And a new quilt begins!

(Click here for the May One Monthly Goal Finish Link-up!)

Once upon a time, I actively collected charm packs.  As each new line from a favorite designer arrived in my LQS, I purchased the charm pack*.  Some charm packs found their way into quilts - remember Schnibbles? -  but many charm packs did not.

Fast forward to today - I wanted a basic chain piecing project.  I wanted a project that would start eating into my stash.

I looked through all the eye candy I'd been saving from Instagram and two scrappy quilts consistently caught my attention - postage stamp and HRT (half-rectangle triangle).

See what I decided?

After much trial and error using scraps, I figured out the measurements that would yield blocks of the size I wanted.  I looked through my charm square collection and decided to make this quilt an all Moda Sweetwater quilt.  Some of the HRT are paired with low volume fabric from Sweetwater and some are paired with a white.

How big will this get?  I'm not sure yet.  If I go with a basic lap sized quilt - 48 x 60 - I'll need 360 HRT.   But, honestly, I'm temped to make a queen sized quilt for our bed.  Wouldn't it be awesome?  I don't have enough charm packs to get to queen sized but I do have plenty of Sweetwater fabric fat quarters and scraps that could get me closer.

* The only reason I stopped buying charm packs is I started buying those mini-charms.  I am going to make a postage stamp quilt too and use up all the mini charms from any, all designers.  That will be fun!

*** Please note - blogger has made changes to how I am notified of new blog comments which is making it difficult to reply via email.  Until another solution is available, I will reply directly to the comment on the blog . ***

Have a wonderful day! Patty

One Monthly Goal - May Finish link-up

Ready to link up your May finishes?

Don't panic - this link-up is open until May 31 at 11:55 pm ET.

My goal for the month was to complete my quilt top, get it basted and the quilting started.  The quilting is done and I'm busy attaching the binding.  I just love it - more photos when it is all finished!

Please only link up if you finished your goal and if you also participated in the May Goal Setting Link-up.

There will be three winners this month - Fat Quarter Shop is offering a $25 gift certificate, Make Modern Magazine is offering a 6 month subscription to their digital magazine and Yvonne Fuchs from Quilting Jetgirl is offering (2) pdf patterns from her shop. In addition, anyone linking up at both the goal and finish link-ups earns a point towards the second quarter bonus prize which is a fat-eight bundle of fabric from Green Fairy Quilts.

Visit the One Monthly Goal event page for the specific requirements for links and social tags. 

And remember, to be eligible for the prize(s) by random drawing you must linkup at both the goal setting and the accomplishment linkup in a given month. (May Goal Setting Link-up.)

Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can follow where you are linking.   Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - May Finish Link-up

Sign up to receive email notifications when the One Monthly Goal linkup is open.  Think of it as a helpful reminder!  Joining the link-up from Instagram -see the tutorial.

Congratulations to our winners for May - BillieBee, Edith & Kathy!  
The winners have all been notified by email and accepted their prizes.
(updated 6/4)

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for linking up!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Pineapple's Puzzle - Clementine QAL Block 5

Block 5 in Fat Quarter Shop's Clementine QAL is called Pineapple's Puzzle and I'm excited to be one of the bloggers who gets to share their blocks today.  (Click to see more about my prior blocks.)

I didn't enjoy this block as much as some of the others - I always hate to make flying geese from two HST.  These are the four 12'' blocks.  (Photos taken indoors on a very rainy day.)

And then the small version - this is probably my favorite color combination from the fabrics I am using.

One more set of blocks to make and then the quilt top is assembled.  I'm still undecided whether I will follow the overall pattern or not.

Here are all the larger blocks -

And the smaller ones -

Looks like I might want to bring in orange into the June block and pair it with one of the blue or maybe the gray fabric with clouds.  These fabrics are Moda Creekside

Fat Quarter Shop's Clementine QAL benefits St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.  Quilters are encouraged to donate $5 for each block pattern.  I really love how the FQS QALs support a different charity each year.  If you love the fabrics in the sample quilt, you can order the kit!

You can ready more about the QAL and get the latest block pattern today on the Jolly Jabber and read more about the Clementine QAL.  There is also a youtube video on the block!

I am happy to be sharing this QAL blog hop with all these other bloggers - go check them out!

*April of April Rosenthal (@amrosenthal)

Bonnie of Sunset Family Living (@sunsetfamilyliving)

Cara of That Crafty Cara (@thatcraftycara)
Carrie of Moda Cutting Table (@modafabrics)

Denise of Pieced Brain (@piecedbrain)

Elise of Elise and Emelie (@eliseandemelie)

Gina of Carpe Quiltin (@gina_tell_carpequiltin)

Heather of A Creative Pursuit (@acreativemama)

Hilary of By Hilary Jordan (@byhilaryjordan)

Jan of Cocoa Quilts (@cocoaquilts)

Jen of Heritage Threads (@heritage.threads)

Joanne of Quilts by Joanne (@turtlequilterjo)

Kairle of Kairle Oaks Handcrafted Goodness (@kairleoaks)

Kendra of Good Starter (@good_starter)

Kristen of 3 in the Nest (@threeinthenestraleigh)

Kristina of Center Street Quilts (@centerstreetquilts)

Leah of Ponderings from My Heart (@ponderingsfrommyheart)

Melanie of A Bit of Scrap Stuff (@mellierc)

Melissa of Happy Quilting (@happyquiltingmc)

Pat of Pat Sloan (@quilterpatsloan)

Pat B. of Life in the Scrapatch (@scrapatches)

Patty of Elm Street Quilts (@elmstreetquilts)

Rebecca of One Wee Bird (@oneweebird)

Sarah of 123 Quilt (@123quilt)

Seema of SSK Craft Shop (@sskcraftshop)

Sherri of A Quilting Life (@aquiltinglife)

Sondra of Out of the Blue Quilts (@sondradavison)

Stephanie of Quilt 'n Party (@quiltnparty)

Tanya of Tanya Quilts in CO (@tanyaquiltsinco)

Teresa of Aurea's Kitchen (@aureaskitchen)

Vickie of Crocheting Vixen (@crochetingvixen)

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Encouragement - A Quilt Finish

My daughter is about to graduate from high school.   She has been so fortunate to have the same teacher (Special Education) for five years.

Ms R has encouraged my daughter, laughed with her, advocated for her and been there for her.  A special teacher needs a special quilt.

And a special label.

The prints used in this quilt are Alison Glass Sunprint 2018 - I am just in love with them.  I also used a AG print on the back and added a strip of color.

The quilting was a lot of fun.  I started with diagonal straight lines, mimicking the direction of the pattern.  The initial lines were marked with a hera marker and then I winged it.   In five places, I replaced the straight lines with some FMQ.

Much of the piecing for these blocks was done on a guild retreat and the colors made me smile every time I sewed with them.

For the binding, I went with the same Painter's Palette Gray that I used for the background except for a spot of color on the right binding.  The quilt design is my own.

Two special teachers, two finished quilts (See this post for the first one.)

I'll be linking up my finish with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.
Have a wonderful day! Patty

Scraps - A Finish!

I've finished several quilts recently.   This one I call Scraps.  I made the blocks last year as part of the Patchwork QAL sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop - find more information here.

Each month, a pattern for a 5'' block was released and I used up scraps from several projects, all fabrics from various Bonnie & Camille lines.

Even the binding was scrappy!

The quilting has been done for awhile but I finally invested the time to bind and get the quilt labeled.  This is a gift for one of my daughter's teachers.  My daughter is about to graduate from High School and has had the same teachers (Special Education) for many years.

It will be hard for her to say goodbye!

I'll be linking up my finish with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Hand piecing progress

And now there are 3!

I am hand piecing these blocks and this is my very first hand piecing project.

So how are things going - besides clearly I'm still making blocks?

The first block went together really well - I even surprised myself!  The second block had issues - primarily because I got a little over-confident and didn't take my time to carefully prep the blocks and ended up unpicking and resewing.  (Unpicking hand stitching is WAY easier than with machine stitching.)

With the third block, I realized that my knots are too big and may cause some issues later so I've started experimenting with different knots.  I also found how important seam allowances are when it comes time to trim the blocks.  (Not sure why I needed to relearn that lesson!)

My fourth block is started and I've started cutting for some more.   My design needs six (6) of these blocks and five (5) half-arc blocks.

The inspiration for the block came from the fact that Tara Faughnan is coming to teach at my guild in June.  I wasn't as familiar with Tara's work as I should have been and when I went looking, I found she has a double wedding ring class on Creativebug.  The block itself is Tara's pattern.  The final quilt design layout is mine.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

No Quilty Math

When I decided to join in the Quilter's Planner QAL, I also decided to downsize my blocks so that I can make a pillow.  I do this all the time and quite enjoy the challenge of redoing the math.  Usually, I've got no trouble figuring out the math to downsize.  And when I do have trouble, I'll draw up a quick paper pieced version of the block.

For this month's block, I did neither of these things for those 2'' square in a square blocks.  No quilty math and no paper pieced block.  I was lazy and just decided to fudge it.

And while I was close, the resulting block was just a little too big and as a result the points are almost all cut off.

I'm not sure if I'll spend the time making the block again - guess it depends on how much it bothers me!

I do love all the blocks together.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

No scrap left behind

Once upon a time (February, actually), I visited my local fabric store and purchased 6'' of each fabric from Alison Glass's Sunprint 2018 line.

24 fabrics, 6'' of each yields 4 yards of fabric.

So while 6'' doesn't sound like much, 4 yards certainly does!  And look what I am doing with all this beautiful fabric.

First, I cut off a small bit from some of the best colors and made a bag for a friend.

I cut off a bit more to make all the blocks for this quilt which was the actually stated reason I went shopping in the first place!  (More photos coming once I get the binding done!)

And now I'm using the same fabric to make my double wedding ring blocks.

And, once I'm done with this, if I've got any of this fabric left, I'm making myself a zipped-bag.

What gives?

Perhaps I'm slightly obsessed with this fabric - ok, more than slightly obsessed!

But it is also because I've already got too much of a fabric stash and I don't want it to grow any bigger.  I also don't want to create some elaborate scrap management system.  I want to start using these bits up at the moment I am enjoying them the most.

I find that when I add fabrics to my stash, I am often reluctant to actually use them.  Maybe there will be a better project, I think.  Or I love this print too much for this project.  Or, worse yet, I just don't like this fabric anymore.

I've been following my 'no scrap left behind' plan for almost two years and this works for me.

Do you use up every last bit of your fabric purchases or do you store them away for another day?

Have a wonderful day! Patty

My other hexi project

Last fall during an Instagram 100 days of hexies event, I made 100+ hexies from a couple of solid mini charm packs.

In January, I started sewing them together.  Each hexie was blindly pulled from a bag and attached to the one before going in a 'circle'.

That darker green wrinkly one was the first one I pulled and the navy blue one the next.

At some point I abandoned the idea of a circle - doesn't actually work with hexies as it turns out!

Now I'm going for a square which will measure 15 1/2 by 15 1/2 if I measure valley to valley.  I've got one more row to add across the top (where the binding clips are).

The trick (for me) is what happens next.  Once I have my hexie 'square', how do I turn it into something?

Do I cut off the 'hills' , pop out the paper an treat it as any other pieced top?

Do I applique it onto another piece of fabric all around the edges?

I've always planned this to be a pillow - and I've have the quilting idea in mind all along - but maybe it should become something else.....

A few more hexies to go and then I can decide!

I'll be linking up my hexies with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Double Wedding Ring block

                                     (Click here for the May One Monthly Goal link-up)

I've always wanted to make a double wedding ring block - ta da!

The inspiration for the block came from the fact that Tara Faughnan is coming to teach at my guild in June.  I wasn't as familiar with Tara's work as I should have been and when I went looking, I found she has a double wedding ring class on Creativebug.

So I took it and decided to play with my Sunprint 2018 fabric.  The process to hand-piece was incredibly rewarding and made for a pleasant time sitting on my back porch.

Yes, it took awhile but my guess is my block is more accurate than if I had machine pieced.

The hardest part might have been choosing the colors.  Tara's color work is just amazing and not something I feel I can mimic.  So I choose to pair the beautiful Sunprint fabric with a gray.

I do need a better marking pen for my darker fabrics - that was my biggest struggle.

Where am I headed with this?  Likely a 4 block wall hanging but not committing myself to anything more that a few more blocks.... we'll see!


Have a wonderful day! Patty

April Temperatures

(Click here for the May One Monthly Goal link-up)

I am having more fun with this quilt that I could have ever imagined.  Each night I check the high temperature for the day and then take a few minutes to attach the appropriate colored hexi.  I expect many temperatures in the 80's in the weeks ahead so I've pre-made a bunch of orange hexies!

The first row (of color) on the top is January 1 through 15, next column January 16 through 31 etc which means the last row on the bottom is April 16 through April 30.  (April 30 is the yellow one on the left in that bottom row.)   I'm using a low volume fabric to fill in months that don't have 31 days plus surrounding the overall temperature quilt as you can see surrounding the quilt on left edge, top and bottom.

The quilt measures roughly 32'' high and 13 1/2'' wide at this point.

Those cold days of January seem like a very distant memory at this point.  But there isn't as much yellow (temps in the 70s) in April as I would have expected.

Here is the mapping of color to temperature range - I'm using the high temperature for the day and sourcing the data from here.  

Have a wonderful day! Patty

One Monthly Goal - May Goal Setting Link-up

Welcome to May!  We had 140 projects linked up in April - let's see what this month brings!

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project, some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post, an Instagram post (tutorial) or a post on Flickr.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  You can read about the event and the rules on the main event page.

We have wonderful sponsors this month - three (3) winners will be randomly chosen from those that link up in both the goal and the finish event.  Plus anyone linking up will earn an entry for the bonus prize.  (Bonus prize to be awarded in July - you can earn up to 3 entries by joining the link-ups April through June.) 

Fat Quarter Shop offers a tremendous selection of fabric, notions, books and just about anything you will need for your project. Consider their Sew Sampler box to receive a monthly surprise delivery of fabric and fun.  Fat Quarter Shop is offering a $25 gift certificate to one lucky participant.

Make Modern is a digital magazine launched by a collaboration of quilters based in Australia. Their magazine is filled with modern quilt designs and a wonderful source of inspiration. Make Modern is offering a 6 month subscription to one lucky participant.

Green Fairy Quilts  is a wonderful online quilt store that offers precuts, patterns and notions at prices that can't be beat.  They are my source for precuts! Shipping is fast and the selection is wonderful. Green Fairy Quilts is offering a beautiful fat-eighth bundle of Puzzle Pieces by Moda for the 2Q bonus prize.

I am very excited to introduce our designer sponsor for May - Yvonne Fuchs from Quilting Jetgirl. 

Yvonne is very passionate about sharing her love of quilting with a goal to inspire others to become better quilters by enjoying every step of the process.  Yvonne is a quilt designer, teacher, Aurifil artisan, a member of the OLFA creators, and a popular blogger.  Her quilts have been published in numerous magazines.  Yvonne releases patterns with her Quilting Jetgirl business and also is part of the talented Quilt Theory design team. Her most recent pattern releases include Transparent Ribbons and Mod Star Tree. (pictured below).

I've been a follower of Yvonne on her blog for several years and finally had the opportunity to meet her at QuiltCon in 2017.  (Yvonne is one of the amazing volunteers at QuiltCon who work endless hours behind the scenes to pull off the show.)  Yvonne blogs about her progress with her projects and often shares tips and techniques in her posts.  Her yearly QAL is quite fun.

Photo and quilt credit to Yvonne Fuchs @ Quilting Jetgirl.  Quilts featured:
Transparent Ribbons and Mod Star Tree. Sunburst  and Wayward Transparency. 

Yvonne is offering one lucky winner two (2) pdf patterns from her pattern shop.  Yvonne is also offering a coupon code for all OMG fans - just use code:  OMG2018  for 10% off store wide through May 31. 

You can visit Yvonne on her blog Quilting Jetgirl, on Instagram, on Facebook and her Pattern store.

My goal for May is add a wide border, piece the backing, baste and get the quilting started on this baby sized version of the awesome Delightful Desert pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.

Now it is your turn to link up - what is your goal for May?  (A goal could be to finish a quilt but it could also be to attach a binding.  Whatever it takes to help you move forward and make progress on your projects!  And as long as the project involves a needle and/or fabric, you can link up!)

Make sure you visit the One Monthly Goal event page for the specific requirements for links and social tags.  Your blog post (or Flickr post) must contain a photo of your project, a clearly stated goal and a link back to Elm Street Quilts.  Your Instagram post must include a photo of your project, a clearly stated goal and the tag #onemonthlygoal.  (Entries which don't contain the required information may be disqualified.)

And remember, to be eligible for the prize(s) by random drawing you must linkup at both the goal setting and the accomplishment linkup in a given month.   (The One Monthly Goal accomplishment linkup will be available on May 26.)

Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link-up from your blog.  Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post: 
 

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal May Linkup.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for linking up. Have a wonderful day! Patty