Little Quilts

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 am also working on a block-a-month project from Stitchin' Heaven in Texas called Four-Star Generals. It is a reproduction quilt made up of sets of four blocks each. The fabrics are beautiful and I surprise myself each month with how perfectly each block comes together.

I will begin the new year with Kim Diehl's 11^th 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!!!

Brown Bag Mystery Quilt 2020 #2

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!

 

Stepping Stones

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.