Catching Up (Again)!

I’m not sure where the time goes - seems like this year has flown by!  I keep snapping photos of projects with the intention of posting but then weeks go by and a post never seems to materialize. I have lots of catching up to do!

Earlier this year (Easter Sunday, to be exact) I finished The Village quilt.  It was gifted to a wonderful friend that hosted my daughter for four months while she completed her last optometry rotation in Kansas City.  It was such a fun quilt to make - I think I might have to make another one for me one of these days.

I finally finished my 2021 Quiltville Mystery top at a retreat in July.  I decided to go with an alternative setting I borrowed from a post I saw on Facebook since I wasn't a huge fan of Bonnie's final layout. My color choices turned out to be a bit odd when all together, but I’m okay with it. I think I will let this obe be my last - I don’t intend to get sucked into the mystery fervor this year.  I just have too many other things I’d rather work on!

I will save my latest adventures in rug hooking for another post to avoid this one getting insanely long. My most recent quilt-related trip was to Primitive Gatherings, a.k.a. Quilter’s Heaven.  I managed to get quite a bit accomplished while there.  I worked on my Oh Say Can You Sew, completing steps two and three, and then worked a bit on my Stars All Around summer block project.

I also got started on Moda’s Letters to Santa stitch-along. These words are so fun to make but eat up considerably more fabric than I expected.  I had to do a little web-surfing and order more so “Christmas” can match “Merry”. The fabric arrived over the weekend and is starched and ready to go if I get any sewing time this weekend.

That’s enough for this time around. I am determined to not let another six months lapse before my next post!

Building Villages and Collecting New (Old) Quilts

When the pandemic lockdowns first started, Moda and Miss Rosie's Quilt Company shared The Village pattern as a free download. I've always loved house quilts, and have been tempted more than once to try the one with 365 tiny hand-pieced houses, so this one definitely caught my attention. The houses are so quick and easy to make!  Of course, I started off strong and made about 20 of them and then was distracted by other projects and set them aside.  My friend Pat recently finished her version of the quilt, though, and it turned out so stinking adorable that I decided I needed to get back to mine.  I have "built" quite a few houses over the past month and my total is now around 100, so only about 32 left to go before I can assemble the top.  My goal for this month is to finish all of the houses and then to work on setting the blocks in May.

I also managed to make a start on my TAS challenge.  My first block is from this quilt that I acquired fairly recently:

Here's a close-up of one block.  As I started to trace the shapes to create the pattern I noticed that no two blocks were the same - the placement of the pieces varies a bit from block to block, and the number of berries came down to whatever fit the space. You would never notice to look at the quilt overall. The quilting is absolutely phenomenal!

I'm not sure if this first block will be the center of my project or one of the surrounding blocks - it all depends on what other blocks I end up doing. My "cheddar" looks far more yellow and not at all close to the original in this photo, but they are in reality a bit closer in color.  I struggled to find a yellow or orange that was similar in color. The block is around 20" square.

I'm not sure what block I will work on next - that will be a project for next weekend.  It may be one of my corner cross sprays assuming my latest purchase arrives on Friday as projected.  I had to find a quilt to add to my collection to satisfy the challenge requirements as I didn't really have any with cross sprays.  Here's the one that is making its way here - it gives me a few options for those corners!

I also managed to make a little progress on my Huguenot blocks.  I am still a block behind, but hope to make some headway on that this week.  Here are the last two blocks I finished:

They are really the same fabrics - poor photography is to blame for the differences. This week I will be participating in an applique workshop with Veronique Diligent of Australia.  I am really looking forward to meeting her and learning her techniques.  One more project to add to my list!