Sunday is for Scraps: or Karen Snyder is So Clever!

Karen Snyder blogs at Anna Lena Land -- you've seen links to her blog for the seasonal Block-a-Day challenge.  Look what she came up with this week!

It's the fastest, easiest way to make scrappy four patches you've ever seen!

Because Karen has a whole tutorial on this method, I'm not going to repeat her instructions. Go here to see Karen's tutorial on "Magic Four Patches." I just had to try it out for myself. Here are my step-by-step photos, but again, to see the complete tutorial, you have to visit Anna Lena Land! Be sure to tell her Aunt Marti says "hi!"

By any chance, do you remember this quilt?

 

It was the May "Vintage Schnibbles" project, Gentle Art by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. The fabric is a charm pack of "Ladies Sewing Club" from Moda.  This little quilt only required half a charm pack, so I have a pile of leftover 5" squares.  Just right for Karen's new technique!

Step 1:

Detail of Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5 (this is the magic part!):

Step 6:

I think I'll use this technique to add a scrappy four-patch border to my May Schnibbles project!

You'll have to go here for the full instructions. While you're there, take a look around -- Anna Lena Land is one of my favorite places!

Linking up to another favorite, Scrap Basket Sunday.

And speaking of links, have you gone to this post to sign up for my Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop giveaway?

From the desk of your

Ho Ho Ho . . . It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Welcome to the 52 Quilts edition of the Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop.

What a great way to get a jump-start on the Winter holidays -- commit to a holiday blog hop in August! My blog hop project is also the December Jelly Roll Party sample, so I'm ahead of the game there also.

The pattern is "Tea Party," from Cluck Cluck Sew. My friend Jeannie always invites me to a holiday tea in December, so I thought this pattern was particularly appropriate for December.

 I used a new line from Moda, "Winter Lanes." I like this collection because it's wintery, but not specifically "Christmas."

 (Image from United Notions)

I made my quilt longer than the pattern, it's an extra-long twin size. Just right to take to quilt camp next summer!

So long it had to hang over the deck to get a photo of the whole quilt!

Of course, I bound it using Susie's Magic Binding. If you haven't tried this technique yet for binding, here is the tutorial. If you like the look of the contrasting flange, or if you just don't like hand-stitching down bindings, Susie's Magic Binding is the technique for you!

And of course, I had to add a "My Aunt Martha Made It" label.

My sister made this Teddy Bear from one of my Daddy's Pendleton shirts. Doesn't he look comfy?

Here is the best shot I have to show the true colors. I quilted it with "random squares" using Superior Threads "Omni Thread" in Fountain Mist. Because it's a winter quilt, I used a thicker cotton batting than usual.

Today's other blog hoppers are:

August 2

Quilt Doodle Doodles

life, quilts and a cat too

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Ridge Top Quilts

Editha

Stitchin By the Lake

Quilts, Fabric and Thread Tales

Sew Many Yarns

Kwilty Pleasures

Robin's Fabric Nest

Kris Loves Fabric

I hope you'll drop by and see what they made!


"Tea Party" is such a fun quilt, I think I should give away a PDF copy of the pattern! It's a NEW copy (see comment #71) not my paper copy with my notes scribbled over it!

If you would like to make you own Tea Party quilt:

1. comment on this post and tell me if you've started your holiday quilting for this year
2. if you're a no-reply commenter, please include your email
3. international entries welcome!
4. giveaway ends the last day of the Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop, August 9 at midnight MDT

From the desk of your

July UFO Challenge Parade

If you're new to 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks, you might wonder what the "UFO Challenge" is. Go to this post to learn how to play along. There are still five months left in 2013, that's five UFOs you could finish before the end of the year!


Are you ready for the August UFO challenge? Here it is, it's:

Go ahead, run and check on what is your #11 project. Then come back and see what everyone finished during July.

July is a tough month for quilters. What with school vacations, family commitments, quilt camp . . . . But our intrepid UFO Challenge contestants stepped up to the plate and finished some wonderful UFOs this month!

I don't have the excuse of school kids or family vacation, but I did spend a week in Wyoming attending Quilt Wyoming and visiting nine shops on the Southeast Wyoming Quilt Shop Hop. I also had to finish two Jelly Roll Party samples, two Scrap Squad quilts and my #8 UFO.

Details are in this blog post, but here's a photo in case you missed it:

The first UFO completion came early in the month from Carol in Idaho. Aren't the colors gorgeous?

Sandi has another "K" quilt. This one is called "Kubicles," and she blogged it here. Not only is it a UFO, it's a scrap project. She says it should make a great baby quilt -- I agree, don't you?

Irene submitted two finishes this month. Here's what she says about the top one:

The red border one is from the 2007 Quilting page-a-day calender and my first try at paper piecing. I had planned to have this in my library office when I was working, but now it can hang in the living room.

Don't you just love being retired, Irene?  The second one is from a pattern she bought while on a cruise to Alaska in 2012. She says "quilting it can be the UFO project for 2012!"

Irene detailed both quilts on her blog here.

Gill in the UK is my sister-of-the-heart, 'cuz she doesn't like Flying Geese either! Read what she says about this (incredible) quilt:

My finish is one from 2005 - pre-children! It was on my UFO list despite me reaching a point of not liking anything about it anymore - but with 400 flying geese units made I was past the point of no return! I like it a bit more now it's actually together and I will quilt it when we get back from France.

These quilters who complete one of Bonnie Hunter's scrappy quilts always impress me. Look at this stunner Karen completed (she confesses it was actually her June finish, but I say she still gets extra credit!):

Karen says she's been knitting rather than quilting. Karen, we'd love to see some of your knitting finishes, also!

Oh, hey, look at this! Karen did get her July (#8) UFO finished!

Karen tells me the fabric is "The Caroler" by Mary Engelbreit. I love that line! Her tablerunner is made from a turnover Karen bought from Missour Star Quilt Co. years ago and "never figure out what to do with."

We agreed it's a good idea to buy some yardage from the same line as precuts, because you never know what you'll want to make with the precuts! Because the precuts usually arrive at my LQS weeks or even months ahead of the yardage, I leave them on the cutting table until the yardage is available at Ruth's Stitchery. The staff at Ruth's is so good about looking up what they have on order, so I know if I need to search further afield for a particular line.

Susan in Australia has a funny story about her July finish. Here is the story, and here is the photo. Pretty, isn't it? We'll look forward to seeing your machine quilting project, when it turns up!

By the way, My Little Sailor (Younger Son, and the blog's co-author) is in Brisbane this week. Wave to him when the ship pulls out, please, Susan!

Sooli "whipped up" this lovely quilt for her Auntie Betty's 88th birthday in October (happy birthday, Aunt Betty! I wonder if our birthdays are on the same day, they 18th?)

Here is the link to Sue's blog post describing the quilt. I want to add this one to my "Scrap Quilt Ideas" folder!

Kerry also has two finishes for July. She got this patriotic tablerunner finishes just in time to use it for summer decorating:

And she also finished this lovely batik quilt:

Debbi had a little trouble getting a good photo of her quilt, because of bad weather. The first one shows the colors most true, and the second shows the whole quilt.

Debbi told me this is a "Hidden Wells" quilt. Searching for the pattern, I found this tutorial from Moose Stash Quilting. Very pretty, Debbi, I'm going to add it to my "Sunday is for Scraps" folder!


I count 12 finishes, plus my own. Wow! That's pretty impressive for a summer month! I'm not counting my own for the giveaway winner, so let's see who the Random Number Generator chooses.

Let's see, the 9th photo is -- Sue! Congratulations, Sue! I found a book I think you'll like from Martingale:

 

And the best part is, it's available as an e-book. So I can send it to you right away!










Tomorrow is my day on the Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop. I hope you'll come back to see what I "whipped up" for Winter!

From the desk of your 

WIP Wednesday: Oh, Crap!

Sometimes, one should not try to hurry to finish a quilt block.

Yeah, it's not supposed to look like that!



This is a big week at 52 Quilts -- the Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop kicks off today, tomorrow is the July UFO Parade, Friday is Jelly Roll Party at Ruth's Stitchery, and my own day to post on the Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop. And, oh yeah, I have another Scrap Squad quilt due next week!

Plus, I found myself in a "reorganize the stash" mood this week! I will admit, that greatly increased the "giveaway" bag -- I think I'll do a giveaway with my Ho Ho Ho post!

 

I don't have time to un-sew mistakes!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Come back tomorrow and see the wonderful finishes for the July UFO Parade! 



From the desk of your

Sunday is for . . . Schnibbles!

Remember last week when I whined that I had to finish five quilts before the end of the month? Here is #4, the July Vintage Schnibbles project. It's Quilt #32 for 2013!

The pattern is "Lincoln," from Another Bite of Schnibbles by Carrie Nelson.

The neat thing about this book of quilt patterns is that each design is made with either 5" charm squares, or 10" layer cakes.

I chose the layer cake size, because I wanted a bed-sized quilt. Of course, I made a few modifications. I'm not a fan of square quilts, so I thought I would make my quilt 5 blocks by 9 blocks. When I got it on the design wall, I decided it was too long. So I cut the two extra rows of rail fence blocks at 4.5" and used them for the outside borders.

The print fabric is Sweetwater's new line, Road 15. When they were designing this fabric, they asked their blog readers to send in their street address, which was used for one of the prints in this fabric line. I don't see "Oz Court" on the fabric, but I've only seen the pre-cuts so far. I hope it will show up on the yardage!  The background is my favorite Moda Bella Solid, Porcelain.


I've submitted this quilt to Sinta at Pink Pincushion for Thursday's "Vintage Schnibbles" parade.

 

I'll be hosting my own parade on Thursday, the July UFOs. Come back and see what everyone finished this month!


From the desk of your

Design Wall Monday: Quilt Wyoming

I know, I know . . . I promised this post would be up Saturday! Sadly, my desktop computer decided not to talk to the interweb. I was hoping the Elder Son would come home yesterday and give it the kiss of life, but alas, he did not. So I apologize for being tardy publishing this post. Here is the story of my road trip to Casper for Quilt Wyoming 2013!

People from Idaho don't like to take the same route both directions when driving anywhere (I even take a different path home from the grocery store than I take going to the grocery store!) Lucky for me, Casper is just about dead center in Wyoming, lending itself to a perfect circular route.

Cheyenne

DH and I left home in time to make it to Cheyenne just a few minutes after the Sierra Trading Post opened. Visiting the outlet store was DH's reward for spending the week with 200 quilters! He found me a perfect gore-tex jacket to wear when I visit Japan in February.

By the time we examined every clearance rack at the outlet, we were running out of time to hit four quilt shops before Quilt Wyoming registration closed. So we raced through The Quilted Corner (great selection of western-themed fabrics!) and Around the Block Quilt Shop (wish I lived close enough to take their Little Quilts class!).

Laramie

Then on to Laramie and two of my favorite stops when I'm driving to Idaho: Snowy River Quilts (hooray, I found the last piece of pink batik I needed for my class at QW2013!) and Quilt Essentials (ever-expanding selection of Civil War Reproductions).

Quilt Wyoming

If you're traveling and don't know where to eat, ask at a quilt shop! We got a recommendation for our first night's meal in Casper from the ladies at the Quilt Wyoming registration -- J's Pub and Grill. I had my first hamburger in months, and it was worth every calorie!

My Thursday class was taught by Kathleen Moorhead Johnson, whom I met at the Pueblo Quilt Expo in April. What a fun teacher! We worked on "Prairie Windmills." Notice I say "worked on," not "finished." Even with our pre-class homework, I only finished one block in class.

I love the colors of this Timeless Treasures Mocha Kiss batik collection, it reminds me of my favorite ice cream: Neapolitan. I love it so much, I may pretend this is whatever number is drawn for the August UFO challenge, just so I can finish it!

 

Friday's class was with Margaret Miller, of  "AnglePlay" fame. Our instructions were to collect multiple fabrics in two colorways. I used a stripey fabric as my color inspiration.

The design we sewed is "Easy Pieces." Easy is right -- no templates, no drawing lines from corner to corner, minimal measuring.

Here is what my 16 completed blocks look like lined up in rows:

The fascinating part is how the colors "change" depending on the adjacent color. It's hard to see on the computer screen, so you'll just have to trust me!

We had so much fun playing with the layout:

 Oh, look, the last block in row 3 is turned the wrong way!

That looks better. These are just the "A" blocks, I won't sew any together until I finish the "B" blocks and see how they affect the layout. I think this could be addictive!

The planning committee for Quilt Wyoming 2013 really set a high standard for future quilt retreats. Every registered attendee won a door prize, plus there were giveaways at every meal! I won a six-month subscription to Alex Anderson and Ricky Tim's "The Quilt Show."  (Report to follow when I get the big-screen computer back up and running!) The dorms at Casper College were so nice, we thought they were brand new. Next year, Quilt Wyoming will be in Cheyenne -- and I'll be there!

Casper

Casper may have a population of only 55,000 or so, but they have two quilt shops.DH checked them out for me while I was in class (and yes, he bought fabric!). He reported that the Kalico Kat Quilt Shop has a genuine "shop cat." Plus an excellent selection of quilt kits. I scored a Sullivan cutting mat for a really good price at Prism Quilt & Sew.

We stayed over an extra night in Casper so we could hit the last three shops on the South Circle of the 2nd Annual Wyoming Quilt/Fabric Shop Hop.

Douglas

The drive from Casper to Douglas is kind of lonely -- but you know I like being able to "see them coming!" And you can see them coming for days on that stretch of I-25! If you enjoy hunting for treasure, The Prairie Stitcher is the shop for you. Yarn and fabric -- a little bit of everything.

Lusk

Lusk is a small town, but Lickety Stitch Quilts has as good a selection as many of the larger shops in Colorado. Plus, I snatched up some Aneela Hooey Sherbet Pips on clearance (apparently there will be a need for several baby quilts amongst USS George Washington families this year!).

Torrington

The Doll Factory in Torrington is the place to go if you have children or grandchildren in tow. While you're admiring a good selection of fabric and yarn, they can ooh and aah over all kinds of dolls and doll paraphernalia!

I only visited nine of the 35 shops in the Wyoming statewide hop. But five of them were shops I'd never visited before. I think that's worth the trip, don't you?

I still have three more quilts to finish before the end of the month, so if the blog posts are a little "thin," you'll know why!






From the desk of your

A Special Friday Finish

Ten years ago or so, I started making quilts for all my mother's great-grandchildren when they turned 12. This year, the first of my mother's grandchildren celebrated a 25th wedding anniversary. I've decided the silver wedding anniversary requires a special quilt!

JoLynn and her husband David often host me when I am returning from quilt camp in Idaho. She seemed very pleased with this king-size Triple Irish Chain. And I even sewed the binding down by hand! Sonya Chin did the custom quilting.

JoLynn took the photo for me -- thanks Jo, and quilter holders David and Levi!

 

Linking up to Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday, hosted this week by Molli Sparkles.

Come back tomorrow for my Quilt Wyoming road trip report!


From the desk of your