Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- block 5

  I had sew much fun quilting this week's block!

(that red/yellow quilt on the cover might be mine!)

I chose to meander/stipple this placemat because it reminded me of a goose waddling around the farmyard.  Do I have a goose?  No.  Do I have a farmyard?  Also no.  And I'm kind of sad about this.

I used all Fossil Fern fabrics for my placemat.  I may have the entire collection.  And I may just pet it regularly.

Materials:

Stone Tutti cotton thread for quilting

Dove Grey DecoBob polyester thread for the bobbin

Handi Quilter Echo Feet

Sweet Spots

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Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block One

Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block Two

Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block Three

Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block Four

Color Block Catch Up -- February 2024 -- Oh My Heart!

 The Color Blocks 2024 quilts are all about the seasons!  So far we've had:

January -- snowflake (pattern published)
February -- hearts 
March -- shamrocks (pattern published)
April -- tulips (pattern published)
May -- strawberry placemats (pattern and quilting published)
June -- ice cream (pattern and quilting published)
July -- popsicles

August -- sunflowers

September -- acorns (pattern published)

October -- Bat! (pattern published)*

November -- ?
December -- ?

I am so appreciative of your patience during my prolonged illness (18 months).  I'm much healthier now and committed to filling in the holes in the above calendar!

Let's think back to February 2024.  Some may think I'm late for Valentine's Day, but I prefer to think I'm EARLY for next Valentine's Day!

Every time I see a cute baby (and aren't they all cute?!?!), I say "Oh My Heart!"  This quilt will be great for Valentine's Day, quilt for a cause in different colors, and also for babies!!!

You can still join the 2024 Color Blocks Quilt Along for FREE! by going HERE, downloading the Planning Page, downloading the Oh My Heart! pattern, gathering your scraps, and HAVING FUN!

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* One less blank on that calendar!

January -- snowflake (pattern published)
February -- hearts (pattern published)
March -- shamrocks (pattern published)
April -- tulips (pattern published)
May -- strawberry placemats (pattern and quilting published)
June -- ice cream (pattern and quilting published)
July -- popsicles

August -- sunflowers

September -- acorns (pattern published)

October -- Bat! (pattern published)

November -- ?
December -- ?

Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block Four

 I had sew much fun quilting this week's block!

(wait!  is that a Color Block quilt on the cover of Quiltmaker Magazine?!?!?!?)

I chose to quilt lines of swirls from a stencil all over the placemat because they are simple, fun, and look great on a quilt.  My Handi Quilt ST machine is named Daniel Craig.  I wanted to spend more time with him so I added free-motion switchback quilting between the rows of swirls.

I used all Fossil Fern fabrics for my placemat.  I may have the entire collection.  And I may just pet it regularly.

Materials:

Stone Tutti cotton thread for quilting

Dove Grey DecoBob polyester thread for the bobbin

Blue Pounce Pad

Baseline Stencil

Sweet Spots

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Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block One

Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block Two

Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block Three

October Color Block Pattern: "I am Bat"

 The Color Blocks 2024 quilts are all about the seasons!  So far we've had:

January -- snowflake (pattern published)
February -- hearts
March -- shamrocks (pattern published)
April -- tulips (pattern published)
May -- strawberry placemats (pattern and quilting published)
June -- ice cream (pattern and quilting published)
July -- popsicles

August -- sunflowers

September -- acorns (pattern published)

October -- Bat! (pattern published)*

November -- ?
December -- ?

You can still join the 2024 Color Blocks Quilt Along for FREE! by going HERE, downloading the Planning Page, downloading the "I am Bat" pattern, gathering your scraps, and HAVING FUN!

Please note:  If you plan on making black Color Blocks and use any black/white scraps in the block, the entire block will read as gray.

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* I am working on catching up on the missing pieces for this year's quilt along.  Thank you for your patience

Sweet Tooth Cutie Quilt -- New Video in "As the Bobbin Turns"

 I design Cutie Patterns and one of my patterns is Sweet Tooth.

As with all Cutie Patterns, this quilt uses (16) fat eighths plus extras -- background, borders, binding.  I've made 30-40 of these quilts (I've totally lost track) and quilted each and every one of them with wool batting and ribbon candy in the background.  The contrast between the quilted ribbon candy and the loft of the unquilted fabric and wool batting is stunning.  It's also super-fun for me to quilt.

I had a weird-for-me idea.  "What if I quilted Sweet Tooth and DID NOT use ribbon candy?"  After I pinched myself a few times to make sure I was awake, the idea took hold and I grabbed my basted quilt and walking foot and started stitching.

This quilt turned out even better than I had imagined!  I sent a picture of it to my daughter and she instantly pick up on the quilting.  "I really like that wavy checkerboard on the quilt!"  I agree with her!

Join other As the Bobbin Turns subscribers to watch how I quilted this new-for-me quilting technique.

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Sweet Tooth Cutie Pattern

Stone 50-weight cotton Tutti thread

Dove Grey 80-weight polyester DecoBob thread

Batt Scooters

Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block Three

I love this week's quilt along block!

I chose to quilt clamshells all over the placemat because that's what I would have done on a gingerbread roof..  These were quilted free motion using a square stencil as guidance,  My Handi Quilter ST machine gives me so much space that quilting a placemat or a quilt is a breeze!

I used all Fossil Fern fabrics for my placemat.  I may have the entire collection.

Materials:

Stone Tutti cotton thread for quilting

Dove Grey DecoBob polyester thread for the bobbin

Blue Pounce Pad

1 1/2" Grid Stencil Blue Pounce Pad

Sweet Spots

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Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block One

Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block Two

Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block Two

My first placemat was so adorable that I couldn't wait to make the second block/placemat!

The second block was a simple tree.  I chose to mimic the angle of the flying geese by quilting chevrons all over the placemat.  I used a ruler against the foot of my Handi Quilter Stationary Longarm.

I used all Fossil Fern fabrics for my placemat.  I may have the entire collection.

Materials:

Stone Tutti cotton thread for quilting

Dove Grey DecoBob polyester thread for the bobbin

Blue Pounce Pad

2 Inch Grid Stencil

Sure Foot

Mini Scallop Ruler

Handi Grip

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Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block One

Handi Quilter Quilt Along with Shabby Fabrics -- Block One

 When I saw the Handi Quilter Quilt Along quilt, I immediately wanted to jump in.  After I looked at my calendar, however, I knew I couldn't commit to an entire quilt.  I decided to make one of each block, turn them into placemats (12"x18"), and quilt each one in a different edge to edge design on my Handi Quilter sit-down longarm machine.

The pattern and remaining details about the quilt along can be found HERE.

The first block was an adorable snowman.  I decided to quilt snowflakes on this placemats.  Watch the quilting video below:

I used all Fossil Fern fabrics for my placemat.  I may have the entire collection.

Materials:

Stone Tutti cotton thread for quilting

Dove Grey DecoBob polyester thread for the bobbin

1 Inch Parallel Line Stencil

Blue Pounce Pad Sweet Spots

Autumn Freeze Frame Cutie Quilt

This hot, Hot, HOT summer has left me dreaming of autumn.  I long for boots, hot cocoa, falling leaves, cool breezes, sweaters, and quilts, Quilts, QUILTS!

I made this Freeze Frame Cutie Quilt with autumn in mind.  I used autumn colored fabrics and quilted leaves in the blocks. 

This quilt makes me happy!  I'll likely give it away, but I certainly enjoyed quilting it, because RIBBON CANDY!!!

I can't imagine much that makes me happier than quilting ribbon candy and this quilt had space for lots space for it.  Can there every be too much ribbon candy?

The off-white blocks left room for some free-motion leaves.  No two are alike -- just like leaves.

Join other As the Bobbin Turns subscribers to watch how I quilted this "I wish it were autumn" quilt.

Big Cheese Cutie Quilt

I made the mistake of opening my 1 1/2" scrap bin.  Scraps sprung out and I haven't been able to shut the box ever since.  I've made several quilt tops from this bin and this Big Cheese Cutie Quilt is simply the latest.

This is a small quilt (44"x56") and will likely be gifted as a baby quilt at some point.

I set my pieced blocks against light gray polka dot fabric.

When quilting a bright multi-color quilt, I often choose bright yellow thread.  For this quilt, I chose Sunny Tutti, a 50-weight cotton thread from WonderFil.  I meandered over the pieced blocks and quilted some fun feathers in the offset blocks.

This quilt was designed to use a Cutie Pack (16 fat-eighths).  Pick your favorite Cutie Pack and make Big Cheese for yourself!

Color Blocks Strawberry Placemats

We are having a hot, humid summer here in New York and nothing screams summer like strawberries! I grabbed my unquilted May Color Blocks Strawberry Placemats and got quilting!

I picked a fun thread, put on my walking foot, and stitched some simple cross-hatching on these placemats. I had to stop my husband from using one (and spilling on it) before the photo was taken!!!

The machine quilting video is live and ready for you to watch. Maybe while enjoying some strawberries?

Join Color Blocks 2024 and watch the free video.

I used a super-cute fabric on the back of these placemats:

This Michael Miller Farming Friends Taste Buds fabric is on sale for only $5 a yard!!!

Sweet Tooth Cutie Quilt in Low-Volume Fabrics

I am finishing a month of medical treatments and the accompanying "blah" feelings.  One thing I do when I feel blah is quilt something fun.  Fun quilting for me involves RIBBON CANDY!!!!

I dove head-first into my 1 1/2" strip bin and pieced some quilts that would allow space for lots and Lots and LOTS of ribbon candy quilting.

The first quilt I finished was a Sweet Tooth Cutie Quilt:

While I personally think that more color is better (ALL THE COLOR!), some folks like less color.  I made this quilt for one of those folks.

The part of this quilt that was for me was all the delicious ribbon candy quilting!

Yes, my neutral fabrics include trombones, penguins, Christmas trees, giraffes, and more!

Join other As the Bobbin Turns subscribers to watch how I quilted this beauty.

ABC 123, part 3

 I designed the ABC 123 quilt pattern as a great Practice with Purpose project.  It uses two charm packs and some background fabric and I'm quilting each one using rulers and stencils.  Download the free pattern HERE.

I quilted the charm squares with a swirl made by holding a ruler against the foot of a home sewing machine.

I quilted the background fabric using a Geometric Swirl stencil and some background quilting.  While these designs work great on this quilt (they really do), once you learn them they become tools in your quilting toolbox that you can use to finish future quilts.

Be sure to watch the video of this quilt and all the ABC 123 quilts so that your quilting toolbox gets a little fuller. 

Happy Quilting!

Book Report with Teri Lucas: Scrappy Wonky

The fabulous Teri Lucas and I had a delightful conversation about the fun new book Scrappy Wonky by Shannon Leigh Roudhan and Jason Bowlsby.  

I love scrap quilts (see my Color Blocks patterns/classes as proof).  I save 1 1/2" squares, 1 1/2" strips, 2 1/2" squares, and fat eighths.  Many of these scrappy quilt ideas could use some of my preferred scrap sizes while others use strings and crumbs and other sizes of scraps I fight hard to NOT save.

The quilted jacket pattern in the book drew me in immediately and it's now added to my list of "quilted jackets I hope to make."  That list gets longer and longer and yet.... no jackets have been made.  Weird how that happens.

Teri is very much NOT a scrap quilter, so it was interesting to see her thoughts on this delightfully inspiring book.

After watching this conversation, come back and answer my question (below) to enter to win an e-copy of the book!

Question:  What is the smallest size of scrap fabric you save?

Check out other reviews of this book:

• Monday, June 17th – Virtual Book Tour Announcement on the C&T Blog 
• Tuesday, June 18th – Becca from Sugar Sand Quilts Co. (Blog & Instagram)
• Wednesday, June 19th – Lana Quilts (Blog & Instagram)
• Thursday, June 20th – Red Bird Quilt Co. (Website, Instagram & Facebook)
• Friday, June 21st – Teri at TerifiCreations (Website & Instagram)
  Friday June 21st – Debby Brown at Debby Brown Quilts ( Website & Instagram)
• Saturday, June 22nd – Mary from Mary Quilts (Blog)
• Sunday, June 23rd – Barbara Emodi (Instagram)
• Monday, June 24th – Lynn from Create Whimsy (Website & Instagram)
• Tuesday, June 25th – QuayIn Stark (Instagram)
• Wednesday, June 26th – Deb from QuiltBlox (Website & Instagram)
• Thursdays, June 27th – Pat Sloan (Blog & Instagram)
• Friday, June 28th – Raylee from Sunflower Stitcheries & Quilting (Blog & Instagram)

Cutie Pattern (variation): I Can Buy Myself Flowers

 I've had this line of fabric on hold waiting to make this quilt.  The events of the last 18 months delayed me, but I love how this quilt turned out!

I took a Bouquet Cutie Pack (16 fat eighths), a Bouquet panel, my Go with the Flow Cutie Pattern, and some background fabric and I Can Buy Myself Flowers came to be!

I wrote the directions for how to turn Go with the Flow into I Can Buy Myself Flowers.  You can download it from my website HERE.

How many other panels do I have stashed away?  The world many never know, but now I know how I will use some of them!

To see how I machine quilted this quilt, watch the YouTube video HERE.

P.S.  I think that these leafy feathers would be a great start to a Machine Quilted Feathers, Vol. 2 class, don't you?

I Scream Color Blocks Quilt

 I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!

I love this June Color Block quiltJune Color Block quilt!!!

Is anything better than a triple scoop ice cream cone?

It was simple to piece, quick to quilt, and ready to hang on my kitchen door for the summer.

I quilted this using white 50-weight cotton Konfetti thread and 80-weight polyester DecoBob thread50-weight cotton Konfetti thread and 80-weight polyester DecoBob thread and stitched offset switchbacks to imitate melting ice cream.  

Join the 2024 Free Color Blocks Quilt Along2024 Free Color Blocks Quilt Along to get this pattern and machine quilting video.

June Color Blocks Pattern: I Scream!

The Color Blocks 2024 quilts are all about the seasons!  So far we've had:

January -- snowflake
February -- hearts
March -- shamrocks
April -- tulips
May -- strawberry placemats
June -- ice cream!

You can still join the 2024 Color Blocks Quilt Along for FREE! by going HERE, downloading the Planning Page, downloading the I Scream pattern, gathering your scraps, and HAVING FUN!

I chose chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla ice cream.  What flavors will you choose?

Eighteen Years Later

 It takes 18 years for a newborn to become an adult, and it took 18 years for me to finish (part of) my Ramblin' Rose Meets Jamestown BOM by Marti Michell.

I took 20 of the log cabin blocks and put them together with some borders to make a quilt 63" x 75".

I had so much fun quilting this!

The dark strips were quilted with ribbon candy, naturally (it's my favorite!).

I quilted feathers with background meandering in the light strips.

I filmed all of this and added instructions in my As the Bobbin TurnsAs the Bobbin Turns subscriber only video class.  To peek over my shoulder as I quilt and get the behind the scenes tips and tricks, subscribe to As the Bobbin TurnsAs the Bobbin Turns monthly or annually.

I have plans to use the rest of the blocks in another quilt, so stay tuned for that!

What's In The Bag?

 I had my seventh back procedure earlier this month and left town the following day.  I really should fire that gal who does my scheduling!  I had great adventures at Anna's Sewing Center in North Olmstead, OH and more adventures keeping my mom company in Pittsburgh while my sister was out of town.

I am back home now and have 21 days to see how much quilting my (new! improved!) back will allow me to do.  In order to get some sewing done, though, I have to find some flat surfaces and finish a few things to make room for new creativity.

Apparently, I store a lot of projects in tote bags.  Doesn't everyone?  I pulled out a tote bag to see what was inside that I could finish easily.

This is Rambin' Rose Meets Jamestown, a BOM from Marti Michell from 2006.  I love using her rulers and templates!  Before I set this project aside EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, I made 24 log cabin blocks and 7/12 sampler blocks.

This makes a bed-sized quilt and I don't need or want this on my bed.  It will be much more useful made into two giveaway quilts.

I decided to use 20 of the 24 log cabin blocks and make a 63"x75" quilt.  I have the finishing kit so I can cut some of the border fabrics to finish it nicely.

This is going to be so much fun to quilt!  It won't be ALL ribbon candy, but there will be plenty of it.

I pulled out my WonderFil threads -- Konfetti and DecoBob -- and can't wait to get my ribbon candy going!

Once I find my collection of Marti Michell templates, I can start work on finishing those 5 sampler blocks and plan the second giveaway quilt from this UFO.

Do you use Marti Michell templates?  Do you love them as much as I do?

Can You Hear Me Now?

 Way back in 2020, when everyone was first sent into isolation, Facebook started using AI to screen for "violations of community standards."  My blog was deemed scary and inappropriate for Facebook and I was no longer able to share my content.

A while back, can't remember how long ago, I received a message stating that my blog was now safe for Facebook.

Last week, my father-in-law asked, "Jeff used to send me stuff you wrote about what you were doing and what you were making.  How can I find that?"

So.... I'm gonna try this blogging thing again.

Please leave a comment on Facebook if this shows up.