Chic Kisses for Bryan and Catherine

I am still working away on this quilt for my son and d-i-l to be.  I have finished the centre part of the quilt made of 36 blocks.  There are 28 left to go.  This picture was taken with the lights on.

And this picture was taken with the lights off so the colours are a bit more natural.

I plan to get the rest of the blocks made in May and then quilt it in June.

Bonnie Hunter's Sew-In-Place Quiltville Mystery Unity Quilt Along, Round Two

The second round of the Medallion quilt involves making 36 stars, which doesn't sound too bad but each star has four sides and each side is made up of a flying geese block which means 144 flying geese made up of 432 tiny triangles.  They are so cute though so you don't really mind.  Here's my first one.  It makes me happy that I am making stars and the olive fabric has stars in the print.

After making a few more stars I had enough for the first side.  Since the star points alternate colours, the impression is as if they are twinkling.

And than the second side.

And the third side.

And finally the fourth side.

And once again surrounded by sashing and cornerstones and ready for the next round.

I am hoping the next round is a little less intense!  And it is... here's the first of 32 stars required for the next round.

256 half-square-triangles, here I come!

#quiltville   #quiltvillemystery   #sewinplace   #unityquiltalong   #unityquilt   @quiltville_bonnie

Tulip Wall Hanging

I was bogged down making face coverings on Friday.  (I am purposely not using the word "m.a.s.k." as google is blocking pictures in postings using the "m" word)  I decided to work on something more spring like and what could feel more like spring than tulips, daffodils or crocus.  It helped that Jenny's tutorial this week was a triple play on totally tulips!  I just used fabrics from my scrap bins for this so I was quite pleased to find two similar greens for the background and sashing.  The background greens are actually much nicer looking in person....  This first picture turned out rather foggy, but the next one is better.

I had to make my stems a little wider than intended, but that was my mistake, not the fault of the pattern.  I also made the binding out of the same fabric as the stems.  I like a dark frame on a wall hanging.

Once I got this out of my system I was back to making "m's".  I am trying out a few patterns to find what fits the best and is the easiest to construct.

Bonnie Hunter's Sew-In-Place Quiltville Mystery Unity Quilt Along, the First Round

The first round actually went on in three different steps.  Here's the "a" part made out of flying geese and a few half square triangles.

Here's the "b" part made out of square-in-a-square blocks.

Here's the "c" part made of more flying geese and a few half square triangles.

And lastly here it is with the sashing on and I'm ready for the next round which comes out today.....

My quilt top measured 1/4" too big at this point, so I trimmed 1/8" off all four edges of the sashing so I can start the next round accurately.  My husband says he likes the colours of this quilt better than any quilt I have made so far!  Pretty good for scrounging up fabric based on having the right quantity from my stash!

#quiltville   #quiltvillemystery   #sewinplace   #unityquiltalong   #unityquilt   @quiltville_bonnie

Face Masks

We have now been told that wearing a home made face mask when grocery shopping, for example,  could provide some protection against the pandemic.  My sister had previously been asked to make masks for a hospice which her family helps support.  I compared the tutorial she used to several others and decided to go with hers with the following changes.  I enlarged the rectangle of fabric to 9" x 15" and I added a layer of non woven interfacing which I cut at 8" x 6".  I used a pipe cleaner instead of a twist tie to provide a bit of shaping over the bridge of the nose and I used 1/4" bias tape I had on hand to go fully around the back of your head twice instead of using elastic just around the ears.  The hardest part of making the mask was getting all the pleats in.  I found it helpful to pin down the centre of the pleats too in order keep the edges straight.  Here is the tutorial.

You really need a heavy duty machine to add the channels for the ties to go through as you are sewing through 10 layers of fabric in places.  Here they are all completed and one is being modeled on a foam wig form from the kid's dress up trunk.

I washed them all, but please don't do what I did and wash them all loose.  I was faced with untangling 20 strings from 10 masks before I could put them in the dryer.  It took about 15 minutes to get them all untangled.  I put them in pairs in mesh bags in the dryer so at most I would have to untangle would be two......

Here they are all pressed flat, folded in half and individually packaged for delivery to my family members.

I'll likely be making a few more before "this" is all over.....

Bonnie Hunter's Sew-In-Place Quiltville Mystery Unity Quilt Along

I couldn't resist......Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville is doing a Sew-In-Place Unity Quilt Along for anyone who wants to sew "together" while we are all social distancing at home.  It's going to be a medallion quilt, which is on my bucket lists.  The instructions for the central block came out last Monday and instructions for each subsequent ring of blocks will come out each following Monday.  Bonnie is using three colours - red, blue, turquoise and a neutral.  I'm using primrose, olive, gold and gray as my neutral.  Here are my fabrics and a floral fabric I used as my inspiration.  Maybe I will be able to use the floral fabric in a final border.  The greens aren't an exact match but it was as good as I could do without going shopping and I really like that the olive green I have chosen also has gold and primrose in it.

Here are the pieces of the first block laid out for the central medallion.  This picture was taken in more natural light, even though it was rather a dull day so the colours are more accurate.

Here is the central block and a row of sashing finished and ready for next Monday's instructions.

I'm really happy with the look of the fabrics together - they turned out even better than I imagined!

#quiltville   #quiltvillemystery   #sewinplace   #unityquiltalong   #unityquilt   @quiltville_bonnie