4th of July Fireworks Blog Hop - Day 2

Welcome back - I hope you are enjoying the blog hop so far.  Monique offered to design a little pattern that utilizes her super cool Fit to be Quarter ruler, a pattern that I could make and also give away on my blog.   If you would like Monique's pattern, click this link Download 4thofjulyflag.

I think I may have squealed when I saw how cute this flag is.  I dove right into my Prairie Paisley stash to make this flag.  Although it's too late for Independence Day, wouldn't it be perfect to show your patriotic pride year round?  Or as my friend Julie suggested, they would make cute placemats.

Monique has given me one Fit to be Quarter ruler to give away during this blog hop.   I'm going to go one step further and give my winner a kit to make this flag quilt.   The same fabrics I used to make mine - backing and binding included.  Everything you need except the batting and thread.  Please comment before midnight on Friday, July 8 and I will draw a winner on Saturday morning, July 9.

I'd also like to share an easy and delicious summer recipe with you.

Lemony Icebox Pie

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature


• 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk


• ½ cup fresh lemon juice


• 3 tbsp lemon zest


• 1 tsp vanilla extract


• Graham cracker pie crust

• Combine the cream cheese, condensed milk, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla in a large bowl.


• 
  

  Mix with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Pour into pie crust. Refrigerate overnight.

  
  

Also, be sure to stop by Sherri's blog today, Little Bits of This and That to see what she has to share with you.

4th of July Fireworks Blog Hop!

Monique at Open Gate Quilts asked me to participate in a 4th of July blog hop.  Please stop by the featured blogs each day this week to see what everyone has to share with you.  Monique is the featured blogger today and please come back to see what I have to share with you tomorrow.

Monday, July 4
Open Gate - Monique, http://opengatequilts.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, July 5
Stashmaster -  Lisa - http://stashmaster.typepad.com/
This & That - Sherri, http://thisandthatpatterns.typepad.com/

Wednesday, July 6
Sweetwater - Lisa, http://www.sweetwater.typepad.com/

Thursday, July 7
Quilter's Window - Denise, http://www.quilterswindow.com/blog/
A Quilting Life - Sherri, http://www.aquiltinglife.com/

Friday, July 8
Cupcakes 'n Daisies - Thelma - http://www.cupcakesndaisies.blogspot.com/

Almost Planetarium

I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Hartman - I love her blog and her book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork.  I've poured over the book many times and each time I see something different.   When I first looked really closely at her Planetarium quilt, I really liked how the quarter square triangle/hourglass blocks had a very blendy quality to them.  I couldn't quite make out the block design, although it was a quilt block basic.

I've had a stash of Kaffe Fasset and Martha Negley fabrics for some time and this pattern made me pull out my stash to finally use it.  I needed to do some serious fussy cutting to get the right part of the florals into my blocks, but I am really happy with the result.   I used white Essex linen for the sashing and pulled some fun colors for the frames around my blocks.   Definitely a bright, summer quilt, even though it was impossible to get a photo of the true colors of this quilt.

I only made 9 blocks instead of the 16 shown in the book.   I also realized too late that I'd only used 2 fabrics in each block, where the designer used 4 fabrics.   So that's why I'm calling mine "Almost Planetarium."

A tool that was indispensible to me while making this quilt was Monique Dillard's new Fit to Be Quarter ruler.  I loved using it and it will be a staple in my ruler collection.  Please stop by next week for the 4th of July Fireworks Blog Hop.  Monique invited me and a few other quilters to demonstrate the ruler, share our 4th of July memories or quilts or recipes and I know you would all love an opportunity to win a Fit to be Quarter ruler.   The fun starts on Monday, July 4.

 

A quilt for Ruth Jon

Ruth is my mom's cousin, so I'm told that makes us first cousins, once removed (thanks, Debi - I always get that confused!)  I always thought of her as my aunt.   She came to live with us after she graduated from high school and was with us for about a year.   She helped my mom out with 3 kids and did many fun things with us.   One memory I'll never forget is her taking me to have my very blonde hair dyed pink (a pink rinse).   I think I was 3 or 4, about the age I was in this picture.  Isn't it just like a favorite aunt to let you do something your mom would never let you do?

My family spent a lot of time with her and her husband Ron when I was growing up.   She hosted my bridal shower, which seems like a million years ago.

And by the time I had my last baby, she and Ron were ready to retire.   They moved to Arizona and love the lifestyle (and the weather) there.   My mom goes to see her once a year or so.   This January when mom went, Ruth asked my mom if she thought I might be willing to make a quilted wallhanging for her kitchen.   She sent mom home with a swatch of her valance fabric, and mom handed it off to me when she visited us in February.

Of course, I am happy to make a quilt for someone as special as Ruth.  I drew a blank at first - her soft pastel southwest palette was not something I'd worked with before.   But my sis-in-law suggested using batiks and *bam* a pattern came to mind immediately.

I have wanted to make this Mexican Stars quilt by Southwind Designs for ages after one year at retreat when several gals were making it.

The next time I worked at the quilt shop, I picked up some fabulous batiks in just the right colors.  Julie has some great ones.

It seemed like a straightforward pattern - the centers of the stars are all 9 patches, right?   So I just make nine 9-patch blocks and go from there?  I looked at the cutting instructions and the center square was cut 1-1/2" - now wait just a darn minute - you mean I have to cut the squares and sew them together?   No strip piecing?   Well, no - can't have that and I spent an entire Sunday afternoon making 9 perfect, strip-pieced 9-patch blocks.

After taking a look at how the quilt is assembled with overlapping stars, I realized I made a dumb "I thought I knew better" mistake and I had cut everything out all wrong.   I went back to following the pattern and within a week I had the top done.  The right way.

This photo shows the "before" picture (and the colors are more true in this version).  The technique uses folded fabric in the corners and after completing the top, you fold the corner back and top stitch it down, giving a nice rounded curve to the piecing, which you can see in the second photo.

Now, off to the machine quilter and hopefully I can present it in person this summer when Ruthie comes back to the Pacific Northwest for a visit.   Love you, Cousin!

The Challenge

 
Our shop owner Julie asked each of us to make a quilt from this book using of one of our older charm packs.  During the Western Washington Shop Hop this year, the quilts will be displayed together in a group.

I made the design Greta, using a charm pack of Odyssea.  It was quick and easy to piece, and what a great use of just one charm pack and a little bit of yardage!  I quilted this myself with straight lines.   It's super cute (if I do say so myself!).

If you're in Western Washington for the Shop Hop June 22 through 26, stop by Keepsake Cottage and see all the cute charm quilts and lots of other good stuff on display at the shop.

 

Pinochle

Sorry for the delay in revealing my finished Pinochle quilt.   We attended a family wedding this weekend and it took a lot of my time and most of my mental faculties getting the family ready.   Now that we're back (the wedding was beautiful!), I can take care of some things that have been sitting idle for a while (like my blog!).

Pinochle was designed by Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts and is in her book Fat Quarter Winners.  I used a mix of French General fabrics - Rural Jardin, Rouenneries, Maison de Noel and Maison de Garance, with the bird print from Rural Jardin as the border.

This quilt was a lot of fun to make (I happen to love half square triangles!) and I'm very happy with the results.

 

 

Yes, I really *did* finish Rotue 44

Last September I joined my two best blog buddies, Thelma and Nicole, in Illinois to take some classes from the fabulous Carrie Nelson.  I started two large quilts - Ashcombe and Route 44 - and one Schnibbles quilt, Darcy.  I finished Darcy (not that big of a feat because it's a Schnibbles, it's tiny!) and Route 44.  Only time will tell if I finish Ashcombe.   I'm not loving the fabrics I chose.   Maybe I should recut and make one like Thelma's, which I absolutely adore.

I did, however finish Route 44, which I made using a stash of old Amy Butler fabrics that I very nearly let go in my stash sale last summer.  Thankfully I kept looking at the pile and thinking how pretty they were and using them really made this quilt work for me.   I added a frosted dot from Lakehouse Fabrics as the setting and borders.

 
One of our fellow students in the Route 44 class was LeAnne Olson, a longarm quilter who's name I have seen in quilting magazines.   I asked for her card, thinking that having a machine quilter who also made this quilt right along with me would be a great way to bring this project full circle.

 
LeAnne gave me permission to use her beautiful photographs.   It's been so dreary in the Seattle area that any time the clouds have parted enough to allow a photograph, I'm at work!   So here are some shots of my quilt - one of the Amy Butler fabrics was a random stripe with all the colors from the prints, and it made the perfect binding for this quilt.

Not only do I love the beauty of this quilt, it is priceless to me because of all the fond memories it evokes of my trip and friends (new and old).

I'll be back soon with pictures of my (finally) finished Pinochle quilt top!