First Finish Of 2019

I just finished this quilt, named "Growing Up Odd". The free tutorial can be found HERE on the Wedding Dress Blue blog. I used 2 1/2" squares instead of 2" squares as it states in the pattern. It is quilted all over with roses and leaves. I was getting tired of stitching all those roses, but I slogged on until it was done. My five-gallon bucket of 2 1/2" squares didn't get depleted at all in the making of this quilt. It seems like nothing gets used up when you make a scrap quilt, the fabric must breed and multiply.

Japanese X And Plus Blocks

For the past few days, I've been working on these Japanese X and Plus blocks. the free pattern can be found HERE The blocks are fun to make, I was digging around in my stash for bright prints, stripes, black and whites and grey background fabrics. I might have to start repeating greys and stripes in future blocks, I don't have a huge variety of them. The last thing I need is to start a new quilt, but I couldn't resist the temptation.

Christmas Table Runner By Linda H.

Linda made this Christmas Peony table runner for a friend who was delighted to receive it. There is also a photo of the gingerbread pigs that Linda created. Too bad I live so far away, I would have been gobbling these down!

Throwback Thursday; Quilt From 1987

This was one of the first quilts that I made. I joined the quilting guild in 1987. Lucky for me, they were teaching a class on making a sampler quilt. I learned applique, curved piecing and hand quilting, which are all included in this project. Cotton fabric was scarce at that time. Fanny's Fabrics in Calgary only had 2 bolts to choose from, everything else was polycotton. The fabric store in my town had two bolts of 100% cotton prints, plus a plain white. I had to make the quilt from the few fabrics that I could find. The quilt was displayed on my living room wall for several years. That ended up being a mistake because the sun coming through the window faded the fabric. I tried to doctor up the red fabric by sponge painting some fabric paint on it, which didn't help very much. I dug the quilt out yesterday and contemplated throwing it in the garbage because it's all bleached out and doesn't look nice. My sister, Linda H gave me the idea to use it as a dust cover to protect a big stack of other quilts. I think I'll do that. :)

Making A Knitted Blanket

I've been working on this knitted blanket since December. I'll keep adding more squares until it fits the top of a single bed. A person in one of the Facebook scrap quilting groups showed me how to make it. The squares are knit together, that's what I liked about it. Start with 10 stitches, knit 20 rows. Add the next colour, pick up 10 stitches along the side, knit 20 rows. When joining to a block, pick up a stitch, then knit 2 together the next row so there are always 10 stitches on the needle. When I first saw the instructions, I was confused until I picked up the needles and started, then it made sense. It's kind of ugly, but charming at the same time, haha! Originally, I was going to use scrap yarn that I had around here, but I didn't like the texture of it. I bought several balls of Paton's Canadiana, which is soft and lovely. Some of the yukky yarn is in the blanket, but I can't pick it out now.

Product Review; Bloc_Loc Ruler

I bought a few Bloc_Loc rulers and tried out one of them. The pieces were purposely cut 1/8" bigger. The channel on the back of the ruler held the seam steady while I was trimming my blocks. When I sewed the units together, everything fit together accurately. They are extremely costly when purchasing with our poor Canadian dollars, though. I bought the 3 1/2" square and a 2 1/2" X 4 1/2" Flying Geese ruler. They would be the most common sizes that I would use. I don't have any affiliation with the company, I just thought a product review now and then would be something to add and might be helpful to someone.

Linda H's New Project

Linda modified a block pattern that she found in a book. The outer section had to fit the crazy pieced centre, so she did some calculating to get it to work. The end result makes an interesting block.