Design Wall Monday--Memorial Day 2022

Design Wall Monday, on this Memorial Day.  See more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

I spent a good chunk of time yesterday playing with the Adam's Rib blocks (Fons and Porter design) and sewing them together. 

I decided this was a bit too busy, since the pinks are different, and changed to a straight setting. 

It was quite tedious to get all the many seams to nest. I ended up opening up one seam in the top or bottom row of in many of the blocks to flip the orientation of pressing, and in every other row had to press different seams the other way, but was happy I did.  That was a lot of seams to match in these 6" blocks!  The black and white fabrics were mostly leftovers from the baby quilt I made grandson Hunter, who is about to graduate from Kindergarten.  I used the black and white monkey print on the back of his quilt, and had this large width left to use. 

Hunter's quilt:

On this Memorial Day, we remember those who served and lost their lives in that service.  So many young men and women lost over the years.

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A patriotic mini quilt on display.  

Stitching Things Up

Lots going on in the sewing room.  I started with the pile of Memory Lane blocks hogging the end of the cutting table. Pattern by Ellen Replogle from her book Laps From Fats for Family and Friend, 2006.

They went together easily as there are no seams to match at this point. I plan to finish all the rows today, but did not feel like working on them last night.  Instead I played in the leftover blocks and pieces drawer.

That was fun!  Another Plaidish2 block was partially assembled as well.  None of these are pressed as I was too lazy to get the ironing board out for this late night play. 

My leader-ender blocks also didn't get pressed.  I'm  down to just a few more of these Adam's Ribs block pieces; maybe they will last through completing the Memory Lane top. 

After my manicure appointment yesterday, I took a turn through my local fabric store.  These remnants jumped into my hands!  Some good chunks there for less than the cost of a fat quarter. The black and white yardage was also discounted 30% so I got a yard and a half.  I liked that is non-directional.  Ok, off to get some sewing done before grandsons' ball games. 

Design Wall Monday--Memory Lane Blocks Finished

 Design Wall Monday-- See more Design Walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

I pushed to get all the Memory Lane blocks finished over the weekend.  

This one turned out really pretty.   There was a proud moment that turned comical with another block. 

How I didn't notice all the mistakes until the block was completely finished was pretty ridiculous!  I had to disassemble nearly the entire block to put it right.  

My leader-ender project also had an oops. 

That was fast to fix, just one seam.  There were lots of these Adam's Rib blocks finished over the weekend. 

I have another nice pile of cut pieces to work on when I assemble the Memory Lane rows. I played thread chicken with the last Memory Lane block.

Layout and switcheroo of these blocks was hard, since there are 5 fabrics in each block in different positions. 

There was another session after this layout. Finally I called it quits

I look forward to getting this top together--the Oh My Darling fabric collection has waited years to get this far! 

Design Wall Monday--Memory Lane Quilt Update

 Design Wall Monday--see more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

There has been a lot of time with needle and thread the last few days.  I did a lot of cutting before getting to some sewing.  Trying to empty baggies and bins of projects is a neverending challenge in my sewing room.  I started with a baggie of leftover black and white pieces from the baby quilt I made for middle grandson Hunter, who is now 6 years old!  I wanted to use them as leader-enders. 

The first pink solid I pulled from stash had to be augmented by a darker shade, and just for fun I threw in the print for the last two blocks. 

The block is from the quilt Adam's Rib by Fons and Porter.

The first Memory Lane block laid out.  I love this clever design! 

And first block finished under Mini's watchful eye. These are big blocks, 16 inches finished, so will make a big quilt fast.  I had fun picking and choosing fabrics for each from the 20 fat quarters required; I used the Oh My Darling fat quarter collection I bought some years back from Connecting Threads. 

Playing with color and print is my favorite pastime.  Each block has 5 fabrics in different arrangements so I am doing my best to mix color, scale and prints. 

The quilt is in this book which was published in 2006--I picked it up several years ago at a guild sale. Lots more piecing for me to do, my favorite part of quilting :)

Design Wall Monday--Squares, squares, squares

It's DWM again. See more Design Walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog.  

Lots of activity in the sewing room, a few more things checked off the list.  Off my design wall and finished are two small quilts for guild, to be donated to an infant/mommy exercise class with the City. 

Falling Charms a la Missouri Star Quilt Company's method, using 25 charm squares.  My sister did this fun swirl quilting on her longarm.  I found a matching length in my leftover binding bin, love that!

Leftover flannel on the back--which my longarm quilter complained about, "It's stretchy", lol.  I hope some young mom will love it. 

What I'm calling a garlic knot/minecraft quilt is also finished.  I lightened the pic to try to show Kathy's quilting better--birds and leaves.  This is mostly made from a box of 2.5" squares I bought at a guild show, with some additions of solids from stash.  No pattern--this was just an enjoyable scrap box puzzle to layout.

The backing is the same as the binding, which was a cutoff from another quilt. Using it up! This quilt is a little longer than the charm pack one. 

I like this shape so much that I used it for our guild Pizza Box block swap.  This month's pizza box had all black and white fabrics for Maria. 

I used a few leftover pieces from the baby quilt for grandson Hunter (Adam's Rib from Fons and Porter), and filled in with her fabrics.  The monkeys were the backing fabric for Hunter's quilt.  I'm hoping this looks modern enough.

More squares in my sewing room---I finished the top made from Aussie fabrics bought on my trip to Australia in 2009, adding the two outer borders. 

I had quite a time with these pieced borders, having to take in numerous seam allowances on the squares to make the top and bottom fit.  The side borders lost an entire square and I still had to take in some seam allowances.  This is a Darlene Zimmerman free pattern that came long ago with a magazine solicitation, which she designed for feedsack prints.  Although the instruction sheet claimed this quilt was designed for "beginners and experts", I would never recommend this for a beginner---so many pieces to cut and seams to match.  It looks great now, but there was some frustration getting it together.  The quilt is small, 37x45, I think.  I'll probably end up donating it, but not yet :)

Hunter's Quilt Finish

Time goes fast--I meant to post about grandson Hunter's quilt finish a week ago.  I did complete the quilt on the deadline, his 3 month mark, and took it over to DD Elaine so he could be posed on it for photos.

 Here is the little charmer inspecting the quilting and blocks, from Mama's lap.  

What a little flirt, with that half smile! Hunter is growing well and getting so much personality.  He loves to watch his brother Cove, but his best smiles are saved for his Mama.

 It was hard to get a good photo of the quilting, but you can see where concentric partial circles from opposite corners I stitched overlapped  in the center.  I was happy at how my idea worked out.  It was not too painful, using the guides provided that slide into the back of my walking foot.  I did use a little piece of tape on the guide bar to avoid having to continuously remeasure the 2" width I was going for.  The bars are not fixed and can be pushed in when shifting fabric under the foot and needle.  Spray basting is key to this method!

I used the monkey print for a one-piece backing, and a solid black for the binding.  Again, this pattern is Adam's Rib, from Fons and Porter magazine.  It was an easy block and I can see myself making this again in a different colorway.  So glad Hunter now has a quilt from his Mimi, made with much love.