishes

The Sweetwater girls are Colorado natives, and fabric designers whose fabrics I love. 

I started the June Jelly Roll Party sample on Friday. And all the blocks are made and on the design wall today!

Here is a copy of the pattern cover, lifted from the "makelifesweet" etsy shop. The colors are much better in their photo:

The pattern is "Celebrate," and the fabric is "Wishes" by Sweetwater for Moda.

Yes, I'm using the same fabric as used on the pattern cover. Do you often do that, or do you always choose your own fabrics?


From the desk of your

Sunday is for Scraps Catch-up

I determined I would spend Sundays working only on my Celtic Solstice mystery. Well, this is the first time since January I've worked on it!

I have all the blocks sewn together and the first border sewn on. I love the secondary pattern that emerges when the blocks are pressed nice and flat!

Here is what the second border will look like (next weekend, I swear!):

I think I will trim all the triangle-in-a-square blocks before I sew them together. It will make them fit better.

I also made a block for a member of the 2013 Quiltmaker Magazine Scrap Squad. It's from the 7th edition of 100 Blocks magazine. This is block #663, Whirly Zig by Heidi Foltz.

If you look at the block in the magazine, the center points are cut off in the block. I didn't like that, so I turned the outside pieces so the center points "float." 

By Tuesday, A Quilt Block a Day challengers should have 20 blocks made. I'm a bit ahead, but only because I know this will be a busy week.

I'm excited to see how the blocks are starting to look like a quilt!

I have something new on the design wall to show you -- come back tomorrow to see.

From the desk of your

TGIFF: Jelly Roll Friday

I love this quilt! I had so much fun asking for input on the layout, and apparently lots of Ruth's Stitchery customers love it too.

It's the first Friday of the month, and that means it's Jelly Roll Party day! Today's quilt has been hanging above the register at Ruth's, and I can't wait to get my hands on it again.

The pattern is "Yummy" by Jaybird quilts.

Back in February, I asked for your input on which layout to use. I settled on the one with "columns of colors," because I think it shows off the variations in the Kate Spain "daydream" collection best.

Here is a close up of the quilting, by Susan Santisteven of Modern Prairie Quilting. I told her I wanted it "just like the photo," and isn't it perfect? She even changed thread color for the sashing:

I adore the "Denyse Schmidt figure 8" pattern, and I'll definitely be asking Susan to quilt another modern quilt for me!

Linking up to "can I get a whoop whoop" at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

As well as Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday, this week at Quokka Quilts.

And also Link a Finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilt:

Tomorrow is the Pueblo Quilt Expo, I'll be shopping for some goodies to share next Saturday Stash!

From the desk of your

Day-After-April Fools Day Joke

Just so you know I'm not making this up, here is a photo of the DH holding a ruler in our 8" of new snow this morning.

I know we need the moisture, but this is ridiculous!

Here is the "My Year in Temperatures" scarf. It's getting to where you can see the temperature trends -- no pinks in March.

Here's a close-up of the March rows. More greens and yellows toward the end of the month.

Yarn Report

 I wasn't kidding, either, when I reported that I scored big at The  Loopy Ewe yarn shop on my way to Cheyenne last weekend. (BTW, if you see something you like, they do online and phone orders.)

I know I can get Cascade 220 Superwash at Table Rock Llamas, but I needed this bright green to match my Sephora nail polish.

This is Gobelin from Biscotte & Cie. Yes, is's 100% superwash merino -- the color is Poisson Tang. Literally, it means "tang fish," but I'm sure it means something else. Maybe a follower who speaks French can help?

This is DK weight, from Skein Yarn in Australia. This is a new company to me, so even though the yarn is lighter weight than I would usually use for Hats for Sailors, I wanted to try it. Again, 100% superwash merino.

Can't go wrong with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted. I wanted an unusual-for-me color, and isn't this mint green sumptuous?

I've used a lot of Madelinetosh DK weight, but this is worsted weight Tosh Vintage. The color is called "Stargazing." Reminds me of friend Mary and me looking up at the stars from outside her cabin in Colorado -- until she mentioned the mountain lion she had seen earlier in the week. We stargazed from inside after that.

This pretty is from another new-to-me company, Fable Fibers in Charlotte NC. One of my Knitter Buddies now lives in Charlotte, I think -- right Diana B? Hmm, maybe a personal shopper in the works? 

I'm a long-time Blue Moon Fiber Arts fan, but haven't used much of their yarn since I stopped knitting socks. I didn't realize their "Socks that Rock" heavyweight is "almost" worsted weight. This colorway is called "Frosty," and the hank has 350 yards. That's enough for three hats!

With our April snow, it's a perfect day to curl up and knit Hats for Sailors. Go here for the detes, and I hope you will consider knitting a hat for a sailor, too!

From the desk of your

12 in 2014: March Challenge Parade

Ha! I didn't do the "numbered" UFO quilt, but I finished two BOM quilts in March!

In case you don't follow 52 Quilts on Facebook, or if you missed the post, the challenge number for April is:

There are so many great "finishes" this month, I'll save my own until TGIFF (Thank Goodness it's Finally Finished) Friday.

The first finish for March came in when the month was little more than half over! Kerry sent a photo of her Star Fusion quilt, started at Road to California in January.  I love the colors, Kerry! Kerry blogged about this quilt here at Kerry's Quilting.

Sue came in right behind Kerry with this cute set of placemats and a table runner in "Marmalade" from Bonnie & Camille. The background really sets of the soft colors in this collection, Sue! Take a look at Sue's Quilty Bits & Bobs here for the whole story.

I always look forward to seeing what "K" name Sandi comes up with each month. Here is "Konstituent." I know a group of high school rodeo club members who would just love this one! Sandi blogs at KwiltnKats, take a look here for more info on this fun kwilt.

One of our newest "finishers," Katie, is going great guns with her UFO finishes this year. She says she will donate this cute baby quilt -- I have to show you more than one photo, it's so cute!

Clearly, Katie has caught my addiction to striped binding. Isn't this little "PS I Love You" label adorable?

Jackie also made a quilt to donate. It's a 'Match the pairs' quilt and will be donated to Project Linus.

Lyn finished a long-time UFO this month. I want you to go to her blog, What a Hoot, because she has a great method of keeping projects organized. Plus she has wonderful gratuitous cat photos!

She reports "Holiday Tidings" has been a UFO since 2008. Congratulation on this finish, Lyn!

I love what Joy says about her finish:

Here is this month's UFO. It isn't grand or big, but it is finished and made entirely by hand. My family was on vacation in the summer of 2011 with my parents. I watched my Mom spend her downtime working on a hand project, while I had nothing to work on. So when she needed to run to the local quilt shop, I jumped at the chance. I bought a charm pack, thread, and a pack of needles. I started making this little table runner, but never finished it. So I packed it up for this week's vacation, and finished it.

So right, Joy! Finished is better than big! I think it's so sweet.

Betsy makes me laugh out loud with the name of her March UFO. Remember the Y2K quilts we all started in 1999? Well, here is "YsoLate." This one isn't using all 2000 of the charm squares that I collected from various people via an AOL quilt forum. but it uses some of them....finally.

Wow, I think we should all give a bow to Mary for this finish! Mary says, "This top made from Judy Niemeyer's wonderful Amazon Star pattern is finally ready to send to the quilter after 2 years of work!  Judy's patterns are awesome both in their beauty and in their number of pieces per quilt ;-)  This one is king size."

Wow. Just. Wow. I hope you'll send another photo when it's been quilted, I'd love to see what your quilter does with this beauty, Mary!

Noela gets extra credit this month for not only finishing her UFO at quilt retreat, but attaching a label as well!

Irene has had a hard winter, so I hope everyone will send good thoughts her way. Here is what she says about this quilt:

I did finish a quilt this month, although it was not officially my March UFO. My father has been in the hospital most of the past two months, after breaking his hip. I decided to make one of my lap quilts, since the rehab places are often too cold for him. He is a postcard collector/seller and I found this postcard fabric in my stash, so the hard work was done for me - deciding what style to make!

Donna has two finishes to share this month. The first is so appropriate, as it may officially be "Spring," but the weather didn't get the memo!

And she has such a sweet story behind this quilt. 

While cleaning and organizing my sewing space I found a whole pattern cut out for a copy of a lap quilt I had made my Aunt Mary Anne when she went into a nursing home. Not sure why I had another one already cut out but her quilt was not found amongst her possessions when she passed.  I finished it this month so that I can remember her although that happens almost daily since she asked that I get her Pfaff when she could no longer use it.

And remember Donna's "Streaks of Winter Sunshine" flannel quilt from last month's UFO Parade? She reports she tied it and has been sleeping under it "nice and toasty!"

Carol Anne finished this lovely hand applique'd and hand quilted wall hanging. I so admire those who do hand work like this!

Every time I see one of these quilts finished, I want to drop everything and go work on mine! Here is Debra's "Celtic Sunset." It was Bonnie Hunter's 2013 Mystery Quilt -- as Debra says, who would have thought blue, orange, green and yellow would result in such a gorgeous quilt? Congratulations on a big finish, Debra!

Gill calls her March finish "a salvage operation." I so admire you, Gill, because I think this project would have wound up in the "recycle for cat beds" bin if it had been mine!

Here is Gill's story:

Here is my Number 4 finish - Christmas cushions and table cloth. This was meant to be a Christmas quilt and it has been on the back burner for a while after getting bogged down in fussy cutting, over estimating how much fabric I had available and cutting strips too wide etc. Coming back to it was especially hard as it was cut and started at a different experience level - so now I realise why it could not come together: as the accuracy of cutting was so poor, but due to the design it was impossible to recut very much because I would lose half the pictures! So some unpicking and rejigging followed and now it is salvaged as cushions and a table cloth!

And here is her "save."

Those pillows look so perfect on your leather couch, Gill. Good save!

Nancy H. not only got caught up with her finishes this month, I think she's ahead! Nancy sent in three finishes this month!

First, here is a speedy start-to-finish quilt for a foster daughter. Go to Nancy's blog, My Love of Fabric, to read the touching story behind this quilt. Be sure to notice her husband bound this quilt! 

Here is her February UFO #6:

And her March UFO. Look closely at the block in this quilt, it look easy but to me it looks easy to confuse the fabric layout! Nancy says she did more than a bit of ripping and re-sewing on this one!

And here's a last-minute entry, this one from Elisa at Yarn Tails. She tells us "I bought the fabric for this quilted bag almost a year ago, during my first ever Quilt Run. And then it languished until the UFO challenge. So happy to have it done!"

Very cute, Elisa, and you know a knitter can't have too many bags!

Oops, one more at the last minute! This from Heather, details on her blog here.

Giveaways

TWO giveaways for the parade this month. If you remember, I offered my April UFO kit to someone who wanted to finish it.

It includes the pattern, templates, and 30s repro fabrics for the pieced blocks. I have to laugh at the comments, they were about evenly divided into "I want it" and "I'd never finish it, either!"

It was a little tricky to get the RNG to choose someone who wants the kit. But the second try resulted in a winner who really wants the kit -- Diane, who wrote:

Diane, I don't have an email address for you, so please email me at AuntMarti at 52Quilts dot com with your postal address and I'll send "Old Fashioned Charm" to you right away!

There were 20 (!) finished UFOs this month. And the RNG chose Kerry! I'm so pleased, because Kerry has been a long-time finisher but is a first-time winner! I have some lovely Michael Miller Cotton Couture solids I think you'll like, Kerry!

Congratulations, finishers! Remember, you can join the UFO challenge at any time, go to this post to see how -- hoping to see your finish here next month!



From the desk of your