Mystery Quilt - Block 2

I've uploaded a file with instructions for Block #2 (or Clue #2) for my Friendship Garden Mystery Quilt on my website and in my small quilt groups. All you do is add a border around your first block. Easy.

Then, if you feel like doing more, cut 20 squares that measure 3 1/4" x  3 1/4". We'll use these in a later step as we put the quilt together in the coming months. Make sure you put them in a safe place so you can find them when it's time. (But. don't be crazy mad like me and put them in a place so safe you lose them for 2 years . . . .)

Choose a nice assortment of prints in various colors and values if you are making the scrappy version. 

This week I found a small scrap of this pretty blue and red fabric and decided I couldn't bear to cut it up - I needed to use it to make a doll quilt from the alternate star block I gave you last month for the Mystery Quilt. You may choose to make a star for the center if you are not comfortable with applique. See directions for Alternate Block #1. 

Also, the small quilt challenge we'll be making for February is my Windowpane quilt on page 38 of Small & Scrappy.

I love this scrappy little quilt so much. It was inspired by some vintage blocks I found online. The colors were rather dull in the original but still pretty. I made mine in similar colors but added more blue and pops of pink to brighten it up. I'm hoping some of you make this quilt in red or pink for Valentine's Day. 

It's still cold here in Chicago and the lagoon at the Chicago Botanic Garden is frozen over. But it's still pretty to walk around, even if there's no snow.  

When I've had a few minutes, I've been working on some 6" nine-patch blocks for a lap quilt. That light print will be used for my setting blocks. Nothing fancy. Just wanted to use some of my favorite fabrics to make a quilt I can cuddle up under as I watch TV. This one is for ME. 

I work with small blocks so often, it feels weird to make 6" blocks. They seem so BIG. Might be a trend though : )  I sure wish I had made some of my small quilts in larger sizes. 

Of course, something tells me I'm going to have to share my blankie with the dog when it's finished. I don't mind a bit. Who's a pretty girl now that she's had a bath and a haircut?? 

Have a good weekend!

Oh, How Sweet!

That's exactly what you'll say when you see the photos of my latest little quilt. For the past few weeks I've been working on a project for Andover Fabrics. They sent me some pretty pretty fabric from one of their recent lines designed by Renee Nanneman and said -  "We like your blog. Your followers are some of the sweetest people on the planet. Here, make something for them." Well, okay, that's not exactly what they said  - but I DID get the fabric and I DID make something out of it. A small quilt. And YOU get the free pattern.

                              

                                     

 



    

I know you are thinking it's a little out of the box for me and you are probably surprised by the PASTELS.  But I thought the fabric was so adorable and, anyway, secretly, I'm a pink and blue girl from way back. I've been itching to make something a little lighter for awhile now. Here was my chance.  Here's the pattern. I encourage you to thank Andover by "liking" them on Facebook.
 

 

Is this quilted floral border sweet or what?

 

Oh, and get this - something else that's "Sweet." Thanks to the generosity of the folks at Andover Fabrics - on Thursday, February 14, Valentine's Day, I will be giving away 30 (yes, 30!) Charm Packs of fabric to 30 lucky winners. Can you believe it? Come back here on Thursday and leave a comment for the big fabric Giveaway.

 

 

 

My little Sweet Pea Doll Quilt was made with some beautiful prints from The Chateau Chambray collection designed by Renee Nanneman for Andover. 

 

As a child, my daughter's nickname was Sweet Pea and she's always loved pink. I showed her the fabric and she fell in love with it and told me it sure would be nice if she had a quilt made out of it Not this one  . . . . a big quilt, LOL.

If you love this fabric too, post a comment on my blog on Thursday for a chance to win a charm pack. Visit your local quilt shop and see if they have it. Also, check out Andover's Blog. They often have awesome giveaways. "Like" them on Facebook! Read their Tweets! (Oh yes, and while you're at it, don't forget to take a look at the rest of their fabric on their website.)

 

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It's very easy to make!
 

 

This little sweetheart cried out to be hand quilted and so I dug through my stencils and came up with this one I've had for years -

 

I wish I could tell you where I bought it but I honestly can't remember. I checked The Stencil Company's website  and it's not one of theirs but they have so many other cute stencils to use for the borders I know you can find something similar if you get inspired and want to make one yourself. Just check out their page on stencils for 2.5 inch borders  that are perfect to use on these small quilts.

 

 

 Use a Sewline marking pencil or a fine line washable fabric marker. Mark the lines (lightly) and then quilt them. Easy as pie. Wash out the markings with a damp cloth after you're finished.

 

 

This pink candy-striped binding makes me smile.

 

 

I made another gorgeous quilt using more fabrics from Renee's Chateau Chambray line and will try to put the pattern up on my website sometime next week.

 

 

Don't forget to stop back here by on Thursday and leave me a comment for your chance to enter the giveaway for the Andover Charm Packs (Sorry, NOT the fat quarters shown above, but all those fabrics in a smaller pack). You'll be glad you did. And, let's just say these odds are much better than winning at Lotto . . . .

 

Giveaway Winners

Boy, you all gave it your best shots at guessing what was in my basement. Many of you guessed correctly but - did you seriously think I would give away my books, my dolls, or my fabric?? Nice try though.

 

There were no vintage sewing machines, no antique doll beds. I have lots and lots of things I don't want or need but cannot afford to ship them to you. Such as  - an antique headboard for a full-sized bed. (We have a queen, don't ask why I bought it. As I told my husband - it was a steal.) Two blue plaid arm chairs from my "country" decorating days.  Four pairs of used crutches, all sizes, belonging to the clumsy members of my family who kept breaking their legs and ankles and/or feet. Two vacuums that sort of work but not really well. 8,000 pairs of children's snow pants. (They seem to multiply.)  Four tool boxes full of nails that we inherited (we use about 4 nails per year). Lots and lots of baby clothes that I will not part with yet. Oh, and one pair of SIZE 8 skinny Calvin Klein jeans. ( In 1980 NOBODY wore a size ZERO.) Noooo, I will never give them up! Nor will I ever fit into them again, you understand - they're there just for the record. I fit into them for exactly one day, I believe. But that day I said to anyone who would listen - "I'm a size 8 now." 

Thanks for entering my giveaway and leaving a comment. Here are the 3 winners of the magazines with a pattern for this cute little doll quilt I made. (This month's challenge, which is also in my book The Civil War Sewing Circle.)


Granny Lyn

Cathryn in Corvallis

        and

Ruthie

Yay!! Please send me your addresses (kathyktracy@comcast.net) and I will mail out your magazines this week.

Again, thanks for entering and please come back next week when I will be giving you a free pattern for an adorable little quilt. I'll also be giving away some beautiful FABRIC to quite a few of you, more than 3 this time. That's all I'm saying right now. Mark your calendars for Valentine's Day. Be here.

Cold Comfort

Some of you may be feeling sorry for those of us in the Deep Freeze, either here in the Midwest ("Chi-beria") or over there on the east coast. Don't.

It was -8 degrees when I woke up today.  Pretty darn cold.  My sister-in-law is in Florida right now and, like many, has been there awhile in order to avoid this Chicago winter of ours. She invited me to go with her but I declined. She keeps sending me pictures of all the fun she's having in the sun. Don't get me wrong, they're nice and I'm glad she's having fun but I'm not really envious. Actually, we're okay here. More than okay. We're kind of used to this weather. And we've still got sun. Supposed to get all the way up to 4 degrees later.

Can't imagine where the Weather Channel is getting their pictures from . . . .

The real view.

I'm sitting on the sofa right now, curled up in a quilt, wearing my pink fuzzy socks, drinking coffee and beginning to work on the binding for a small quilt I started a long time ago. Life is good, I think to myself.

A few days ago I also became inspired to quilt then finish my little Valentine's Day quilt so I'm on a quilting/finishing roll again.

It felt good to finish something I'd started for a change. Yesterday, I looked at my stack of small quilt tops and half-finished quilts and wondered why I usually just reach a certain point and then quit. Some of them I actually like. No good reason I guess, except that I buy fabric then become inspired to try new projects pretty often and those push the others into the background, then the Unfinished drawer. Many of them I know will not even take that long to finish. So, I pulled out an old one and decided now was as good a time as any to finish something small. 

Anyway, yes, it's cold here. But, for some reason I don't ever mind. I guess I'm just a natural home body. My nesting instinct really kicks in during the winter and every winter I find a strange comfort in the extreme cold. I'm lucky to be able to work at home so I don't have to go anywhere. I don't have an outdoor job - unless you consider standing out in the back yard every hour on the hour, watching the little dog, making sure she doesn't get dragged off by a hawk or coyote my outdoor job. (It kind of IS now that I think about it . . . . )

My husband is working from home today, my daughter came home a couple of days ago to "nurse" a cold or the flu (actually, I am the one doing the nursing . . . . ) and is resting on the other sofa, the dog is curled up next to her, the coffee's hot and I have my sewing to do. It's kind of quiet and cozy here. What could be better? I wouldn't trade it for Florida, that's for sure. 

Not Guilty

The Fed Ex truck stopped in front of  my house the other day. Valentine's Day to be exact. I had heard it was coming, but didn't know quite what to expect or when. I started to hyperventilate when I opened the box.

Look - it's full of fabric! Pretty fabric!

I know we all have way more fabric than we need and we feel guilty about buying more (even though we still do), but this fabric came with absolutely NO guilt!  Can you believe it? As a very nice gesture for using some of their fabric in my quilts in the new book, Marcus Brothers sent me the new Judie Rothermel line - Bancroft - along with fabric from her recent Civil War Chronicles line and a whole bunch of Bonnie Blue Basics designed by Paula Barnes of Bonnie Blue Quilts. How lucky am I?

It's a wonderful thing to acquire fabric without having any guilt associated with it. I didn't have to hide it in the trunk until my husband went to bed or "misplace" the credit card bill after I shopped . . . (None of this ever works anyway, since he's my personal accountant and the CFO of my business, LOL. I can't hide anything from him.)

No Sirree - I have absolutely no guilt over this and am just enjoying my good fortune. I have always loved Judie Rothermel's reproduction fabrics and save small pieces from some of her older lines to put in my new quilts. Do you notice? Some people do and I often get asked about a certain fabric and have to tell them no, you can't find it in stores anymore, it's about 7 years old. I've  just been hoarding it for the right quilt. I wonder what I'll make with all of this? Stay tuned for that in the coming months. I'm a little overwhelmed right now to actually cut into any of it. I'm very busy just stroking the yardage.  

Here are some closer shots of the fabrics. Not an ugly one in the bunch. Notice all the lovely browns  . . .

Brown and  blue

Brown and blue and red . . .

This one is one of my favorites.  Brown and pink . . .

Red and blue and  . .  . brown. Is someone trying to tell me something??

Isn't this red and brown stripe beautiful? I love it.

Now I'm just playing. I'll mix this with this, and that with that . . .

Can you see the wheels turning??

The Civil War Chronicles line is in shops now and Judie's Bancroft  line will be in shops the beginning of March. I'm grateful I got to have a peek first. See the entire line of fabric here.

Wish me well. I have a feeling I'm spoiled now and every time I see a Fed Ex truck on my street I'll be tempted to jump in front of it and ask if they have any fabric on board. Is it for me? Is it for ME??

Dear Jane Progress

Seems like I'm off to a great start this year.  Considering I started my Dear Jane journey in 2010, that's only 11 years to get the center completed LOL . . . . 

I'm hoping that, in between sewing hexagons for the sew along that started in January and the upcoming little Valentine's Day Mini Mystery Quilt, maybe I can get some more triangles finished (31 down, 21 to go plus the 4 corner blocks). Oh dear. It always sounds so daunting. I make some progress and I feel good about it, but then - there's still so much more to do. How DID our friend Jane Stickle even manage this? And in the 1860s no less, without the EQ Dear Jane software for help with directions and paper piecing! I know for a fact I could not have done it without that help. 

                                  

                                     

                                 

                                    

I keep my poster up in my sewing room for a constant reminder.

                           

If you are thinking about making a Dear Jane quilt but can't find the book . . . .  Did you know that Brenda Papadakis, who wrote the Dear Jane book, has come out with a second edition of Dear Jane? It's the 25th Anniversary edition. The original one with the yellow cover has been out of print for quite a few years and is really hard to find. My own copy is all dog eared and marked up after ten years and so I treated myself to a brand new one (with a blue cover LOL). Hopefully, this will renew interest in The Quilt and some of us will get inspired to finish the ones we've started when others begin theirs for the first time. 

                                

If you feel you need a little motivation to work on your Dear Jane or maybe begin one, here's a post I wrote several years ago about my journey.

                             

Oh yeah! Join me this month in my Facebook group for a Valentine's Day Mini Mystery Quilt.

This little sew along begins on Friday, January 14, 2022 in the group. It will be another small and simple design and won't take you too long. We'll do this in quick steps every week so it won't interfere too much with hexagons or anything else you're stitching right now. Bring out your pink and red reproduction fabric scraps along with some shirtings or light  prints. I'll give you the cutting directions on Friday. The following week we'll make the blocks and the week after we'll put the quilt together. Simple and fun and you'll be done in time for Valentine's Day. You'll need one pink print, one red print and one or two shirting prints. If you like scrappy, then choose two different reds and a couple of different lights for variety. But use the same pink fabric. Have a fun weekend!