Stitching in the Barn

I started out the new year by sewing! I sewed this block on January 2. I have never done a square in a square type block before. I really enjoyed how it looked a bit wrong after the first two triangles were attached, with the long tails hanging off the ends, but then it worked out. It came out great for being cheap fabric. I literally bought these block kits for a dime before I knew there was a difference in quality. I had to starch the heck out of them. I pulled this one out because I wanted to sew something and came across it. I was really impressed with how my skills have improved. The next day I sewed up this one So easy but it was just so much fun! I really miss sewing blocks. they took me about an hour each. I have a lot of these already made in different blocks that I'll probably make up into a quilting practice quilt or two & use for car quilts. I can use the practice.

My added free time and love of quilting has brought on a renewal of a love of fabric. When I saw the new Pen And Ink collection on Connecting Threads , I knew I had to have some! I really love that when your order is shipped it gives you an estimated delivery date but it comes a couple days sooner. My order was supposed to get here Saturday, January 16 but it arrived Thursday the 14th. It may be because I'm technically in a rural area but it's really close enough to the big city that it doesn't take much longer. I got the Zip Zip bags kit , the Jazz Age table runner along with one 10 inch square sampler set of 17 fabrics in that collection. I also got some clearance stuff, 5 inch square packs and a set of fat quarters. I love getting new fabric & petting them! Then, I got the JoAnn's ad in the mail. Anti pill fleece was 70% off so I bought 4 yards for window blankets. While there, I found a lovely navy knit that looks nice on both sides. I got 3 yard...

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 was sick last weekend when I wanted to finish this quilt so it had to wait until yesterday. It's about 33 inches square and made from a kit by Connecting Threads that I got for Mother's Day last year. It's made exactly as pictured in the directions but I pieced the blocks the way I preferred. I thought about changing it up some. I wanted to put something in the light print squares other than the letters but I couldn't decide what to do. However, once I traced out the letters and put the fusible on the fabric, I noticed the fabric went perfectly with them. In the end, I'm happy I didn't do something off the wall.  Since this is a wall quilt, I free motion quilted it very tightly. I had so much fun doing it and picking out what I wanted to do in each square. I think my favorite are the pinwheel and the spool blocks. Quilting it around Valentines' Day also influenced my design. In the blue corner squares, I used a red variegated thread and did a sti...