November One Monthly Goal Finish Link-up

Ready to link up your November finishes?

Don't panic - this link-up is open until November 30 at 11:55 pm ET.

My goal for November was to finish my QuiltCon Together challenge quilt.  I'm excited to share my latest finish Cartwheel!  You can read more about the quilt here.

Now it is your turn to link-up!

There will be three winners this month - Fat Quarter Shop is offering a $25 gift certificate,  ecopeco is offering one of their amazing cutting mats, and Therm O Web is offering a collection of products.  What awesome sponsors!

Congrats to Lizzie, Becky, and Meg - our lucky winners!   (updated 12/3)

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. (November 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 November 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.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks for linking up!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Cartwheel

I'm excited to share my latest finish - my QuiltCon Together entry for the fabric challenge!

The quilting was all done with my walking foot - echoing the design and then just straight lines on the diagonal.  There is a bit a hand quilting in there too.

You can really see the quilting on the back of the quilt.  (I used a light light gray solid for the back.)

The quilt measures 36'' x 36''.

I've been on a fabric diet for 2020, buying only what is needed for a project.  Covid and not being able to browse freely in a fabric store is certainly making my diet easier to adhere to.  But so is all the fabric I already own that isn't finding its way into projects.

The MQG challenge was to make a quilt of any size using at least 3 of these 4 specific prints plus add any solids that you want.   I added my own additional rule - use only the fabric sent by the MQG (essentially fat 8ths) and only the fabric in my stash.  

You can see how I used the fabric on the block intersections.

When it came time to name the quilt, a trip through the thesaurus and trying words like thrifty or frugal approach came up the word parsimonious.  I sat with that name for awhile but then decided that I wanted a more a joyful name and decided on Cartwheel.  (In my entire life, I've never been able to do a cartwheel and given my age, I've no expectation that this will change.  Calling the quilt Cartwheel is as close as I will get to the real thing!)

I am really excited by my finish!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Pebble Pop blocks - an update

And now there are 20 blocks!   (My design wall has seen better days.  I need to figure out how to refresh it so it does a better job!)

At the end of September, I took a virtual workshop from Daisy (@warmfolk) to make blocks for her Pebble Block quilt.  (You can read more about that class here.)  

I am really into using up my scraps and had such fun putting these blocks together using various scraps of 'whites' I had leftover from other projects along with scraps of gray and a few gray FQs too.

Each of these blocks are 9 1/2 '' square.   These 20 blocks would make a quilt 36'' x 45'' which really isn't big enough for a throw.  And, no surprise here, I still have scraps of gray leftover!

Next step is to upsize these blocks into 12 1/2'' square by surrounding them with scraps of gray of various widths so that the resulting circles are offset differently in each block.

And I just might throw in a little strip of color here and there for an extra bit of pizzazz! 

You can clearly see that I used different scraps of white / cream in making this blocks.  I'll be distributing them all around the quilt in the final layout.

Can't wait to see how this one comes out!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Baby 4 -patches

QuiltCon Together begins on February 18.  It will be a virtual event this year and I'm planning on entering at least 3 quilts into the show. I've signed up for a class too and hope to spend an afternoon virtually walking through the quilt show with a friend.

Last Tuesday, I saw a couple of things go by on Instagram suggesting QuiltCon Together was 100 days away.   Better yet, I saw several friends starting 100 day projects to help mark the passing time.

For my 100 days to QuiltCon, I decided to make mini 4 patches using scraps of solids.  These cuties are 2 1/2 '' x 2 1/2 '' so it will take many (many) of them to make an actual quilt.

How many? Quick quilt math - a quilt 60'' x 60'' needs 900 of these baby 4-patches.  Yikes!

So my goal for the next 100 days is to make baby 4-patches and then start sewing them into sets of 9.  These blocks are 6 1/2'' x 6 1/2''.   100 blocks - i.e. a 10 x 10 layout - will give me a throw sized quilt!

So while I aspire to make 100 of these 6 1/2'' x 6 1/2'' block, my goal for the next 100 days is just to make these baby 4-patches and continue to sew them together as I go!  I'll source everything I can from scraps embracing multiple shades of 'white' as I go.  At some point though, I'll just cut into yardage for the background.

I've got a pile of 2 patches next to my machine and I am ready to rock!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

43 Days to Christmas

Celebrating the holidays will be different this year for all of us.   I've been thinking about ways that I want to celebrate the holidays, simplify things where I can, and still make gifts for people who are important to me.

I'm loving the process of making these journal covers and think they will make a fun stocking stuffer gift for a few friends and family on my list.  I'm using these moleskin notebooks - you can get them with lines, blank pages or dots!

These Hipster Bags (see my previous post)  are a lot of fun to make and thought I would make at least one more for a family member.  The pattern is available to MQG members.

Last year, I made several pillow as Christmas gifts (see that post) and they were a big hit.  I am going want to make a new pillow for my Mom to compliment the VW pillow I gave her last year.

I usually make something for each of my 3 kids too.  Not sure what it will be this year so need to get to work on ideas!

43 days to go to Christmas (even less when you account for package mailing) - time to finish my list and get sewing!  Its always a magical time of the  year!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

My Pebble Pop blocks

At the end of September, I took a virtual workshop from Daisy (@warmfolk) to make blocks for her Pebble Block quilt.  (You can read more about that class here.)

I've been wanting to make a quilt for a family member using grays and blacks and decided this would be the perfect pattern.

I've got 4 blocks so far.  They have been the perfect block to work on while we wait for the election results to settle down.

I decided to use whatever scraps of white-ish fabric I had in my stash and think the different color whites will add some interest.   I'm aiming for a throw size quilt - since these blocks finish at 9'', this means making 36 of them.  

4 down, 32 to go.  I've got plenty of grays to work with!  (Although I imagine a little fabric acquisition will be needed along the way!)

Have a wonderful day! Patty

October Temperatures

And another month in 2020 is behind us.

October (the last 2 columns) continued the cooling trend that started at the end of September.  We certainly had a few days creep into the 80s but with lows in the 60s or 50s, they didn't feel like summer days.

And Halloween brought a high temperature only to hit the 50 degree mark - see that lone blue block at the bottom?  November has continued with the cooler weather so more blue to come.

I have been enjoying the creation of this quilt and am already trying to figure out what I will do for 2021.  There is my 3rd year of making a temperature quilt - I can't stop now!

You can read more about the design here.  The net is the 2020 quilt will be functionally sized at 48'' x 48''.   The quilt records both high and low temperatures for each day.   The block is a simple one - the low temperature is the smaller rectangle - vertical for odd numbered days and horizontal for even numbered.  

The fabrics are all Painters Palette solids and I keep the color gradient at the top of my design wall so it is always available to reference.  

I've made temperature quilts for 2018 and 2019.  Want to make your own temperature quilt - check out my tutorial!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

One Monthly Goal November

Welcome to November!  There were 79 people who joined the link up last month - 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 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.

ecopeco has designed a 5 layer cutting mat made from food-safe plastic (no BPAs or PVCs).  The mat comes in several beautiful colors.  I use my mat every day - see my product review.  ecopeco is offering one lucky winner an ecopeco® Quetzal Blue Combo Pack (24” x 36” & 28” x 24”).  I just love my ecopeco mat and know that you will too!  (This prize can only be shipped to US addresses.)

Therm O Web offers one of the most trusted, innovative and complete lines of adhesives for both the sewing and paper crafting markets, as well as a full line of interfacings and stabilizers for sewing, quilting, embroidery and crafts.  Therm O Web is offering a collection of HeatnBond® products including EZ print Featherlite sheets and  PeelnStick ruler tape.   (This prize can only be shipped to US addresses.)

Aren't these just terrific sponsors?

For November is to finish my MQG QuiltCon Together challenge quilt.  I'm only sharing a bit of the quilt now but will reveal the whole quilt once I've got it quilted!

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 November 24.)

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 November Link-up

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a wonderful day! Patty