Seashore Splendor Block 17 - Finny Fish

I am excited to say we are really close to getting all our blocks done for this quilt!  This block measures 9 1/2 inches square, and after the next block, we just have to do the filler blocks - woohoo!  I call this block Finny Fish, and it was a bit of a challenge to come up with an easy way to piece those fins - but I think I did it.  You'll have to let me know what you think when you make this one.

For this block you will be using the medium blue sea fabric and red.  There really isn't a lot of sewing in this block, so it shouldn't take you long to make your version of Finny.

First of all, cut your pieces.  Yes, I decided to make a polka dot fish, I couldn't help it! This is from the Harry and Alice Go to the Sea line from Riley Blake.  I had some leftovers from a shop sample I made and it just had to be part of my quilt!  And yes, the measurements are also weird in this block because it's set on point.  Just watch those eighth's and you'll do just fine!

You'll be making mirror image units, so make sure your pieces look like these.  You can see the line I finger pressed in to mark that seam line in the center of the block.  Remember to line up the edge of the fabric 1/4 of an inch away from where you want to sew your seam.  Also, if your fins aren't perfectly lined up, it's all right, you won't really notice it when the block is completed.

After sewing those triangles on, flip your block to the back side on your cutting board.

Trim even with your blue fabric fabric.  If you like, you can remove the blue fabric from the back, but it's also fine to leave it just like this as well.

And here are the finished fins!  Now make the tail fin using the half square triangles and you are ready to sew this fish together!

Super cute, right?  And that anchor ended up in the right spot for an eye!  Totally a happy accident, even though it's upside down...  Now add the setting triangles to complete your block.  Match the center of the long side of the triangles with the block seams for an easy as pie finish.

Cute as can be!  Here is what our quilt looks like up to this point - notice that we only have small pieces left to fill in now.

Download your pattern and get sewing today!  

Download Finny Fish Pattern Here!

Custom Quilted Grinch Panel and Log Cabin Santa Ornaments

I am so happy that I finally finished this custom quilt.  I was definitely excited about doing it, but it took months for me to finally get around to it.  Finally this weekend I was determined to get to work finishing the quilting on this fun panel.  This was a custom order from one of my favorite customers, she picks the best projects for me!

I had to do a bit of sleuthing to find the panel.  It's an advent calendar, so I used the piece with the numbers as part of the backing.  The picture I was working from had beautiful quilting, so I did my best to capture that in my quilting.  Most of it is outlining, but the light blue was really fun to do some McTavishing style quilting on.

I was stuck on what to quilt in that final green border, so I went browsing through one of my latest book purchases:  Doodle Quilting Mania by Cheryl Malkowski.  Cheryl lives a couple of hours away, and has been a teacher at the local shop, so I am lucky to know her - she is an amazing designer and quilter, and a sweet person as well!  This book is fabulous, and I was excited to find the perfect Christmas tree idea to use in the border!  (the book is by C & T publishing - check out the opportunity later in my post to win a $100 gift certificate from them!)

Here's a peek at the back side of the quilt - I was happy to be able to use those ornaments!

I just signed up for an event that I thought some of you might be interested in as well.  Darlene over at Quilt Shop Gal is having a Virtual Fall Craft Fair!  This is the perfect event for me, I love selling my overstock of quilts and I don't like doing real life craft fairs because I'd rather be sewing.  If you'd like to participate, go check it out!  It's also great for buying wonderful handmade items - I'm working on some fun gifty holiday stuff to add to my shop for that, like these cut Log Cabin Santa's.

 So go check it out and sign up if you'd like to!  

Virtual Fall Craft Fair

Yesterday was the wrap up for the Once Upon a Story Blog Hop.  It's been a ton of fun, and I hope you've enjoyed the various blocks as much as I have.  There are some awesome giveaways left to enter, so go visit the following blogs and see the possibilities for making projects with the rows we've designed!

Show and Tell’s Featured Projects

Just Let Me Quilt

Words & Stitches

Duck Creek Mountain Quilting

Ursula Prandtstetter at Tuning My Heart Quilts

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Linda B Creative

Charlie’s Daughter at Bobbin In Quilts

Seams To Be Sew – Creating Layouts Tutorial

It's always fun to be a part of the Row Along, and this year was one of the best.  This is that opportunity I hinted at being able to win a $100 gift certificate from C & T - visit the above blogs to enter!

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss.

Monday Musings

I know that I am probably in the minority, but I actually enjoy Mondays because it's a new start and I love the possibilities in that.  This week I am working on getting back into some good routines to get some basic housekeeping chores done.  Years ago I followed the SHE (Sidetracked Home Executive) System - I had a card file with chores and it was a big help to me during the super busy raising a bunch of kids time in my life.  I am contemplating what kind of a system will be helpful to me now that my husband is retired and our schedule is a little...unscheduled I guess would be the term.  

For now, I'm just trying to add a few chores into each day - time to get the dust bunnies under control.  I've been enjoying my new schedule of sewing time and I feel a little more on top of all the projects at the moment.  With that said, I'm ready to tackle getting a few UFO's done before the end of the year now.  

This is a quilt tip I made in a workshop - I have it basted and ready for quilting, so I am making it my goal to get this quilted this month.  I'm linking up with One Monthly Goal for accountability - so feel free to check in and ask me if I'm actually working on it!  Better yet, give me an idea for how I should quilt this...I think that is probably part of the delay.  I thought of doing some ferny looking things in the dark sections.  And I don't know what in the light.  Sigh.  Decisions are hard!

Here it is in the laying-out phase.  The fabrics are all batik.  I think it'll be a pretty quilt when it's done, and the curved piecing was really fun and easy.  This is one of the few UFO's I created last year - I was really good about not creating a lot of new ones, but not so successful at finishing the older ones.  I don't want this to be an older one!

Puff Reborn

Continuing on with tale of the poor Puff quilt - the day I first saw the quilt top, all I knew was that it was a dragon quilt. When I first saw what I was getting myself into, the quilting plan Ifirst came up with was just to do a simple overall swirl pattern on it.  I really was at a bit of a loss as how to quilt this cute Puff dragon without making it look weird. It needed to be quilted 2-4 inches apart, but I knew that with the extra layer of the old quilt inside that tight quilting was out of the question.

Within a few seconds of beginning to quilt it I knew I had to change plans...and needles!  A size 12 was not going to cut it, so up to 14 I went.  I decided to stitch in the ditch around the design and come up with some fillers for the various parts of the dragon.  Then I could do some spirals in the background to fill that in.  I am happy with the resulting quilt!

Excuse the sunbeams - I do think Puff is enjoying them!  I added petals to the flowers, then for Puffs tummy I added upside down  clam-shells and some lines to define the ridges on his back and tail.

I was most worried about the face.  I did a wide echo around the nostrils and defined his snout, then quilted some flame-y eyebrows around his eyes, and pointy scales naturally flowed out from there.

 Here is what it looks like on the back!  That lovely green does a great job of hiding all the thread colors on the back!

 I quilted pointy scales all over his body, even down to his toes!

I finished with spirals in the background using a variegated blue and green thread.  In the end I think he looks really good!  Puff measures about 45 x 55.  He has an original quilt on the inside as well as a lightweight cotton blend batting.  The quilting is done in a variety of threads, including my favorite Aurifil, which I used for the binding.  The binding is machine stitched to the back and top-stitched on  the front. 

I am sure his owner will be so happy that Puff lives on - I enjoyed being part of the process!

Kaleidoscope Times Two!

We had our guild meeting last night, and since I am in charge of the Block of the Month I presented my blocks (we've been doing two a month - one easy one and a harder one). The Challenge block this month is called a Kaleidoscope block.  I was very pleased with the response - all the patterns were claimed and several people wanted one after they were gone.  I did think it was a rather striking block, myself!

Included with the pattern was enough fabric for the corner squares, which gives everyone a reference for fabric choices as well.  I can't wait to see what the returned blocks will look like!  

Then, for show and tell I brought Cleo's Kaleidoscope, and I got lots of great comments on that as well!

It was a fun evening!  Today I worked on an interesting project.  What do you do when you have a much loved comfort quilt that it wearing out?  Well you have someone replicate it, then convince someone else to quilt it - with the old quilt inside!  Here is proof that the old quilt is inside the new one:

This is Puff - as you can see, this is an interesting quilt, it's not square, and it doesn't have a binding either, it's all satin stitched. The fabric is quite thin and wearing through, so I thought it would work to quilt in inside the new quilt.

This is the new Puff, satin stitched onto a square of muslin.  My friend did this part of it, and I was recruited for the quilting.  This will be a regular rectangular quilt with binding. I hope it will still be as comforting when it's done!  I'll post pictures of the finished quilt tomorrow.  I had planned on doing an overall design on it, but ended up changing my mind because of the bulk of the quilt - and it made it even better than my original plan!

Windmills in Sugarcreek

With all the pressing deadlines behind me, I was at a loss for something to work on - NOT!  The minute I saw this Sugar Creek (by Corey Yoder for Moda) charm pack I knew I would have to make a new sample for my Windmills Table runner pattern.  Even though I have a bunch of other charm packs I could use, I just loved the colors in this one, so it had to be done!

Luckily table runners are quick projects, so I was able to piece my top in one afternoon, then finish it the next afternoon.  It's so fun to have a quick finish like this!  I was able to find a scrap piece of batting that was just the right size, barely!

I like to quilt this design by stitching straight lines in the border squares, and swirls in the windmills and background.  I got interrupted halfway through the quilting, but finished it up the next day.

Isn't the swirly texture great? I really love doing these fun little spirals.  I do them smaller on little projects, and spread out and go big on larger ones.

I stitched the binding on by machine and was done in no time at all!  

I'm pleased with the results.  And by the fact that I made something start to finish in a couple of days, that is sooo satisfying!

Here are the details:

• Fabric:  Sugarcreek by Corey Yoder for Moda, Binding and background from my stash
• Pattern:  Windmills Table Runner by PamelaQuilts (me)
• Measurements:  18 x 45 inches
• Batting: Hobbs premium 100% cotton
• Thread:  Aurifil white 50 wt (2024)

I'll be sending this table runner to Threads That Bind as a sample - my pattern is available there as well as the charm pack and supporting fabrics.

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss and Put Your Foot down!

Color Challenge 2019 - October Block

I'm so happy that I am caught up with the 2019 Color Challenge Blocks, and I'm really excited to help present this month's block.  I am loving all the beautiful blocks and colors - the flowers are such an inspiration to me in choosing my fabrics!  This month is definitely a favorite of mine - roses!  So we got to use lovely red fabric for the block.

This block is absolutely a piece of cake to make - I love the fact that it's not an even grid, so the big triangles really look dramatic.  Take a little extra care in matching up those seams and you will have a fabulous block to add to your collection!  My block is made from some of my Island Batik scraps left over from various projects.  I had to dig deep to find red, it's one color I don't have a lot of!  Don't you just love that light?  It's so perfect!

Thanks, Jen for the fun blocks and color inspiration!

To make your own block, head over to Jen's post for the instructions and pattern.

Visit these blogs for more looks at this month's block!  I can't wait to see what they all look like!

Sarah at The Quilted Diary
Mona at KentuckyWhittaker Creations
Joanne at Everyone Deserves A Quilt
Willow at Bear Paw Stitch and Design

Hope you find some color inspiration today!

Seashore Splendor Block 16 - Momma Fish and Baby Fishies

I am sorry I've kept you waiting for this block, it's been a super busy month!  Hopefully you spent the time catching up if you are behind, and are ready to get going again as I am.  This block is a super easy and fast one, and when finished is 18 inches wide and 12 inches high.  It's actually a trio of blocks, one made in a 12 inch size and two in a 6 inch size.

These blocks are made using just two sizes of triangles.  You will have a few leftover triangles from the cutting, but hang onto those and we'll be using them in the filler blocks.  I'll show you how I made my block, then you can download the pattern and get yours going!

Three bright color triangles for each fish.  One is a quarter square triangle, two are the half square triangles.

Three quarter squares and four half squares for the background.  Use medium sea for these - I used a different blue for each of my fish because I am going scrappy.

Sew the two fish half square triangles with two sea triangles.  You can press the seam allowance of one toward the background, and the other toward the fish fabric.  This will help reduce bulk when you sew them together to make the first half of the fish blocks.

Sew the quarter square fish fabric to a quarter square sea fabric.  Press toward the sea fabric.  Now add a quarter square sea to this square, making sure that the corner of the added sea triangle touches the point of the sea fabric in the square:

Then add the final quarter square triangle to this unit to make one larger triangle.

Now sew the remaining half square triangles to the sides of this triangle to make a rectangle.

Sew your two rectangles together and you have a fish!

Sew your two small fish together with the green on top, then sew the fishies so they are swimming after the momma.  That's it!

These go together so fast - hurry up and get them done because the next block will be on it's way next week!  I want to make sure and get caught up so that we are finished by the end of the year - because on January 1 I am starting the Stepping Stones Quilt Along.  I'm excited about that, and I hope you've signed up - check out the link in my sidebar to join in!

Download your pattern, and get sewing!

Download Momma Fish and Baby Fishies Here!

Here is what our quilt looks like so far - this is the last of the large units!