We received the March block for the Positivities stitch along designed by Rachel Hauser. It was a fun block to do; the center is paper pieced and the rest is done with templates. The colour is a little off here as the 'blades' that are in the middle look dark blue, but they are actually dark green (pine). Now we have to wait almost a month before the next month's pattern.
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| ...and my block measures exactly 18 1/2" |
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| I think the new block will go very nicely into the previous month's sections. |
Rachel Hauser of Stitched in Colour is hosting another stitch along. Ever since I did the Pas de Deux Quilt two years ago, I've been hoping she'd do another one. I had purchased a bundle of Ruby Star Society half yards awhile ago and was saving it for another sew along. And, in January, Rachel started another Stitch along called "Positivities". We have received Jan and Feb's instructions. (click on the photo to enlarge)
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| The center row of fabrics are the pieces from the bundle that I'm using for this quilt. I found a Maria Horner fabric at my local quilt shop and purchased the rest of the bolt for backing. Solids are used in the quilt and I matched up my choices to the pattern plan. You then add scraps from your stash that work with it while doing each month's pattern. |
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| Here is the first month's block. |
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| Second month's section. |
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| All the units together so far. |
Last year, Rachel Hausser of Stitched in Colour, hosted a stitch along for a quilt she designed called "Pas de Deux". I totally loved the colours she used and used similar colours from my stash for each section. This quilt was a challenge and used many different techniques, from paper piecing, to piecing, to applique, y seams and inset seams. It was amazing how the quilt came together at the end! It was totally made from my scraps. Here is the finished quilt with some closeup photos of the various sections. It was quilted by Chris Bogart. Click on the photos to enlarge for a better view.
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| The finished quilt |
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| I had a piece of an Anna Maria Horner print leftover from another quilt and pieced it for the backing. |
In October, my friend Els, came for a two week visit from Holland. We had a lot of fun in the sewing room and gallivanting to quilt shops in the area. One day, Rachel of Stitched in Colour, posted the Disappearing 9 patch! I've done a lot of disappearing 9 patches cut straight, but had not seen the diagonally sliced method. I showed it to Els and we decided to give it a try. You know you have too much fabric when we had no trouble finding a huge stack of floral FQ's to easily make a lap quilt. The quilt was very quick to cut and sew together and in no time, we had the top together. A very fun project to do with the two of us.
My neighbour across the street, Chris Bogart, quilted it for me on her long arm machine using a lovely butterfly motif and I used a stripe for the binding that went with the line of florals we used for the blocks. The quilt turned out lovely and is heading for our local chemo unit through the Hearts and Hands Quilt guild I belong to. Each person going through treatments for cancer in our local hospital gets to choose a quilt from the stack we make all year.
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| This really did make a happy quilt! |
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| The lovely butterfly quilting. |
