McCall’s Magazine Winner

The lucky winners of the May/June 2020 issue of McCall’s Quilting magazine are Lyna W. and  Connie G.! I have emailed these ladies requesting their USPS addresses.

Thanks everyone for your compliments on my “Star Baker” table runner and also for your suggestions for other colors and fabrics for the project. It really is fun to envision the runner in other fabric combinations. You suggested patriotic, Halloween, blue and silver, pastels, as well as purple and green.

If you didn’t win this time and your newsstand is sold out of the issue, you can purchase a digital copy from Quilting Daily. Click here to link to the online shop.

“Unity” QAL by Bonnie K. Hunter

My friend, Bonnie Hunter, is designing a medallion “mystery” quilt to keep us focused and energized as we sew in place during the COVID-19 quarantine. As always, Bonnie delves into her stash, including many fabrics organized by color families in this quilt.

Yesterday Bonnie gave yardage estimates, and today she gave instructions for the center block. Click here to link to today’s post of quiltville.blogspot.com.

Bonnie plans to give instructions for successive borders each Monday. Will you be quilting along?

“Irish Chain” Finished!

Here we are on Friday the 27th, heralding the final weekend of March. Will you have some time to sew/quilt? Will you be working on your “Churn Dash” blocks for the “Sisters” BOM QAL? (If you are new to the blog, click on the “SISTERS BOM QAL” tab to see the first three blocks in our 2020 quilt along. All the participants attest that the blocks are not too difficult, so you can easily catch up and quilt along with us.)

I’m happy to report that my UFO, “Irish Chain,” is finished. Since I intend to gift it to a senior at the VA Hospital or a local nursing home, I thought about quilting a meandering motif all over. This would be a simple and quick design. But then I took a closer look at the floral and vine print in the “Nine Patches” and thought of free- handing heart-shaped leaves and loops. I really do enjoy quilting this design; I can quilt it at an even speed and don’t even engage the stitch regulator feature for my longarm! I used a medium dark gray thread which blends nicely in the darker fabrics and adds a bit of texture to the light gray background squares.

I bound the quilt with the same red print as the setting triangles (an older VIP Cranston print transferred from my mother-in-law’s stash to mine; thanks, Cynthia!). Tip:  If you apply both steps of binding by machine as I did on this quilt, make sure the bobbin thread matches the color of the border on the front of the quilt. For example, my border triangles are dark red, so I used dark red thread in the bobbin as I applied the binding first to the back of the quilt. By doing this, the machine stitches of Step #1 won’t show glaringly if I fail to completely cover them when I fold over the binding to the front of the quilt for Step #2 stitching.

While sewing this quilt, I found myself humming and singing a favorite hymn, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.” We surely can rely on His help during this COVID-19 pandemic. How comforting to know He has the whole world in His hands! Click here to listen to this hymn via You Tube.

A Few Current Projects

I think I have too many proverbial irons in the fire, too many projects going at once. I need to finish up a few . . . before I am tempted to start a few more.

First up is my “Irish Chain.” It’s going together quickly since all the Nine Patches were made months ago. Why did I think it would take so long to finish this project? Why did I procrastinate? I am putting the quilt together in two halves, working from the corners to the center. Once both halves are finished, I’ll join them with the final long seam.

I started Edyta Sitar’s mystery quilt four days ago (Laundry Basket Quilts). So far I’m keeping up with the clues, making 4 or 8 blocks per day. The “Ruby” line by Maywood Studio is making such an elegant quilt.

On the design wall are my blocks of “Hello Spring,” the block of the month program I’m facilitating for Sew There! quilt shop in Angier, NC. I have about 10 more simple blocks to make before putting the quilt together.

What projects are you working on while sequestered at home?

“Star Baker” Published!

Guess what showed up in my mailbox this past week?! The May/June 2020 issue of McCall’s Quilting is hot off the press, and I’m excited to say that my table runner design is included.

I made the runner with a charm pack of 5″ squares of “We Whisk You a Merry Christmas” and some solid black yardage. The editors suggest that spring is the perfect time to steal a march on holiday sewing for your own decorating or gift giving. You might even have a charm pack or two lurking in your sewing room just begging to be used. “Star Baker” is a quick and easy project; I know you will love the results!

Here’s Karen showing her runner in yellow and blue florals – so popular just now.

Quilting Daily has graciously provided me with two copies to give away to blog readers. If you would like to be entered in the drawing, leave a comment below stating what colors or theme you envision making “Star Baker” with. The drawing will be March 30.

Edyta Sitar’s 2020 Mystery

Are you familiar with quilter Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts? She is a personable and encouraging teacher as well as a designer of beautiful quilts and  fabrics. Edyta designs for Andover Fabrics, and in honor of their 100th year anniversary has designed a mystery quilt of 100  6 1/2″ blocks. Edyta is offering the instructions free on her blog for 15 days, beginning today, March 20.  As I understand it, each day we’ll make 4 or 8 of the same block design. I plan to participate as it will be something to look forward to during this time of social distancing.

Click here to see the instructions for Block #1. I’ll make most of my blocks with “Ruby,” a new line from Maywood Studio. Click here to see swatches of all the fabrics in this gorgeous line.

Are you quilting along with Edyta?

Sisters Sewing “Sisters”

Meet Shirley, Elaine and Lois. They are sisters of the “baby boomer” generation. They live in Virginia, North Carolina, and Arizona, and all three enjoy making quilts.

 

Interestingly, I met Elaine and Lois at the North Carolina Quilt Symposium several years ago. Symposium, no longer extant, was a yearly state-wide retreat for quilters; it attracted local and national teachers. I offered courses in traditional quilt making, and that’s what they were interested in learning. It was so much fun to meet and interact with them!

According to Shirley, the Arizona sister, Elaine and Lois roped her into the “Sister” block of the month quilt along. “We text off and on all day and share pictures of our projects.  Makes me feel just a little bit closer!”

Thanks, ladies, for sharing pictures of your March “Churn Dash” blocks. I love seeing the different fabric palettes you’ve selected; your quilts will be beautiful!

Leave a comment if your sister is sewing “Sisters” with you.