October Bee Blocks

Another month, more fun blocks from my online quilting bees!  First, Martha in Stash Bee asked for pineapple blocks.  Not pineapples the traditional quilt block, actual pineapples!  Aren't they super cute?

Think you might enjoy an online bee?  Stash Bee will start accepting sign-ups for 2019 on November 1st. is now accepting sign-ups for 2019!  This is my third year in Stash Bee and I love it!  I will be back for year 4 in 2019!  Here is the direct link for 2019 information.

In Bee Inspired, Queen Kate asked for a block she designed herself.  You can make two of these blocks from just 2 strips of fabric, 2 1/2" by width of fabric!  How cool is that?

We set up our Queens so that October is the last month, leaving November free for those who need to catch up.  That means these are my last blocks for this bee.  Bee Inspired is currently a closed group, created by some of us who participated in the 2016 New Bloggers Blog Hop.  We have decided not to operate as a bee for next year but we are discussing other activities and projects to keep the group going.  I'm glad, because it's a great group of quilters! 

Birthday Banner

I'm enjoying decorating my front door with various seasonal/holiday quilts.  I've been wanting to add a birthday quilt and with two family birthdays in October, this seemed like a good time of year to do it. I finished it in time to hang on the door for my son's birthday, and we took it to park for his party, too, and hung it at picnic shelter.

The letters were cut with my AccuQuilt alphabet die.  The pattern for the cake came from a magazine, Quiltmaker's All-Time favorites.  The cake was even on the cover!  If you look closely at he picture, you'll see that this is from Fall 2000.  Yup, I've had this pattern 18 years!

I quilted the diagonal grid before adding any of the applique.  I didn't want the lines to go through the cake or the letters, but I didn't think that just the applique would be enough quilting.

the background before adding the applique

For the back, I used some fat quarters and scraps given to me by a friend's mom.  I went to visit my college friend Jen over Labor Day weekend, and when discussing the details before my trip, Jen asked if I'd have extra room in my car.  It was just me and Fire Monkey for 2 nights so we wouldn't have much stuff with us and I didn't understand why I'd need room in the car.  Until she told me she had 2 big boxes of stuff for me from her mom!  Apparently her mom, a life-long crafter, is realizing she won't use all her craft supplies in her lifetime so she's getting rid of stuff that she is likely not to use.  Both Jen and her mom are primarily knitters and her dad is a rug-hooker, so that means that I (as essentially an adopted daughter) got a TON of fabric and other sewing supplies.  A lot were coordinated fat quarter sets and you'll start seeing projects from them soon, I hope.  For this backing, I picked out 2 fat quarters that were unlikely to be used in other projects, as both were mottled almost-solids, plus a feather print that is a civil war reproduction--not my normal style, but I loved the color. 

Those of you who are regular readers know I track the Kona solids that I use.  I used a lot of scraps in this one! The background is Dove.  The cake is Highlight with Citrus on top and Camilla icing, Algeria candles, and Papaya flames.  The letters, in spelling order, are: Tomato, Niagara, Cerise, Leprechaun, Punch, Mediteranean, Parakeet, Torch, Jade Green, Gumdrop, Cabbage, Honeysuckle, and Jamaica.  The binding is Storm.  

I love knowing I can hang this on our door for birthdays!

Rainbow Elephant Parade

2017 was my second year doing the Rainbow Scrap Challenge hosted by Angela of So Scrappy.  I picked Elephant Parade, a pattern by Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts that she did as a quilt along, and she keeps her quilt along patterns up and available.  For each color, I made 2 adult elephants and 3 baby elephants.

The backing fabric is Kona Fog.  The elephants are from scraps, obviously.  Each month, I alternated the direction I made the elephants.  This means that went put in rainbow order, it ended up much more random, but I'm okay with that.  If you are wondering why there are 4 rows facing left and only two rows facing right, there was originally a pink row as well.  But I felt it made the quilt too long, so I turned the pink elephants into their own project called Elephants in the Garden, finished earlier this year.

This is a baby gift for two of my wonderful friends from college who just had their second baby, a lovely young lady named Cassandra.  The back is a Lucy Cousins print that I bought years ago.  (Lucy Cousins is a children's author & illustrator, she writes the Maisy books.)  I had to piece a bit as I was just a little short.  I am sorry now that I used the drab pale yellow fabric and didn't look for something brighter; that pale bit in the upper corner looks so out of place. I do love the rainbow back for a rainbow quilt!

Since it was a scrappy rainbow, I decided to use scrappy binding.  I love being able to use up spools of binding!  I used eight scraps and seven of those how now been completely used up.  Yay!  I went through my bin of binding leftovers and picked out all the solid colors. Then I picked out a nice bright variety and pieced them together.  This is what my spool looked like before I attached it to the quilt:

This is #4 on my list of Q4 goals for the globally-hosted Finish Along.  It's on also on the list of projects that qualify for my PhD (Projects Half Done) with Gail of Quilting Gail.  I'll also be linking up with Tish's Adventures in Wonderland during her next UFO linky party. 

September Bee Blocks

I made my September bee blocks early in the month, but I didn't get them mailed until October 1st and I don't like to post before I've dropped them in the mail.

Bee Inspired had two Queens in September.  Queen Janice wanted a house block with a sawtooth star.  She likes bright colors and wanted each block to be in a single color way.  My favorite color is purple, so of course I had to make a purple house.

Queen Irene asked for a log cabin with red centers and white and off-white logs.

In Stash Bee, Queen Pam designed her own block.  She asked for bright, scrappy star points.

As always, I loved the variety of blocks I was asked to make!

Q4 goals

Wow, this year has flown by! We're now into the last quarter of the Finish Along. I really love the Finish Along community and motivation.  Here are my projects for this quarter.  As always, I'm listing way more projects than I will actually complete because I never know what I will be in the mood to work on.
General Projects and Gifts

1. Rin
I did the Rin-Along last year and completed a block.  Now I need to turn it into something.

2. Mom's I Spy
My mom asked for an I Spy quilt and I'm pretty close to having the top completed.  This is twin sized and is very similar to the versions owned by each of her grandchildren.  I'd like to get this done by Christmas but am not sure that is realistic.

3. Magical Forest
I need to assemble my blocks from Stash Bee 2017--I'm making a magical forest!

4. Elephants
Last year, I made elephant blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I took the pink elephants out for their own quilt, so this is a more traditional rainbow.  Two of my closest friends from college just had their second child and I really want to give them a rainbow made of elephants.

5. Fish Pillow
The friends who will receive Elephants as a baby quilt who also have a 5-year-old.  I want to make something for the new big sister to add to the package.  She really likes aquarium fish, so I'm making a fish pillow.

6. Devin's baby quilt
My good friend Devin, also a college buddy, is expecting his second child soon.  I plan to make an I-Spy quilt to match older sister's.

7.  Extra for Miren
The baby from #6 also has a big sister.  I'm still waiting to hear from her parents what Miren, age 3, is particularly fond of, so this one is undefined so far.  It will likely be either a pillowcase or a small pillow.

8. Quilt for Fire Monkey
My son & I have been an I Spy quilt for him. He picked out all the pieces and we pieced it together.  The top is assembled, I just need to do everything else.  He asked me about this today, so I need to get moving!

Mini Quilts & Pillows
Pillow Menagerie
I am slowly making us a menagerie of animal throw pillows four our couch, as I got rid of the big cushions that came with the couch because they were so big it was annoying.  The following are pillows I have patterns and fabric for, and I've spent time getting the pattern pieces enlarged and color coded.
9. Lion--pattern is from the zoo animals collection by Kristy @ Quiet Play
10. Giraffe--pattern is from the zoo animals collection by Kristy @ Quiet Play

11. Dandelion
This has been my hand-sewing project on trips and I finished the embroidery!  Now I just need to turn it into a finished project.

12. Vintage holiday
Another hand sewing project.  I have the applique completed but I'm not sure how to bind it.  I'm thinking a faced binding, but I'm not sure how to do that, especially with felt.

Project Linus

13. Dog Gone Cute
I made a Dog Gone Cute block for one of the women in a quilting bee, and I liked the block so much I made a second for me. I am slowly making my way through all of Lorna's amazing dog blocks.

14. Snowmen
I liked the Snowman block by Sherry of Powered by Quilting so much that I'm doing a whole quilt of snowmen!  I've made 5 blocks and I want to make 4 more and then have fun with different embellishments.

15. Bumper2Bumper
This has been my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project this year. 

16. Fireburst
I've been following along with the mystery quilt hosted by Tish, Fireburst.  The reveal of the final layout was earlier this week.  I'm excited to put my pieces together!

17. Postage Plus Leaders & Enders
I've been using 2 1/2" squares as leaders and enders and will put them together using the Postage Plus pattern from the book by Cheryl & Paige.

18. Fall QAL
I've been participating in the fall-themed quilt along by Partners in Design.  There is still one more block to be released, and then I can complete my blocks and start assembling!

 
19. Patriotic Stars, part 2
These were my bee blocks from April.  Most of them were turned into a door decoration, but I still have a few blocks left to turn into a donation quilt.

 

Color Block I Spy

Several years ago, I made an I Spy quilt top inspired by a I Spy Ten Little Things, a Moda Bakeshop pattern.  I decided I wanted to do each block as a single color.  I like the way it turned out.

These are all 5" I Spy squares.  I used 2 different rainbow striped fabric remnants for the binding, so it has a lovely rainbow stripe around the whole quilt.

The quilting is just vertical straight lines.  I used gray thread, thinking that would blend best with all the different colors.

I found this as a completed top in a drawer after I made my list of PhD quilts (Projects Half Done) for the challenge with Quilting Gail.  Since it wasn't completed, I had to add it.  I am pleased to report that I have officially completed enough projects to earn my PhD IF I finish everything started in 2018 before the end of the year.  I'm not sure I'll make that stipulation, but if I don't, I'm pleased to know that I really did finish half of my pre-existing PhDs or UFOs.

My Helper

I happened to finish sewing the binding one of the days we were stuck inside due to Hurricane Florence. Quilts of Compassion was already anticipating a need for those impacted by the storm, even as those of us in North Carolina were living through it.  Since I was fortunate enough to just have a lot of rain and an occasional flicker of my lights, I decided that this quilt should go to those who were weathering the same storm I was but with a much more loss and devastation.

In addition to being on my list of UFOs to complete for my PhD (Projects Half Done) with Gail of Quilting Gail, this was #15 on my list of Q3 goals for the Finish Along.

Baby Quilt for April

My coworker April had a baby girl, Nandi, in late August. When I inquired about a theme, I was told that they weren't planning a theme but liked greens, leaves, and nature.  This was about the time I was working on Amy's baby quilt, and I knew I had enough left from that quilt to make a second if I added one more print from my stash.

top before it was quilted

The fabric is The Cottage Garden by Riley Blake and came from a prize I won from Julie of The Crafty Quilter from her monthly "Hello 2016, Good-bye UFO" link-up that month. I used the gray bird print for Amy's baby quilt which left the white bird print for this one.  It wasn't quite WOF, so I used one of the other prints to lengthen to match the other rows.  The pattern is a slight adaptation of "Cherish" by Villa Rosa Designs.

I used cross-hatch quilting, my go-to design for most things.  I just really like how it looks.

I had a yard of a green leaf print that I thought would work nicely with the leafy natural preference I was given.  The yard worked for the width but I needed a bit more length.  I had a sizeable remnant of a giraffe print from making a pillowcase for my niece a while back. It seemed to go nicely with the leaf print, and who doesn't like a family of giraffes walking across a quilt?

Aren't they just too cute?

April comes back to work next week, so this is now washed and ready for gifting.

This was #4 on my list of Q3 goals for the Finish Along.