Time to make some plans

 

It is fair to say that the time to plan the size of blocks needed for my ladder quilt would have been before requesting the blocks. I now realise I can only fit a few 12" blocks into the ladder quilt.

I now have a plan and have made two 6" woven stars to add to the blocks sewn by friends, and I need to make four 9" star blocks to complete the project. My plan is to make two Ohio stars and two other stars.

I also have sufficient blocks to make a quilt to donate to Quilts for Care leavers. I have two blocks still to come, and I made one further star to make a 4 by 6 block quilt which fits the charity's guidelines. It would be nice to finish these over the next week, as my next customer quilt is delayed and I'm currently quilting a Halloween quilt for my daughter. Then I might have time to quilt these next. I need to look through my stash of backing fabrics to see if I have anything suitable.

Vesta Quilt

 

The Vesta Quilt pattern by Julia Wachs is a customer's magnum opus. It is 85" square using a combination of foundation piecing and hand applique. The backing is the perfect dark teal grunge fabric. The thread used for the quilting is dark grey and works just perfectly with the quilt

Next on my to do list is to work on piecing my stash bee quilt tops and also load my daughter's Halloween quilt on the long arm. The next customer quilt due in, isn't scheduled to be delivered yet, so time to do Lizzie's quilt before my husband, Nick, goes to see her at the beginning of October.

The seasons by Barbara Ana

 

We are only halfway through September and I have finished my UFO Challenge for this month which was Summer by Barbara Ana. I particularly love summer's strawberry headdress.

I am going to have this professionally framed and dropped it off to the framer's yesterday and it will be ready for collection next Thursday. I love this simple system.

I am not sure what to work on next as I am awaiting blocks for the stash bee from one person and think I will be able to make a ladder quilt and a quilt to donate to Quilts for Care Leavers from the lovely blocks made by quilty friends.

Liminal quilt update

 

I am waiting for some thread to be delivered so that I can complete a customer quilt, so I decided that today, I should unpack my new sewing machine and put together the Liminal quilt so far. I think the next installment in Love Patchwork and Quilting may be sent to subscribers next week.

The instructions for block 2 tell you to cut a 24.5" strip which is impossible from the fat quarter included in the kit. I have reluctantly pieced together the two 1" borders and the join isn't obvious. I am concerned that fabric P may be in a later block but that is a problem for future me. The next border on this medallion quilt looks a little like impro forks.

UFO Challenge September 2026

Summer by Barbara Ana has been my focus over this weekend. I completed the gorgeous strawberry headdress on Saturday and progressed to the fishes on the left-hand side. I have now progressed to the right-hand side and I'm excited to see it finished.

Don't they look great together. A slightly darker fabric might have made the white pop more, but in real life the white is more visible. I plan to continue working on this piece this week, whilst quilting a second quilt for a customer.

 

Customer quilts

I have finished quilting the first of two quilts for a customer. This is a classic spider's web pattern and the customer asked me to choose the pattern and thread. I used a cream thread and a digital pattern called malachite which picks up the print on the dark blue fabric.

My plan is to load the customer's second quilt onto my long arm this weekend, ready to quilt it on Monday. This weekend I will stitch the strawberry section of my UFO challenge cross stitch piece.

September 2026 UFO challenge

 

This is probably my UFO challenge piece with the most work to be done and what I had done, I soon found was one stitch out. It is summer by Barbara Ana ddesigns. My counting is not the best. I decided that I needed to focus on this piece as daily goals were not working for me. On Saturday I worked across the bottom of the piece to the base of the neck It is not quite complete, but I am added to it whilst working on the face when I had half a thread left.

On Sunday I worked on the face and hair and some thread colours are complete which is exciting. Once this summer lady is finished, the four seasons will be complete and ready for framing. I am planning to start on the strawberries on top of the head. I have two customer quilts ready to be quilted this week and I can put some more stitches in whilst the computerised machine does it thing.

Stash Bee Bock of the Month

 

August is definitely over and it's much cooler, allowing us to get back to our sewing rooms. I've had three lovely packages this week. Three more are in the post with one more to follow. I love all of the fabrics - Karen Lewis, Lizzy's House and Alison Glass seem popular choices to us.

Don't the blocks received so far look great together. I think I'll have enough to make a ladder quilt and perhaps two quilts to donate for Quilts for Care Leavers.

I received two customer quilts on Monday and will start working on them today, then I have two more to call in. I don't like too many piling up as it makes me anxious. I also have a table runner to quilt for Lizzie and then my star quilts towards the end of the month.

A small forest for Anne

 

It' bad news for my Atelier 7, it can't be fixed locally so needs to be sent to England for repair. I need to review my options and decide what to do. In the meantime, I have used my Siger featherweight to make these blocks for the Stash Bee for Anne. I have made this block before so spent two hours making five pairs of blocks for Anne which were posted yesterday.

The tutorial for the block can be found here.