Scrap Attack quilt

I've been working on the scrap attack blocks.  These are a bunch of blocks that the HHQG members made for me, as I parting gift for being president.  The picture below shows four blocks and in this case they were all made by the same maker.  The only instructions they were given was to think of me and make it bright and scrappy......lol......I am known for making scrap quilts.....lol.

I got about 40-45 blocks from the members.  The blocks were all different.  Very different!!  It is my job now to make some bridging blocks to, one, make the quilt a bit bigger than the initial blocks would allow and two, to try and blend all the various blocks of various colours and styles.  That last one is the hardest.

Some people went all bright, some went medium.  Others did coordinated and the majority of the others did completely scrappy.  What a mélange of blocks!!  Was I up for the task?  At first I was frozen.  I just didn't know if I was going to be able to make all the blocks turn out cohesive in a quilt.  

I thought I would show you an example of a small corner section that I just recently pulled together.  Above is the main section that was done.  Below you will see another set of four blocks that someone else put together.  This maker made each corner a specific colour.  Beside this second block, is another set of blocks that was made primarily with beige and brown, which is why I put it beside the gold/orange, to help these blocks blend.  

The first block has some blues in the right hand side to blend it into it's neighboring block and the dark pink blends a bit with the red of the block beside it.  I know what you are all thinking.....it looks like a mess of scraps, but you'll have to wait for the overall appearance of the quilt when it's done.  Something magic happens when you move back and look at the whole.

So now it was my job to take some of the other blocks I was given and try to coordinate them with what I had started on the design board.  My intention to help blend everything, is to have the perimeter diamond shapes be all in blue.  In the picture below I zoomed out.  The two blocks from the above picture are in the top right hand side.

So I then found a single, all blue block which was great for the bottom left hand corner.  Then I found a single block that had all blue on the left so I was able to form that blue diamond, on the right of the corner block.  That is how I did it for all the blocks I had been given.  Kept moving, swapping, rearranging.....lol. 

Then I had to make the two left hand side blocks to finish this corner.  Can you see how I used purple for the dart facing down toward the other purple dart of someone else's block.  I used all blue in the left diamond and I started to find similar colours to match the other block's diamond to make it look like a continuous multi colour diamond.  Sorry if that doesn't quite make sense.....  There are lots of darts and diamonds....lol.

I am doing what I can to try and blend everything together.  This corner has a lot of reds, blue and purples, moving out to some greens and golds.  I have another section of the quilt closer to the top that I've already posted about.  Something a bit more coordinated.  If you want to see the progression of this quilt from the start, I posted about it:  Aug 27/2025 called Scrap Attack blocks gifted by Guild members, a little on Dec 29/2025 called An extra Saturday sewing day on a Monday, and Jan 28/2026 called Scrap Attack quilt progress.

We will see how it all comes together in the end.  Wish me luck in managing it!!

Take care everyone.

The next Gathering Flowers appliqué quilt block

On Sunday, I pulled out the next block that I am going to work on for the Gathering Flowers appliqué quilt.  This one has four modernish hearts in the corners with four leaves and four berries separating them.  

The block was started way back when, where I appliquéd the leaves and berries to the background.  I did make an attempt to appliqué the hearts, but at the time, I don't think I had enough skills to pull it off.  I felt my curves were not curvy enough and I had points or concaves in the curves that I just did not like.  So in my frustration, I put it away for a while.

Now this block is back out again.  I picked off the heart pieces that were done and I am debating cutting out the shapes again, so that I won't have to fuss with these misshaped hearts.  I am ok with the slightly imperfect leaves, so they will stay.

I am not sure if you can see the block at the bottom of the picture enough to see the heart shapes stitched to the background.  These stitches act as a guideline for where the hearts are to be placed.  This was a new technique for me, which I think was a little too advance for me at the time.  Plus, as it turned out, I don't like this technique at all.  I reverted back to a few other methods of appliqué that I choose from, depending on what shapes and sizes that I am working with.  

I am going to bring this example to the next HHQG workshop, that is coming up on April 11th, which will be teaching hand appliqué.  Two of us will be teaching the class, which will be great, as we sometimes use different techniques to achieve the same results.  The more examples we can show the students the better.  Then they can pick and choose what method or methods they prefer after they try them all.

Take care everyone.

Dragonfly panel

As it turned out, we had a lot going on this past Saturday, at our sew day.  Here is yet another post of things that went on.....lol.  This is good, as I have not been able to do so much in quilting in the last little while.  

We had one of the ladies bring some show and share.  This will be a gift for her daughter.  She started with a dragonfly panel.  Apparently these panels came in purple as well. 

This time she did the low volume grey and beige version.  This is really pretty and the colours are so calming.  I like dragonflies.  They are unique.  This person added a couple of additional borders with two sides one colour and the opposite corners a different colour.  In this case a lighter grey and a tan/beige.  When she added the two borders, she did a mitered corner, where the two different colours meet.  That's a nice touch.  Then she did the second border the same, just in reverse.  Really pretty.

I was so caught up in the moment and admiring the quilt and quilting, that I forgot to take close up pictures.  So the maker was nice enough to take some photos and send them to me.  To be honest, that day I forgot a lot of opportunities to take a bunch more pictures of quilting candy/inspiration.  This person had several mini quilts that I thought were cute and I forgot to take pics of those too.  I don't know where my head was....lol.

Anyways, this here is a close up picture so you can see the centre, the panel, a bit better.  If you enlarge the picture some, you can check out how she quilted the borders.  She did two vines all the way around and added leaves to them.  It was well done!

She sent me this picture too, which is of the back.  Here you can see better all the quilting she did on the dragonfly.  So detailed that this side makes me think of a whole cloth.  It's like she did an outline of all the sections of the dragonfly wings!  It looks real life.  I love it!

I am sure that her daughter is going to love it!!  It is just the perfect size for a larger wall hanging or a small lap size quilt.

Take care everyone.  Wishing everyone a good Easter for those who celebrate it.

A pineapple quilt in the making

More productivity happened at our Saturday sew day, when this person was working on her pineapple blocks.  These really take a long time to do with all those individual pieces.  She was also working on other stuff, so by the time she took this one out, she still managed to finish two blocks.

She has a bunch of them already made.  This was a HHQG Workshop of May 13/2023, where we demonstrated paper piecing.  I asked her if she would lay them out, so that I could take a picture of them for this blog.  These are really looking great!!  

This person opted to swap the position of the light and the dark strips for some of her blocks.  Many people did the dark for the diagonal small pieces and light on the larger vertical and horizontal pieces, and others did the reverse.  Each version took on a different look.  

This person chose to do some of each.  She also chose to do her background in the same bright white throughout all the blocks.  Doing it this way makes it look so fresh and crisp.  The blocks have a Spring vibe to them.  I really like this lighter version.  So pretty!

I'm not sure if you caught the subtle difference between the three centre rows and the border blocks.  Can you see that she did the border blocks in reverse?  The centre blocks are going to be like most of the others were doing them, with the dark on the diagonal small pieces and light on the larger vertical and horizontal pieces.  It will make the border blocks just a bit darker, so that it will frame the centre blocks.

This maker said, she has a gazillion more blocks to make.....lol.  The placement of the bottom border above, is just there so you can see the difference the border will make against the lighter blocks.

Another aspect of this quilt, are the corners of all of the blocks.  Instead of taking her dark colour strips all the way to the edge of the block, this person decided to use the same blue or green fabric in the largest diagonal strips, just before the half square on the outer corner.  That one is white instead of a colour.  If you look at the picture above, you'll see what I mean.  When the corners of the blocks meet, they will match each other to form a blue or a green square. 

Above we have a sample of a light block.  See all those pretty Spring colours?  So cheerful!!  

Below is a sample of the alternate position with the light on the diagonal small pieces and dark on the larger vertical and horizontal pieces.  More cheerful Spring colours!!  It didn't escape my notice that amongst all the "Spring" colours, there is a snowman!!  Can you see it?  Is it Olaf....lol?

So cute!!  This is going to take a while to complete, which is to be expected with all the small pieces, but is it going to be well worth the effort.  I can't wait to see this one complete.

Hope you all enjoyed that one.  If you are looking for an attractive way to use up your scraps, a pineapple quilt like this would certainly help to make a dent in them.  

Take care everyone.

Some blocks were being made

Even though I didn't get much done on Saturday during our sew day, there were others that did get some blocks made....lol.  This first block is the Smith Mountain Morning star block for the quilt that is being called Bird Brain.  You can read more about that quilt on the Dec 9/2025 post, called Bird Brain....lol.

I like this block variation with the half square triangles (HST) in the centre.  I also like how she placed the top right hand corner HST to match the top blue point of the star and the bottom left hand corner that matches the bottom blue point.  It extends the blue and make the block look different.  This block is, I believe, going on the back of the quilt.  Gorgeous!

Then we had my mom who was also there at our Saturday sew day.  She managed to make the last twenty nine patch blocks that she needed for her blue string quilt.  Here is a sampling of nine of them.

The blue nine patch blocks are for her version of the Burgundy String quilt that I spoke about in an earlier post.  Here is the EQ design I made and printed up.  This is the same quilt that I am making, though mine is going to be done in burgundy.  This is also the same quilt that the person who is making the Bird Brain quilt is making, but hers will be blue, like my mom's.  

My mom is making her quilt for her bed, as the one she is currently using was made a long time ago and is starting to show signs of wear.  I am making mine for Quilts of Valor.

Take care everyone.  Have a great day!!

Making blocks

I did some more of the required blocks on my list.  I am happy to say that the blue stars from the Smith Mountain Morning quilt are done.  Now I have only about 32 chimney blocks left to do.  I'm getting there!!

I did get some more of the sea swept blocks done too.  I have four more blocks to do, to catch up, and I still have three days left of March....lol.  Will I do it....

I was reviewing my list of required blocks and overall I am doing well.  I am ahead and actually done two of the columns for two different quilts!  So I'll try to put those together soon and get them completely done.  

The only one so far that is falling behind is the Welcome to the North Pole appliqué quilt blocks.  But I am ok with that.  That one has a bit more intense appliqué to do.  I didn't really think I would pull it off, but figured if I got some of them done, that would be nice.

Take care everyone.

Appliqué block for March update

Yesterday was a very nice day.  I had some friends over for a sew day!  Always a lot of inspiration with show and share, chatting and laughing.  I get so distracted that I usually don't get much done...lol.  But I am ok with that.  It's just nice having people over sharing the day and our passion for quilting.

While the ladies were here, I got three more leaves done.  During the week leading up to Saturday, I managed to get all the leaves on the left hand side, plus the two berries.   By this point it is starting to take shape.

Then, after the ladies left, I was going to pull out my wool appliqué that I picked up at the 2025 Quilt Canada show called Thimble Blossoms.  I've been dreaming of getting that one moving along.  But I stopped myself and rationalized that this required block for March is due in just three days.....  

So, I push through the urge to start working on something else and continued to do this Gathering Flowers appliqué block.  I am glad I did!!  It feels good to get blocks done.

I added this block to my pile of completed blocks and ticked off the box to say that this March block is done......whoohoo!  I even pulled out the next block that I am going to work on.  More about that one in another post.

While I was reviewing the blocks that I have left to do for this quilt, I noticed I have more of it done then I thought, which is always nice.  According to the list, I have only eight more blocks out of twenty to do.

Take care everyone.