Colour Value Mystery Quilt Finish.

Whew! I squeezed in one last finish this year. This mystery began March 16 and I posted a little about it here. It's been a weird, busy year and life and other quilts got in the way. Then, when this quilt was finally quilted, I realized that a needle had shredded quilting threads in various spots meaning I needed to do multiple repairs. Last night I finally finished the last problem so now all is well.

The Colour Value Mystery Quilt is now known as Evening Light by Canuck Quilter Designs. I used fabric from my stash for this entire quilt including the dark royal blue batik on the back.

This donation quilt was fun to make and a number of people in the mystery QAL used various layouts for the finished quilt.

Size:          57" by 74"

Thread:     Glide 50-wt, top - 30290, Baby Blue

                  back - 30281, Blueberry

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Large double and single loop design

There are lots of ideas moving around my brain for quilts to make in 2026. Of course I already have a pile of quilts to bind and a pile of quilts to quilt. I'll make a concerted effort to use some larger stash pieces in some simple 2-fabric donation quilts.

We were at the UW Health American Family Children's Hospital
earlier this month and dropped off a big pile of quilts. I always wish I had more. Maybe in 2026, I'll be able to make more than any other year or at least more than this year - we'll see!

I hope your family enjoyed the holidays. Ray was diagnosed with Covid on the 24th and I got sick on the 25th so our holidays have been all about rest. We are beginning to feel better. Hopefully things will get back to normal around here within the next week or so.

Happy New Year!

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!

Some quilting

I try to quilt most days, sometimes for a few minutes and sometimes a few hours. 

My first finish is the 30's Quilt. Last fall I won a bundle of 30's fabric fat quarters. I hunted and finally found a little fabric in my stash to go with it - 30's fabric isn't a normal choice for me. I also added a little yellow fabric to make the quilt 50" by 58".

I used Glide #80607 Lemon Ice thread on the top and #10430 Battleship gray on the back to quilt this with a double loop spiral. 

I bought purple for the back and binding of this donation quilt.

A couple of years ago, I bought a pack of fat quarters - Ruby Star Society Backyard by Sarah Watts. I made three quilts tops. Backyard 2 is the first one to be quilted and finished. This donation quilt is 58" by 60" and used the leftover HSTs from the 1st top. 

I used Glide #17443 Bone thread on the top and #10877 Sterling on the back when I quilted this with a loop-de-loop motif.

I think the quilting shows better here.

I purchased a dark pink fabric for the back.

I have a number of quilts in progress. Here are a few I don't think I've shared before. I'm continually trying to clear out fabric with more donation quilts.

A few days ago, I decided I had a lot of charm squares and some mini charms that I wanted to use. So... I decided nine-patchs of 2.5" squares (any color and any fabrics paired with white) would be good. I have it started.

Since there were LOTS of 2.5" squares, I also started a large postage stamp quilt. I have really enjoyed sewing on both of these quilts lately - very relaxing!

I have a graduation quilt to make and I just decided (finally) what I wanted to do so I need fabric and lots of time in the studio. When I finish that, I have a memorial t-shirt quilt and pillows to make for my brother's family. Somewhere in there I have a quilt retreat. So my future looks sunny with a great chance of quilting!