Four Quilt Kits and a Sew Along

I already showed you this kit, an oldie from Pat Sloan. Turns out one of my friends from her forum also has this kit - still! Maybe she'll get it out and quilt with me:)

 I was also gifted this beautiful primitive looking kit - with authentic Thimbleberries fabric. I've never really hunted down this fabric, but can see why I have friends who hoarded it! There is hand stitching of the willow trees and some interesting details. They also precut the fabric to make the centre block in a different way than I've tried before. This one is not on my immediate to do list, but I will do it!

The THIRD kit I was gifted {yes, I'm feeling really grateful!} is for this Christmas quilt with gorgeous Santas and some great traditional pieced blocks. I had more photos of the blocks but my camera and I had a fight and it won (and if I don't post this now I might never get around to it!) Trust me when I say I had to resist starting this one too! As soon as I finish one of my OTHER Christmas quilts, this one will get started;)

The fourth kit I got on vacation I bought. My son actually picked it out - for him! Yes, it's a train quilt! Of course. It's in all solids too. He still loves trains and quilts and it was his birthday so - this will be a present for him. Not sure it will be done for this Christmas with all the other things I'm into right now - maybe for his next birthday!

I got the train kit at a beautiful quilt shop in Guelph, Greenwood Quiltery, which is also participating in the Row by Row Experience. This is my first license plate and kit from this 'experience'. My local shop is also participating but I haven't got there yet!


HARVEST JOY SAMPLER SEW ALONG

So, when I came home from vacation I started making pumpkin blocks! I've been thinking for awhile about making my own quilt out of blocks that I've designed. I had a pile of odd shaped fabric leftovers from my Halloween 1904 quilt and ideas about using them to make a bag. But plans changed when my sister gifted me a bit of fabric too and I was able to make these blocks. I started pulling from my stash to see what would go with them and WOW! I think I have enough to make a quilt and then some!!

My plan right now is very much in the planning stages. I'm thinking about a 'choose your own adventure' kind of plan where I present a block and possibilities and you choose what you're going to do with them.

Right now I know I can make a quilt that is 90 inches wide before borders(I'm not even sure it will have borders!)  - so a queen size quilt - and everything smaller than that too!


Bea mentioned liking a wallhanging - and I have ideas for that already (that was my first impulse to make a wallhanging, but it seems like I've done that a lot lately!)

Sara mentioned a twin quilt - right now my measurements get me to 54 inches wide before borders so a twin quilt is a definitely possibility!

Basically I'm inviting you to sew along with my process. 

I don't know what the finished quilt will look like - exactly- yet. 

It's not a mystery because I'm not giving measurements of what fabrics to have ready. I am starting scrappy and literally using what I have. I will probably figure out yardage so you could make a quilt out of only a few fabrics, but not until later.

So! Feel free to join me by 

a) diving right in and making

b) watching and waiting to make

c) watching and wondering what will she come up with next {grin}

d) watching for other posts in between

What do you think? Will you join me?
Let me know in the comments:)



Sarah V

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Unpacked and Quilting

I had a wonderful vacation, visiting family, attending the Hillside Music Festival in Guelph, and visiting quilt shops!

Yes, I really did bring home a bag AND a box full of quilting goodies! Somehow we managed to fit it in the vehicle - thanks to the woman in the quilt shop who shared the story of shoving dirty clothes in her ski bags to make room for fabric! No skis here, but I did do some magical packing to make everything else fit too!

I was gifted three quilt kits and purchased another one. More kits than I've ever owned before! I won't inundate you with pics of everything all at one go, but I will share some of what I've been working on since I got home.

This kit is a Pat Sloan kit from 2006 - Friends on Chelsea Lane. If you've read my blog for any longer than a week you'll know that I love Pat's passion and quilting style;)

This kit is organized by month. All the way home I was thinking about when I would start. September? January? Then when I took it out and starting taking pictures I decided to start right  NOW! So, this is July's block - it just needs the word "BLOOM" stitched on to be finished. 

I did buy some of Pat's new line, "The Sweet Life" with no particular plans. I did make sure I bought some of her more solid looking prints for backgrounds. I never seem to buy background fabrics!

My sister gifted me with a bunch of quilting fabric and some books and this heavier weight material was in the box too. I did buy some fabric on my trip for curtains - this window gets the late day sun and makes our kitchen too hot to work in. These curtains work perfectly to block the heat and have added some "funky"to our mostly white space.

I've also started in on August's Vacation Time blocks - there's a whole bunch of them this month as they will make up a border. I'll have pictures when I have more done! I'm using them as a leader and ender project for now.

I finally got back to my Halloween 1904 block that was waiting for me when I got home. I got it quilted tonight and attached to its neighbour. Now it will be ready for stitching on the front porch -even if I have to wear a sweater as the temperature has dropped here. {Grateful to be far from the tornado that touched down in southern Ontario!}

AND I've been making some Pumpkin Patch blocks! 5 to be exact:) 

I'm going to make my own Row by Row fall quilt.
I'm thinking about sharing all my steps here - like a sew along so you can make one too!

Are you interested?
Let me know in the comments. Right now I'm wondering how BIG of a quilt you would like to make:
Wall quilt?
Lap?
Twin?
Queen?

I'll share more about it in a couple of days. 

With Joy,

Sarah V

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