Mercy Border Quilt Finished

Our first year of PQA, we did our Mercy Border Quilt project.

Basically, each person made a center square and then we swapped each month and a new border was added to it.  Our quilt was growing at the "mercy" of whoever was putting on the next border.

It was actually very fun and we saw some amazing borders.

Well, this is mine.  I started with a Circle of Geese block in the center and this is how it grew.

 I wanted it to grow into a rectangle, so half way through the year I added the two mini Circle of Geese strips to each end, and it continued to grow...

 It ended up being just barely smaller than a king size!!

Much bigger than I intended but it has a great drape on the sides of my bed.

I love the colors too.

What a fun project that was!!

Black, White and Blue All Over

It doesn't happen nearly often enough.

I have finished a quilt!!

 This one started as the block swap we did last year in PQA.

I chose the block pattern and the color scheme.

Then, each month someone else in the group would make me a block to add to the collection.

That gave me 12 and then I made 12 more so I could have a bigger quilt.

 It ended up measuring about 68 x 92.

Big enough for one of the kid's beds.

I'm a kinda sucker for secondary patterns and this one has some great patterns.

I quilted it myself with the new walking foot my husband gave me for my birthday.

(He's so great about knowing exactly what a girl needs - could have something to do with the running wish list I have....)  ;)

Happy Stitching!

Karyli

Made it in March

Here we go with March's accomplishments. 

These are the last three Mosaic blocks to make a collection of twelve.  Next month I hope to put them all together into some kind of quilt top.  They are all so different it's hard to see how they might come together in harmony... or maybe chaos. 

This is the last of the Sailboats that I had to do to make up for those missed in the swap last year.  Now I have 12 of these beauties.  They will not be made into a top yet though.  I am going to use the blocks from this years BSA collection to add to it so you'll have to wait until next year to see it all together.

I did two more of the 4-Patch Ladders to add to my PQA collection too.

This is the block I made for our PQA swap.  This one is for Shannon and although it looks simple, it is going to make an amazing quilt. She laid out what she has collected so far for us at our last meeting and all the oranges and reds make some pretty neat interlocking squares.

This one I made for Linda B. from BSA.  She asked for a log cabin with blue, purple and green on one side and creams on the other.  I had some fun with it.  I hope she liked it.

This is the block that Linda B. sent me.  This is one of the new collection that will go with the sailboats. I'm excited for them.  It looks great, huh.

 For the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap, I made these for Kris Y.  She asked for dots.  I had fun getting to know her a bit.  She lives in that same town where I was born.  Kinda neat to meet people from all over the world.  Makes the world seem a bit smaller.

Unfortunately, I didn't receive any flowers from my sending-partner in March so I have don't have those to share but I did make some of my own color preference for myself.  One is already to be added to my growing garden.

 Ta Da!

Making progress a little bit at a time! 

February's Work

I know I'm quite behind but, oh, the computer has given me fits....

So here is my February accomplishments:

This one I'm calling Botany and I got ten more of those wonky diamonds done.

On the strip quilt, I've added 10 more blocks and 12 more little nine-patches.

 Four pretty flamingos join the animal collection.

 These are so fun, huh!  I just painted the legs like I did for the lions last time.

 This one I'm calling the India quilt.  So far, I'm just drawing sketches and getting some ideas together.  Stay tuned to see this elephant in color later.

 These are Mosaic blocks.  I started them in a swap about a year ago and then the swap was disbanded so I'm going ahead with them on my own.

 Here is one more sailboat to add to that collection.  This one was fun because it is my first wonky boat and I made the little yellow flag 3D so it stands out from the block.

Next, on to my swaps:

For PQA, I made for myself two of the 4-patch ladders for my own quilt to go with those that the other ladies are making for me.

 And this block I made for Nicole.  She is going to have a beautiful quilt.

For Block Swap Adventure:

I made this one for Helen K. in England.  She wanted a star in yellow and gray.

And this is the one she made and sent to me. (Crazy that we made the same block.)  This one will go with the sailboats.  I think it's great!

For the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap:

I made these for Joke R. in the Netherlands.

 And these I received from Lori J. in Tennessee.  My black-eyed-susan quilt is really growing.  I'll have to share my progress on it later.

Phew!  Is that enough?  How good it feels to really get some things done - a little on lots of different projects.

A Great Summer Finish

I've got a great summer finish!!

I'm so excited to finally have this one done.

I started working on those stars about 10 years ago.  That was back when I first started quilting.

I guess this was one of my first big, solo projects.

 I just worked on it a little at a time... and 10 years later...

Taa Daa!  Here she is!!

I really like the black for the sashing and borders.  It gives it a bright, starry night look.

Maybe a little hint of Amish too... 

 The back is pretty basic.  I  just put three big black stars there.  They look pretty sweet though.

 It was quilted by a local long-arm quilter.  She did a great job.  I held the border up to the sun so you can see the star pattern around the edges.

 Look!  It glows!

 The first quilting technique I ever learned was paper piecing and it came pretty easily to me.  At that time, I didn't know how to make a square with any sort of design on it except by paper piecing so that's how I made each of these stars.

I designed the pattern and traced each one and then sewed them all.  They are 8 in. squares and there are 72 of those little gems.

Here are some of my favorites:

 It looks great on my bed, doesn't it!

(I built my bed too.)

Someday, I'll get some pillow covers made to go with it.  Any suggestions on pillow cover designs??

Anyway, I'm loving my new quilt. 

I give so many quilts away, it's nice to have something for me.

Here I am

Since my last post - remember... busy! busy! busy!... - well, life has only added to it.  Now I could add a few more BUSY's to the list...

I turn to my sewing machine whenever I need just a touch of solace, peace, respite, mental regrouping, me-time... whatever I wish to call it at the time.

Soooo...

I made some journal covers again this year for the kids to give to their teachers at the end of the school year.  They really have had wonderful teachers.  I couldn't thank them enough.

I used gray linen on them and I really liked the way it looks.

I used the tutorial for these on Bloom.  (Love her blog.)

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Also, this is the blocks swapped in the Block Swap Adventure in May:

This is the one I received from Debra in Australia.

 She wanted a wonky house or tree.  I decided to put them together into one block.  I've never done wonky before and it was a challenge.  I'm used to following a pattern and having nice, straight lines... whoo wee.. it made me sweat!  I think it turned out cute though.  I hope she liked it.

Happy Stitching!

Flowers and I Spy Swap

 I was so excited when I got a nice chubby envelope in the mail the other day.

It was from Sandra who hosted the I Spy Swap.

Yippee!!

140 unique squares, all with pictures on them for making an I Spy quilt.  They are all 5" squares so it should be a nice sized quilt.  I think the kiddos will love it.

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Now for some hexagon flowers...

I love the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap!  We get to make fun flowers to share and we receive even better ones from others.

These are the ones I've made for Anne-Mette in Denmark.

 And these are the ones I just received from her.

Aren't they perfect for my Black-Eyed Susan garden.

There is also lots more hexagon flower work to be seen at One Flower Wednesday.