Everyone Deserves a Quilt: October 2020

Monday, October 26, 2020

Design Wall Monday

I have the Rockn' Roller Coaster quilt top completed and am contemplating the quilting and binding options.

While I am not thrilled with my fabric choices for the top row, I don't dislike it enough to take it out and change it. :)

What's kind of interesting though, is that it doesn't bother me very much at all when I rotate the quilt. It sure does give this a different look, doesn't it? Jack says he likes it better this way; and since it will be here for kids to use, I think it could be fun for them to decide which way they like it best.

I may have to give some extra thought to the quilting, if it's rotated. Hmmmm What are your thoughts?

And while I'm asking, what are your thoughts about binding?

I have been working on a few secret sewing projects, so not much more has been done with my Ava's Garden blocks. I look forward to working on those again because I just love churn dash blocks.

What are you working on today?

Check out some Quilters' Eye Candy at

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

and

Beth's Monday Making

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

A New Project

I love it when a leader/ender project becomes the focus/main project!

I've been doing a lot of secret sewing projects and as usual, I can't share them just yet. But, I can share the latest leader/ender project that has just moved to the main feature project.

This is my version of Krista Moser's Rock'n Roller Coaster, using Tammy Silvers' Kismet fabric.

This is a very special project for me. I was honored to meet and spend three days with both of these awesome ladies back in September during the much-revised Ohio's Amish Country Quilt Festival. I knew that I wanted to create something special from that time together and this is the result.

As many of you know, I test patterns for Tammy and love doing that. (We've had lots of communication over the past couple of years, but we'd never met in person, so meeting her was really fun!) What you may not know is that Tammy designs fabric too. I've been eyeing her Kismet line and was thrilled when she gave me a set of 2 1/2" strips. WooHoo!

That made my fabric choice for my special project easy. Whew! Now I just needed to decide on a pattern. Low and behold, Krista's Rock'n Roller Coaster pattern uses 2 1/2" strips. Decision made!

I typically have a patriotic quilt as a leader/ender project, but I decided that I wanted to take a break from that and start this quilt. It's quite easy, and the hardest part was deciding which strips I wanted to use because the quilt only uses 15 print strips. I have lots left over and am looking forward to using them for another project too - one that I've designed. :-)

Of course moving the leader/ender project to the main project means that I need to start a new leader/ender project. Truth be told, I have some that I could have and maybe should have started up again, but I decided to start work on my Ava's Garden quilt, which is designed by Myra Barnes of Busy Hands Quilts. I am honored to test and sew for her too, and I decided that it would be cool to include one of her projects in this mix of things. (Of course I am working on a secret sewing project for her right now, but I wanted something that will be mine to keep.)

I have always liked the Churn Dash block and the fact that these are made from 10" squares is great because I just happened to have a Berry Sweet by Elyse DeNeige 10 Karat Crystals pack sitting around my sewing area. I even had the yellow background fabric. Sweet!

I love the picture above. I think it shows how I feel about myself as a quilter - a nice healthy mix of traditional and modern. :-)

Stayed tuned for updates of this and those secret sewing projects I mentioned earlier. :-)

Thursday, October 1, 2020

October Color Challenge

It's the first, which means that it's time for

October's Color Challenge block!

This month's color is Olive,

and the bird is the Ruby - Crowned Kinglet

For the pattern and block instructions,

head on over to

Jen's Blog - Patterns by Jen

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Isn't this a pretty bird?

As with many birds, it's the male who is brightly colored.

Ruby-Crowned Kinglets are olive-green with a very prominent white eyering. They also have a white wingbars, which make them easy to distinguish from other birds.

While the males have the red patch on their crown (thus the name Ruby-Crowned), it is not always visible.

The birds are relatively small, with large heads, a very short neck, and thin tails.

Their bills are small, thin and straight. The Ruby-Crowned Kinglets found in Alaska and British Columbia are slightly smaller and a darker color than those found in other parts of North America.

The Ruby-Crowned Kinglet lives in tall, dense conifer forest, such as spruce, fir, and tamarack. They can also be found in shrubby habitats and parks during the winter.

They are restless birds and move quickly through foliage at fairly low levels. Their wings are almost constantly flicking, which gives off a very energetic vibe.

This little bird packs a big punch when it comes to singing. Listen and watch this YouTube video that not only lets you hear the beautiful song, but the narrator describes the complex parts of the song. This is quite interesting!

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet Song

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I have used very little olive in my quilts. As a matter of fact, I can't seem to find any pictures of quilts in which I've used any significant amount of olive. You know what that means don't you? I have to find more olive fabrics and use this color!

Here is the olive fabric I bought at Once Upon a Quilt.

It is very pretty and I especially like the design.