Quiltpiecer

In addition to “collecting” fabric, I also collect quilting magazines.  When I first started quilting, I think I bought every magazine that was published … and saved each & every one of them!  Over the years, I accumulated tons of magazines.  When I started to run out of storage space, I knew I had to purge my “collection”.  I have finally narrowed my collection down to those magazines I enjoy the most:  BHG American Patchwork & Quilting; Fons & Porter Love of Quilting; McCall’s Quick Quilts; and Quiltmaker.  And I only keep five years’ worth, so, for now, my magazines go back to 2005. I love going through my old magazines.  Every once in a while, I’ll pull out a few magazines just to flip through them.  It’s like going through a new magazine!  That’s how I stumbled upon this plaid dorm quilt from a Fons & Porter magazine.     Plaid Dorm Quilt from Fons & Porter I’ve been wanting to make a quilt for DS#1 for quite some time.  I had a collection of plaids

I just completed my fourth quilt for the Downy Touch of Comfort Quilts For Kids project.  Three are from requested kits and the fourth is from my own fabric stash.  And, for now, this completes my contribution to this worthwhile program.  I’ll continue to make quilts for kids through Project Linus, which keeps my donations locally; and, I can also deliver my finished quilts to a neighbor who helps coordinate the local chapter … no shipping costs! The Touch of Comfort project was much fun, and it was exciting to receive the kit in the mail to see what fun fabrics had been sent.  The quilts are fast and easy to make, so I do hope new folks will jump on the bandwagon to help them reach their goal of 10,000 quilts before the end of the year.  Click here for more info. UPDATE:   Quilts for Kids has chapters nationwide.  These local chapters keep donations within the communities they serve.  Click here to find a chapter in your area.

I had a great time yesterday at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach (CA)!  I can’t post any pictures of the exhibits, but here’s a fun picture of my BFF Brenda and me with our favorite quilting diva, Eleanor Burns!   We had a delicious lunch at Islands Restaurant and the weather couldn’t have been better.   But, by the end of the day, we were dragging our feet from so much walking.  That place is HUGE and there were hundreds of vendors and exhibits.  I’m glad to say that I stayed within my budget and still had a great time!

Second Millennium or Y2K Charm Quilt Top ~ 2010 Back in 1999 when I started quilting, there really weren't any quilt blogs, but quilters were hanging out on quilt message boards on sites like quilting.about.com. Lots of quilters were swapping 2-1/2" or 3" fabric squares (or charms) in order to make a Y2K quilt with 2,000 different fabric squares. There were even magazine articles about how to join these swaps. Some swaps were set up individually via email (there would be lists of people willing to swap on various websites), but others were “centralized” swaps with one person coordinating the swap. Once you joined a swap, you made up sets of 80 squares of different fabrics, plus a signature square and a very short biography.  These sets were called “squishies” because the envelope or baggie containing the set was soft and squishy.  There were usually 25 members in a swap.  If all worked as planned, you would end up with 2,000 different squares, or charms.  This

My bouillabaisse quilt top is FINALLY finished!  I started it last year in September and posted about it here in January.  I’ve been working on it off and on, and this week I made a commitment to finish it.  It has twenty blocks and each block is 20-1/2 inches.  It measures 97 square inches, with a 6-1/2 inch border. This is the second bouillabaisse quilt I’ve made, but I had so many issues with it! It seems that no matter how many 1-3/4” strips I cut, it just wasn’t enough!  But the real dizzies were the points and bias edges … OMG, by the last few blocks, I couldn’t care less whether anything matched:  I just wanted to get ‘er done!  It’s shown on a queen-size bed, and it’s the second queen-size quilt top I’ve made. I’m not sure yet whether I will quilt it myself or send it out so, for now, it’s in my “To Be Quilted” pile!   Technically, I know it's not a "finished" quilt but it was quite a project to finish so I'm counting it as a weekly finish. This is a

I finished the top for this quilt last month and posted about it here . And, I finally got it quilted with an all-over design and added the binding by machine. Fall is one of my favorite seasons and this quilt will be perfect for the cooler months.  I'm definitely keeping this one! Remember, the best things in life are quilted!

I decided to take a break from nickel quilts!  I made this top from a kit I purchased at my LQS a couple years ago.  I saw the sample in the store and fell in love with the fabric and design.  Actually, the store had run out of the kits, but I was still able to buy some yardage and received the pattern for free.  It’s such an easy scrappy design that uses one charm pack plus one jelly roll.  The block is a four-patch of 2-1/2” squares, plus four 2-1/2” strips, which are sewn to the 4-patch in a log-cabin style.  I started this last week and just finished it yesterday.  I’m not sure when I’ll be quilting it so, for now, it’s back to the UFO pile … hopefully not for long! One more finish since last Friday … I previously posted about this top and finally finished quilting and binding it this week.  Click here to read my previous post: Autumn Nickel Quilt I had three finishes this week: completed one quilt top; and finished quilting and binding two other tops.  Woohoo!  A busy

Remember this quilt top that I blogged about here ? Well, I finally finished it, and I think I’m lovin’ it! I made this quilt from a stash of Christmas fabrics I’ve had for a few years.  I cut the fabrics into 5-inch squares, found a pattern I liked, and put it all together into a baggie as a kit. Last year, I pulled out the kit and put the blocks together; but I wasn’t thrilled with the color combo … the background just didn’t seem right so I put it aside to work on other projects. Well, 2010 being the year to finish those UFOs, I tackled this project and finally finished it!  But, even when I completed the top, I still wasn’t thrilled with it … it just didn’t sing to me.  I struggled with the borders and finally decided, the heck with it, I’ll just make it borderless.  But now that it’s finished?  It sings loud and proud! I quilted it with an allover heart and loopy design (a nice change over meandering), and the backing is an angel fabric that my BFF found at a garage sale and

Well, I finally finished it and I LOVE it!  I joined the pinwheel sampler quilt-along hosted by Rachel of p.s. i quilt in February but put it aside in my UFO pile.  I recently got motivated to finish it up when I saw the finished quilts that others had made.  This was such a fun and easy project that I’m tempted to make another one! I spent all day yesterday quilting and binding it so I could link up today to Sew & Tell Friday!  Great motivation!  I quilted it using an overall heart and loopy design, and it measures 56 x 68 inches. This was my third blogging quilt-along, and they’re just a lot of fun.  I would have never tried a pinwheel sampler on my own, so thanks to Rachel for hosting! Linking up again to Amy's Sew and Tell Fridays … visit her post to see more sewing finishes!  I am also linking up to Lit & Laundry’s Finished for Friday .

A UFO becomes a WIP ~ I made the blocks for this quilt last year.  By the time I’d finished all 48 blocks, I needed a break … and so another UFO was born!  I’m trying to focus on finishing up my UFOs, so I pulled out these blocks and just finished sewing them up.  But I’m not too crazy about it.  I think I should’ve used a different background. The pattern is Northern Lights , and it’s another nickel quilt from Pat Speth … you know how much I love her patterns!  I had some old Christmas prints that I wanted to get rid of use up, and this seemed like the perfect pattern.  The problem is that I can’t find the right fabric for borders so I’m not lovin’ it much right now.  I think I’ll leave the borders off … and maybe it’ll be better once I quilt and bind it … so, for now, it’s another WIP!

Well, I finally finished my Pinwheel Sampler quilt top that I made as part of the quilt-along hosted by Rachel of p.s. i quilt .  I started this in February but had to put it aside for a while.  This was a fun project and I’m very happy with the outcome.  Hmmm, I wonder if I can finish it up quickly so I can post it for this week’s Sew & Tell Friday … maybe? Some of the others are slowly but surely finishing up their quilts, too.  Check out the pinwheel sampler Flickr group here . TTFN!