I have fallen into the world of little quilts recently. Is it not enough to make beautiful, normal-size quilts for myself, family, and friends??? Oh no! I have been distracted by the simple designs of mostly old-looking pieces; they whip up quite easily, and they give me something to do with my hands while binging on various streaming stories (but not holiday movies).
I started with Mini Mondays from Temecula Quilt Company. Sheryl, the owner, posts block projects on her blog every second Monday. At the end she will tell us what to do with all these little 4.5 inch blocks. She also has the Mini-a-Month little quilt projects published on postcards. These are not miniature quilts, just small quilts. Add some simple hand-quilting and a single-fold binding and I have a finished project to display. And then there is her Woven Reds block-a-month. She is keeping me busy for sure!
I will begin the new year with Kim Diehl's 11th Simple Whatnots Club, a series of delightful small quilts in the most luscious of fabrics in her new line Right as Rain. Be still my heart! In addition to that club, I've signed up for her stitch-along normal-size quilt called Riverside Knoll in the Right as Rain fabric line. All of this from Homestead Hearth in Mexico, Missouri.
I love retirement!!!
This is the second Under the Stars Brown Bag Mystery Quilt, designed by Karen Montgomery, that I made in 2020. As I have described earlier, I only got a taste of what the fabrics might be by the one fabric strip tied to the bag handle. They are all batik fabrics and the lime and sand instantly brought to mind the name Margaritas on the Beach! I had it quilted with a shell design. And the backing has sunglasses on it! So fun!
Did I mention that one of my favorite quilt shops in California is Candy's Quiltworks in Northridge? I got to know this shop because my daughter lived there. I have made a couple of quilts with fabrics from this shop after seeing samples in the store. Candy doesn't have a great online presence but she does have a Facebook page. The fact that she was located in my daughter's town was the best. When the store moved to within WALKING DISTANCE from her house – THAT was the best! But not long after that move my daughter moved away. However, I always make a visit whenever I am in the area.
Stepping Stones was one of those sample quilts you fall in love with instantly! Not just because of the pattern (which I found on the Moda website), but the fabrics made the design come alive for me. I do not know who designed this quilt, but the fabrics are Moda from a line by Kate Spain. Perhaps Ms. Spain designed it herself. The sample fabrics, Terrain, were not available so I picked up a similar line, Cuzco. I went wild with the backing.
My younger daughter loves Amy Butler fabric, as do I. When Missouri Star Quilt Company (MSQC) offered an Amy Butler fabric jelly roll, I jumped on it. When I received the package with the fabric, MSQC included the Ribbon Star pattern although I do not think I ordered it. It showed the quilt made from the very fabric roll I had purchased. As usual, the jelly roll sat and aged until I was ready to put together projects for Florida. Aaaaaaand we all know why that didn't happened (Covid). So I began the blocks during the spring this year and found a great border fabric, Paper Fans by Kafe Fassett. This fabric pulls all the colors in the quilt together. I finished the border with a magenta piping, which I think gives the quilt an added punch. I also made the binding. All I need is backing and off to the quilter it goes. There is no name on this beauty unless daughter #2 makes a claim for it!
In my April 14 post I teased you with my fabrics for the 2021 mystery. I can now reveal the pattern and how lovely the fabrics are. The quilt pattern was designed by Karen Montgomery. I purchased this Brown Bag from Cotton Patch Quilt Shop in University Park, Florida.
The main fabric is from the line The Leah Collection from In the Beginning fabrics. It has a soft watercolor feel to it and brings to mind a cool spring day.
This quilt has not been promised to anyone...yet.
Audiobooks:
I listened to several audiobooks during the time I constructed the blocks. The clues were sent over the course of six weeks. However, it took me a bit longer to complete the whole thing. I will leave you with the book from when I was attaching the borders:
Falling by J. T. Newman, read by Stephen Weber, the actor.
I bought this table runner kit from Cotton & Chocolate in Thousand Oakes, CA while on a Thanksgiving trip to visit family. I have learned to limit my time in this shop so that I won't buy too much, ha! I started buying small kits that I can either make and leave with my daughter, or at least get them started. They are always quick and simple.
I was in a holiday mood so I chose this Flying Geese Table Runner 2, a Cotton & Chocolate Quilt Company's Pattern Party line, designed by Lisa Shepherd. I especially loved the backing on the sample. It reminded me of autumn in New England.
During my Florida 2019 trip, I met a former work colleague and friend at the house she and her husband built when they retired. It was so beautifully decorated with dusty blues and grays that I immediately began planning a hostess/housewarming quilt for them.
Not long after returning to Connecticut, I found the perfect pattern in Quilting with Fons and Porter. I have two drawers of blues so I had a lot of fun choosing fabrics. The pattern consists of a block that has several names, Three and Six, also known as Double X. I gave the quilt a reproduction flavor, using “Regency Ballycastle 18th Century” (Moda) fabric for the sashing and inner border; the border fabric is “Garden Delights” from In the Beginning Fabrics; and the backing is a beautiful blue floral on a gray background called “The Blue and the Grey” c. 1860 (Windham Fabrics). The blocks and background are from my stash.
I had a hard time letting go of this quilt, but I know these folks will take good care of it.
Audiobooks for this quilt:
Becoming by Michele Obama
The Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green
As I was exploring area quilt shops in Port St. Lucie, Florida during my 2019 trip, I found Pam's Fabric Nook! I love exploring new (to me) quilt shops and Pam's was terrific. I found several prints I needed for a project, and fell in love with a sample quilt top of batik fabrics! Turns out the featured fabrics are part of the Hoffman Batiks Club, a monthly-featured-fabric fat-quarter pack. These blues were for the month of January's collection called “Frost.” Problem was there was not a pattern available for the sample quilt. I'm sure I could have figured it out but I found the pattern on line on allpeoplequilt.com (do you see an AP&Q theme here?) called “Roaring Waves.” I thought that interesting because the Frost fabrics had a winter theme with snowflakes!
I made this quilt top last winter in Florida. As I showed off the top via text, the husband of my quilting friend said he liked it! Hmmm. This became the couple's wedding anniversary quilt this year, and because they live by Long Island Sound, I named it “Winter Waves.”
Audiobook for this quilt:
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
I love the American Patchwork & Quilting Calendar! It lives in my kitchen where I see it constantly and think about each month's project. When I began receiving it, from the very first publication, I thought (here comes the fantasy!) well, I'll just make a project every month! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Seriously, the calendar has given me so much inspiration through the years that I have made a number of the featured quilts, sometimes with a little tweak. Reflections in the Pond is a recent one. It was designed by the late Heidi Kaisand and appeard in the 2018 calendar. It is black and white and designed with only four pink appliqued flowers. I collected my fabrics and as usual let them be until I was ready to begin. Instead of appliqueing flowers, I decided to integrate the pink fabric into four of the blocks. I brought this project to Florida and finished the top on March 19, 2020. As I started sewing, I thought about who would end up with it. Turns out the youngest little girl in the family was turning two in the summer of 2020 and her bedroom is a neutral gray. And as she turned two, she was about to graduate from the crib (she had a new sibling arriving soon!), so I thought this quilt would be the perfect size for a big-girl bed. I backed it with a reproduction fabric I had had for YEARS that had little pink hearts on a vine on a black background. Couldn't get better than that AND I reduced my black stash as well.
This was her second quilt; the first will be spotlighted as I recount the quilts backwards chronologically. And I am told she alternates which quilt to sleep with each night.
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P.S. This quilt has been very loved, but it is back in my possession for repair! The solid black inner border fabric is disintegrating! This is the second quilt where I have used a solid black, and I think the black is a leftover from many years ago and not bought in a quilt shop. So I will be working to fix this problem.
Audiobook for this quilt:
The End of October by Lawrence Wright
I found this book, Modern Views with 3-Yard Quilts by Donna Robertson of Fabric Cafe, during a quilt shop hop, and figured this was a really good way to start sewing into my stash. Robertson's books have become so popular that quilt shops are putting together 3-yard bundles of coordinating fabrics to display with several of her 3-yard books. I had no problem picking 3 yards of coordinating fabrics from all of the yardage I have accumulated over the years.
For my first 3-yard project, I picked what I considered to be an ugly fabric, I think designed by Jinny Beyer. It had a weird combination of turquoise, a pale green, and a pale maize. Every time I put my hand on that fabric I asked myself, “What was I thinking when I bought this!” So the challenge for me was to use it in a way someone would love it. Well, needless to say (for those of you who know), I had nothing in my stash to coordinate! So, during another quilt shop excursion, I found the green and the turquoise. I finished the top on March 25, 2020. I have to say I was pleased with the result. And so is a family member!
You know how purples can be vibrant and exciting? Then there are those that scream "old lady!" Now I mean no disrespect to us aged wonders. But it's that dull, muted purple I'm talking about that seems to suck the life out of you. Yeah, I have a bunch of that fabric, another WWIT (what was I thinking) print. I used that in my second 3-yard quilt. I don't have a picture, but maybe someone will love it.
Audiobook for this quilt:
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
I did not finish listening because Crazy Rich Asians came up in my holds queue on Overdrive.
My husband and I spent the whole month of May driving around the country and visiting my daughter and her family in California. Because family stuff was happening there which we didn't want to miss, we decided on driving rather than flying. That decision was a way to gift ourselves a vacation to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. It also interrupted my momentum in updating this blog.
However...
While in California I met up with a quilting friend to make our own little quilt shop hop! We drove down to Temecula specifically to visit the Temecula Quilt Company, owned by Sheryl Johnson. (Temecula Quilt Co. - Quilt Shop in Temecula, California) If you love Civil War and reproduction fabrics, projects, and tiny things, this is the place for you!
OMG! When I saw this quilt I absolutely knew I would make it! This is another AP&Q Calendar (2019) quilt designed by Monique Dillard. If you know me, you know that red is my favorite color. I had been collecting fabrics from “Red is the New Neutral” line by Marcus Brothers, and whenever I saw any of it in a quilt shop, I snatched it up (why do you think this blog's title is Fabric Overload?). I did begin the piecing in Florida 2020 but, of course, Covid.
I finished piecing the top on April 12, 2020, not long after returning home. I recently got it back from my wonderful long arm quilter Janice.
I don't recall if I worked on it in Florida because...Covid.
I finished the top on May 23, 2020
Audiobook for this quilt:
The End of October by Lawrence Wright
You know how when you see a quilt you like and think, hey, I have two drawers plus spillover of blue fabrics! I can do this! Designed by Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts, this lovely blue item was featured in the 2014 issue of the American Patchwork & Quilting Calendar. I put aside some beautiful fabrics and let them percolate until I was ready to make it. Well, turns out I didn't have ENOUGH of the main fabric put aside and had to think quickly. This project was going with me to Florida! So back to my drawers to find something that would work. I found “Jasmine” by Quilter's Only for Spring Industries, and “Beautiful Borders and Backgrounds” by Maywood Studios, fabrics I had been hoarding for years for just the right quilt. I began this project just before I flew to Florida in February 2020 and finished it after I had to come home early because...Covid.
I made this quilt entirely from my own stash. And isn't that the point?
I fell in love with this simple pattern arranged on point in red, black, and gold fabrics, with a large black and cream gingham border. It was featured in the annual American Patchwork & Quilting Calendar; the year and the designer is lost to time. I made this for my kitchen as a wall hanging but it lives as a table cover on an old sewing machine cabinet in a corner of the kitchen that my husband uses as a sort of office/library/telephone stand. It is pretty faded after all these years but fits right in to my 1897 house aura.
During the following years I made a blue and yellow version for my friend's blue kitchen. A few years after that she changed her color palette to gray.
Last spring I hauled out another version that I had started a while ago. I had hoped to make this one for another friend. Her family owned a coffee business for many years, and I had collected a number of coffee fabrics to use for her table topper/wall hanging. Unfortunately, I waited too long and she died before I could make it. So I made it in her memory.
Coronavirus! COVID-19 testing! Masks! Social distancing (I hate that phrase)! Wash hands! Hand sanitizer! No traffic. No travel. No haircuts. No family holiday gatherings. No celebrating landmark birthdays. No hugging. Sadness for those families who lost someone dear. Parking lot pick ups at grocery store and library. Zoom quilt meetings.
I sewed my way through all of these audiobooks. The longer I listened, the longer I sewed and completed projects! Louise Penny tops my chart!
Not included are audiobooks I did not finish.
I am a great fan of mystery quilts and have made several throughout my quilting career. Usually I pick out my fabrics and cut them according to the initial instructions. For in-person mysteries, I would get the first clue, complete it, and move on to the next clue; the teacher would do all the pressing. So, by the end of the class I would have a partially made quilt. Then there are the shop mysteries where again I choose the fabrics and make the initial cuts, and then wait to have the shop mail each clue during a specific time span. This is great because my mystery quilt shops are in California and Florida.
I discovered my first Brown Bag Mystery in Florida at Cotton Patch Quilt Shop in University Park, during one of my post-retirement winter visits. Designed by Karen Montgomery, it truly IS a brown bag stapled shut.
The only hint is a strip of fabric (included in the bag) that is tied to the handle. There is no peaking at what other fabrics are included. Cutting directions and the clue schedule are also in the bag. Each quilt shop offering the BBM chooses the fabrics for each bag. There have been some misgivings in the quilting crowd, especially if they are trying it out for the first time. The shop owners attend a special retreat with the designer so they know how the fabrics will work together in each bag. So trust in your quilt shop!
Beginning in March, which happens to be National Quilter's month, the clues are sent out every two weeks. It is not hard to keep up and the pattern construction is pretty easy. Just have to remember to read the instructions carefully and correctly!
Along with the BBM is membership in the BBMQ Facebook page where quilters can show off their fabrics. Some are so excited that they purchase multiple bags! I tried that last year and decided one at a time was enough; I feel for the quilters who are working on three, four, and five at a time!
I think the brown bag mystery is a great concept and I am completely open to the surprise, but I'm sure there are a lot of quilters who are uncomfortable with not having control of what goes into their quilts.
I am currently working on the 2021 version which I picked out online because of ....Covid. These are my fabrics:
This lovely basket pattern is pink and green. Yeah, yeah, it's well known that pink and green together are not my particular favorites. See my post about this at https://fabricoverload.blogspot.com/2010/09/peggys-quilts.html (September 18, 2010 post).
I started cutting the pieces and sewing them during that fall, but put it away for other more tempting projects. It came with me to Florida in 2020 but again, had to come home early. So when I picked it up at home I had an epiphany. My time was short, the blocks were just taking too long to make, and I had soooo many projects to make. So I finished with my sewing machine and completed it on July 1, 2020.
Audiobooks for this quilt:
Zero Day (John Puller, #1) by David Baldacci (finished June 28)
A Trick of the Light (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #7) by Louise Penny (started listening June 29)
I must have been going through a McCall's Quilting magazine when I saw this quilt on the very back page. It is part of McCall's “I Love This Quilt” series, and I found the pattern on line. I absolutely knew what fabrics I would use (they were ALL in my stash!) and with whom it would eventually live (can't say yet). The star appears to have flying geese units, but the designer, Gerri Robinson, planned the units differently.
I began this project in the Fall of 2018, and brought it with me on my personl annual winter quilt retreat in Florida 2019 and 2020. Of course, I had to return to Connecticut earlier than planned, so I continued sewing the blocks through the summer. I completed this quilt top on September 18, 2020. I recently bought a beautiful back, a delicate print that will look just lovely with the blocks. It sits in my overloaded closet waiting its turn to be quilted.
Our newest family member is Wesley. born in the fall of 2020. The family as a whole got to meet this cute little guy at Easter, our first family get together with hugging in more than a year. Till now the moms have kept us entertained and up to date with a private picture-sharing app. He is a happy, easy-going, cuddly baby.
My husband and I both love Civil War era quilts, so I let him choose the pattern this time, ensuring that he would like it when completed. The only fabrics purchased were for the setting triangles, sashing, and borders. Thanks to the ladies at Yankee Cloth in Wallingford for help in finding this beautiful navy print! I began this top just after Christmas 2020. (No visitors, so no decorating. Only the tree occupied by birds and a single ornament. And the Christmas star of course.) I finished the top at the end of January.
This is another bed size quilt that I had to lay out on the living room floor, and move my sewing machine nearby. My chiropractor loves me.
This pattern, Double X, designed by Mabeth Oxenrider, appeared in the 1999 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine. She used fabrics designed by Pat Nichols, reproductions of 1840's textiles. So I collected a lot of them over the years. It's taken this long to get to that project box, and the pandemic helped bring it to the top of the pile.
I completed this quilt top in February. It is so big I had to lay it out on the living room floor. I moved my sewing machine close by and let me tell you, this is back breaking work picking up and putting down the blocks. And stepping all over them to boot! It measures approximately 100” by 100.” Can you spot the "folly?"
December 2021 update:
Here is the quilted version of this luscious quilt with the backing. Won't this look striking decorating my living room or on my guest bed?
Merry Christmas to me!
April 2021 post:
I saw this pattern on the cover of the Winter 2020 issue of Quilts n' More at my favorite California quilt shop, Cotton and Chocolate in Thousand Oaks, while on my annual Thanksgiving visit with my daughter and family. It took my breath away! I LOVE red and white quilts! I came home with eight yards of Kona Rich Red and began to make this quilt top on March 16; I finished the top on March 30! It currently is hanging on the back of the closet door and I love looking at it! It will remain there till I finish the next quilt on my project pile.
Why is it hanging on the BACK of the closet door where I can see it??? My closet is full of unquilted tops (with backings) as well as the hook on back of the door. The hook is so full, I cannot close the door!
Audiobooks:
Night School, Jack Reacher #21 - Lee Child
The Golden Hour - Beatriz Williams
Passing - Nella Larson
