One-Block Wonder Update

I put the pedal to the metal this week and got all my rows sewn together on my One-Block Wonder quilt.  I have to admit, I'm in love with this quilt.

It was tedious sewing, with pressing all the seams open and lining up all those intersections, but worth every minute (hour).

I still plan on adding borders, but will mull the options over while I'm busy getting my Christmas quilts finished.  Priorities... 

A close-up shot.  My favorite hexagon in the entire quilt is the aqua one just to the right of center with the skinny orange spikes.

I think the back looks almost as pretty as the front, with all those seams pressed open.

And in case you missed an earlier post, this is the fabric I used.  Skyline by Hoffman Fabrics.  I cut my 60 degree triangles simultaneously from 6 identical stacked panels, cut from the 7+ yards I bought.  One quilt from just one fabric.  It still amazes me how the finished quilt looks compared to the original fabric.  Mind blowing...

Retreat Projects

I just got back from a wonderful Quilt Retreat.  It's so nice to have a few uninterrupted days of sewing with friends.  The time flies by and we get so much accomplished, in between our laughter and conversation, of course...

I made two quilt tops while I was there.  First is an improvisational tree quilt (Christmas Quilt #3), using this tutorial I found from the Diary of a Quilter blog.  (colors look better in person - aqua, red, gray and white)

Second is a Batik Square-in-a-Square quilt that I threw in as a last minute project.  I've been in the mood to do a simple quilt with batiks for a few weeks now, and this seemed perfect.  And it uses every bit of a 40 strip jelly roll.  No waste!  Not sure if I will add a border...  Should I?

Once those were finished, I started sewing my half-hexagons together into strips for my One Block Wonder quilt and got 12 out of 20 made.  I'm really liking how this is going and can't wait to see it finished!

The weather was gorgeous while we were there and I enjoyed going out for walks every day.  I was so excited to stumble across this perfect bobcat print!!!  That's a first for me!

This week I plan to finish the binding on Christmas Quilt #2 that I finished quilting before retreat.  Hope to post pictures next week if I get it done, so stay tuned!

Christmas Quilt Finish and OBW Started

I found some spare time this holiday weekend to put my One Block Wonder blocks up on my design wall.  After many hours of rearranging them, I finally forced myself to stop and say DONE!

Every time I thought I was finished, I would find just one more block to change.  Then that move would lead to another, and another, and I realized this could go on forever.

So now I'm really finished, because I took them down in organized piles and I'm ready to sew them together.  No turning back now.  

  

There will probably be some borders added at some point, but for now I'm going to focus on sewing this section, hopefully at the quilt retreat I'm going to later this month.

While I was laying out the design, I asked myself what I'm going to do with this quilt.  I have to honestly say, I don't know.

Do I need it?  No...

Do I have a place for it?  No...

I make quilts because they make me happy.

I also finished the Christmas Star quilt this weekend.  I really love how this one turned out.  I quilted fairly tight swirls on my George sit-down machine, using pink SoFine #50 thread, which gave just the right amount of contrast against the red fabric.