The Last of the Backyard Fabric Quilts

Months after Seams Like Quilting opened in Spooner, WI, a few years ago, I bought a pack of fat quarters - Ruby Star Society Backyard by Sarah Watts. I slowly began making quilts and finished them this year: Backyard 1 Whirly Jig, Backyard 2, and Backyard 3. Recently, I was cleaning out some scraps, and I realized I still had enough of the Backyard line to make a small donation quilt, Backyard Fabric Scraps.

Size:          47" square

Thread:     Glide 50-wt, top -17543 Light Grey, 

                  back - 10439 Battleship Gray

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    3Cs or Open Blossom

I quilted this with 3Cs. The first C is elongated and the second and third just echo the first. Of course, you can vary things and use just 2 or as many Cs as needed.

I think you can see the quilting here. I used large Cs on this quilt.

The backing on this quilt is a fabric that I purchased on our fall trip while we were at the Fabric Patch in Ironwood, MI.

I think I'm caught up blogging about quilt finishes. Whew! So it's time to get back to quilting.

Sweet Kisses

Sweet Kisses is a pattern from Gigi's Thimble. I had seen a picture of the pattern and I drafted my own measurements. In hindsight, it would have been much easier to purchase the pattern. The blocks are set on point and setting triangles are used on all four sides. 

Size:          59" by 81"

Thread:     Glide 50-wt, top -17443 Bone, back - 38201Steel Blue

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Loop de loop (large circular loops)

This quilt was a great stash buster for my neutral scraps. The kisses are all bright fabrics also from my stash.

Here's a photo with different lighting; maybe you can see details better. The quilting is a large loop-de-loop with a loop in each square.  

The backing was fabric in my stash that I purchased a long time ago because I loved it. It's a modern print that speaks to me. I hope the recipient of this donation quilt likes the back as much as I do.

A closeup view of the back.

This is the last of the three quilts that I finished binding on a recent retreat.

Scrappy HST's

A long time ago, I saw a picture of a quilt made with triangles or Half Square Triangles (HSTs). I knew I wanted to try the idea of having a square in the middle and triangles radiating out in four directions. After a little figuring, Scrappy HSTs was created. I have no idea if it is like the quilt I saw but the middle is the same.

You can see the white square in the middle. I began with HSTs that were 3.5" square and finished at 3" square. I wanted the colored fabrics to read solid but I did vary from that a little.

I made this a quarter at a time. My very rough line shows you a quarter. Think of cutting the quilt on the two diagonal lines through the middle.

For each quarter, I began at the right with a setting triangle. Next I made a strip with an HST and a setting triangle. Then I made a strip with 2 HSTs and a setting triangle. I continued working to the left until the last strip had 13 HSTs and a setting triangle. Then I joined the strips. When I had 4 quarters made, I joined them. I like the design made on each of the corner-to-corner diagonal of the quilt - it looks like flying geese.

Size:         64" square

Thread:     Glide 50-wt, top -17543 Lt Grey, back - 50172 Autumn

Batting:     Dream Cotton
Quilting:    Loop de loop (large)

I quilted this with a large loop-de-loop, one loop in each HST.

The back is orange fabric from my stash.

The binding is some leftover orange Grunge fabric. This is a donation quilt on which I finished hand-stitching the binding at a recent retreat.

Large Postage Stamp with White

I was at our fall quilt retreat recently. We had a great time quilting, talking, eating, and relaxing and we got our first snow of the season! I look forward to our retreats (there are just 4 of us and we enjoy this time together.) This fall, one member of our group couldn't make it so maybe we'll have a winter retreat to catch up on things.

I sewed blocks for a few different quilts but I didn't finish any quilt tops. However, I hand stitched binding on three quilts! 

Large Postage Stamp with White is finished and I love it. It's supposed to be a donation quilt but...

Size:         60" square
Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top-17543 Lt Grey, back 20404 Med Brown
Batting:    Dream Cotton
Quilting:   Loop de loop

The quilt used 900 2 1/2" squares - 450 white and 450 cut from scraps. One would think that many squares would make a dent in a basket of scraps but not much!

I think you can see the quilting in the following photo. I did a loop in each 2" finished square. I found this fun and very relaxing to quilt

The back is brown fabric that I purchased on our October trip at Barn Door Quilts in Door County.

I used the same brown for the binding.

Two finishes

Honey Bees 1 is finished. (You can see the already finished Honey Bees 2 here.) I came across some bee fabric in my stash a while back and decided to make a couple simple quilts. This donation quilt is 56" by 68".

I quilted this using Glide #80607 Lemon Ice thread on the top and #1BLK3 Shadow thread on the back. I used a grid motif - large arcs on each side of each square forming loops in each corner.

The backing is dark gray/black fabric with tiny flowers - perfect for the bees!

The other finish is Blue/White/Green. I had this free pattern from All People Quilt, Blueberries and Cream. 

I began with leftover binding pieces in blues and greens. After looking at the pattern, I decided I'd double the length of the colored pieces (I had lots) and keep the shorter white pieces which I cut from yardage. 

The quilt is pieced in columns. The free pattern repeats every 4 columns but mine has an every 3 column repeat. I pieced this in long units, 3 columns wide, and then sewed the units together.

There are a some pieces near the bottom that have both
light and dark blue. They stand out in the picture.

  

Using Glide #38201 Steel Blue thread on the top and #32965 Navy on the back, I did some ruler work quilting (the diamonds and the curvy vertical line) and some free-motion quilting (two petal flowers in the middle of a few diamonds).

This donation quilt is 55" by 68". The back is navy with purple and light blue swirls.

While binding the quilt, I realized that I did not finish quilting the diamonds in one corner. Upon further investigation, it looks like I ran out of thread but didn't realize it. It took a bit of work but I was able to finish the quilting on the long arm. Whew!

2025 Fall Trip Part 3 of 3

First, I need to remember that we shouldn't be driving distances on Mondays - too many quilt shops are closed! On this trip, we traveled on three Mondays; thank goodness I still found some open shops! I even found more than the items on my list.

Our first stop was a return trip to Nancy Zieman Sewing Studio and Quilt Shop in Beaver Dam. This store has lots of brights which I love. I was able to find two backs for quilt tops I've made. 

backs with finished tops

 

Our second stop was at Quilting Legacies in Fond du Lac. They had a long arm class going on that I was invited to attend (but didn't since we were traveling.) We were able to look around in the store but there was no one to help us. I'd like to stop another time - it was a nice shop.

On Washington Island, we stopped at Sievers School of Fiber Arts. They have a shop where they sell a variety of art and supplies. They had a little fabric and I found a couple pieces for my stash.

In Sturgeon Bay, we found Barn Door Quilt Shop. The owner was really nice and I was amazed at the variety of her stock. I remembered to take photos outside her shop but they aren't good. I'll definitely stop the next time I'm in the area.

I found two backs that will go with my scrappy two-inch squares. There will be four of these quilts total so I now have 3 backs.

backs with a finished top

I've been to Plum Lake Quilts in Sayner before. They carry lots of wool and muted colors. This is a place I love shopping for things for us.

I left with four kits. Ray was quite interested and all of a sudden, I had four kits instead of two. Yes, my husband is an enabler!

A wool Santa wallhanging

A quilt kit that I've looked at before

A cute wool pillow

A wool table runner

We found the Fabric Patch in Ironwood, MI

  

This is a superb shop with a large selection of fabric on two levels. The lady working was related to the owner; she was very helpful and friendly. I found fabric for 3 backs.

The red will be the back of 
the blue and paint splotch quilt.

The fourth of the 2" square quilts, scrappy nine patches
with red sashing will look nice with this navy back.

Finished top, binding, and new backing.

Quilt Elements is in Ashland. I found this shop many years ago in Bayfield, when it first opened. A mother and son worked together and after she passed 9 years ago, the son moved the shop to Ashland, renamed it, and expanded. Since the items on my list had all been checked off, I decided to go with a new quilt. The sailboat fabric spoke to me so I added the darker blue and the red. The fish fabric is for the back. The design is still a bit sketchy and lives in my head.

The last shop on our trip was new to me. We found A Little Piece of Mind Quilt & Yarn Shop in New Richmond.The friendly fellow working was a quilter and a knitter. He was working while the owners were at a quilt show a ways away. There was a large, great selection of fabric and yarn.

I loved the print below - I think being around water for the last 2 weeks has influenced my fabric choices! I thought I could use it with the leftovers when I make the quilt from the last shop. Of course I now know they aren't the same color so I'll find something in my stash. The solid fabric is wide backing and may be used with the print or just stay in my stash.

This was a great trip. Now it's time to sew!

2025 Fall Trip Part 2 of 3

On the mainland in Door County, we saw the sunset at Garrett Beach one night. 

 

Just down the road was Newport State Park, an International Dark Sky Park. We hoped to go there at night and view the Milky Way but we had some cloudy nights. It was also rather cloudy the day we were there. This is a panoramic shot when we walked to the water - lots of sky and no lights.

Cana Island Lighthouse was nice to visit again.

 

At Peninsula State Park, we walked up the 850-foot canopy walk to Eagle Tower looking over Green Bay.

view of tower while on the canopy walk

Green Bay (Lake Michigan) from the tower

We took a selfie at the top of the tower

While in Peninsula State Park, we visited Eagle Bluff Lighthouse.

 

After a wonderful, relaxing time, we left Door County and stopped in Rhinelander for the night. We were seeing lots of color in the trees by then.

The next day, we saw even more color as we headed toward Bayfield. 

 

We stopped in Hurley and took a short hike to Interstate Falls. 

 

In Bayfield, we took a boat trip – the Grand Tour of the Apostle Islands. It was a gorgeous fall day with beautiful colors.

 

We saw the sea caves on Devil’s Island. 

 

After a couple days, we left Bayfield and headed to Shell Lake and Hudson to visit family. It was wonderful to spend time with one of my brothers, my SIL (my oldest brother’s widow), and my aunt. I also celebrated my birthday while there and I think we just ate our way through each day! It was all good. 

While in Shell Lake, we did see a little of the cranberry harvest.

Looks like they flooded the bog and then had a giant lasso around the cranberries with men wading in the bog, corralling the cranberries towards the machine that sucked them up into the wagons.

 

On our way home, our last stop was Prairie du Chien. Our last night on the road was very relaxing as we both enjoyed this fantastic massage chair. 

 

It is always nice to come home and even nicer now that the laundry is done.

 

  TOGETHER IS OUR FAVORITE PLACE TO BE.

 

Part 3 is all about quilt shops along the way.