You Make Me Smile Quilt

 In 2019 I stumbled upon this HST triangle quilt on Instagram and I fell for it hard. 

Handmade Myrth

I have a healthy collection of low volume prints and this is the perfect way to showcase them, but I'd be lying if I said I still didn't bring them home from time to time

 I intended to make this a long term leader-ender project, but once I sewed a few, I simply could not stop. I had so much fun pulling colored fabrics from my scraps and stash. Anything goes.

The HST's finish at 2 1/2".  I used my Easy Angle ruler and cut them from short strips. I like to nest my seams and this is what worked best for me and how I pieced the blocks. I just let everything fall where it fell. 

I finished piecing it in September 2020. There are so many fun fabrics in this quilt! 

And as much as I love the whole quilt, the fun really begins when you take a closer look. 

Jackie said that when Sandy was quilting it, she kept calling Jackie over, saying, "Look at this one!"...:and this one!"..."Oh, this one is so fun,"..."Come look at this one!". She used a pattern called Whisper. 

I ordered this fun wide backing from Missouri Star and used a turquoise print from my stash. 

I call this my You Make Me Smile Quilt because when I was piecing it, I would often break out in song: This song

I also sing this when I'm dancing around the kitchen a lot - it's one of my favorites! It's part of the song track of my life.

This quilt finishes at 74x82 and I'm seriously considering making another one because this one was just so much fun and now I want everyone in my life to have one!

Under the Needle: October - A Scrappy Finish

Another 13 hour day at the sale barn on Monday. 2 more days of cooking for the crew. A full day scrubbing down the kitchen and floors after my marathon cooking month. A 4-hr round trip to pick up our beef from the processor. And another week'll be behind us. This year is flying by.

I'll bet ya'll have given up on seeing anything sewing related from me ever again. I know it's been a while since I had a finish to share, but I finally put the last stitch in this binding

I'm combining it with my Under the Needle post since this is all I accomplished this month. This quilt started when I decided it was time to empty my bin of scrappy 2 1/2" squares a few years ago:

Don't you find that scrap bins never seem to have a bottom? I ended up making 2 pretty good-sized quilts from this little bin. The 2nd quilt will be ready as soon as I get the binding on it. I find it hard to resist a scrappy quilt. I threw everything in this one. There are fabrics I still love next to 'what was I thinking?' fabrics:

I alternated the 9 patches with navy and white hourglass blocks to give it some order and backed it with a green and white backing I found on clearance:

After a run through the washer and some time on the line to soak up the crisp New Mexico Fall sun, it finishes at 80 x 92:

And yes, I know it's unbalanced in it's design, but I'm ok with that. I like the end result - a fun, scrappy quilt that I hope will be reached for a lot in the years to come.

It's going to be 9° tonight. I think we'll be giving this quilt a test run.

Cathy's Quilt

Yesterday I put the finishing stitches onto this scrap quilt:

This is the quilt I made for the wife at North Camp that is battling cancer:

This is the second quilt I made like this - the first being an experiment. When she saw it on one of my quilt ladders, she fell in love with it so I began sorting through my scraps:

As I began making blocks, I asked her if she had any shirts from her Daddy and son - both whom she lost - and I incorporated the pieces she shared with me in the blocks as I stitched in prayers:

                                                      

It's hard for her to keep warm so I bought this thick, warm fleece to use as the backing and had Jackie quilt a quick stipple across it:

                                 

I bound it with this rustic print that I thought coordinated well with both the background and the scraps:

                                                   

I took the top to Jackie on Monday and she had it ready for me to pick up the following Monday. I am a slow binder, and I really save any binding or hand stitching for the evenings, but I worked on this one during the last few days and finished it as quickly as possible:

After a run through the washer and dryer, it is 57 x 77

                                            

The Scrap Box

My 2 - 1/2" scrap box was was getting out of hand and it was high time I whipped it back into shape. Choosing a pattern is often the hardest past for me, but I've had this one on my list for a long time:

This is Color Box by Carla over at Lollyquiltz and I dove into my overflowing box at 3 a.m. on Wednesday morning with gusto.

Lots of mindless chain piecing while listening to an audio book That's about all I'm capable of at 3 a.m, but I sneaked in and out of my sewing room throughout the day:

                    

And the little stitched piles seemed to grow quickly

                    
while the scrap box remained unruly:

And then blocks began to appear:

                            

And I laid a few out for a test run:

                             

And I saw the pile diminish a tad

I've got other projects that are vying for my attention, but I'm making this my leader-ender project and hopefully I'll have an empty box by the end of the summer.