Roberta's On A Roll

It's International Quilting Day. Over the past two years, Roberta, my friend who does my longarm quilting, has gone above and beyond, stitching seemingly everything in sight as her clients turned to quilting to cope with the lockdowns and stresses of the pandemic. Believe it or not, she has also managed to squeeze in a fair bit of her own work, so it seems like the perfect time to showcase more of it. 

In addition to the two Snowdays quilts that I shared with you last time, since the holidays she has been finishing projects like they are going out of style!

This hanging is Back To School from APQ. Designed by Sheryl Johnson and Linda Sawrey of Temecula Quilt Co., it's one that I've also had my eye on for a few years now. I just love it.

That combination of scrappy, houses and baskets is just so hard to beat. I think that it would make a beautiful full-sized quilt as well. Her little victory on this one was eeking out just enough fabric for the binding that she found in her stash.

She's also finished up this spectacular Ohio Star. The colours are so rich.

All of those gorgeous fabrics combine beautifully to make these stars shine.

This is another one where she got lucky with finding enough for her binding in her stash.

Miss Ivy seems to have picked this next one as a favourite for napping on. It's Eventide from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. Lots more stars but in a very different palette. Beautiful. I am always amazed at how similar our taste is.

And then there's this runner that now graces her entranceway (definitely as star theme going on, wouldn't you say?).

She is so busy quilting for others that I have absolutely no idea how she finds the time to do even half of this, but I love getting to see all of her creations. One thing is for certain, Miss Ivy is overwhelmed by all of the productivity and needs to nap every now and then to keep her energy up 😉. Happy International Quilting Day!....M

Snowdays

We changed the clocks last night which, while we lost an hour of sleep, means the evenings will continue to get longer and longer as the days begin to get milder. That said, both last weekend and this the weatherman had storm warnings for us, so we're not out of the winter woods quite yet. That's okay by Anne because she is happily enjoying her beautiful flannel Snowdays quilt.

The pattern is really called Home Quarter but she's named it after the fabric line that she used.

Roberta quilted it with a pattern called Sea of Snowflakes, which seems more than appropriate - it reminds her of a giant snow globe.

The candy cane binding is lots of fun - just finishes it of so nicely.

And isn't the red backing gorgeous with those quilted snowflakes rolling through the stylized holly?

Roberta also made this quilt, not once, but twice - first with a red border...

And then with a black border. 

She mixed in some of Bonnie’s Sullivan’s Holiday Warmth Woolies so it has a slightly different look than Anne's, but, as she says, it's still over the top Christmassy. 

Roberta prefers the one with the black border (I think that I do too), but that being said, she finished the red one first and it was so nice to have at Christmas. She echoes Anne's comments that these quilts weigh a ton and certainly keep you tucked in at night – no falling out of bed with one of these on top!

So fun to see the same pattern done up in three slightly different ways, each with their own personality....M

Halo Has A Growth Spurt

Every now and then a little more gets added to Halo. 

Last week it was time to fill in the few remaining blanks that were dotted throughout (they are just placed for positioning, not sewn in)...

Much better.

Then, when all the blanks were filled in, I started second guessing myself and wasn't convinced that when all of the seams in the next step were sewn that it was going to be large enough. I don't want a border on this one, which meant adding another row along the side and the bottom. Yup, 15 more blocks. Sigh.

So I madly attacked pieces that I had cut for the 'T' centres (square-in-a square blocks with the four curved pieces to rest the pie-shaped pieces into) and they are now finished. (I love those scrappy square-in-a square blocks - I'm pretty sure they will show up in another quilt...)

Now I'm back to making more pie-shaped segments, which is going to slow me down again. I've got to cut lots more pieces and the curves don't come together nearly as quickly as straight seams. Oh well. 

By the way, congratulations to Joceyln who won the Quilt Design book giveaway! And thanks again to Ann for donating it. I hope you enjoy it and get lots of use out of it Jocelyn....M

A Pleasant Surprise

Part of the reason that it's taken so long for me to start sewing the larger diamond blocks for Minnie together is that I found the prospect a little daunting. I knew that I had to have my wits about me to get it started, but now that I have, I am very pleasantly surprised at how well it is coming along.

The diamonds are being joined in diagonal rows and they are all now assembled except for the last two, each of which needed another large diamond sewn together before the blocks could be joined. 

I tried using existing setting triangles as the starting point for the blocks that I needed to make but found that I had really picked through my hexies and in many cases don't have any more of the fabrics that I was looking for, so I used bits and pieces for one and am sewing the second one from scratch. I'll start sewing the outer border on them today as I send out prayers to the Ukrainians as they suffer through this totally unwarranted and brutal war waged by Russia. They are proving to be strong and resilient and will need all of the support that we can give in the coming weeks and months.

And a quick reminder that if you'd like to get in on the Quilt Design Book giveaway you have until end of day tomorrow, February 28, to leave me a comment....M