Community Quilt from Lori

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I was excited to see this quilt come in.? I remembered it from when it came in the mail to me.? I sent it off to Lori who finishes twin-sized quilts for Sharehouse a local facility that helps people fight addiction.

Lori writes:

“This quilt top came from Carol in Arizona and it was very nicely pieced, look at the nice seams and star points!

?I used Glide thread – German Granit on the top and Glide in the bobbin as well.

I think it blended nicely with all the bright colors. My quilting design was “pipeline e2e”.

Carol used beautiful quilt shop quality fabric which was wonderful to work with.

I think this quilt is stunning….?Thank you, Carol! And thank you Jo for forwarding this top on to me.

 

Look at that pretty border.

 

I used a stripe backing fabric and plain purple for the binding, which I had in my stash.

 

 

Thanks so much for your work Lori and to Carol for donating the top.? If I am guessing correctly, I think this is Bonnie Hunter’s Grand Illusion pattern.? It was a mystery from a couple of years ago.

I love how Carol really made this quilt her own by not making it scrappy.? Each of the prints is the exact same only in a different colorway!!? How fun.

Here is the second quilt Lori finished….
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In Walked an Elephant

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I got myself in trouble.? I do these kinds of things from time to time.? I open my mouth trying to be helpful and in walks an elephant and I need to try to swallow it.

So this is what I did, with Rosie’s close supervision, of course…

The Cresco ladies were here and brought a pile of quilts in various stages.? Some were tops.? Some finished, some one side of the binding was down, and others that just needed binding.? Being so many were finished-or close to being finished- I thought I would just finish them up and see if I could donate them locally.

I contacted someone from our school to see if they knew if there were children in need.? No one got back to me.? So, I decided that I would contact the school district next to us.? I have a friend who works there as a secretary.? She got back to me right away and said she would look into it.

Well, the next day she got back to me and said, Yes, they could use quilts for students.? They counted and figured out they could use 22 quilts.? ?That was the elephant I need to swallow.

22 quilts.? Oh my.

So I went to get the quilts from the Cresco ladies and get binding them.? That’s when I realized many of them are lap-sized.? I’m sure I can send a couple of them but I really feel like I need to have more that are 60 x 80 or so…I went upstairs to see what I have in my stash of emergency quilts.? I had about five.? Oh my.? I am still short.

So now I am scrambling…
There were three quilt tops that I am adding borders to and binding that came in the latest box of quilts from the Cresco ladies.? I’ll longarm them and put them in the stack.

I just dug through the box of quilt tops that the Cresco ladies brought another time and took three more.? I think they will work to add borders.? OH MY!!

This one is getting only top and bottom borders.


Do you see what I mean when I say I opened my mouth and an ELEPHANT walked in?? Of course, I could say no but that’s not me.? If there is a need, I feel it’s my job to work to fill it.? So if you’re looking for me, I’m scrambling behind the scenes trying to come up with 22 quilts as quickly as I can.

These two have borders, backing and binding.


Happily I’m getting some help.? I contacted the local quilt guild and they said they will scramble and try to provide 10.? YAHOO!!? This is going to work!!? In the meantime, everything for me has stopped while I work on these tops and try to get them completed as quickly as possible!!

These two need a little more work.? I do have them started though.

Like I said, I opened my mouth and in walked and ELEPHANT!!? It’s okay though….I love to help!? I’m so blessed to have some time to be able to.

Moda Bake Shop: Oh Good Night!

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As many of you know, Kelli and I did a lot of quilts for Moda Bake Shop several years ago.? Some of the things you likely don’t know is that Moda Bake Shop isn’t run quite the way it used to run.? The site has been reworked and can now be found through www.modafabrics.com.? Well through all of this, Kelli and I have been overwhelmed by questions from interested parties wanting the patterns for specific quilts as some of the patterns have been “lost in the archives”.? Well, to be honest, we are wanting to avoid all those emails and requests so we are going to be featuring one of our old Moda Bake Shop quilt or?projects?each week until all of them are posted here on our blog so we can readily find them and have access to them whenever we want.??These quilts will be archived here on the blog in the free patterns section on the right column.

I’m so excited to be showing you this quilt.? It was my first step out to design quilts.? I was so nervous.? Kelli was there holding my hand just like she still is!!

The quilt got its name as a play on the “O” of the quilt.? Kramer’s mom used to always say “oh good night” as her way of saying “no way” or “I can’t believe it”.? So this quilt was named for her.? ?

This quilt is simple to make as it is made with only two shapes, squares and triangles. The challenge to this quilt is organizing the layout…but don’t worry, it’s very do-able.

If you look carefully, you will see that you need to make 42 blocks. The remaining blocks are created with sashing.

I loved this fabric line!!? It is designed by Basic Grey and even many years later I’m still in love with Basic Grey.

1 Fat Quarter Pack, Origins by Basic Grey
1.75 yards of background fabric
5 yards backing fabric

Full size quilt batting
No binding fabric is needed as the binding is cut from your fat quarter pack

We used an Easy Angle Ruler to make this.? You can get your ruler HERE from Amazon.? You can also use the Essential Angle tool.

From your background fabric, cut:

17 – 3.5 inch strips.
Sub cut into: 165 – 3.5″ squares and 48-easy angle triangles.

I am a HUGE fan of my easy angle ruler. It saves fabric and it just makes sewing triangles together easier. If you haven’t used this ruler before, don’t panic….

For easy instructions to use your easy angle ruler, follow this link to my blog,?Jo’s Country Junction.

From your fat quarter pack you will need to cut 72 sets of 4 – 3.5″ x 3.5″ squares and one 3.5″ strip. Sub cut the strip into 4 easy angle triangles. Being my background was the solid brown, I chose not to use a few of the prints.

This quilt has a scrappy binding. To achieve this you will need to cut a 2.5″ strip from 16 of your fat quarters.

Start sewing:


Make 42 “blocks” as shown. Yes, my instructions are correct. We will add the corners later. The remaining pieces will be sashing.

Pick four of the blocks to be your corner blocks. Add background triangles to three of the corners.

Pick 18 blocks to be along the edge. Add two background corners to those blocks.

Now lay the blocks out as shown, putting the edge blocks along the edge and corner blocks at the corners. You should have a 6 x 7 design layout.

Take the remaining cut pieces and start filling in the spaces as shown. You really need a design wall or floor space for this. Take your time doing this. It’s not hard at all…it’s just easy to get the pieces in the wrong spot.


Turn the triangles on each corner over, pinning the triangle in place. Sew. Then iron the block.

Now go back and pin the three sashing squares that are between the blocks together and sew.


Then sew the row of blocks to the sashing pieces creating a row.

Pin together and sew the squares that create the sashing between the rows.

Sew the sashing rows and the rows of blocks together to create the quilt top.

Seam the backing together. Quilt as desired.

Your finished quilt should be 69″ x 81″.

I just loved making this quilt and watching it come together.? I’m so tempted to make another of this quilt only instead making it based on 2 1/2″.? Hmm.? I guess I’ll have to add that to my list.

Community Quilts from Ray

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Ray has been a busy guy cranking out quilts.? Today I am treating you to three of his latest finishes.

Ray writes:
“Just finished the binding on this quilt this morning. You forwarded this top made by the Cresco ladies to me.
The colors are wonderful and make for a great quilt. When I went to my Ouija board to find out what pattern to use for the quilting, I could not get a response. Of all times on Halloween and full, blue moon to not get any assistance. LOL!!


I decided to sew horizontal lines every couple of inches and see what happened. I like it. It is clean, simple, and does not take away from the excitement already built into the quilt.

The fabric for the back came from Patricia T, in WA. A wonderful quilt to add to the donation pile. Thanks to Jo, the Cresco ladies, and Patricia for your generous contributions.”

Jo now: I love the straight lines on this.? I would have never thought of doing that but I really like it.? It’s great especially for quilts with lots of seams…

The next quilt from Ray is this beauty…
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