Threads of Time BOM - Month #2 - School Girl's Puzzle

I love, love, love the Threads of Time BOM (Block of the Month).  The blocks are 8 1/2" (unfinished).  They are large enough that the seams are neither crowded nor bulky.  I started out as a admirer of civil war reproduction fabrics and this BOM does not disappoint.  I still love the civil war reproduction fabrics because I am a student of the American Civil War. I try to do at least one large civil war reproductions quilt a year. It makes me very happy!

The only difficult sewing of these blocks were the instructions to make the blocks one directional.  In other words, make all of the fabrics so they are all facing one way.  The stripes of the green, brown and red are vertical. 
The background is all facing in one direction.  I did make an error on the blue block.  You will probably see it.  I was watching a movie on TV and made two blocks upside down.  Oh well, I decided it was too much of a hassle to fix them and I am leaving them as is.

In this BOM, we are sewing one block in four different fabrics.  Here are this months' blocks:

Hope you all had a great Christmas!

Happy New Year!

Modern Building Block - BOM - Month 5 - Fig Tree Style

I worked on this month's kit which arrived last Saturday.  I try to do these BOM kits when they arrive because if I fall behind it is difficult for me to catch up.  This is the fifth month and I am enjoying sewing together these blocks.  The colors are beautiful and it has been fun!

Block #17 - 12"

Block # 18 - 12"

Block #9 - 18"

Block #19 - 6"

Block #23 - 6"

Block #29 - 6"

Block #33 - 6"

Block #38 - 6"

I thoroughly enjoyed sewing these blocks together.  I can't wait until we start sewing the blocks into one unit.  This is what I love about quilting and piecing:  the end result is worth the time of planning, cutting and sewing everything together.

Happy Holidays, everyone. 

Enjoy your time with your family.

Hampton Ridge is FINSIHED!

I finally finished the Hampton Ridge quilt.  I added the last border:  a 2" half-square (finished) border.  It wasn't difficult but it was very tedious making the 168 half-square triangles.  I will spend the next day trying to pick most of the loose threads from the front of the quilt and thin out the threads from the back before I call one of my wonderful long-armers to quilt the top.

I am holding up the 91" x 91," quilt.

I had to stand on a chair to be able to  

show the half-square triangles, 

on the bottom and you can

kind of see them on the sides. 

I think I forgot to mention that the

blocks are on point but the red-striped

border is mitered.  You can't

see it but trust me that was the

most difficult part of the quilt.

 

Hampton Ridge - Just about Finished

I finally have some time to try to finish the Hampton Ridge Quilt.  Over a year ago I started this Block of the Month and I am finally going to finish it and get it to one of the quilters that live near me.  All I have to do is to add one more border, the half-square triangles.

This piece of paper makes 

8 - 2" half-square

triangles.  I sewed 21 

of these papers and when I cut them 

apart, I will have a 

total of 168 - 2' half square triangles.

This is the quilt so far.  

I haven't measured the width 
and length yet.  It is supposed 
to be square.  

My husband was holding up
the quilt and it is huge.  
He is 6' tall and had

difficulty holding it up.

I hope that the joining of the 

half-square triangles is not difficult.

Daydream BOM - Month 7 - Sashing

I just finished the sashing for this quilt.  I looked at the initial instructions that I received when we first started this Block of the Month.  The blocks are all done, twelve in all.  I just finished the sashing so all there is to do are the borders.  It is a very pretty quilt.  I think I will either give this quilt to one of my children.  I can't wait to finish it.

The sashing block across the top are the horizontal blocks that go between each row.  There are seventeen horizontal sashing blocks in the quilt.  The two blocks that are shown vertically are the outside sashing, hence the light fabric.  There are seven sashing blocks of each total.

These were very easy to complete although over the years 

I have realized that I can't sew a straight line so these 

are no exception.  They are somewhat crooked.

Happy Sewing!

Daydream BOM - Month #6 - Blocks 11 & 12

Last month I forgot to pick-up my Daydream kit.  I didn't realize it until I went to pick-up the December kit.  It was brought to my attention that I had two kits to pick-up and make.  These are fairly easy to make because they are 12" blocks but I had trouble with making the "square in square" sections of both blocks.  They didn't turn out as 4 1/2" blocks but a bit smaller.  I finally decided to ease them in with some "fudging."  It worked but I am not satisfied.  There has got to be a better way to make them without easing the seams.

Block 11

Block 12

I believe there are only twelve blocks in the quilt so the end is NEAR!

Hopefully, the current months kit is easy to assemble!

Happy Sewing!

Thanksgiving and Freshly Pieced Blog

Freshly Pieced Blog

I just wanted to mention that I have been reading Lee Heinrich's blog, "Freshly Pieced" for over a year.  I love her patterns (I have purchased quite a few of them) and most of all, love her work.  She has been exceedingly kind to share with all of her followers her knowledge of her use of neutrals in her quilts.  She uses solid neutrals in the background in most of the quilts that I have seen.  Choosing a Neutral for Your Quilt, Part 1 is an incredible amount of information that you will absolutely use.  She has examples of the different backgrounds that she used on her "Cartwheel Quilt."  They are all stunning but you can see why some of the blocks "pop" because of the particular background that she used.  Part 2 that was just posted today, Lee shared her "Kona Neutrals Cheat Sheet."  I am sure many hours were consumed in putting this sheet together. 

She also co-authored a book,  "Vintage Quilt Revival."  I participated in their Quilt Along.  The blocks were fun to put together and it was well written (easy to follow).

Thanksgiving

We traveled from Sacramento to San Jose for Thanksgiving.  The traffic wasn't bad for us traveling west but looking at the traffic heading east was downright awful.  At any rate, we were happy to celebrate our Thanksgiving at my brother's home in San Jose.  We always take our family photo for our Christmas card since that is the only time we can get together in time to print our card.

Our son (far left) is in graduate school in Glendale, Arizona.  He will be graduating this coming May.  Our youngest (second from the left) attends UC San Diego.  She is a junior (undergrad).  Our oldest (third from the left) works in Berkeley.  Yay, she graduated from graduate school this past June.  We have an additional family member at the far right.  My oldest and he will be married in the spring.  He is a wonderful person and makes my daughter so happy.  We have many events to be thankful for this coming year.  By the way, my oldest is a quilter too!  

Fig Tree Mystery BOM

As promised, here is a photograph of my clamshells for the first month of the Fig Tree Mystery BOM.  

Happy Quilting everyone!