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For some reason I’ve been in the baby quilt making mode these last few months.
My original plan was for this first quilt to be the back of the second but then when it was pieced it just seemed so soft and sweet that it needed to be it’s own quilt.
I’ve been very inspired by some of the different quilts I’ve noticed on peoples blogs lately and thought this fabric would adapt well to what is being called Modern Quilts.
I really wish I had taken pictures in progress of this Schnibble. It was fun working with the Summer House collection by Lily Ashbury for Moda and thankfully I had the Creative Grid 60 degree ruler to use.
I found the Honeycomb Schnibble to be the most challenging of the ones I’ve made so far. I started by laying out my colours on the design wall after cutting and then sewed one row at a time so that I wouldn’t get any mixed up. I also found that Mary Ellen’s Best Press was indispensible when working with so many bias pieces.
This week seems to have flown by, I was able to accomplish a few things in my studio as well as some very welcome walks out in the sunshine.
I finally have all 30 blocks completed for Emily’s quilt. Now I have to decide on sashing. I would probably use a muslin if I’d had enough but I don’t and I can’t find a perfect match. So my next idea is to use one of the prints beside the blocks. I’ll lay it out next week and share some pictures and hopefully get some opinions.
I’ve been quilting a custom job on my longarm that is taking longer than I like, so for a little diversion I started another project using my Beach House Layer Cake.
I’m ready to piece these 25 blocks which will be part on my next Schnibble.
While trimming my half square triangles, I was thinking that some people might not be aware of the Quilt in a Day Ruler that I use. This is a tool that makes trimming these a breeze:
in this example I used two 5” charm squares right sides together, and drew a diagonal line.
I sew a very scant 1/4 inch seam on both sides of the line and then cut along drawn line.
Using the ruler, in this case I’m making 3 1/2” squares so I line up the stitched line with the 3 1/2” line and trim
Press open and trim the dog ears if you desire.
In my opinion this ruler is worth more than its weight in gold!! I hope that it helps you too.
I’ve been busy working on Sunny Trails and the top is now ready for quilting.
its such a sweet little quilt. Hopefully someday I’ll have a granddaughter to give it to eventually. The only thing I’d suggest if you choose to make this pattern is that it would probably be easier to put the blocks together if you press the seams open. I still prefer to press to one side.
I had enough fabric left over to make these 9 patches
I have another layer cake on order so I think I’ll make another quilt and use the scraps with these 9 Patches and make a schnibble pattern.
But first I’ll finish piecing Emily’s quilt.
Erik and I watched Great Balls of Fire on DVD last night. It was a good movie, colourful fellow for sure.
I spent the afternoon with my Mom. I had bought my parents tickets to see the Tommy Hunter show (his final tour) but my Dad had a carving workshop this weekend so I went instead. For my Canadian Readers you know who he is. He really put on a good performance and said that he’s decided to retire while he can still perform. He’s 74.
The Tommy Hunter show was on the CBC for 27 years, many of those years during my childhood. This clip was with Johnny and June, I was fortunate to see them live as well. I always loved the Johnny Cash show.
It was sunny out today, but surprisingly chilly I think I heard that it got to –17C overnight brrr considering its supposed to be spring.
Anyways I spent a good part of the day doing what I set out to do today and I’m happy to say I have all the blocks except 2 small parts completed.
The reason I say except for 2 small parts is that the grey pinstripe I chose to use is directional and I made a mistake in placement so I had to fix my problem and I’m now short 2 3.5” pieces. Thankfully I have a good quilting friend who has come to my rescue and I’ll be able to finish up the last block in the next day or so.
I know that this quilt is a copy of one that I saw, but I love the fabric and I love the pattern so I will now have one too. I highly recommend Sunny Trails and will make it again and probably with stash.
Did you know that today is National Quilting Day?
Pretty much everyday is a Quilting Day for me it seems. Even when I’m busy doing other things I’ll be pondering the next step on a project or a new project or some other plan related to quilting. I know to some it may sound like I have a quilting obsession but I was once told that I’m a Passionate Quilter. I like the sound of that so much more, don’t you?
I’m still working away on my Sunkissed Project, oh I love this collection. I really should have bought more of it, but I have to draw the line with myself more often than not.
My much anticipated mail has finally arrived, this collection is so wonderful. It’s bright and sunny and reminds me of some of the clothes I wore when I was small.
March can still be a grey month here the weather does let up and the snow starts to melt, but that means lots of puddles and all the mess left behind from the sanded streets and walks.
I’ve made more progress on Emily’s quilt, the final round of ribbons are ready to be sewn. This quilt will take a backseat while I work on the Sunkissed top but I still plan to have it finished by the end of the month.
Do you remember the post when I showed you this?
Well inside those tubes were the new wheels for my longarm. I love my APQS Millennium and have spent many many hours quilting with it. One thing I wasn’t crazy about though was my machine felt heavy and I felt like it took a lot more of my strength to guide her than I though it should.
Then came my very favourite personal technician who is also my very favourite guy! Erik put my new wheels on my machine on Saturday. I don’t think my wheels have ever been as perfectly adjusted as they are now.
and let me tell you, my machine floats now, I love it! I could hardly wait to load a quilt and try them out!!!
So on Sunday that’s just what I did
After my oldest daughter took all her quilts to Texas, my other girls were complaining that there weren’t enough snuggle quilts for the living room. I used a flannel back for this quilt and oh my it was fun to quilt! What a difference!
I do have all 30 blocks to the stage shown and also all the outer rings ready to join and add to the blocks so slowly but surely its coming. I’m hoping to have this one finished and ready to enter into our spring quilt show this year.
This little one has been waiting to be quilted for, hmm well over a year. Its such a sunny happy quilt, it could be a baby quilt but I think I might just have a perfect place for it to live for awhile anyways.
I’m still waiting for a couple of shipments to arrive, sometimes its just so hard to be patient but I did order them on the 18th of Feb and its been long enough!! It just reminds me why I like to have my orders shipped to the border.
and todays goal? I should have Katie’s quilt ready to bind and hopefully be a little further along on Emily’s quilt.
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 