Years ago, a Guild member showed us a pattern for a quick and easy quilt. Where I’ve been working on the Hexagon Star and Dear Jane for a while, I wanted to relax and make something that was quick and easy.

The original pattern called for 5 1/2″ squares. I had received two stacks of 5″ squares for my birthday. I would use them. From the top of the stacks, it looked as if the fabric was color coordinated, but it was not. Where this was a quick quilt, I would use them anyway.

The pattern calls for eighty squares. Thirteen of the eighty squares are the same fabric. I used a mottled gray fabric for the alike squares. The quilt is sewn together in ten rows of eight squares. The gray squares have their own spots.

Press the first row to the right and the second row to the left. Continue down the quilt in this manner.

Now the fun. The quilt is sliced down the gray squares.

Then the top is brought to the bottom and sewed.

I forgot to take a picture for the next step, but the quilt is sliced across the gray squares. Then, the top is brought to the bottom and sewed. Now all the gray squares are half square triangles around the perimeter of the quilt. The sides are now on the bias. Carefully measure the sides and add a border. I used the same gray fabric for the border. It was cut at 3 1/4″ but could be any size.

This is the prefect size for a crib quilt or a lap quilt. It could be made with any size squares. I might make it again using baby prints. There should be at least eight different fabrics. Maybe more if there were a lot of scraps left over from other projects. Or I might make it using floral prints with green as the alike fabric. There are many possibilities.

Machine quilting with an even feed foot in a cross hatch would also be quick and easy. This is a great quilt when you need one in a hurry.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

When you work on long term quilts, it seems as if you never finish anything. The Dear Jane quilt border is worked on in the daytime and the Hexagon Star is worked on in the evening while watching TV.

The Dear Jane was a finished quilt without the border, but I decided that it needed the border to look better.

There are 52 pieced triangles and 48 plain triangles in the border, along with the four corners. Most of the pieced triangles have to be paper pieced. Some are appliqued and some have curved piecing. They will all be finished in the potholder method before placing them around the center quilt. When I piece a block, I make a backing out of the colored fabric and if there is enough fabric left, I piece two plain triangles. Triangles of batting are also cut at this time. All the units are in a box waiting to be hand quilted and bound.

Hopefully, when the triangles are ready to be quilted, the Star Hexagon will be finished. Then, my evening work will change from Dear Jane to the Star Hexagon.

The Star Hexagon is coming slowly. I have finished a few star points. Several more to go. There are ten points on the star. Almost half of them are finished, but not on the main body of the quilt yet.

The SAHRR is finished as is the Mile A Minute quilt that was made out of the leftover scraps.

I have also sewed the binding on two quilts that came back from the long arm quilter. They were made with the batch of quilts that I made to use up the Japanese fabric. Thankfully, there are just scraps of this fabric left in the Mile A Minute bin.

Maybe by Summer, I can move on to something else.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The clue for row 6 for the 2024 SAHRR is numbers and letters. Fifty-four forty and fight came into my mind immediately. Then I thought of a nine patch or a four patch. Letters didn’t even enter my mind. All the rows after the center were based on a three-inch square. Where this was the last row, I could make a six-inch square and it would fit. Fifty-four forty or fight won, and it is a nice corner block.

There was one ten inch by twelve inch piece of fabric that had to go into the border. That left some three inch by six inch spaces to fill. There was just enough hand dyed fabric left to fill this space.

The quilt top is finished. It is a mass of orange and purple. Really not the colors that I usually work with. The quilting will bring it all together.

This is what is left from the sample and the hand dyed.

I decided to make a Mile A Minute quilt with the scraps, instead of storing them in a box, never to be seen again.

The small scraps are in the box. Strips are on the left, and partially finished squares are on the right. When sewing a Mile A Minute, you take a strip and small scrap without looking and sew them together.

Two finished Mile A Minute blocks. I will keep making them until all the fabric is used up. It will make another baby quilt. The size really doesn’t matter. That’s the way of a Mile A Minute quilt. Nothing matters except a straight seam and pressing. It is a great way to use all the leftover partially filled bobbins.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Row 4 on the SAHRR was a square in a square. You would think that it would be an easy one to finish. Somehow, it took all week to just get it done. The problem was the cat fabric. I wanted to include it in this row. The cats were too large to fit into a square in a square. After a lot of thinking, I decided to just put a row of cats in the top and bottom borders of this round. By the time it was finished, the clue for row 5 was posted. There are more cats left to go into other rounds.

Row 5 is the number 4. We could do 4 of anything. This was easy. Four patches in the corners. All four sides of the quilt were the same. There are four colors, purple, orange, white and black. It went together quickly.

There was even a spot for the orange polka dot fabric. The most difficult part of making this quilt is using the small amounts of fabric from the sample package that I won. Also using colors that I don’t usually use. There is one ten by twelve piece left that has not been used. It will have to go in the next row, along with the small left-over pieces.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Years ago, I inherited a partially made hexagon quilt from my mother.

She had some hexagons prepared. I added some of my fabric and finished it. It is a two-generation quilt.

One of my daughters watched me working on the quilt. She started making hexagon quilts when she went home. When my quilt was finished, I gave her the leftover hexagons and she made a three-generation quilt. The hexagon quilt is the only type of quilt that she makes.

While visiting another daughter last summer, she mentioned that her sister was going to teach her how to make a hexagon quilt. I offered to teach her and the next thing we knew, we were at Joann’s buying fabric. She has made a wall hanging for her son and is working on a bed quilt.

A week ago, both daughters came for a visit. We had a hexagon party. We chatted and sewed on our quilts. The top quilt is made from the daughter who has been quilting longer. It is finished. The bottom quilt is the first quilt of the other daughter. It will have another row.

Quilting is fun. The reason why they are laughing is because of this piece of fabric.

The background fabric is a mixture of white-on-white fabric. This white on white is dog paws. The other white on white fabrics are scattered throughout the quilt. The dog print white on white starts at one corner and meanders across the quilt, around the flowers. It’s as if a dog walked across the quilt.

more hexagons

Now that the blue quilt is finished, a new quilt has been started.

Three of my daughters and a daughter in law are quilters. It is a joy to share my passion with them.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The row 2 prompt for the SAHRR is triangles. I thought of lots of patterns including a fox head made of triangles, Then, I was reminded of my favorite block, the cat’s cradle. It is a block that has triangles but is made of two squares, two small rectangles and one larger rectangle. It looks difficult but is very easy to make with the Creative Grid Cat’s Cradle ruler. The ruler lets you make this block in six different sizes. 

The last time that I used the ruler, I made enough blocks for a quilt with enough left over for another quilt which is not made yet.

All the cutting instructions for each size are on the ruler. 

I had three small pieces in the sample fabric. I was able to get twelve small squares from these pieces. Hand dyed fabric would be used with the rest. I also had a light piece of fabric that had been stamped in a class at the Vermont Quilt Festival. That would be cut into rectangles. More hand dyed would finish the larger rectangles. I needed twenty-eight cat’s cradle blocks with four corner blocks. The squares and rectangles were cut very fast. 

With a little bit of sewing and trimming, the blocks were finished.

The blocks are three inches square.  

There were several ways to turn the blocks. The triangles looked best this way.

I’m beginning to like orange and purple.

In the evenings, I sew hexagons. All the pieces are in the basket. The pieces are all cut and in baggies according to which section they belong. I can work on different sections and then put them together.

This is a long-term project. 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

At first glance, the prompt for round two was easy. Just use two colors. I could use any blocks that I wanted. As my quilt was using purple and orange, those would be the two colors that I would use. 

My first plan was to make purple and orange triangles all around the block. I’m using the fabric sample package and small yardage hand dyed fabric. That plan couldn’t be used as there wasn’t enough yardage. I did make some triangles for the corners. 

There was enough fish fabric to use in the round. This quilt will be the most unusual one that I’ve ever made and not at all like the quilts that I like to make. I was really stretching using purple and orange and using cats and fish. Sometimes it’s good to get out of your zone.

When this is finished, a baby will like it. 

Have a great day and happy quilting. 

I didn’t intend to start something new with all the ufos that I have to finish. I follow Laura Kate’s blog, Daily Fiber, and am going to do this year’s round robin. I’m always a week behind because I don’t belong to the group and just jump in with the block of the week after Laura Kate posts hers. It’s interesting to see how the other ladies design their blocks. 

I decided to use only what is in my stash this time. Years ago, I won fabric sample fabric at the local quilt shop. There isn’t enough fabric to make anything, so it has been sitting in the drawer for a long time. There are two color ways.

The teal and blue are colors that I use, but the orange and purple are not. Which one should I choose?

I decided that if I didn’t choose the orange and purple it would go to the bottom of the pile again. Then, I went to the hand dyed drawer. There are lots of fabrics that go with the orange and purple fabric. I pulled out a few to see how they would look. 

There are still more that I can pull if I run out.

The block this week is the signature block. My plan is to use a fabric from the hand dyed and one from the fabric sample on each round. I’ll choose the colors as I go. The purple is from the sample and the orange is from the hand dyed.

 

The center is one 9″ block. I couldn’t cut up the angry birds. They are cute. Hopefully, this will be big enough for a baby quilt. 

Have a great day and happy quilting. 

Happy Birthday, Miss Molly. It’s not proper to tell an older lady’s age, but Miss Molly is now 14 years old. She is doing very well for a lady of her age. Her job as quality control inspector is on hold for a while until her mom can get back to the sewing room. It’s been one virus after another for a long while. now. There has been no finished work in the sewing room this far in 2024. The best is to come. Miss Molly and I will get back to work as soon as we can. 

 

Miss Molly with her friend, Cooper

Miss Molly checking out the big bag of Kaufmann Japanese fabric. It passed inspection

This has to be for me. 

Miss Molly posing for her applique 

I have been working on the hexagon star, It is a long-term project. Hand work is slow. I still have 35 small flowers and 7 large flowers to make before I can put it all together. 

Angela Walters third class on dot to dot free motion quilting has come. I have finished the first class but will try to do the other two soon. 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I have a lot of PHDs. Projects Half Done. It seems as if the results of Covid have hung around and I flit from one thing to another. I’m determined to finish a few of my PHDs. 

Two of my community quilts have been basted and are ready for quilting. 

This quilt is made of leftover blocks. I’m not sure how I will quilt it. Maybe each block separately or maybe with a cross hatch across the whole quilt.

In January, I am taking an online course with Angela Walters. It will be dot to dot machine quilting. I will use this quilt for the class projects. 

This postage stamp quilt came back from the long arm quilter and is now bound. I’m breaking my rule of giving all my quilts away and keeping this one. I’ve started another box of 1 1/2″ squares to make another one, which I will give away.

I did finish this table runner. 

Two quilts came back from the long arm quilter today. They need binding. These two are made with the Robert Kaufmann Japanese fabric. I have almost used it up. 

Flying Geese

Cat’s Cradle

This is a bonus quilt. 

There are many more quilts waiting to be finished. I’m still working on the Hexagon Star quilt in the evening. It will be a long, long term quilt. 

Have a great day and happy quilting. 

Happy New Year