2024 Vintage Sampler Block of the Month

Designed by Nancy Rink
Completed top January 8, 2024 (began May 14, 2023)

Audio books:
            The Medici Manuscript by C. J. Archer
            Winter’s Redemption by Mary Stone
            Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
            The Life We Bury by Allen Eskins
            The Guise of Another by Allen Eskins
            Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger
            Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin
            The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman
            Worth Dying For, a Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child
            The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne
 
Whoa! I COULD NOT RESIST when I saw basket blocks on the wall of Yankee Cloth's second floor. When I discovered they were part of a BOM, I paid for the entire program then and there! The fabrics are Vintage Charm by Judie Rothermel, my favorite reproduction fabric designer. Each month brought beautiful fabrics into my home, and it is ready for my bed.

 

2024 Go Getter

Designed by April Rosenthal of Prairie Grass Patterns 2020

Completed top January 19, 2024

Audio books:
The Heavens May Fall by Allen Eskins
Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger
Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger
#23 Burlington Square by Jenni Keer

        The Pecan Man/The Truth About Grace 

            by Cassie Dandridge Selleck

This quilt really needs a better name.
I purchased this kit at Cotton & Chocolate in Thousand Oakes, CA in 2023. This is another quilt, with Love, Lilly fabrics, that has a breezy, summer cottage feel.

2024 Harvest Pumpkins

Designed by Vickie Gerike, from County Seat Quilts book
Completed top January 14, 2024

Audio books: 
Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger
#23 Burlington Square by Jenni Keer

This was a quilt waiting to be made for my house.

I had mentioned to my husband last fall that the seasonal Halloween quilts were cute, but not something I would want to make for our 1897 house. And then, during the 2023 All New England Shop Hop, I found one of my favorite shops, Meeting House Fabric in Wales, MA (not on the shop hop list of stores).

This beautiful autumn quilt, with stars in the center of the pumpkins, was made in traditional fall colors. I thought the kit was too expensive for me, so I bought the book! When I returned home and turned the page on my quilt studio calendar -- there it was, the featured quilt for October! Needless to say, I had not needed to buy the book, but I am happy I did. 

Did you feel the universe reaching out to me? On the next visit I just picked up the fabric pack because there was no way I could replicate the look of the original, to heck with the cost! This quilt is perfect for my house. The quilting is exquisite with oak leaf and grape vines intertwined throughout. 

I had extra blocks, so I made a table runner for my good friend Lucy, who loved this color theme. Sadly, she never got to use it before she passed in August. But her husband is keeping her decorating traditions going.

2024 Vintage Stars

Designed by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree & Company

Completed top February 16, 2024

Audio books: 
Run, Rose, Run by James Patterson and Dolly Parton
        The Pecan Man, and The Truth About Grace by Cassie Dandridge Selleck
The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson

I purchased this kit at Cotton & Chocolate in Thousand Oakes, CA. I fell in love immediately with the sample because the fabrics in the kit were beautiful; if made up of fabrics in the pattern picture, it would have been a pass for me. The lovely florals give the quilt that cottage feel I love.

    

Cake Walk by Kim Diehl

A Simple Whatnots project

Completed top February 19, 2024

Audio books:

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed
Name of the Wind by Peter Rothfus

I gave this little quilt to my friend Kim for her home in South Carolina

Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Block of the Month 2020

Completed top February 28, 2024

Audio books:
A Killer in King’s Cove by Iona Wishaw

For me this quilt was a true mystery. I seemed to have ordered it by accident and don’t remember doing so, or maybe I was intrigued by the fabric line. In any case, I began making it and the blocks just sat in the pretty box the fabrics came in till I decided to finish the damn thing.

I have no picture of the completed top. I didn’t love it so I gave it to a California quilter friend who she could use for her granddaughter. However, there were some design elements I liked and I took a picture of just one that hangs on my design wall.

Snowberries in Summer by Kim Diehl

A Simple Whatnots 12 project

Completed top March 5, 2024

Audio books:
The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir by Jennifer Ryan
 

Cedar Chest Quilt Retreat, February 2024

Retreat hosted by the Cedar Chest Quilt Guild in Cedar City, Utah

It has been many years since I took a quilting class anywhere, so this trip was a lot of fun. I was invited to attend with several of my California quilting friends. We stayed in a house and had a blast at the retreat. I am going again this year!

Holiday Season

from the pattern Red Delicious by Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter.com

Completed top May 7, 2024

Audio books:
Edge of Collapse by Kyla Stone
The Interview: Anne Hathaway by NYT The Daily podcast
The Interview: Israeli opposition leader, The Daily
The Daily: Bird Flu
Old Babes in the Woods, Stories by Margaret Atwood
The Warwick Recordings, a Deadbolt Mystery

I loved the teacher for this class, Teresa Porter. The pattern is actually easy to make. I used my own Christmas fabrics, but they do not have a standard Christmas theme. This quilt is basically red and green. 

Crossing Paths 

Designed and taught by Melissa Cory

Completed top: April 11, 2024

Audio books:
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
A Wanted Man (a Jack Reacher novel) by Lee Child

Melissa Cory was fun to watch! She introduced me to magic tape for sewing diagonal seams. I loved all the fabrics I used in this quilt but in the end, it did not have that POP effect that I endeavored to achieve. Perfect for a man.

 

Ohio 3-Yard-Quilt

 Garden Path from the book Modern Views with 3-Yard Quilts 

by Fabric Café

Completed top May 19, 2024

Audio books:
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer

I made this quilt for a relative who was hospitalized to treat a severe skin infection. Her skin was very sensitive to pressure, so I used a flannel backing. It was perfect!

No photo to share.

Piece of Cake, BBMQ 2024

Piece of Cake, A Brown Bag Mystery Quilt 2024 

Designed by Karen Montgomery

Completed top May 25, 2024

Audio books:
The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley
        Edge of Collapse by Kyla Stone

I think this BBMQ is my fifth, but who's counting? I chose this brown bag by the floral fabric attached to the bag handle. The fabrics were fine, but in the end I did not like the lack of contrast between the cake stands and background. It does look like a picnic quilt. Other quilts shown online were so much more beautiful. My daughter Laura loved it, so it became her Christmas present.

I am wondering if I should continue for 2025 because it is getting expensive. But given my recent spending on fabric, why the hell not??? And it would require a trip to Florida - Yay!

Pink Floral 3-Yard-Quilt

 Urban Chic 3-Yard Quilt by Fabric Café 

    from the book Fast & Fun 3-Yard Quilts, 2018

Completed top June 1, 2024

Audio book: The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley

Made for a neighbor when I heard diagnosis of ovarian cancer. I put Minky on the back, which helps to keep patients warm during chemotherapy. She is doing well.

Carrie's Snowflake

This pattern is Fat Quarter Shop's Mystery Quilt Sew Along, Jelly Snowflake

Date top completed: June 21, 2024

Audio books:
None 

I have long wanted to make my niece-in-law a contemporary quilt in her favorite color, purple. I already had a large pattern in mind but when I came across this "Christmas" pattern shown in two colors, I knew it was time. I actually needed to purchase the grape Grunge Basics fabrics because I don't stash yardage (unless for background or backing).  I used a purple floral on the back so that she can use it year-round. She got it for her birthday in November 2024.