I started this month off with a list of 8 items on my to-do-list. I’m happy to say all but 2 have been completed, and most of the tops ended up quilted and bound. Additionally, there are 2 quilts not on the list which were completed.
Will September be as productive? Who knows. I’m taking a class offered by my guild next week, the following week is our retreat, and I’m taking 2 different on-line longarm classes. There are at least 3 customer quilts in the queue.
Today, instead of finishing the quilt for the longarm class I’m taking, my skirt, or even making progress on Riviana, I decided to visit a couple of quilt shops – not that I needed anything. In the back of my mind I was looking for a pretty red tone-on-tone and a good black tone-on-tone. I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I did find these two pieces.
The top piece is an Amanda Murphy panel. It’s designed for ruler work.
The second piece is Echo Braid. I’m not sure how it’s supposed to be used, but my thought was to use it to practice long arm quilting.
Both pieces will go into my stash until later.
I’ve been on a roll and didn’t let this quilt remain unbound very long. It’s hard to see, but I did a flange binding. Not so much for the ‘pop of color’, but for the ease of stitching it down! This quilt was made for 2 purposes. #1 it is the first block in the 2014 Moda Modern Block quilt and I wanted to make sure I understood the cutting instructions (spoiler, I managed to botch it twice before I did flip and fold flying geese) and 2 I wanted to practice ruler and free motion quilting. As it turns out all of this is ruler work.
The circles were created with the HQ Swiss Cheese and Big HQ Swiss Cheese rulers. The piano keys and grid were created with the Piece N Quilt 4-N-1. The wavy concentric lines in the star points was created with the In Cahoots Wave 13 tool and the ‘diamond’ shapes in the setting triangles were made with Angel Walters “Dot”. I do not remember what I used to create the quilting in the center of the quilt.
I love the crinkle after washing. Looks like I could have used more quilting in the border — maybe beadboard? And it appears I forgot to stitch around the center square. Oh well.
This quilt was started back in MARCH. Looking at my notes I started it 3/2/26, finished the top on 3/8/26 and quilted it the same day. It’s been waiting to be bound since then. I am happy to say it’s quilted, bound and labeled as of today, 8/15/26. The pattern is on the Bonnie Hunters Free Patterns Tab.
I found a length of vintage fabric to use for the backing.
Yesterday I quilted Quartered Square. It still needs the binding, but I need to finally get my Scrappy Bargello bound. I just need to finish pressing the binding then put it on the quilt.
But Wednesday I got distracted. I ordered a set of long-arm rulers from Piece N Quilt for a Stitch-Along starting September 7th and need to get the top ready. It’s simple enough, mostly 9-patches.
While I was on the site, I found a class on 99 Strip designs and pulled fabric for a couple of small quilts. 
I was so ready to start cutting into these fabrics when I remembered my August UFO list. After all it is the middle of August.
After staring at the list wondering what Shenandoah was, I cut into my panel for the quilt.
I don’t recommend square panels. 
Leaving off the outer panel strip and lengthening the strips sewn to the center cut I think will fix the proportions.
As for the Stitch Along quilts, I’ll put them back in my pile to work, but after I get a couple more things off my list.
The good news is that I have finally sewn the binding together for Scrappy Bargello. It still needs to be pressed, but is at least in one piece. Most people would go ahead and finish the quilt. I mean it has been waiting for the binding for 5 months. Is that what I did? No.
Yesterday I delivered the two shop samples and I got to pick 4 yards of fabric to replace what I used on the back of Southern Charm from my stash. Quartered Square by Missouri Star Quilts has been on my list since that trip to Kansas City when we had to buy luggage to get all the fabric home. In fact Ruby made her quilt and we quilted it yesterday. Anyway, I picked fabrics to make the quilt. I simply couldn’t resist cutting into it last night. All my blocks are cut and I have the first 4 made. This is really a quick quilt to make I got to this point in less than 2 hours. I’ve not sewn the row yet.
This past couple of weeks I’ve been working on a shop samples. Up first is Southern Charm. This is from a Riley Black fabric bundle. 6 yards of fabric plus the panel. No pattern, just me trying to figure out how to put all 6 fabrics in the quilt. Ultimately the the 6th fabric ended up as the binding.
We forgot the backing and was told to pick something from my stash. I found this vintage fabric in my stash. It’s dogwood on peach- on theme and color. i used the E2E Magnolia from Urban Elementz to quilt it. The thread is Yellow Whisper.
This is also from Riley Blake. It’s Crayola Colorful Creatures. This is a shop sample panel for the kit. Just load and quilt. I been talking about needing to up my free-motion/ruler work game and was given this a top to practice on. Now that I’m looking at the picture, I see that I should have outlined the path. Oh well. Quilted with Bone thread, I used leftover backing fabric for the binding.
Both of these quilts are on my August UFO list. Now to finish making the binding for Scrappy Bargello.
April was busy. I have not kept up on my handwork this month, nor did I do my BOM Saturday. After I finished the pillowcases, I started in on this table runner and quilt. They have since been bound in the same fabric as the sashing, but I didn’t get a picture of them before they left my possession.
Around the same time, I worked with a local landscaper and she put in a flower bed along my north fence line. I can’t wait for it to fill in.
Then it was off to AQS Paducah.
My friend and I stayed in Metropolis, so naturally I have the obligatory photo of Superman and Lois Lane.
The second night we were there, we were woke up with meowing outside the door. This is Yankee. We took her to the walk-in Vet where she was scanned for a microchip -does not have one – and given a rabbies shot and ointment for her eye. She was given a clean bill of heath with an estimated age of 6 months. The front desk said she had been hanging around the motel and we were welcome to take her with us. She was well behaved in the room and on the ride home. She will live with my friend’s neighbor.
After the vet visit it was off to Hancock’s of Paducah where I walked in found the Steampunk Menagerie fabric I tried to order last fall. 1 yard in and out in less than 10 minutes.
At the show I found this gorgeous panel and companion piece at the Motherland Fabrics booth.
Not fabric, but quilting decor – I bought this garden stake of fused glass from Kos Artistic Design.
This years Brandon Quilters President’s Challenge is pillowcases for the Children’s Safe Center. Years ago I prepped 5 cases which never got made, so I finally made those, then dug through my stash to see what else I could find. I thought I was done, then I picked up a quilt to bind and found one more.
I cut the body of the case 27″, the cuff 9″ and the accent band 1 1/2″. Personally I don’t like the accent to be loose, so I stitch it to the cuff, then do the burrito roll to stitch it to the case. Once the cuff is pressed, the case is folded in half wrong sides together and trimmed to 21″ wide. I sew 1/4″ down the length of the case, press the seam and turn the case inside out and stitch the seam, encasing it. My needle position was at 1.0 from the right.
The case is then turned right side out and pressed. I then trim the length of the case to 31″, repeating the steps above to encase the seam.
I did not get far on this month’s goal. Paper piecing is a struggle for me. Recently I watch a video on how to use freezer paper to paper piece and thought I’d give it a try. I still struggled and temporarily gave up as I needed to get the shop sample bound. Alas, I didn’t think to take a picture of it bound before I delivered it.
Of course while I was at the shop, I made a few purchases. My goal was to find either a red or blue for the border of Chain of Stars. I also picked up a few pieces which just came in the shop. I left the shop with 2 shop samples to piece and patterns to write, so Chain of Stars falls to the back of the line along with nearly everything else on my plate but the pillowcases.
