Monday, July 29, 2019

Kinship blocks 4, 12, 25, 27

You've likely see blocks flowing through your Instagram feed as part of the #100Days100Blocks2019 QAL hosted by Angie at GnomeAngel?   This year's event is based on a pattern called Kinship written by GnomeAngel and Skyberries.  (There are some absolutely amazing prizes available from this QAL so check it out on the overall QAL page.)


I decided to make a subset of the blocks - namely most of the blocks that have flying geese.  I've chosen a very colorful fabric palette paired with some low volume fabric for the geese.  In my final layout, hopefully this coloring will work. 

Here are blocks 4, 12, 25 and 27!


If you are just joining, today is the 29th day of the QAL so you've got 29 blocks to catch up - still doable!  These blocks are either 4 x 8'' or 8 x 8'' and the once I've chosen are the more complicated ones!

Very fun!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Thursday, July 25, 2019

One Monthly Goal - July Finish Link-up

Ready to link up your July finishes?
Don't panic - this link-up is open until July 31 at 11:55 pm ET.



My goal for July was to assemble my beautiful shades of gray quilt top.  Since this is a gift, no photos of the quilt to share but I can show you the back - the quilting is done!  I used the Twisted Ribbons quilt pattern from Jacquie Gering's book Walk.



Now its your turn to link-up.

There will be three winners this month - Fat Quarter Shop is offering a $25 gift certificate, Make Modern is offering a 6 month subscription, and our feature designer Bonnie Hunter is offering a copy of her Garlic Knots pattern.

Congratulations to Barbara, Frédérique, and Cathy - our lucky winners for July OMG!  (updated 8/3)




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. (
July 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:  


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.


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter


Thanks for linking up!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

My Small Piecing Adventure



The amazing Chawne Kimber (@cauchycomplete) taught her class Adventures in Small Piecing for Triangle MQG this weekend.  Chawne also shared a very thought provoking trunk show.   It was amazing!  (And, yes, I know I said that already.)

In our class, Chawne shared sample after sample of her work - each sample shared was smaller than the one before and many had pieces that finished at 1/8'' if not smaller. .

Then she turned us loose and encouraged us to go smaller and yet smaller again.

This is my piece.  It is 6 " square!  It was a bit of a race at the end in order to get the last bit sewn and attached but I did it.



Look how cool the back of the piece looks.  I added a dime so you could truly appreciate the scale.



The process of creating was a bit of an organized mess - strips cut to the right side of the machine and the finger pressing and trimming as I go on the left side.   I would press the piece after I sewed down each of those outside rows.


I think I spent the whole afternoon smiling because I was just having so much fun.



My inspiration for my piece was Chawne's piece shown below.  What a thrill to have them next to each other!



If you ever have the opportunity to take a class from Chawne, do so!  You will have a blast!  She is not only talented but also such a warm, encouraging person.  I am so happy I got a chance to meet her.

You can see more of our photos from the event here.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Friday, July 19, 2019

Hand Pieced Curves Progress Report

On Monday, I shared my layout plan for my hand pieced curve blocks.  I've been making nice steady progress this week at hand stitching them together.

First, this is the overall layout I am working towards.  I'm still on the fence about switching out some colors/blocks in the upper right.


I am piecing the blocks together into a 5 x 5 block grid.   I've one grid done and almost a second!


Deciding how to trim the blocks caused me a bit of a quandary but I went with simple.  Less trimming and embracing the resulted design.  It looks like a braid.  



Each block was trimmed to 4 1/4'' square and clipped together in groups of 5 for each row with seam lines drawn on.   I've been making a couple of rows, leaving on their row marker until I sew them together.



I still have not decided what to do about that top right corner.  But my daughter is coming home (YEA!!!) so I moved them from her floor to a table in my sewing space.


If you want to hand piece curves yourself, I have a tutorial and a template on this post.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Monday, July 15, 2019

I Have a Plan

After creating my 100 hand pieced curved blocks, I played around with several different layouts using the floor and I've settled on this one.


I like the way the way the low volume fabric looks and I've already got ideas on how to quilt it!  I'm not so sure, however, on the color placement in the top right hand corner.  When I made the blocks, I was somewhat random on how many I made of various colors.  Right now, I'm really not liking those green blocks. 

So I may make a few replacement sblocks that would better match the colors.

But before I do that, I'm testing my layout and whether I've trimmed the blocks enough.

I'm starting in the bottom left corner and going to try to get a 5 x 5 set of blocks together.


What do you think?

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Friday, July 12, 2019

Baby Bunnies

A very good friend of mine is about to become a Grandma and I'd like to celebrate with a quilt for the new baby.

The baby is due in a few weeks and I'll wait until I hear her name before I finalize my design.  But, I do know the design will contain some baby bunnies.  I went ahead and made my first one today.



The bunny is from Elizabeth Hartman's Delightful Desert pattern (affiliate link).  I'll be using these really sweet charm squares as my background.   (My friend Paige gifted me with these charm packs awhile ago and I've been waiting for a chance to use them in a baby quilt.)

This bunny and this quilt make me so happy!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

100 Days = 100 Blocks

Back on April 2, I set a goal to hand piece one drunkards path block each day.   I then modified the goal slightly so that it was to piece a total of 100 of these blocks in 100 days.  That gave me 'permission' to make more than one in a sitting and not worry about missing a day here and there.

Today is day 100.  And today I have 100 blocks!



This will not be my final layout.  I'm taking advantage of my daughter being away for the summer and have these on the floor of her room.  Each time I walk by, I change things up!

If you'd like to give it a try, checkout my tutorial on hand piecing curves.

For more information - see the 100 Day Project.   You can start your own 100 days of creativity any time!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Monday, July 8, 2019

June Temperatures

June in North Carolina has been all about heat and humidity for the majority of the month.  The days that were in the 90s were unbearable outside (at least for me) in the middle of the day.  I take my morning swim very early and then stay home for as much as I can.



The first column is January 1 - 15 and the last column on the right is June 16-30.   It only takes a minute to add each square so I've been able to keep current or quickly catch up.  These are 2'' squares and hand pieced.

This June compared to last year, however, seems 'slightly cooler' with a few less days hitting the 90s.  No days over 100 yet!   (June is circled in the photo below.) 


Here is a mapping of the colors.


There are so many temperature quilts popping up and I love them.  I wrote up a tutorial on a temperature quilt if you are interested.  In addition, Anina is running a 2019 QAL!

Have a wonderful day!

 Patty

Thursday, July 4, 2019

Kinship QAL

Are you doing the newest 100 blocks in 100 days QAL from Angie at GnomeAngel

This year's event is based on a pattern called Kinship written by GnomeAngel and Skyberries.  Kinship is one of the most well written patterns I've seen plus the blocks are fun! 

There are some absolutely amazing prizes available from this QAL so check it out on the overall QAL page.

The blocks are either 8 x 8'' (finished) or 4 x 8'' (finished) which means there will be endless ways they can be organized in a quilt.

Today is day 4 and I'm happy to share block 4.


I am not going to do all 100 blocks.  Instead I decided to do any blocks that use Flying Geese since that is my all time favorite block.

The fabric I am using is Spotted by Zen Chic plus a selection of low volume prints for the geese.  I'm going to make this one quite colorful!

You can find the Kinship pattern at Fat Quarter Shop

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Monday, July 1, 2019

One Monthly Goal July Link-up

Welcome to July!  We had 90 goals linked up for June - lets see what this month brings!  (Did you see the overall announcement for the sponsors and featured designers for 2019?  It will blow you away!)


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 and add that photo to the link-up.  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.  



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. 



I am thrilled that Bonnie Hunter - yes that Bonnie Hunter! - is our featured designer for July. 

Bonnie is a quilt designer, author, teacher, vintage machine collector, blogger and, most recently, the product owner of a Quilt Retreat Center which will open in 2020. 

Bonnie is a scapaholic quilter extraordinaire who generously shares her love of quilting and scraps with her many followers of her blog, her Facebook group and through  the very popular QuiltCam during which Bonnie turns on the web-cam and chats as she sews!

Her web site Quiltville is packed full with tutorials, free patterns, plus information about her books and other Quiltville merchandise.

Many quilters first discover Bonnie when they hear about her mystery quilt.  Traditionally, the first clue is released on the day after Thanksgiving followed by clues each Friday until the big reveal around January 1.  Bonnie schedules her mystery during this time because she knows it serves as a comfort to those who may not be able to spend time with family during the holidays.  Bonnie also runs a weekly leaders and enders challenge which kicks off each July.

Image and Quilt credit: Bonnie Hunter
Pictured - Her latest book String Frenzy, Garlic Knots, On Ringo Lake, & En Provence

Bonnie is offering one lucky participant a digital copy of her Garlic Knots pattern. You can find Bonnie on her blog, on Instagram, on Facebook and see all her patterns and books in her store.

My goal for July is finish the quilt top assembly and started quilting the gift for my nephew and fiance.  I'm keeping the details of this quilt a secret until it is gifted but I can show you a few blocks!



Now it is your turn to link up - what is your goal for this month?  (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 making something with 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 July 25.)

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: 
 




You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Thanks for linking up!



Have a wonderful day! Patty