My Cozy Collection

 Each month I try to feature a 

different Queen sized quilt on my bed. 

The goal is to have a collection of 12 that 

I can rotate throughout the year.  The halfway point was 

reached but like a good recipe,

 my quilts get shared

 so my cozy collection is very variable!

Here is my collection so far:

 I am a holiday lover and this quilt

was in the making for quite a few years.

It started out in a magic tiles class. Then it sat. The magic tiles

 technique calls for a set of nine colors 

 used to a make the blocks.

 I ran out of a few colors and 

it was not the season to get shiny holiday fabrics

 

so it had to wait even  longer. Life got in the way and

 

it fell into the UFO singularity.

Then I stumbled onto a tutorial by Missouri Star 

for a tile like block and voila!  I finished this off with 

a braided border. I used the long braid created

 

by Missouri Star instructions for each big border and

only cut off a few tile blocks to finish off the corners.

This quilt actually sneaks onto my bed in mid November. 

We really enjoy the winter holiday season!  

Winter Strings was a Pando (covid) project.

It has a double batting in it to keep us

nice and comfy during the winter months.

I had made a lightweight one to 

use during the summer because I liked

 the look of it and it really cut down on my string piles. 

Alas, there was an auntie in a neighboring province 

who was quiltless, and off it went.

This alien quilt, reminiscent of the sliding doors 

on the Starship Enterprise,

was one of my favorites.

This favorite is now appropriately

residing in California's silicon valley with two big brains!

This one was picked for a wedding quilt

as soon as the binding was on.

It will definitely be remade because it's a beautiful finish

and I have strings of plenty.

I've managed to hold on to this one. 

It had some construction issues so it's a bit delicate.

It won't ever be offered up for gifts or rehoming.

This lives in a new home in Leduc.

The First Born scooped this one up for 

a house warming gift for a lifelong friend's new home. 

 They are delighted with it so 

it is being well used and well loved.

Big Red , Pineapple and Scrap Stars 

are safely guarded in the closet behind 

the good china while the floors are being redone. 

Along with one of my first quilts,

they are safe at home for now. 

Keep working on more cozy quilts.

Stay safe and Sew on!

Last of the Crazy Log Cabins

The past weekend I had the opportunity 

to really get things done.

I attended my second ever virtual retreat.

Hosted by the Idiot Quilter out of Ontario Canada,

70 dedicated souls arrived from their perspective time zones

and had a wonderful day quilting, chatting and learning together.

With all that chatting and learning,

I had time to really make progress on a few of my projects.

You may recognize this crazy log cabin center,

from the middle of three other black quilts

 that were finished not too long ago.

They each end up with a unique border and this one is no different.

First of all, there was a little mystery to be solved.

I thought that I had 30 blocks remaining 

which would let me make a 5 x 6 center,

 a nice size twin top.

The project box proved to only have 20 of the centers.

They were all nicely squared up and ready to go

 with the black backgrounds all set around the colorful center.

The sewing workroom and stash area were searched

quite intensely and no additional blocks turned up.

Producing more wasn't really an option.

The middle was destined to be set  4x5,

using the 20 blocks in the project box.

Now to decide on a border.

This stage was finished at the Buddy retreat.

The virtual treat was a perfect time to complete this top.

The look with two black borders and a scrappy strip in the middle,

was quite appealing but had

already been used on one of the first three crazy quilts.

It was very nice but I thought it needed something different.

There were slashes on one and zigzags on the other.

The third had leaning pillars,

so maybe this one could use vertical pillars.

I listened to some great lectures by quilters 

from all over the world,

and had lots of time to stitch up 

a bunch of pillars for the outside

Now it was time to put it together.

The pillars were laid around but they looked a little" too floaty".

Then we tried  putting them next to the center quilt and using 

pieced strips bordered by black around the outside.

That didn't seem to work either.

As often happens, one of the quilters said, 

" Just switch them."

Wow, was that successful.

Now I just had to figure out how to finish up the corner connectors.

The inside pieced border, with two black strips on either side,

was finished with a small mitered square.

After a few adjustments, it worked just fine.

Then to finish the turning for the outside pillars.

I had considered doing the borders all together

 and then mitering the whole corner,

but decided against it just because I couldn't imagine the look.

Left over corners from the zigzag quilt

provided the inspiration.

I made up a larger diagonal blocks to fit.

This top finished measuring 56" x 66"

Just a reminder, here are its three fellows.

There is even enough striped fabric to make a matching binding.

Next up finding a suitable back and pinning.

Stay Safe and sew on!

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday

Off the Wall Friday

Monday Musings

Finished or Not Friday

Sew & Tell

Friday In Sew In

Handmade Monday

Home Matters

To Do Tuesday

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Wednesday Wait Loss

Patchwork & Quilts

Needle & Thread Thursday

Oh Scrap!

Put Your Foot Down 

Stitching Stuff

Free Motion Mavericks

 

August One Monthly Goal - Great Progress

The goal of working on my quilt rack backlog and 

getting some charity quilting done was a success!

The last of the charity quilts were quilted,

actually only one.

This big beauty proved more than enough 

for my domestic machine.

I graciously bowed out of doing the second 

that was measuring  97"x 97".

The  use of various sizes, widths and changes in direction,

give this quilt a unique eclectic look.

Another success for the charity group!

Two items are off the ladder and on their way  

to the long arm quilter.

One will probably be a keeper for my cozy collection,

and the other is a gift for my DD

 to warm her bed in the winter.

Another cheery twin size quilt,

Hopscotch, is on the table and ready to be pinned.

The top did require an extra bit of work,

as you can see one of the blocks was turned.

I rectified this problem by first 

taking out a block that was correct!

Then I went on to take out the errant block.

Restitching everything and giving it a a press

got it back on the pinning table in a timely fashion.

Two others were finished up

using my favorite quilt binding workhorse machine.

The curved 9 patch was trimmed and bound,

and the last of the Irish chains

was quilted, trimmed and bound.

On to the next challenge! 

Stay Safe and Sew on!

End of The Stack Log Cabin

Remember all those Log Cabin tops from 2 years ago now?

Well here is the last one.

I had combined all my all my log cabin blocks into one pile.

I thought I could make two quilt tops out of them.

Revaluating, it turns out I really only have enough blocks

to make one small quilt.

However, I never really listen to 

what the blocks tell me so

 I'm going to turn it into a larger quilt

by trying to design a border. So here we go!

Now it's on the design wall,

so I'm getting getting ready to sew up blocks 

to finish this center and increase the size. 

There are four blocks that look like

 they have a corner arrangement. 

Those will be moved out to be corners of the bigger quilt.

Here are all the centers for the additional blocks I'll need.

I'm still using the polka dot centers. 

Every time I see a polka dot fabric,

 I cut out some centers!  Needless to say,

 I have a lot of centers.

There may be more polka dot-centered 

Log Cabin quilts in my future!

For now I'm finishing up this Log Cabin.

The center squares are all done.

This is the lovely bag of scraps 

I'm using to make the edging squares. 

Thank you LT!

I wanted an edge looking border so I followed

the court house step pattern,

but used some careful color placement. 

One good evening of stitching should

got them done! 

The voids are filled and the border looks

like a winning plan. 

All pinned to the design wall and 

needing a bit of movement. There are a few colors 

here that could use better friends!

A  New Year's sew along popped up so I was able to finish 

the edging square and stitch up the top. 

Can anyone see the small revolution 

starting near the bottom?

Here is the finished top with a few repositioned blocks. 

The border was quite successful.

The four corner blocks worked perfectly,

 so that makes it even better!

Only 2  blocks left to decorate the back . 

Now to move on to pinning!

It should be a great way to finish out 2024 leftovers!

Stay safe and sew on!

Linking up with :

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

To Do Tuesday

Sew & Tell

Wait Loss Wednesday

Free Motion Mavericks

Needle & Thread Thursday

Finished or Not Friday

Off the Wall Friday

Beauty Pageant

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Patchwork & Quilting

Oh Scrap!

Show & Tell