A Few Random Projects

Posted on February 26, 2023 by zippyquilts

My friend Linda over at Flourishing Palms blogged about her participation in the Dreamlines quilt-along, so I checked it out and, of course, signed up. Here are the strips made so far

And here is the link to the Dreamlines quilt-along if you’re interested. If you scroll down this landing page you’ll see where you can sign up for her newsletter and get the project each month. Even if you don’t do that, go look up “Dreamlines Brenda Gael Smith” on Pinterest to see some of her wonderful work.

Also from the internet, I somehow decided to enter the current round of PROJECT QUILTING, which you can learn about here. The challenge this week was the “54-40 or fight” block. Here’s my entry, an 18″ mini-quilt.

I’m afraid it proves that there IS such a thing as too much Kaffe! But it’s done, and it was fun, so good enough.

Finally, here are my blocks so far for the Studio Stitch Block of the Month. I’m enjoying the challenge and the variety.

What have you been up to lately?

Glimmer: A Finish

Posted on February 19, 2023 by zippyquilts

This quilt was made in 2022, but I just got it bound. I took a class at Studio Stitch to make it because the previous quilt I made using the Jaybird Quilts Sidekick ruler gave me fits. Here’s the previous one (pattern here):

Not sure whether it was previous experience or having someone to guide me step by step, but Glimmer went together just fine. Here’s a look at the back and binding:

And here’s a picture of the quilting done by Linda Nichols:

Quilt Stats

Name: Glimmer

Finished size: 60″ x 60″

Pattern by: Jaybird Quilts

Made by: me

Quilted by: Linda Nichols

A Novel Project

Posted on February 14, 2023 by zippyquilts

I publish this blog on Sunday, so what’s up with a random mid-week post?

Because I made something for the current PROJECT QUILTING challenge, here.

The challenge requires making something quilty from start to finish within a week, and must be posted by Saturday, which is why this post is early. There will still be a regular post on Sunday.

This week’s prompt is “a novel”–any novel. I made this card because the occasional romance novel is my guilty pleasure (OK, one of my guilty pleasures), and it did double duty as a valentine card this week!

Process: I took something from the discard bin and applied heat-n-bond to the back. Then I cut out a heart, fused it to the front of a blank card, and zig-zagged around the edge.

Fun and done!

About Those Improv Blocks…

Posted on February 12, 2023 by zippyquilts

Back in 2019 I made up my own improvisational block challenge. When the blocks were done, though, I decided it was going to be difficult to put them all together in one quilt. I had chosen coordinated fabrics but used all the colors from the collection, among other problems. Of course it was intended as a learning experience, and I learned that I should restrict my color options when I experiment with just a few blocks!

Here are all the blocks together:

And just for comparison, here is a more recent series of improvisational blocks in which I did limit the colors:

So I learned, which is good, but then those 2019 blocks have been sitting around for a while. OK, almost 4 years.

I’ve decided to use the 2019 blocks in a series of small pieces that I quilt by hand. This not only gives the blocks something to do but also gives me something to do with my hands during meetings.

Here’s the first piece so far.

The funny thing is that many people at meetings have asked, “What is it? A table runner?” And when I say, “Art” they just look puzzled.

And a lot of times art is puzzling, so I’m good with that 😀

I do need to find a local art quilt group to join, though. Any suggestions?

Did Someone Say Scrap Quilt?

Posted on February 5, 2023 by zippyquilts

I modified this from multiple quilts I have seen because I liked the idea of turning squares into those elongated hexagons as well as the idea of pointing everything toward the center.