First Ride Flannel Quilt

 Today I've got a flannel rag quilt finish to share.

Yes, it's July. Yes, it's hot. Yes, a flannel quilt in summer makes no sense. Yes, that's how I roll. 😉

However, we DO live in the mountains and our mornings have hovered at 57-60 degrees and I love nothing more than greeting the day out on the deck and a flannel quilt is good company on a crisp mountain morning

This quilt is part of my flannel bin project that I posted about HERE

It finishes at 70"x80"

This cowboy print has been in my stash for at least 15 years

Just a humble rag quilt

But I'm fairly certain it's going to be reached for often in the years to come

And those are always they very best kind.

Land of Enchantment

As much as I will always be a Texas girl, I have to admit that New Mexico has a special place in my heart. It's where DH and I began our journey as a married couple. It's where our son was born. It's where the good Lord has set us for the second time. It's home.

The sunsets and sunrises are spectacular on a regular basis. 

The food is addictive and don't even get me started on how much I love fresh green chile! 

New Mexico has its own unique southwestern culture. There is a rich history here and it is reflected in the jewelry, fashion, architecture, fabrics, people, and landscape.

I'd been on the lookout for a quilt pattern that represented the Land of Enchantment and in 2014 I stumbled upon exactly what I was looking for while browsing through Flickr:

I contacted the lady who posted it and she was kind enough to  direct me to the designer who is from Switzerland, of all places!

Desert Winds

I planned to use a lot of Michele Watts' prints. She's is a local designer who had a few lines with Moda and I just happened to have some yardage in my stash.

I finally started this one in May of last year. Yes, I'd had this project planned for 12 years. It took a while since it's made of 2 1/2" squares and 80 x 98.

Once I started,  I was determined to stay the course. I didn't have quite enough of all the original prints so I scattered some Grunge fabrics throughout which appeals to my scrappy heart.

I ended up extending the patchwork border one more row

Once I had it pieced, I went in search of a backing. I didn't have anything in my stash that I thought would work. The minute I saw this print, I couldn't hit buy fast enough - it's perfect!

Then Sandy worked her magic

And I spent 4 weeks binding it. 

But it's now complete!

And apparently I need to pay more attention when I'm piecing! Good gravy!! I didn't even notice I had turned a block! I think I need to take a photo of every quilt top before it's quilted and double check for errors. I think those oopsies are charming in vintage quilts, but it's very obvious in this design. I keep wondering if I could take the quilting out of that one block and fix it. Have any of ya'll done that before? 

The wind DOES blow a lot here in the spring and those blocks could be construed as tumbleweeds and that one just tumbled in a different direction.

Sigh. Maybe I can just leave it displayed like this and call it art. 🙃

Hashtag Christmas

When I saw this pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew, I immediately thought it would make a great scrappy Christmas quilt.

I made a different scrappy Christmas quilt in 2018 

And I thought it was time to make another and hopefully whittle down my Christmas fabrics a little.

I like that the pieces in this block are big enough to show the fabrics.

The white is a white on white print from my fabric pantry called Architextures.

I made the first block in January and finally pieced it all together and handed it off to Jackie and Sandy in August. The fun quilting design called Holly Ribbon is perfect and shows so nicely on the Minky I used on the back

The fabric I used for the binding is from my pantry too...it was $2.00 / yd at a quilt shop that was closing probably 10 years ago and I bought what was on the bolt...probably about 8 yards. 

I really like this pattern and I think I now need flannel, western, and fall versions. At 75" x 85", it'll be a great cuddle quilt. 

The kids can decide which one they want. As soon as I hung the quilt out on the deck, it began to snow

It was 44 out, too warm to stick

The flakes were itty-bitty

                                                     

           

And the sun was shining through the clouds

It makes me happy that the kids request and enjoy and use the quilts. One day they will be saturated, but they haven't reached that point yet! 😉

Charming Baby Quilt

 Today I have another baby quilt finish to share. I missed adding this one to my list of quilts I hoped to make this year so I'll just count it as a bonus quilt

This is one of the first fabric lines I bought when I began quilting and  I've made numerous quilts with it. It was a Moda collection called Lily & Will from Bunny Hill Designs. Circa 2010-ish I think and after all these years, I still love it. 

                                                    

I love the versatility of HSTs and this time I set them into a broken dishes design. Jackie and Sandy quilted it with a design called Feather Flip using  a Linen colored thread

I cobbled the backing together with 3 different pieces I had left

and used  a brown print for the binding with what, I think, is the last of the leftovers, but I'm sure I will uncover more if I dig deep enough.

At 40 x 50, it'll be a nice way to welcome a new little one. It's been very handy to have a collection of baby quilts on hand and this one will be added to the armoire until it is needed...and as I was about to hit publish on this post, we found out that friends are expecting their 1st grandchild. If it's a girl, this will be perfect.

Follow Your Heart Quilt

 Today I'm sharing my oldest UFO. 

I rarely buy kits, but I caved to temptation when I stumbled upon this one from Sweetwater on sale years ago. Looking back, it's been on my list since 2018.

It was the addition of the taupe to the red and white that lured me in. 

                                                   

I cut everything out a few years ago (May, 2022 - according to a blog post) and pressed the hearts to the blocks,

                                        

 but then everything was stashed back into the bin. I finally committed to this quilt last year, in April. I just sketch-stitched around each heart 3 times. I wanted a more rustic finish on the hearts:

The only thing I did differently was that I didn't applique hearts on every block - I left some of them empty, I used red thread instead of black, and I substituted a few fabrics from my stash. Oh, and I eliminated one size of heart that was included in the design. Jackie and Sandy quilted a design called Heart Fancy over it that's perfect, but difficult to see - this shot shows it the best.

I love the taupe print on the border

We're not done with winter here, but last week was unseasonably warm so I took advantage of the 70° weather and sat out on the deck a few days for a little while to work on the binding

Last year, I found this print for the backing that I thought would be a good fit

It's not very big at 70 x 78, but I I don't need every quilt to  cover a bed.

 I don't decorate for Valentine's Day but we have a partial wall in this house that separates the dining / living area from the entryway and I just hung it there

It's always fun to finish a quilt, especially one that's been sitting in a  bin for years. 

I'm quite smitten with this one

Americana Hourglass Quilt

After 4 months, I finally have a finished quilt to share🎉 I'm still not sewing, but I'm finally finding some time to work on bindings in the evenings and slowly (very slowly) but surely, that translates to finished quilts.

 In October 2021, I gifted this quilt to dear friends. You can read about that quilt HERE

I loved making it and wasn't ready to stop making those fun blocks and playing with those wonderful fabrics. So what's a girl to do but make another quilt! Some hourglass blocks were traditional and some were scrappy.

I love pulling fabrics for projects and this may be one of my favorite fabric pulls ever

At one point, I saw where Jo, of Jo's Country Junction, had designed a clever border for one of her quilts and I thought it would be perfect for this project. You can find her post HERE. I made my border just a little differently by making the hourglass border blocks completely neutral. I wish I had added another round on the border, but I love the idea so thank you Jo! 

At 85" x 95" I was tempted to back it with a 108, but I used this print instead.

 I've had this in my stash for...goodness...probably close to a dozen years and I had at least 10 yards of it. Years ago, there was an awesome quilt shop in the little town of Brady, Texas and I'd stop every time I drove through there. They carried quilt store quality fabrics and they were $3-$5 / yard. This was one of those fabrics and it is absolutely perfect for this quilt. Sadly, they are no longer in business.

This is my first finish since we moved. I'm trying to find good places for quilt photos

I'm such a creature of habit and had spots that worked well where we lived before. The old dilapidated chicken coop was such a great backdrop. Alas, the little chicken coop that is here, isn't going to work and it's built into one of the horse stalls in the barn. We'll tear it down and put up a new coop in a different spot. So, these photos will just have to do for now.

I love a scrappy binding

I love this color combination of reds and tans and blues so much that I'm not ruling out another quilt in this color scheme. Heaven knows I've still got plenty of fabric. There's something classic and timeless about an hourglass quilt

Our barn here is stucco so I can't use it for full quilt photos, but the deck makes a great canvas and I don't even need to drag out a ladder.

60° in December and a finished quilt? Yes please!