The pace of my quilting has slowed quite a bit since I started a new job in March, but the travel ban gave me an unexpected two-week staycation in July. I put it to good use, and here is the result: A Walk in the Garden. Finishing at a whopping 88” x 107”, it’s the…
Tag: paper piecing
Block 15 Family Affair
When I saw the pattern for this block I was sure I was never going to get it to work. Look at all those matching points and seams! No way, not even with paper piecing! To my surprise, and to the credit of block designer Janice Ryan, it came out great. Not everything matches up…
Block 70 Bows
This block makes me laugh every time I see it. Two of my bows are pointing in the wrong direction, and I didn’t notice at all until I sat down to quilt the block! I remember carefully arranging them, too, thinking I was doing it correctly. Hah! Funny how you can just not notice something…
Bonus Block: Butterfly Charm Block (Pepper)
I included this block in my Splendid Sampler quilt because I came across the pattern while working on the Sampler and it delighted me. I added a little extra framing to make it the right size, since the pattern has the blocks finishing at 5″ instead of the 6″ needed for the Sampler. I love…
Block 58 Homeward Bound
Quilting on reverse of block 58 Homeward Bound I love this block design! I really like flying geese blocks, though I don’t use them often, and the graduated color and scale in this one are very pleasing. With the quilting, I wanted to emphasize the sense of motion by making lines that ‘stream’ out from…
Block 29 Scrappy Happy Heart
One of the nicest things about joining the Splendid Sampler Quilt-Along was discovering new (to me) quilters and designers. Christa Watson, who designed this block, was one of those discoveries. I love her blog and her easy and happy quilt designs. This was one of my favorite blocks to piece. I have mixed feelings about…
Block 28 Stitching Fashion
The original design for this block includes the dress, a spool of thread, and a needle, but I decided the dress would be enough of a challenge on its own. It was paper pieced and some of those pieces are tiny (all the Sampler blocks finish at 6″ square, not including the blue borders). I’ve…
Block 22 Goose on the Loose
I’m working my way through these blocks! At this point, all the piecing and setting is done (I made 70 blocks in all) and I’m quilting each one. I chose quilt-as-you-go so that I could easily do custom quilting on every block. Once I’ve quilted them all, I’ll join them together, add the backing, and…
Extra Block: String Hearts Variation
This block was inspired by the blocks in Elizabeth Dackson’s String Heart quilt combined with my desire to use up some skinny scraps from other Splendid Sampler blocks. She posted the original pattern and tutorial in 2013 but I found it in 2016, so the block ended up in my sampler quilt. The free pattern…
Blogger’s Quilt Festival!
What a lovely idea: an online quilt festival featuring quilts by bloggers! The Blogger’s Quilt Festival is hosted by Amy Ellis (Amy’s Creative Side). I discovered it this year for the first time and I’m delighted to share Jude’s Foxes as my entry in the Fall 2017 Edition. I completed Jude’s Foxes earlier this year…
Block 71 First Stitch
I’ll admit I have mixed feelings about how I quilted this one. I tried some big-little loops in the yellow pieces but they don’t thrill me. The rest looks fine, but I had to break thread a bunch of times to make it work out in the pattern I wanted. I was kind of glad…
Block 48 Whim
I decided to use an allover design to quilt Whim and went with an echoed paisley that I’m trying to improve. It’s one that Angela Walters does in a lot of her videos. I’m struggling a little with the teardrop shape, but I’m getting there! I like the way it looks on this block. I…
Block 39 Balls in the Air
This one was tricky to piece with all the little tiny slices! I accidentally skipped a step at one point and had to pick out a seam and re-do it. But it came out all right in the end. I went with very simple quilting that pressed down the dark green spears to make them…
Extra Block Spinning Stars
This one isn’t actually a Splendid Sampler pattern, but I found it while I was working on the Sampler and decided (crazily, as it turns out) to make it at 6.5″ size and add it to my sampler. Whew. I can’t recommend making this block that size. The paper-piecing pattern is from Yvonnes.dk and it…