Recent Quilts

Thanks to my joining a great online quilt group, I've really been quilting up a storm lately. For anyone interested, the group is StashBuilders and you can find them at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StashBuilders/

StashBuilders organizes quite a few swaps, a couple in which I have participated. The first one that I did was a Happy Block swap.

Those participating are divided into groups of 4 or 5 people. I chose some fabric, cut it into 4" squares (centers) and then mailed 6 squares to each person in my group. As each person received my centers, they kept 1 square for themselves and then sewed 2½" borders around the remaining 5 centers. The now bordered centers (Happy Blocks) were then mailed back to me for me to keep. In the mean time, I was receiving centers from the other group participants; putting borders on 5 of them and then mailing them back to their owners.

Here is a picture of my Happy Blocks quilt. It's in a hoop while I hand quilt it. I'm doing a heart stencil in the center of each block and then just quilting in the seam lines around the entire block.

The second swap that I joined was a String Block swap. I signed up to do 2 sets of 6½" blocks. Each set consists of 12 blocks. The theme for this one was purple & green. When I had my sets done, I sent them to the swap hostess along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. She kept the blocks until all the blocks from each participant had arrived. Then she mixed them up and sent each member the same number of blocks that they contributed. The blocks that I received back were not my own but done by a mix of other members.

Here is my finished String Quilt. I have it hanging at the top of the stairs in my craft room. I machine quilted it in a grid so that there is a 3x3 grid going through each square. I hate doing binding, and due to the style of the quilt, I thought a Prairie Point edging would be appropriate.

Currently, I am receiving blocks from another Happy Block swap. I've already finished and sent all the centers from other members, I'm just waiting for mine to arrive home.

While I'm waiting, I couldn't resist starting another quilt. See? I'm addicted to quilting too. I saw this pattern in these fabrics at the Quilt & Sewing Expo I attended in November 2007 in Puyallup, Washington. As soon as I saw it, I went directly to the lady running the booth, pointed and said "Where do I get the pattern?". It took me awhile to get the same fabrics but God Bless Ebay!!

The pattern is from Strip Delight - 10 Fabulous Quilts from 'Jelly Roll' 2 1/2" Strips - #5321 . The pattern is named for the fabric line called Decadent Victorian (from Moda).

Here is the main body of the top laid out on my quilt design wall in my craft room.