School houses and Klosjes

I'm back to working on this project .... just love how this is shaping up. Just 8 more small blocks to go and the houses can get made up. The small blocks are 6" x 6" finished and the house block is 12" x 12" finished. This quilt will hang on our dining room wall .... but that won't be for a while yet. Mind you, some of my tops get hung up throughout the year. Hand quilting takes a while and I do like to enjoy my tops instead of them being stored away in a battered old trunk. There are only 10 more border blocks to go on my Klosjes quilt. I am so eager to get this done. My label is being worked on and can be added to the back when the quilt is done. Also, fabric has been pulled for a sleeve (my quilts get hung on the wall as well as being used on beds) for sewing onto the back. Soon, my friends, soon you will see this quilt finished. Yesterday, 6 blocks got quilted and today my hands are sore .... so, today I will take a break and work on something else. Probably some more blocks for my school house.

Have a great day!

Letter Q

Did you know that the word quilt starts with the letter 'Q'? Well, my 5 yr. old great nephew knew.

This is the e-mail that I received this morning:

Hi Aunt Rose,

Just had to write to tell you that Riley was "Special Helper" at school yesterday, meaning he got to bring in a show and tell item. The letter of the week was Q so what he brought in needed to start with Q. When I said that we would have to think hard about what he could show, he ran into his room and came out with the quilt you made for him and said "it's not hard, I'll bring in my special blanket quilt!"

It is an I Spy quilt and the fabrics were collected over a few years. For this quilt, there is cotton and poly/cotton fabrics. Whatever caught my eye, got bought.

Have a great weekend!

This is the quilt .....

.... that changed my quilting style and fabric purchasing habit. Before, I used to buy a whole yard of bright, bold fabrics but now settle for charm packs, FQ's and 1/4 of a yard of fabric of medium value fabrics. Only large amounts of fabric is purchased for borders, backing and backgrounds.

This quilt changed me into a scrappy quilter. Leftovers from the above quilt were used to make my Dresden Plate and ....

.... my soon-to-be-finished Klosjes (spool) quilt. There are only 30 more blocks to hand quilt! Can you hear my feet warming up for the happy dance?

A pack of FQ's got me started on this hexagon quilt. This top is all marked up and I'm hoping to set this up on my floor frame. This quilt will have just simple straight lines (curved lines are hard for me to manoever on a floor frame) and that would be easy for me to handle. With our hot weather coming, there is no way that I can quilt with this on my lap.

From my grand stash, this basket top got made and it is stored away for hand quilting (maybe this fall).

Can you see where the same fabrics and values are being used over and over but each quilt looks so different?

Works in progress:

My diamond hexagon star

and leftovers from my hexagon quilt ...

... the same fabrics used in my Just Blessings top (which has been shelved for now) ...

.. and the start of a new scrappy quilt.

Ummm, I wonder how many more quilts will get made from this stash. As I am cutting out pieces, small pieces of scraps are starting to emerge instead of a large chunk of fabric. That is a good sign that part of my stash is starting to diminish in size and that, my friends, is a good thing!

This journey has been delightful and my style has finally been found. Oh yes, I love scrappy!

To change the look of future quilts, waiting in the wings is a shelf unit full of 1800's repro fabrics and I have already started 2 projects using those fabrics. They will be scrappy, too!

This post is my entry to Amy's Spring Bloggers' Quilt Festival and I look forward to browsing through all the other entries. Hop on over to Amy's blog and take a peek and enjoy the stories and quilts.

Have a great day!

Only 41 blocks ....

..... left to hand quilt and 2 sides to bind .... and this quilt will be done! To help speed up my finishing, binding has been made and sewn onto 2 sides. This way, once all the blocks are done, I just need to add binding to 2 more sides, add a label, wash and dry and then you can see the finished quilt. Warmer weather is starting to come our way and that will end any hand quilting for the summer ...... so I'm making a final push to get this klosjes (spool) quilt done. Oh my, I'm getting excited!!!

Have a great day!