4-Patch Stacked Posies #2 - Pumpkins - Progress

This is the progress on the Pumpkin 4-Patch Stacked Posies quilt that I showed you blocks from yesterday.

I have now added orange sashing and green cornerstones. I ran out of orange so you can see in the picture that both sides of this piece are missing a row of orange sashing and green cornerstones. I will have to buy more orange fabric on Monday. Fortunately, I just bought the orange fabric last week so I am certain the quilt shop will still have this fabric and dye lot.

I will then need to add a narrow black inner border and an outer border of the original pumpkin patch fabric. The outer border will only be 4" wide as that is all the fabric I have left. There is no chance to get any more as I have had it in my stash for years!

This top as it sits now in its partially finished state is 39 1/2" x 45".

4-Patch Stacked Posies #2 - Pumpkins

I enjoyed making the previous 4-Patch Stacked Posie quilt so much, that I just had to try this technique again.

I had some pumpkin fabric left from a previous project and this is what it looks like cut into blocks using the 4-Patch Stacked Posie technique.

Today, I will be setting these squares together with orange sashing fabric.


I had set the blocks out on the floor to see where I wanted each block and along came my helper. I am not sure if Joey actually has an opinion on the layout or if he is just giving me a big hint that he needs attention!

Black and White Quilt Guild Challenge

This past summer my quilt guild sponsored a black and white quilt challenge. The rules were simple--only use black and white fabrics. You were allowed to add one other colour as long as the quilt was predominantly was black and white. The quilt could be any size or shape.

The quilts were finished over the summer and revealed at our first guild meeting in September--last Wednesday night.

I didn't participate in the challenge--I ran out of time. However, one of my customers did rise to the challenge and she had me quilt her quilt for her. This is that quilt:

These are some of the other quilts completed by other members of our guild. The woman in the center created a quilt in a bag--a quillow. She is pictured in the center of this picture and is seen taking the quilt out of its bag.

This is the quilt after it was taken out of the bag.

This was the back of that same quilt.

A creation inspired by Judy Farrow's work.

What a talented group of women!

Local Fall Fair 2007 - Sept. 14 and 15, 2007

The annual Fall Fair in our small community is an event that many look forward to all year. Many people return "home" this weekend and so it becomes a reunion of sorts--a time to see friends and family that have moved away from our small community over the years.

These are pictures from the parade on Saturday morning. The parade is always led by one of our local Mounties in red serge along with members of our local Legion.

Each year in conjunction with our fair, we crown our Corn King for the year. This is a title that the local dairy farmers compete for. This year, we had our first ever Corn Queen! Here she is atop a horse drawn wagon - on the right holding the bright bouquet of flowers and wearing her crown and cape.

A parade is never complete until the horses go by.

There were many restored vintage vehicles in this year's parade.

Look at all those sock monkeys!

These are pictures of some of the floral and produce displays in the hall.

And of course, here are the quilts!

This is my mom and dad inspecting the entries.

My favorite quilts - a chicken quilt...

... and this farm yard quilt.

This is a quilt that was made by families in our community years ago. This quilt has made an appearance at many community events over the years.

4-Patch Stacked Posies - Completed Flimsy

This is my 4-Patch Stacked Posies top completed to the flimsy stage. This is a small piece--44 inches square.

The photos were taken inside because it is raining so the colours are not exactly true to the original.

This top only used three fabrics:

1. A floral fabric - used for the 4-patches and border

2. Accent fabric - burgundy in my quilt - used for the narrow border around the 4-patches, corner stones, and narrow inner border

3. Sashing fabric - green in my quilt

Cutting details:

- My fabric had a 13 1/4" repeat and my squares used for the 4-patch blocks were cut 3 1/4" square.

- The narrow border that frames the 4-patches was cut 1" wide and finished at 1/2".

- The corner stones are cut 1 1/2" square and finish 1" square.

- The sashing is cut 1 1/2" wide and finishes at 1" wide.

- The border is cut 6 " wide and finishes at 5 1/2" wide.

4-Patch Stacked Posies

Today was a bit of a quilt retreat. It was not a retreat where you pack up your stuff and head to a common location as a group of other quilters. In this retreat, a good Internet quilting friend and I decided today was the day we would reward ourselves for sticking to our deadlines and accomplishing our goals. We decided that that after working hard for others we deserved and would take a day to have some fun for ourselves.

We have been looking at a particular pattern on the Internet for some time now--vowing to someday make that quilt for ourselves. Today was that day! Today Linda J and I got out our fabrics and started on our 4-Patch Stacked Posies quilts.

I actually started cutting out my squares last night. I know that with the time difference, LindaJ would have a head start on me in the morning. In hindsight it was a good strategy to get started the evening before as I had to interrupt my quilting in the afternoon to run a few errands and then make supper for my family.


These are my finished 4-patch blocks. I made 24 blocks in all. My fabric was a 13 1/4" repeat and I cut my squares 3 1/4" square. My 4-patches are just laying on top of the sashing fabric I intend to use.

This picture is dark, but you can see the fabric yardage I started with on the left. The green fabric at the bottom of the picture is a fabric that I intend to use as cornerstones and an inner border.

Today was fun! I know I will be making many more 4-Patch Stacked Posie quilts in the future!

Customer Quilts

My quilting life has been busy lately. Not only was I working on the wedding quilts for my niece, but I have been trying to keep up to the customer quilts. The first quilt I have to show you is a colour wash sort of quilt--completed by a newer quilter. I think she was so brave to work on all those white triangles on this quilt!

This is a closeup showing the wave quilting pattern which echoed the lateral movement of the quilt. The fabrics were gorgeous!

I received 7 table runners to quilt for another customer. I finished 6 and had to wait for backing for the 7th. It is interesting to see all the table runners together--same pattern, different fabrics. They all have their own unique personality. This customer is ahead on her Christmas projects--she plans to give these all away as gifts during the festive season.

There was one more customer quilt. I promised I would not show pictures of it until after our quilt guild meeting as it is part of the summer black and white challenge. Our first guild meeting of the year is the third wednesday of this month. I will post pictures of the quilt after that night's show and tell.

Colour Catcher Strings II - Flimsy

You can sure tell that summer is on its way out! These pictures were taken on the morning of September 1st. That is fog you are looking at. The pictures are taken from our deck looking over the sports fields behind our house. The day brightened up OK, but at the time of these pictures, you would never have known it!



This was today's fun. This flimsy is made from colour catcher strings measuring 4" x 9" - finished size: 3.5" x 8.5". I still have 28 colour catcher string pieces left in the box so I may go back and add another row to this one. I have not decided what to do about borders. I am leaning towards a black border and multicoloured binding (thanks, LJ). The size right now is 52" x 64". it is definitely large enough for an average lap size quilt. However, since most of my family members are over 6' tall, I may add another row and lengthen it a bit.



I plan on showcasing another of my Circle Lord templates in the plain black squares perhaps using a variegated thread. This one will have to sit for a while before it gets quilted....customer quilts are waiting!