My Bear Quarry Tote

Noodlehead's latest pattern is called the Quarry Tote. I've made many of her patterns and couldn't wait to get started on this one! The pattern has 2 sizes - this is the larger of the two and finishes at 11" tall.

The outer fabric is a linen print that I picked up at QuiltCon and the inside is quilting cotton. I clearly love, love the bear print from Ruby Star Society. The pattern had instructions for the mesh pocket and I added the inset pocket.

For the inset pocket, the fabric was placed 1" from the top of the lining and the drew the rectangle 1" from the top of the wrong side of the pocket fabric, 1" from each edge. Rectangle drawn for stitching  was 1/2" tall.

The bag is turned through the front outside pocket so I was able to configure the lining in a way that the bears were right side up when you peak in.

I very much enjoyed the entire construction process - perhaps because the bears were staring at me the whole time and they make me smile! This bag will be perfect for events like QuiltCon where I need to carry more stuff. Next up is to make the smaller sized one as an everyday bag.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Granny Square Blanket is Done!

Ta da! My granny square blanket is done and I am in love. (Temps need to cool a bit before it will be put in use!) (This photo was taken at Dix Park in Raleigh.)

When I was a kid, my grandmother taught me to knit. You might consider it my 'gateway craft' that got me into handwork of all kinds - cross-stitch, embroidery - and then quilting. I like the portability of knitting and made many hats, scarfs and even the occasional blanket like this one for my Mom and this one for me! 

This fall, I wanted to attempt to crochet and, thanks to YouTube videos, started making granny squares using a beautiful 32 color pack of Cotton Chirps from Purl Soho. Working with all this color was exciting. One of the best things about granny squares for a new learner? If you mess up, it is easy to pull back a few stitches and then just restart.

the 'wrong side'

The afghan finished at 52" x 52" using 169 granny squares set in a 13 x 13 grid. A slip stitch was used to join the squares. The border was a row of single crochet followed by a row of double crochet.

This actually was my second crochet project. The first was a blanket made way back in the late 70s. (I was only a toddler of course!) While I found a photo, I am not certain where the actual afghan is! There are a few boxes in the attic that perhaps on a non-summer day I will open up and peek inside.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Double Wedding Ring is Done!!

My double wedding ring quilt enjoyed some time at the spa and is now home and on the bed! I am just thrilled with how this quilt came out.

I used these templates and overcut the blocks to allow for better accuracy after trimming. Before I started on these blocks, I practiced with my Pantone challenge entry - Orange Overload! For the orange quilt, I didn't like all the bulk that came together at the seam so decided on adding 1" sashing between the blocks.

The quilt is 92" x 92". The FMQ pantograph is called geometric diamonds. The background fabric is a Painter's Palette solid called Colonial Blue. The pints are primarily from either Ruby Star or Zen Chic.

The new quilt completely changed the look of the room. The prior quilt which I called Pure & Simple was made in 2012. As you can see from the photo below, after 13 years of use and who knows how many wash cycles, it was ready for retirement! 

2012                                                                           2025

Have a wonderful day! Patty

The UFO Challenge

I spent some time tidying up my sewing room recently and gathered all my UFOs and WIPs in one place. For me, a UFO - unfinished object - is a project I've packed away with intentions of finishing someday. A WIP - work in progress - is a project that while I may not be actively working on it, the intention is to get back to it soon.

My guild has a UFO challenge! We've started Quiltchievement badges and if you finish 5 quilting projects started before 2025 you earn a cute little patch... like a Scout badge. I love this so much that I started my list of what my UFO goal will be.

First up is my Ruby Star based Economy block quilt pictured above. Quilt top assembly is underway and I hope to get it quilted this summer. I posted about this first in fall 2024.

Ever since finishing my Rainbows applique started in a class with Jo Avery, I've wanting to do another in a very different colorway. This will soon become my primary handwork project with a goal to finish this summer.

All I need is a binding on my 3rd UFO - this hand quilted orange peel quilt  started in 2023. Should be able to make that happen.

My 4th UFO is this Seattle MQG's free BOM quilt top, pictured on the right. I've already made the backing and the quilting will likely be a fun mindless spiral. I hope to get this one done likely in November, post any QuiltCon sewing.

I've got a few contenders for my 5th UFO and not sure which of these I will pick but each is small and likely to become a pillow.

The contenders are:

• (2017) Rin is all assembled into a quilt top and I need to decide on quilting
• (2019) faux needle-turn applique project 
• (2024) my Local house blocks, a qal done with friends
• (2020)There are twenty Pebble Pop blocks  done which is not quite enough for a quilt top. I need to locate this project in my sewing room and then consider turning it into a quilt back.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Checkerboard Bee Blocks

I am a new member of the @unscriptedquiltsbee. 

This block for July was requested by Jenn @jenngeorgeburt. Jenn asked for two black & white checkerboard blocks that finished about 12.5" square. The block could be made by as few or as many pieces as you wanted. My first block was ruler cut (on left) - I had fun reducing the size each time. The second block did not use a ruler to cut the strips and used scraps from the first one.

Each month has been a really fun challenge. The blocks for May block are in the upper right, the April block is in the lower left and the March is bottom right. 

Isn't it fun how different they are?

There are a total of eleven members of the bee. My month was June and my prompt was Balance. I've receive 5 blocks so far - 3 of them are pictured below - and can't wait to have them all to play with! 

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Mid-Year Quilty Check-In

The Square Up quilt - free pattern from FQS

Happy July! The year is halfway done which is a perfect time to take a look at my creative goals for the year and possibly make some changes. I'll be linking up with Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl.

At the start of the year, I posted my intentions for 2025 (see that post) as well as summarized how I did against my goals for 2024. 

Halfway through 2025, here is how I'm doing:

• Enter at least one new quilt into QuiltCon 2026 (Raleigh!) - I have plans (at this point) to enter at least 2 quilts. I've started the quilt for the fabric challenge and have the fabric for my second project. No photos to share though.
• Finish at least one scrap quilt to be donated to my guild's community giving project. - Done! I donated the Square Up quilt and have two others in progress! The first is ready for basting and quilting - (Read more.) and the second is at the block stage. Enjoying making these pineapple blocks at this point using blue scraps.

• Make time to play and always have at least 2 different kinds of handwork WIPs - Much of my handwork time has been spent on my granny square afghan which has been so much fun to work on. I've also got a Snoopy cross-stitch, a star map embroidery, and a rainbow applique. 
• Continue blogging at least once weekly and post finishes on IG - I want my grid to be filled with all the good stuff! I try to blog at least once weekly but there have been a few weeks that were missed. I've been reasonably absent from posting on IG too. Not sure if I'll make any changes moving forward 
• Focus on my personal well being by making time to exercise, to read, to rest, to relax with friends, and - most importantly - recognize joy in every day. This continues to be an important intention. I do fine with daily exercise and rest but not as good as I would like on the recognizing joy part.

My guild has started a UFO challenge to finish 5 of them this year. I love a good challenge so will see what I can do with this one! I posted about my UFO and WIPs earlier this year - time to inventory exactly where each project stands.

I'll be linking up here.  

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Three Llamas and a Hippo

My nephew and his wife just had their third child - a little girl - to go along with their two boys. I've made quilts for each of the boys so my new great-niece absolutely needed on of her very own.

I used the Little Llama pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. The fabric used to make the llamas was leftover from making the quilt for her older brother. (The photo above is true to the fabric color.)

My youngest crocheted a sweet blanket for the baby and a fun hippo rattle. (You can see the hippo in that first photo.)

They do such beautiful work!

The quilt finished at 40" x 44" and the blanket is 26" square.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Double Zip Gear Bag

I have a great group of quilting friends and we like to get together and sew for the day in what we call 'day-treats' as in day retreat! Each time we get together, I end up gathering stuff into zip lock bags and random containers. I wanted something a bit more fun and pretty.

This is the Double Zip Gear Bag pattern from By Annie. Fabric is a Ruby Star print. The pink zippers and the mesh and the soft and stable were all prizes I'd won in my guild's retreat earlier this  year. I was happy to put them all to use!

It was a fun sew. I've made other By Annie patterns before so I was familiar with her style of pattern writing. Adding the binding around the two inner seams was a bit tedious but it came out better than I expected.

 This bag has lots of zippers and plenty of room and will be perfect for my next 'day-treat'.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

DWR Quilt Top is Complete!

Last month, I posted that all my double wedding rings blocks were done. (See that post).

Now I am happy to share that all my done blocks are all assembled together..... however, I decided to make more blocks.

The quilt top measures ~70" x 90".  The quilt top is actually laying sideways on the bed so you can tell that it isn't really hanging off the side edges.

I'll be adding 2 more rows to get it ~90" x 90". Originally, I was going to just put a strip of background fabric across the top and bottom. It looks fine in the photo and is fine if you want a quilt that is 108" long. But practically speaking, the way I use the quilt, 90-92" long would be perfect.

I am really happy with my sashing between the blocks. I think it makes the quilt more modern looking. It also avoided a lot of bulk at the seams and covers up the fact that ring dimensions can be slightly different than their neighbor.

My goal this week is to make the additional blocks - fingers crossed I have enough fabric - and then order what I need for backing fabric.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Granny Square Update - My Beach Project

Last fall, I taught myself how to crochet. (Actually, I knew how to crochet as a teen but this was a long forgotten skill.) I bought a lots of 25g balls of cotton yarn and went on to make 169 granny squares.

We had our annual beach vacation in May. Typically, I bring along my sewing machine but this year, I decided to start the assembly process. It was a bit of a trial and error process for me but I am finally sort-of figured it out.

And I'm loving the way it looks. I've got 28 different colors to play with. Right now, I'm busy attaching the 7th row.

Having a handwork project at the beach turned out to be just perfect. I could sit on the deck and enjoy the view and still create.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Small Projects - A Bag and A Name tag

I had the chance to spend a sew day with friends last week and I worked on two small projects.

The first was this Harry Potter themed zip bag for a sweet neighbor turning 8. Pattern is from SewHooked. The bag is 7" x 10".

Next up is a new name tag for guild meetings. I scored the letters at the Ruby Star booth in QuiltCon. They are from an upcoming fabric line. The nametag itself is ~ 4.5" x 5.5". My last nametag was from 2017 - here is that post. One of the main reasons why I have a blog is to be able to remind myself what I've made and when.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Sarah Hibbert Workshop

Sunday I had a blast in a workshop with Sarah Hibbert. The workshop - Freestyle Patchwork - was all about play. In the morning, I worked on the piece Sarah and I are holding. the idea was to start sewing together squares and rectangles, choosing the pieces somewhat blindly, and see what develops. I want to make the piece a bit bigger and hope it will eventually live on a wall in my bedroom. Since I am working on a new quilt for that bed - see those blocks - I used scraps of blue.

In the afternoon we worked on a different piece where you started with a odd sized scrap - i.e. not a perfect square or rectangle - and then built the piece up from there. I used many of the same scraps as the first piece but ran out of time to make the piece larger.

Sarah is a wonderful teacher - I would highly recommend taking one of her workshops. She told a whole bunch of fun stories and shared lots of tips. She also brought some linen scraps and generously shared them with us. (There are some of her linen scraps in the first piece.)

Sarah will be back in Raleigh for QuiltCon and I look forward to seeing her again!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Shine Improv Blocks

I am a new member of the @unscriptedquiltsbee. 

This block for May was requested by Ellyn @ellynz. We were asked to make improv blocks that represent the work Shine using a specific color palette. Ellyn sent us Kona Lagoon to include in our blocks to help unify them.

My two larger blocks are roughly 10" x 10" and there is a 6"x 10" and 5" x 5".

You can see the March block  and the April block.

There are a total of eleven members of the bee. My month is June and I am so excited to send out my prompt.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Double Wedding Ring Blocks are done!

I am very excited that all 63 of my double wedding ring blocks are done!

I started these blocks during a guild retreat with the expectation that I could finish them during the actual retreat. That didn't happen - no real surprise there! - but I methodically worked through them and they are now done.

I used these templates and overcut the blocks to allow for better accuracy after trimming. Fabric placement was tricky but the plan is to have different fabrics come together in the 4-patch.

My plan is to actually set these with sashing to remove all those bulky seams coming together. This will be a queen sized bed quilt when complete.

For now, I am putting the quilt aside to work on another project. The next step for these blocks is a really good pressing and trimming.

Before I started on these blocks, I practiced with my Pantone challenge entry - Orange Overload!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Guild Retreat 2025

My guild - Triangle MQG - tried something new last weekend - a 'sleep in your own bed retreat'. In the past, we rented a room at a hotel at the beach about a 2 hr drive away. This year, we rented a large space associated with a fabric store and held our retreat there. (That's me standing up on the bottom right.)

Everything went so well - even with a 90 minute power outage after a large storm blew through! We had pizza Friday night, ice cream Saturday afternoon and plenty of junk food all the rest of the time!

My goal for the weekend was to get 63 double wedding ring blocks pieced. Turns out, this was far too optimistic - isn't that always the way with retreat sewing? Instead of 63 complete blocks, I managed to sew 39 partial blocks - leaving the last seam which required some accuracy to line up seams for home.

It took awhile to get in the grove but one I started laying out the block pieces for a row ahead of time I was able to speed up the process. That said, I got too confident towards the end and started piecing the blocks without pinning. That just meant there were some misaligned blocks to fix when I got home!

In addition to the blocks, I finished the last bits of my tchotchke block requested by bee mate @feltlikesweets - read more.

 Besides the sewing, there was much laughter and new friendships formed. And, as I said, there was ice cream!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Tchotchkes

I am a new member of the @unscriptedquiltsbee. I was very excited to join - there are a total of 11 members. (My first bee block was for the Illusions prompt - you can see it here.)

April, my second bee block, was requested by Charles @feltlikesweets. He asked us to imagine the closet floor of a child in middle school cluttered with tchotchkes. He sent along fabric - reminiscent perhaps of orange shag carpet from when he was a kid? - along with a bag filled with fun items shown above.

We were welcome to make as few or as many as we wanted. We could add items from our own homes as well.

The panel is 14.5” x 28.5” and was a lot of fun to put together. I am particularly proud of the Barbie shoe and the chess piece. Probably the most difficult part for me was letting go on what the right scale was. 

Charles and I are both members of the Triangle MQG and I used time at our retreat last weekend to finish up the panel and hand deliver my block!

Such fun. I'm now ready for the May challenge!

Have a wonderful day! Patty