Block of the Month for September

Mayflower Quilters Guild started up again last night and my friend Marilyn and I are responsible for Program this year.  We decided to do a Block of the Month each month with the blocks due at the next meeting to be used in Comfort Quilts.  I couldn't find a tutorial on line for this block so have made one up here:

Step One:  Fabric requirements

• three 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" strips of medium to dark fabrics in fall colours (yellow, gold, orange, rust, red or brown) (WOF  (width of fabric) strips will give you 5 or 6 blocks)
• two 4" squares of light fabric in off white/unbleached cotton colour for each block

Step Two:

• Sew three strips together.  I put the lightest one in the middle but that was just my preference.
• Press the seams to the dark.

Step Three:

• Press the squares in half on the diagonal (the pressed line will be your sew line and your corners will already be pressed open after you sew them, so you accomplish two things with one step)

Step four:

• It is important that your block is laid out with the strips running vertically up and down and not horizontally across.
• Lay an opened square on the upper left and the lower right of your block with the pressed lines being parallel to each other.
• Sew on the two pressed lines but do not trim off the corners.
• Sew another seam 1/2" away closer to the corner and flip back the corner.  (If you don't want to sew the second seam, we can do it.)
• When you hand in your blocks at the October meeting, we will trim the extra fabric off and use the bonus half square triangles to make another Comfort Quilt.  (Of course you are welcome to use this pattern for yourself as well in which case you can do whatever you want with your corners.)

Here is a sample of what the final quilt will look like:

Marilyn and I are looking forward to seeing all the blocks you donate at the October meeting!

Cat's Meow Mystery Quilt, Finished

I finished my quilt on Sunday, but couldn't post it until we had the quilt reveal and viewer's choice award at my guild which happened last night.

First of all, measure twice, cut once.  I cut a piece of batting several inches wider and several inches longer (so I thought) than my quilt top and proceeded to put everything on the frame only to discover I had cut the length using the measurement of the quilt before adding borders.  I decided to start quilting anyway and when I got to the point that I needed to add a strip of batting I whip stitched it on by hand.  The edge of the quilt is rolled back so you can see the 7 inch strip of extra batting I had to add on by hand. I emphasise by hand because I really try to avoid doing any sewing by hand....

I quilted this quilt by following a paper pantograph with a laser pointer on my machine.  Here's a picture showing how that works.  As you follow the line on the paper with the laser, the machine sews that same design onto the fabric.  I chose this design because I thought the flowers looked similar to the flowers in the fabric.

I didn't have quite enough of the flowered fabric for the backing, but I had some left over pieced strips and enough of the green to make do.  I used the rest of the green to make the binding.  I have only scraps of both fabrics left.

So here, finally, is what the finished quilt looks like.

Here's a picture of the winning quilt, courtesy of our guild photographer Lorna.  This quilt was made by Claudia.  (photo used with Claudia's permission) It was even nicer in person.

So now with two deadline quilts finished I can work on whatever I want!  I know Dear Jane will be one of them.

Double Wedding Ring / Metro Rings, My Daughter and Son-in-law Opening the Quilt

We had a wonderfully full long weekend with beautiful weather for the day of wedding prep, the actual wedding day and then a breakfast the morning after.  My husband also officially retired with his last day of work the Monday before the wedding and now we are into September when all the activities start back up, but we are both still in vacation mode.

Here is half of the quilt drying out on the line at home.  I decided to round the corners which made binding go really fast with no stopping to have to mitre the corners.  The curves were gentle enough that I got away without using bias binding.  I bound it with the background fabric which I don't think I have done before but suited this quilt well, I think.

And here are some pictures of it being opened at the post wedding breakfast.

Now I have to finish putting the blocks of a quilt together and get it quilted before our guild starts up.  I just checked the calendar and that is two weeks from today!  Yikes!  Heading to the sewing room.

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday