Stitching in the Barn

Inspired by a quilt by Marti Michell from her Craftsy/Bluprint class Machine Quilting in Sections Fabric is Blast Off! by Connecting Threads and stash fabric. 50 inches by 50 inches. Finished January 2020.   Front     Back  

I've known about this quilt forever. I originally read about it on the Quilting Board way before I'd seen the Jelly Roll Race or the 1600 inch quilt. You can find the original post here: http://www.quiltingboard.com/tutorials-f10/super-fast-jelly-roll-quilt-t44258.html   I recommend you wade through it because there are a lot of nice examples. On page 7 is a picture tutorial and somewhere in there is a discussion of making different sizes and using different widths. She used to have a PDF printout for free but you could just print the first page.  Anyways, I used my JoAnn's, 20 strip jelly roll to try this out.  I wanted to also separate the strips by piecing squares in between them. I really like that look for this quilt so I chose a crazy scrap I had laying around and cut twenty 2 1/2 inch squares. The jelly roll had only ten different fabrics, 2 strips of each, so I pieced squares on one end of each strip. I should clarify, you need to piece strips ...

I sent out my fabric postcards last week for the swap. I made two more for a total of three so I should get three back. I used these postcards to try out a no mark method of sewing hexagons together that Jacquie over at Tallgrass Prairie Studio posted. It made sewing hexagons super simple and fast. I started with my Bits & Bobbins scraps and cut some hexagons with the small hex template from Marti Michell. I used set H template 52a which makes a 1.5 inch finished hexagon.  First I sewed a strip of them straight across. This actually already has two strips pieced together and I'm in the middle of the third but the idea is the same. The previous stitching lines make the 1/4 inch from the end marks, as long as they are accurate. You're basically stitching the seams in order starting on the side touching the previous piecing on the top or left then to the next counter-clockwise until it's attached. Above, the light blu...

I had a fun and busy weekend. Saturday, me and the husband went to the Dallas Quilt Show . There were many amazing quilts. The artistry and craftsmanship was a big step up from the last one I went to . Unfortunately, I can't post photos but there are a couple at the link. I came away with a lot of inspiration and motivation. We also saw a quilt my husband would like me to make for the bed. It was a lovely french braid quilt with Poppy fabric and black and white prints. So I'm scrapping all my other ideas and I'm going to focus on that one. We were both completely quilted out by the end.  I did find and buy this Our Lady of Guadalupe fabric panel. It's folded in half, the other half is the same. Sorry for the blurry picture. I'm sure I'll post clearer ones some other time. I'm not sure if I want to make one quilt or 8 individual wall quilts for my friends and family. I had a pattern for a rose that would go great with it but I couldn't find it....

 I finished quilting the center part of my quilt this past weekend. I started quilting the border but after the first one, I knew the design I picked for it was not going to work. I'll post more about that tomorrow. I needed to take a break from it so I made an apron instead. I used Simplicity 4987 and t he skull and crossbones remnant to make this:

Well I took a long unintended hiatus. If anyone is still following this blog, thank you. I'm glad to see the back of 2011. It was a long, hard, stressful year for me that I'm glad to see finished, though there were some highlights. I've made a new commitment to sewing this year and I've already started! So far this year I've made two pincushion thread catchers from the Abby Bag pattern . I bought the kit for these from Connecting Threads last Mother's day. The kits are no longer available and most of the fabrics are sold out also :o(

These are my two wonderful machines that I do my piecing and quilting on: