February 2023

Thank you for stopping by today. For those of you who have been following along, I have temporarily (or at least that is the plan) set aside my New Year’s Eve Mystery Quilt to complete one of my UFO’s. My Strawberry Quilt is 100% complete.

I designed this quilt sometime ago. Inspiration came from a piece of wide fabric I picked up at a destash event. When I came across it, I fell in love with it. At the time, I had no idea what I would do with it, but could not leave it behind. It has sat in my stash for a little while. I set out to make a quilt for my youngest niece, and browsing my stash remembered this piece of fabric, and built the quilt around it.

My first thought was to include it in the front, but I just could not find a pattern that I was happy with. So, I used the theme and colors as inspiration for the front. In addition to the back, I also used it as the cornerstones. As the fabric was not was not quite long enough to cover the back, I added a little border to the top and bottom to complete the back.

For the quilting I used a combination of designs. I began by filling the background with a large meandering free motion design. Then switched to my walking foot to outline the strawberries and create a diagonal grid on the strawberry body. I finished off the quilt with red binding.

I am happy to report that it has been gifted and now back to the New Year’s Eve Mystery Quilt. I am at the dreaded stage of pressing my HST seams open. It is so hard for me to find the motivation to spend time at the ironing board. Since they are not going to press themselves, I guess I better get back to it.

Happy Quilting.

Progress continues on my Sparkling New Year’s Eve Mystery Quilt. I was only able to spend one night working on it, so I set out to mark all of my half square triangles for sewing.

I realize that this was part of the preparation step that was supposed to be done before the sew-along, but I was not able to mark any of them. But all my squares are now marked and ready to sew.

When I mark my HSTs, I prefer to mark all of the sew lines. My go to supplies include a FriXion pen and my Omnigrid Marking Ruler. The pattern recommends using Deb Tucker’s 180 Studio, Quilters Magic Wand. I have not personally tried a Magic Wand, but it is essentially the same thing. They are both ½ inch rulers that you are able to center diagonally on the square and mark the sewing lines, ¼ inch on both sides of the center diagonal.

As this is not a sponsored post, and I do not receive any compensation for my opinions, here is why I opted for the Omnigrid Marking Ruler. They are sold in a set of three in various lengths. This allows me to use a ruler that is right for the job. The rulers are clear and the length is clearly marked in standard 1/8 inch which allows them to be used as a basic ruler when needed. I find it a plus whenever a tool can serve multiple purposes. Please note, there are other brands of rulers available. Regardless of which brand you choose, a ½ inch ruler will make all HSTs easier.

The next step is to sew and cut all of my HSTs, and then the dreaded step of ironing them. Stay tuned to see as the quilt progresses.

Month: February 2023

Strawberry Quilt

NYE Mystery Quilt: Part 2