I may need THERAPY!!

I think I have become addicted to BOM's (block of the month.) It seems I want to do everyone I see and let me tell you there are LOTS of BOM's. A quick google search will lead you to hundreds of them. I follow many quilting blogs and it seems they ALL have BOM's and I just can't stand not to follow along.



Currently I am working on:


Pile O' Fabric's Skill builder BOM
http://pileofabric.com/pages/skill-builder-bom#2015quilt

This was started last year and has been delayed due to illness of the designer. I have a few more pieces of the circle done but it is so large it is hard to get a picture. I can't stand not being able to finish it but until she gets well I will just have to wait. It is so different from anything I have ever done.


Don't Call Me Betsy Epic BOM
http://dontcallmebetsy.bigcartel.com/product/epic-sampler-bom-club

I just love these blocks, They are mostly foundation paper pieced and I am loving the colors in this!! This fabric is all different fabric lines but mostly modern fabrics.


Farmer's Wife 1930's Sew along 
http://gnomeangel.com/farmers-wife-1930s-sampler-quilt-sew-along/

This one is usually 2-3 blocks a WEEK so technically isn't a BOM.  This picture is the most of the blocks. I will take a better picture next month. Maybe we will have some sun by then.


Sister's Sampler Bonfire BOM
http://www.genxquilters.com/2016/01/bonfire-block-of-month-club-january.html

These are the January blocks. This was my first time with curved piecing and it was a good thing they were designed to be trimmed down as mine were a bit wonky. :-) 

Blossom Heart Quilts's Modern Half Square Triangles Quilt Along
http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/modern-hst-sampler-qal/

This one is being done with Alison Glass fabrics and I just love them. Can't wait to do more!!



Blossom Heart Quilts Bee Hive Quilting Bee
http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/2015/01/the-bee-hive-a-quilt-block-tutorial-series/

This is a quilting bee but we do a block every month. There are 12 members in my group in which I am the leader of this USA group. There are several around the globe. We each choose a month in which we are "Queen Bee" and we choose a block from a list. Then the other members of the "hive" make our chosen block  and  mail it off to the Queen. This is January's block! So fun! I used some of my favorite fabrics. I am making three blocks each month but we only are required to make one for the Queen. I am sending two blocks to the Queen and keeping one for myself and will put it together as a sampler quilt to remember this year.


Blossom Heart Quilts Aurora Starry Sampler BOM
http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/2015/11/aurora-bom-a-starry-sampler/

January Blocks

Febuary Blocks

This BOM is made with Anna Marie Horner fabrics. I just love the bold colors! This photo was posted on Instagram and then featured on Blossom Heart Quilts blog post today. Boy, it sure is an honor to have the creator of a BOM feature your work on her blog!!!! As you can see by the number of quilts I am doing by Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts I am really a fan. She is very sweet and I love her work!



Mighty Lucky Quilt Club
I am also doing the monthly Mighty Lucky Quilt club which is a " monthly subscription club that focuses on challenging you with design concepts in the quilt making process. It's like a gym membership for quilters!

I kinda copped out on this one this month. I have done bias tape before (see photo above for the Skill builder BOM) and I had some 1/4" bias tape already made so I just put a heart on this fabric and made a zipper bag for my magnifying glass. I had been thinking all month of a grand design made with bias tape but with everything else I will have to wait until I have a bit more time to play. 

Parkbench Quilt

Once a month or so I get in a block for my Parkbench quilt. When this quilt first came out is was a BOM but I just bought the pattern and kit and have set myself a goal of doing a block or two a month.

Quilt Planner
And then there is my new Quilter's Planner that has a block each WEEK that I plan to do but haven't started yet.

So as you can see I really think I need therapy or just more days of the month!!

I have done several small projects this month. I have shared those on Instagram and Facebook. So check those out too.

One of the things I would like to do in the future is design and sponsor my own BOM. Someday I'll do that.
Another thing I have been working on is designing my own quilt. I have the main part of the quilt top done and I can't wait to share it with you but I want to write the pattern up and reveal it then.

As always leave me a comment. I would love to know what you are working on. Do you do any Quilting Bee's or BOM?

Some Major Christmas Finishes

I bought a Christmas wall quilt pattern  two years ago and FINALLY finished it. I usually get things done faster than this, but I bought it right before Christmas 2013 and I knew I wouldn't get it done that year. Then I put it away and rarely got it out; you know, "out of sight, out of mind". So last year at Christmas time, I got a couple of the applique blocks done. I used Texture Magic for the snowmen which was really fun but I still didn't finish for what ever excuse I had at the time. This summer I got it back out and was determined to finish it. I got all the fabrics out and ready, I got all the patterns traced and then just let it sit. I just couldn't make myself do more applique. So I finished all the other blocks and found a great paper pieced snowflake pattern from Joanna @ Shape Moth called Snow Cristal.

  I don't know about you but I hardly ever make a quilt exactly as the pattern says but in this case I really changed it up. Mainly to get it done, but also I felt it had enough going on without more applique and I am happy I stopped when I did because the size is perfect the way it is.

The second finish is a Christmas quilt for charity. This one was much less work, took me about 2 days to finish instead of 2 years but, it has much more meaning. When I make charity quilts I pray while I am doing them. I pray for the person who will receives it. I feel so blessed to have everything I do, I never have to be cold, I don't need anything and I can't imagine what it would be like to be in need of a quilt like this. I am happy that I can make it and give it to whomever is in need this Christmas. 

I used scraps from my stash for this quilt. It is just 5 inch squares all sewn up. I do think it is a bit long and narrow. I had sewn all the blocks in sets of two before I really thought about how it was all going to come together; that is why the rows are 6 blocks wide. I could have made it shorter but I wanted to use all the scraps I had. The backing and batting is from the stash at our quilt guild so I didn't need to buy anything to finish it.

Charity is just one of the many reasons I enjoy my local quilt guild. We make quilts for OSF St. Francis Medical Center, children who are patients at the St. Jude Midwest Affiliate and to families and seniors in need through the Center for Prevention of Abuse in Peoria which is where this quilt will most likely go. 

The final finish for this week is my Christmas decorating for my house. I am really nuts about Christmas. I just love to get the house all decked out. I don't "deck the halls" though. ;-) 

My quilt hanging on the wall in my living room

My nativity scene.

Another quilt with my carolers. 

My first Christmas quilt over the back of the chair and a pillow I embroidered. 

Another couple of pillows I made last year at Christmas

My tree

I didn't do all this in one week and it makes me tired to think about all the work, but I am so happy to have it all done. Now comes the shopping, baking and more quilting fun I am sure. 

Thankful for many things. Quilting is one of them.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

I am very thankful for my family and my life with my great husband who puts up with my crazy quilting habit.

The Farmers Wife 1930's Quilt along is keeping me busy. I love it when they give out three blocks a week. I have even done a few extra.

This is Hope. Hope was not assigned. I did it in response to the terror attacks in Paris.

We were assigned Sara and I did this one first but realized that I did it kinda wrong. The middle 4 patch was supposed to be different fabric. I still like it and will add it to my growing pile of quilt blocks.

So here is the corrected Sara block. I like this one better. It has more contrast and shows the design better.

My daughter's name is Sarah so I had to do this one too. :-) This one I did with the Marti Michell templates. 

This Sarah (below) was done with paper piecing. I just LOVE the kittens in the pink fabric but the above block is better in my opinion because the solid red shows off the pin wheels and flying geese units. I continue to learn so much with this quilt along.

Patricia was assigned next. She was a breath of fresh air because she was so much easier than some we were doing. We started using set B of the Marti Michell templates with this block. 

Patience was another easy block assigned this week. She also used set B of the Marti Michell templates. 

The last one that was assigned this week was Grandma, She was a little harder but with the templates and instructions given by Marti Michell she went together well. 

I have been doing extra blocks just for practice and fun. This one is Priscilla. I paper pieced her. It was very strange to put together. There are three pieced that you paper piece together, then piece those three together but it wasn't just a straight seam to put them together and it made it very hard to get the points right on.  

I did this one just out of left over fabrics. I think I will call her Bella.

I am so thankful for Angie at GnomeAngel, the Fat Quarter Shop and Marti Michell who are all sponsoring this quilt along . Angie has put in so much of her time for FREE and I really appreciate it. I really don't think I would have made this quilt without her to spur me on. She does great tutorials and has coordinated other bloggers to do tutorials too which helps SO much. Thanks to all of them too. The Fat Quarter shop has been giving 10% off the materials for this quilt along and I have taken advantage of that more than once. :-)  Marti Michell is really good at her tutorials and the way these templates work is amazing. The precision you get with piecing is so exact because the engineered corners on the templates. She shows you how to make it easy and these templates can be used a multitude of quilt blocks. I just love them. And No, I am not being sponsored by any of them. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

Tidal Pool Quilt Block Tutorial with Molli Sparkles!

One of the things I have done with quilting is test out patterns for other pattern designers. I really like checking all the details and making a new block or whole quilt while testing the pattern.

The latest was for Molli Sparkles. If you have never been to his blog you should check it out. Every time I read his blog he never fails to make me smile. He has a great sense of humor and is very talented at quilting.

This is the block I made while testing his Tidal Pool block tutorial.

I love the block and it was easy to follow his instructions and it turned out perfect.

The second version of this block is even better.

I really thought the addition of the small bits was such a cool look. I thought maybe I would keep making these and make a quilt of them. 

This is my third block (above). just a slight change in color and a less random placement of the small bits of peach. 

This was getting fun so I thought maybe I would try with a patterned fabric. Its OK but I am not that impressed. I like the solids better. What about you? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. If you would like to make these you can go to Molli's site. His tutorial is great!! 

Time flies when you are having fun in the sewing room!

Wow it has been a while without an update. I have been unusually busy these past two weeks so I haven't posted here so I am going to do several short posts rather than one long one.

This post will be an update on the Farmer's Wife quilt a long.

Meet Addie,(above) She was easy to piece and I love the color combinations. You almost get a secondary look when you use a dark just outside the central square. I love the Scottie dogs.

Up next is Katherine. She is made of all half square triangles. She was a quick block to piece. What takes time with these blocks in picking out the different fabrics. I think I spend more time picking out fabric than I do actually cutting and sewing these blocks. 

This is Milly. I love the block but the picture does little for her looks. I will take a pictures outside soon and see if they come out better. 

 Aimee was VERY troublesome!! Before I started on this block there was talk online about how she was hard to piece and we couldn't use the Marti Michell templates for this block so I thought I would try paper piecing on this one. It wasn't too hard but she was a little small when I got done. It was only about 1/8 of an inch but I was looking for 6 1/2 and so I use the templates that came with the book. Knowing that the templates from the book print out a smig small I cut each piece a smig larger. LOL What a mess. It came out way too big so I pitched it before I took a picture. Still on a pursuit for perfection I made another using the templates from the book, this time cutting right on the lines.

So here is Aimee 2, she is the exact same size as the paper pieced one. 1/8 too short. Well the lesson here is stop looking for perfect when you can stretch fabric enough to make up for 1/8 of an inch. 

This is Nancy. She was a refreshing change compared to Aimee. This one I used the Marti Michell Templates and she came out at 6 1/2 in. I fussy cut the center but got it off a little so I might make it again. I really want to have these set on point in the quilt and if I do that I have to remake a few blocks. 

Well, that is enough for now. I would love it if you would leave me a comment so I know you have been here. If you don't comment I feel like I am just talking to myself. If you are the first to comment, just click on where it says No Comments and it will open a box for you to leave a comment. Thanks for spending a bit of your time with me. 

Farmer's Wife

In the Farmer's Wife Sew Along we did two blocks this week. Granny and Jenny.

Granny done right

This block gave me fits. I put one together and wasn't happy so I made another.(both below)

Two attempts at Granny

I thought OK, I did it, but after I posted it on our Farmer's Wife Facebook page and started looking at others I realized that I put my block together wrong not just once but twice! If you compare the top one and then the picture of the two you will see the centers are square instead of diamond shaped. Anyway I learn something every time I do one of these blocks. 

The second one was Jenny. I had much less trouble with putting her together. 

Jenny

So, this brings us to a total of 12 blocks. Lots of people are adding setting triangles to their blocks but I can't decide if they should be on point or lay them out square. Mmmmm, decisions decisions.....

This will be linked to Farmer's Wife Link Up Party. You can go there to see LOTS of other's blocks.