Snowflake Quilt

 One last flashback Christmas quilt to squeeze in before Christmas. I also made this one last year, it was a big year for Christmas quilts, haha. (I also bought and had quilted one of those Lella Boutique Christmas panels that everyone has...I won't blog about that though because I didn't do anything except bind it, lol). 

I loved this snowflake quilt when I saw it social media, and bought the pattern and fabric on black friday sales. The pattern is by Modern Handcraft and I love it. It has 3 variations, so it's like 3 for the price of 1. You could do a scrappy background, a striped background, or a solid. I loved her black background in one of her quilts and decided to use a metallic black Essex linen. I love it! I had to copy her straight-line quilting as well...shrug.

It's not as cuddly soft as my others because I backed it with essex linen as well. But I love it anyway.

Snowflake Quilt, pattern by Modern Handcraft, long arm quilted by Abby Latimer, completed 2021

Pine Hollow Quilt

I've been busy with so many things and plenty of sewing, but finishing quilts has not been one of them. And neither has taking pictures of what I've been working on. 

But, it's December, so it's a great time to post this flashback quilt! I made this just last year, which means it's one that fell through the cracks between when I stopped posting on Instagram and started blogging again. 

As I was saying...I made this last year. The pattern is called Pine Hollow by Amy Smart. I had seen some of these quilts around social media and thought they were fun! So many different color schemes, I especially liked one that had been done in Alison Glass Christmas fabric. I can't remember who made it, maybe Angela Pingel? I can't remember. It was so fun. I wasn't ready to embrace butterscotch and pink and aqua in my Christmas quilts at the time (stay tuned, lol) but I thought it was just too fun to not make. And, I had made a bunch of the improv trees for my memorial quilt from Amy Smart's tutorial and thought it was fun, so figured it would be a great project.

 I used some favorite prints from years ago and some newer prints and I think it's a great blend. I do regret using the low volume Sweetwater Noel print, because everything else is just so saturated, but that's okay. What's a quilt without at least one regret, right? 

I backed it with minky and my kids just love it. It's pulling ahead with an early lead for being fought over come Christmas Eve...we'll see who the lucky kid is who sleeps with it! 

Slopes Scrap Quilt

I've been pretty into Amanda Jean Nyberg lately, I have her book, No Scrap Left Behind, as well as the one she co-authored, Sunday Morning Quilts. I love them both. And this is a quilt from No Scrap Left Behind that I just had to make. She calls it Slopes for how the blocks are angled gently to give it a sloping appearance, almost like mountains. 

I don't think mine turned out nearly as effective as hers did. She used exclusively cool colors, and it's a lot more unified. And I think some of my blocks didn't get the angled cuts quite right, like not angled enough maybe, so the gentle sloping action isn't as pronounced in all the rows. But, it was one of my first attempts at an improv scrappy project and I struggle with fabric waste. By which I mean that I am loathe to use the perfect color if I will have to cut off an unusable scrap to make it work. So, I tried to use strings that were pretty close to the right size (or twice the size so I could use it twice...) and that meant I needed to use a greater variety of scraps because I just didn't have enough cool colors to make it work.

Also, I really try to put my own color scheme onto a quilt pattern. I don't want to copy it exactly, because I want it to be mine. But sometimes, that means it doesn't quite work out. It's okay.

Since it's not really perfect, I"m glad I didn't put any effort into making it much larger. It's a respectable throw size, but not as oversized as I usually go for. 

I still really like the pattern, and my box of solids is still overflowing, so maybe I'll try again? Who knows. 

For the back, I opted to collect all my flannel scraps from previous backings and piece them together into a scrappy backing. I was just a tad short, so I bought 1/3 yard of flannel to finish it off. 

Slopes quilt, designed by Amanda Jean Nyberg, quilted by Abby Latimer, completed 2021

Solar Eclipse quilt

One of my favorite types of quilt designs are patterns that create secondary designs. I love how the blocks work together to create a pattern and visual interest. It's something I like to incorporate into my own designs, even though it can be trickier. I think that's half the fun. 

When I saw this quilt pattern in a book by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique, I really wanted to make it. The secondary pattern is fun and the dark background was really striking. Of course I had to mimic her quilt. I didn't want to completely copy her color scheme and so instead of an aqua print for the squares, I used a gray solid, and I omitted green. It's possibly more similar to the original than I usually like to go for, but that's alright. I think it turned out beautifully. 

I did have to make a couple of adjustments; I didn't have any charm packs and didn't intend to buy any for this project, so I needed to figure out the cutting from yardage. It's been too long; I might also have taken the opportunity to do some more efficient piecing, like flying geese four at a time, and multiple HSTs at a time. I like to do that when I can, it makes it go so much faster. And of course I backed it with minky. I opted for silver, and then bound it with the same blue as the background to give it a bindingless feel. 

Solar Eclipse, designed by Vanessa Goertzen, quilted by Abby Latimer, completed 2021

Housewarming Quilt

My brother moved from Utah to Kentucky about six years ago. I can't remember exactly...it's been a while, and I feel like it was around the time my twins were born. They rented a home for a while and then were able to build a new home because they hadn't found anything they liked well enough to buy. It wasn't their first home purchase; they had owned a home in Utah. Still, we had just finished building our own home and I was excited for them to have a new place of their own. They came out to visit shortly after moving in, and I decided it would be perfect to send a housewarming quilt back with them. I wanted it to be a simple design, but I love big quilts and so I aimed to make it a large throw. It ended up closer to twin, but that's okay. 

I decided a simple house block would be perfect. I picked a neutral palate of colors, and, I'm a bit embarrassed to say, used it as an excuse to use a lot of prints I liked, but didn't love or want in my stash any longer. I like them all, I promise! Some I like very much, like the navy floral, that's a favorite. Some I love but I can't seem to figure out how to use them. Maybe because I don't usually make large blocks like this. And I do like them all together. It feels very primary color to me, even though I used green instead of yellow. 

I had recently reconnected with a former neighbor who also happened to move to Utah County (I grew up in Salt Lake County), and who I hadn't known was a sewist and quilter. She now works at a sewing machine/quilt shop near my new home, and I bumped into her there. She does long-arm quilting and so I thought I would try her services out. She did a great job and finished it more quickly than my usual long armer, who is quite busy now (because she's good!), but it was more expensive than I hoped for and I wasn't overly thrilled with it. Nothing set it apart from my go-to quilter. I don't go to that quilt shop often, mostly just for thread (they carry Mettler and a good variety of serger cones) and Tula Pink fabric occasionally. They have eclectic fabric: lots of traditional and juvenile, and then Tula and Kaffe. It's very odd. And it always takes FOREVER to check out. Their computer system is ancient. And slow. And doesn't always work. So I avoid it. And she is getting ready to retire so I think she has scaled back her hours. I actually haven't seen her there in a year or so, now that I think about it...maybe she's already quit. In any case, I still continue to use my go-to quilter.

So, here's the large quilt I made for my brother! He said they loved it, I gave it them in person when they visited since they drove, and that save me massive amounts on shipping. I backed it with minky because, minky. But that made it HUGE and heavy. I'm so glad I didn't have to ship it. 

Housewarming, quilted by Ruth Ann LeBaron, completed February 2021, gifted July 2021.

Improv Pods: Flashback Quilt

A few years ago, a friend was moving away, so I decided to make her a table runner. It was the first small quilt I'd ever made. I decided to make a table runner from Jacquie Gering's and Katie Pederson's book, Quilting Modern. I picked the improv pod runner, and I loved their color choices so much, I elected to use them in my runner, too. Yellow and gray. I bought fabric for it, and because it's such a small piece, I had enough fabric to make two, so I made myself one, too. I was pretty excited about the pattern and feared I would have separation anxiety. Also, and most importantly--it was a very new technique for me, and I figured I should have enough to make two so that I could pick and choose which blocks to use in hers.

I was really nervous, but didn't know how nervous I should be because I didn't know curves were supposed to be scary. The curves were a little intimidating to me, but I went for it, and I'm glad I didn't know to be really terrified of them, because they went great, and were pretty easy once I'd done a couple! I loved the technique so much I used it when I pieced my Jesus quilt.

The one thing I noticed when I was almost done (I'm a tad embarrassed it took me that long! ;-)) was that longer pods with more gentle curves were far easier to ease together than short ones. Of course, once I noticed this, I realized immediately why: the gentler curve is closer to a straight line.

This was also the first improv project I made, and while I made it, it was outside my comfort zone to improv too much, so I kept the sizing consistent and trimmed the pod blocks to square, consistent sizes. It worked really well for me.

I really love this runner, and I use it on my dining table even still. I don't know if my friend uses hers, but I often remember her when I look at it, which is good enough for me. ;-)

Improv Pod Table Runner
Pieced and quilted by me!
Completed December 2012

Quilts as Miracles

I've been trying to be more receptive to peoples' needs. I went through some really tough times a few years ago, and a friend I thought I could really count on just wasn't there for me. No one was, really. It was a dark time, and I kept waiting for someone to reach out, for someone to notice the pain I was in and extend a kind word. A bar of chocolate wouldn't have hurt, either! ;-) As I was coming out of it, a different friend I didn't know as well dropped off a small bag of chocolate covered almonds and I was so touched. It was heart-warming. And I resolved that I wanted to be the kind of person that did heart-warming things. Not to pay it forward, although that's not a bad a thing, but to be an angel that someone needed. If you haven't noticed my button in my sidebar, I'm a Mormon. I believe in Christ and I believe in following His example to love others. When we are baptized in our church, we covenant with God to bear others' burdens, to comfort those that stand in need of comfort. In short, to be His angels. I believe that miracles do happen. I was the beneficiary of a medical miracle a couple of years ago. But, short of those extreme miracles, I believe miracles happen every day and that God often uses us to be those miracles. So, I have been trying to take my baptismal covenant more seriously, and be the miracle. I try to listen for promptings that might indicate how He needs me to help others. When I think of someone out of the blue, I often wonder if it's because that person needs a miracle. And I often set about trying to be that miracle. Sometimes, all it is is delivering a small bag of treats. Mostly, that's what it is.

Last summer, we had a family reunion with my husband's family. His sister was pregnant (though hadn't announced it yet...I think everyone was pretending to not know) and just seemed...sad. Or worn out. Maybe both. I didn't pry, and we are honestly not that close, so there really wouldn't have been a point: it's not like she would have shared her struggles with me. But for a couple of weeks, it nagged me that she was potentially struggling. And I decided the only thing to do was to make her a quilt.

(These are all iPhone pictures; please excuse the quality!)

Because I had this nagging feeling, I decided I better get to it and make one that was quick. So I picked a quilt from Amy Smart's Fabulously Fast Quilts. And I made it, had it quilted, and sent it off.

She got it just a couple of days later, and loved it. I have no idea if she really was struggling, and it really doesn't matter. Because getting a quilt in the mail would make anyone's day, right?

Quite frankly, I still have a really long way to go. Don't misinterpret this post: I am no saint. I'm just a work in progress, like everyone else. :-)

Janet's quilt
Completion date: September 2014

Quilts as Gifts

I've given very few quilts as gifts. I find it hard to give something so expensive and labor intensive away, to be honest. I need to be more giving, it's true. But, also, most of the quilts I make don't have an intended recipient necessarily, which makes it harder to give since it's something I made because I love it and wanted to. There have been a few, though. My sister has gotten a couple (see the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes quilts), and I also have given one to my cousin and one to my sister-in-law. I didn't take very good or many pictures of them because I wasn't planning on doing a blog when I made them...so, iPhone pictures will have to do.

I made my first quilt gift (excluding my sister's since we are so close) for my cousin. Shortly before Thanksgiving in 2013, she was diagnosed with a rare and potentially untreatable form of cancer. She had miscarried, and afterward, was diagnosed with a placenta cancer. Because of the nature of the cancer, it was potentially untreatable, as it would spread throughout the body slowly, but without settling anywhere, making it impossible to treat with chemo. Or something like that. I may be wrong in my details, but the real point was that it was very likely untreatable. Right before the holidays. She has three children, and her oldest daughter was performing in the Nutcracker, so she was quite busy as it was, and then was dealing with the fatigue and stress of cancer.

It's folded in half, the borders really do go all the way around! :-)

My mom mentioned wanting to do something to show our support, and I instinctively suggested making her a quilt. I had heard that chemo can be very chilling, partially, no doubt, because you have to sit in a cold hospital room hooked up to an IV. So a quilt could be useful in that way, but also for snuggling with her three children (I made sure to back it with flannel). I contacted my favorite quilter, Abby Latimer, and set about making a quilt. My mom and I shared the cost, and she watched my girls while I pieced the top. We picked a simple, but fun pattern (based on this pin), and I finished it up in a day. My mom pieced the back and dropped it off at Abby's to be quilted. Abby was amazing and quilted it that night so we could pick it up the next day. By the way, she quilted it with the flirtatious pattern, which is my current favorite panto. It's amazing.

I bound it and my mom delivered it to my aunt, who was spending most every day with my cousin, helping and comforting and such. They have since expressed such gratitude I don't know why I don't give more quilts away. :-)

My cousin ended up being okay. The initial blood work, which took weeks to process, showed that she had the type that would be treatable, and after going through some treatment (no chemo, I think), she is currently in remission and feeling fairly healthy.

I was so glad to provide something of comfort during that difficult holiday season. Quilts are powerful things and I hope I can use my quilts for good more in the future.

I'll post my other gifted quilt later. In the meantime, though, I'd love to hear any stories about quilts you've gifted that have been special for you!

Katie's quilt
Completed December 2013

Butterflies in the Garden

Another flashback quilt here...and another attempt at using up my stash and getting UFOs under control. I bought a bunch of fabric I fell in love with at Joann's...some of the first fabric I bought. I didn't have a project in mind, and I kept thinking it was perfect for my bedroom, which it actually ended up not being perfect at all. Nevertheless, I kept looking for the right project, but then I started buying better quality fabric...and this sat and sat.

I saw some pins on Pinterest that were pretty basic, and did the math myself to come up with something similar. The math ended up being really easy: I picked a size for some squares, and then added a small sashing strip between them, and cut rectangles to the size of the squares plus sashing on the long side and the size of the squares on the short side. By adding the same size sashing between the square row and the rectangle, it became a square again, perfect for piecing into rows. It was a pretty quick project, and it ended up being a pretty decent size. It's not a perfect fit, but it sits in our living room anyway, and I backed it with flannel so it's perfect to wrap up in when I'm sitting on the couch reading a book.

I didn't know what to call it, but I picked out a butterfly panto, and when I got it back, the greens and browns just reminded me of a garden. I'm not great at names for quilts, I'm really not.

This quilt was a huge breakthrough for me, though. I decided that the striped fabric would be the perfect binding, but I didn't have enough of it. I decided to do a narrow binding, using 2-inch strips, and just had enough. And what was interesting was that I loved the narrow binding so much more. It meant that my hemming on the back lined up better with the seam on the front. Instead of having a bad stitch line in the middle of the border on the front (okay, not exactly, but it felt like it!) and a wide flap on the hem on the back, I had a nice, neat hem with an occasional stitch on the binding on the front. I liked it so much better! I'll post more about binding later. I may even write up a tutorial, :-)

Approximate Completion: March 2014

Stars and Stripes

When I first started quilting, I wanted to make a quilt for my sister. We weren't close growing up, but got much closer after we were both adults. She was in college, and I thought a big picnic quilt would be fun for her to have. I picked out a jelly roll quilt pattern from a book I had picked up, but didn't know where to buy jelly rolls. It was before I'd really gotten into fabric, and did most shopping at Joann's. I checked out a couple of other quilt shops, but I guess it was before jelly rolls got really popular. Or something.

I wanted to make it bigger anyway, so I just bought some yardage I found at Joann's. It was a really cute line, and I supplemented with a couple of yards I picked up at a local shop. I overestimated how much I needed and bought way too much, it was almost enough to make two complete tops.

I struggled a lot with the top because of the star placement in the strips, and the pattern had some flaws. It didn't help that I enlarged it by adding an extra row, but I went over it and over it (and again, when I made the second) and the pattern was just wrong for a few things. It took so long to get it to all work out right!

I backed it with denim (mostly made of our dad's old work jeans with some denim and red canvas yardage added in), and made it before I knew there were affordable long-arm quilters out there, so I tied it with yarn. It was so tough and I had such sore fingers!

In the end, it wasn't a great quilt, I was still such beginner. But it was made with love. :-) She still has it, but doesn't use it often.

A couple of years ago, I decided to clear out my UFOs for a new year's resolution, and the leftover strips were at the top of the stack. It was one of the first projects I finished in my resolution, but I knew better and sent it out to be quilted. It was the first quilt I had Abby Latimer quilt (stars and loops, a great penny-incher panto), and she did a great job. She's my go-to quilter. I backed it with denim (just yardage this time) and it turned out great! So much better than the first, but I had a couple more years of experience, and a year of Saturday Sampler under my belt.

We use ours a lot. We take it to the park, we use if for Family Movie Night (yes, it deserves capitalization…), and when our floor was ripped out in our kitchen from a flood, we ate on it on the concrete. It gets a lot of love at our house, and our girls know that when it comes out of the closet, they're in for a treat. (They always assume it means movie night)

First quilt (not pictured) approximate completion: 2010?

Second quilt (pictured) approximate completion: July 2013

Adjusting Colors in a Pattern

I posted earlier about my experience with American Quilting's Saturday Sampler program. In case you missed it, or just don't want to check out the post, I loved it. In that post, I laid out some really specific reasons why I'm a huge fan of Saturday Sampler programs.

As I mentioned, I did two years. The first year I did was the Halloween Sampler. The second year was a Quilter's Alphabet. It was really a fun concept: we did a block for every letter of the alphabet. While we were doing it, I loved (almost) everything we sewed. There were just a couple of blocks I didn't love. And I was really excited to see it come together.

When I went to the revealing class, though, I was so disappointed! The layout didn't wow me, probably because of the sashing colors, which were so dark. Here's a sample. Amy, the shop owner, had promised optional appliqué, and delivered: the pattern called for appliquéing on wool letters to each block if desired. It looked alright, but I didn't really want to do the appliqué, even though it was wool (which I actually like sewing for some reason…).

I bought the finishing kit just in case, though I really doubted I would ever really love their design. I went home and shelved the project.

Then, I saw a pin that lead to this blog post.  She actually picked out prints to replace the sashing, but when I first saw it, I thought it was my favorite Kona gray: Ash. I decided to keep with the solid idea from American Quilting but switch it out for the colors that the blogger had picked. I did use the binding that Amy had picked out for the kit, because it worked with the gray, and I have used the other fabric from the finishing kit on the back (I hand embroidered the names on it. I had forgotten that the blogger also did this until I went to grab her link) and I've used the teal solid in other projects as well. It's a great teal, just too dark for the sampler.

What's amazing is that I went from hating the finished product to absolutely loving it, just by switching out the sashing. I do wish I had made one other change. There's one block that, in my opinion, absolutely doesn't match the color family of the rest of the quilt. I wish I had remade it in different fabrics so it would work better. But it's obviously WAY too late to do that…

I had Abby of Latimer Lane Quilting quilt it with flirtatious. This is one of my favorite quilt pantos, and she did an amazing job.

So, don't be afraid to switch things up! Even if it's a part of a kit and you have to supplement with your own fabric or purchase additional fabric, it's worth it to make sure it's something you love. After all, even quick quilts take hours. If you have spent the time (and money…quilting's not cheap either…) you should make sure it's something you're going to love.

Completion Date: October 2014

I learned this the hard way on another project several years ago. I made a table runner from a tutorial by Allison Harris, but added some additional sashing. I used a gray that I had on hand, and in certain light, it seemed to work, but when I put it on my table (where it would live), it was the way wrong gray.

But, I was too lazy to unpick it and start over, and thought it would probably be okay. But, the more I look at it, the wronger it looks. It was a huge mistake and now it sits in a closet. It makes me really sad because I used some of my favorite fabric that I had been hoarding in it, and now I don't like it. Unfortunately, I can't package it up as a gift because one of my daughters spilled chili on it and I've not been able to get it out…

Approximate Completion Date: Summer 2013

Christmas in Seville

Here's Christmas quilt number two. I am pleased to say that the only fabric I needed to buy for this quilt was the white--everything else was from my stash. Which...is probably why the backing doesn't quite match up perfectly, and I probably would have picked a different border (red. I love red.). BUT, even with the concessions, I love it. I was really making an effort to USE my stash instead of just acquiring it. I don't know about you, but I'm guilty of picking up fabric here and there, adding to my stash because I love them, because they're good "stash-builders," because they're on an awesome sale and I just can't pass it up. But when it comes time to make a project, I go out and buy new fabric for the project (plus a little extra to add to my ever-growing stash because I can't bear to use it all on the current project).

This one is also a pattern by Allison Harris. It's Seville. I love how the smaller blocks work together to form this big octagon that you're just not quite sure how it goes together. Again, not a quick quilt. It was quicker than Dixie. I love Allison's patterns, but they're not particularly quick! They are really well-written. I'm working on another one right now, actually (pictures soon!).

It was tricky to line up the points, but Allison gave great tips. I can't say I was patient enough to follow them every time, so it is what it is. I'm working toward more perfect piecing, but I'm not ready to slow down too much to get it! :-)

For the backing, I didn't quite have enough of the red with holly, so I added blocks in an offset cross from one of the lines I used. Because I used white sashing, I wasn't able to use some of the florals that had white backgrounds because there wouldn't have been enough contrast, so I used them on the backing.

I used a variety of prints, some not even Christmas, which I love. There are a few from the same line, but as much as I love quilts from a single coordinating line, I love that I put these together myself. I said love a lot right there...I gotta work on my vocabulary! I wish that the green was a little closer to the same green I used in my other quilt, as they don't look great stacked up together, but c'est la vie!

Completion date: July 2014

Christmas Quilts

I mentioned Christmas quilts...and here's the first one! This is the first Christmas quilt I made, and I made it from the same fabrics as my advent calendar. It debuted last Christmas. It's a pattern by Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew called Dixie. It's a pretty basic block; a log cabin with an hourglass in the center, but I loved how she varied the width of the logs and used them to create interesting framing.

But, like all log cabin quilts, it's not a quick sew! This took me a lot longer than I expected it to. I love quilting (obviously...) so that shouldn't be a problem, but I feel like when you're expecting a quick quilt, and it's not, it's discouraging...

I actually used leftover squares from the advent calendar to make the hourglasses...they were almost perfect, I sewed an extremely narrow seam to put them together, and it worked out pretty perfectly. I don't recommend super narrow seams...it's pretty risky. Once they were trimmed up, they worked well for the centers.

And, for the solids, I used a Kona red (I have no idea which one...) and an awesome woven green fabric. Again, no idea on the name, but it is 100% cotton, which is pretty awesome. It's a heavier weight, and the weaving shows ovals. I also used it on the backing; I made a four-patch of sorts for the back with the red and green solids. Allison used just one solid, and as I was assembling the blocks, realized how much easier that would have been; trying to keep a good sense of contrast without using the same combination repeatedly was really difficult. Of course, she used more colors than I did; being limited to red, green, and black was tricky.

The cream is actually not a solid, it's the same snowflake print I used in the advent calendar. I really love that it's the same exact fabrics from the advent calendar, and that they coordinate. But, I'm also glad I'm running low on it, because I don't want everything to be so matchy-matchy. Which you'll see when I post my second Christmas quilt! But don't worry; I still have some Sweetwater left!

I had it quilted by Abby Latimer, and she did a great job! I love the snowflake panto, and luckily, got it into her while all her patterns were a penny an inch. This panto is now 2 1/2 cents an inch.

What I don't love is my binding job. I'll post my binding methods later, and I've gotten better since this one. One of my problems is that I just don't have a whole lot of practice, and I don't really enjoy hand-binding. Since I don't enjoy it, and I need practice, I prefer to machine bind since it's faster. When a quilt is ready to bind, I'm really ready to be done!

Approximate completion: October 2013

Advent Calendar

It's finally time to pull out Christmas decorations! I try to resist Christmas decor until Thanksgiving, because Thanksgiving feels like the cusp of fall and winter to me. Over the past few years, I've been making Christmas decorations for our home, and I love how handmade makes it feel all the more homey and Christmasy. I'll post about some of my other projects later, but today I'm sharing my advent calendar.

I made this advent calendar as part of a class at American Quilting one summer. I was pregnant at the time, and ended up being very sick after the class, so I didn't finish it for a few months, and it wasn't ready until January 2013. And then my husband and I were traveling during most of December 2013, so even though we hung it, we didn't actually use it as an advent calendar. I'm excited to finally do the advent calendar thing with my girls!

American Quilting held the class and based the pattern off of this one on Sew Mama Sew I believe. They adjusted it to make things a bit more even and easy to sew. I used Christmas Countdown fabric by Sweetwater that I had been hoarding for a few years, plus a polka dot fat quarter I had. I used a different line for the snowflake background fabric because I hadn't bought the cream snowflake from the same line, and it was obviously impossible to find. That was such a darling line!

I chose to cut out the circles from one of the fabrics for the numbers, and I appliqued them on. I can handle circles with the template applique method.

I had a really hard time hanging it last year; I don't have a lot of experience hanging quilts, and I cut a yardstick down to size, but the command hooks I had didn't work with the yardstick. I'm going to pick up some smaller ones this year, and I bought a narrow dowel to try, so we'll see. It seems to be working. If you have tips for hanging, I'd love to hear them!

I didn't know any long-arm quilters when I had this done, so I dropped it off at American Quilting to have one of their employees do it. I LOVE the swirls, and they were so careful to not quilt any of the pockets closed. That's obviously very important.

And, I've debated about what to do for our advent calendar for years, but finally figured it out. I bought a kit from 25 Days of Christ, and finished the ornaments a few weeks ago. There are 25 ornaments, and each ornament symbolizes a story from Christ's life. There's a booklet to go along with it that gives the scripture references. I plan to put the ornaments in the pockets and we'll use that as our daily advent calendar activity. I'm really excited to start a more Christ-centered Christmas tradition. Santa is fun, but I feel like Christ really makes the season special.

Completion date: January 2013

Halloween Sampler Quilt

Have you ever participated in a Saturday Sampler?

Samplers aren't usually my thing; I love how repeated blocks work together to form interesting patterns. But, I have to admit that I think Saturday Sampler programs are really awesome. My friend invited me to do a Saturday Sampler at American Quilting with her. She was so excited because it was a Halloween theme, and even though I'm not super excited about Halloween, I didn't see any reason why I shouldn't do it. I'd never done anything like it, and didn't really know what to expect, but immediately loved it. I attended the demonstrations and learned so much that first year. And the quilt ended up so darling! I get so many compliments.

I really hated doing the applique on the trick or treaters, and it took me almost a year after the sampler ended to actually finish it because I dreaded doing it. In the end, I raw-edge machine appliqued them on, reasoning that it only comes out for a month each year and isn't getting "loved" like a normal quilt, so it shouldn't need to be washed. And now that it's done, I really love the quilt.

I think my favorite line is the bottom because of how the two different blocks work together. I also really enjoyed adding the embroidery details and lettering. I may hate turned applique, but I love embroidery.

I did the Saturday Sampler program at American Quilting twice and I'll post about the second year's quilt in another post. But, in case you are considering doing a sampler program, either at a brick and mortar or online, let me encourage you to jump in! Here's what I loved about my experience at American Quilting.

First, I got to go to the quilt shop every single month! They have sales on sampler Saturday and I probably spent much more than I should on fabric while I was participating in samplers.

Second, the samplers I have participated in were diverse and were skill builders. I made a large variety of blocks with many different techniques. I made an effort to always attend the demonstration, and I think participating in the sampler really helped my skills improve quickly. I learned different ways to construct flying geese, square in a squares, half-square triangles, whack and stack stars, and several different methods of applique, among others.

Third, because there were so many different blocks and methods, I got to try things out in a low-risk way. I learned that I really love paper piecing, but don't love applique. I didn't have commit to a big applique project to figure that out. And since it came with demonstrations, I didn't go into it blindly. After two years of samplers, I've tried most standard techniques and don't feel intimidated by most patterns.

Fourth, it got me sewing regularly. I found myself much more likely to work on other projects because I was spending more time in my sewing room.

I really loved the class-format of the sampler and I loved learning and improving my quilting techniques. If you're considering a Sampler program, do it! I may do another one in the future, but have so much in my quilting queue that it's not a good time for me. But, I loved it and highly recommend it to others. Let me know in the comments if you've done sampler programs and how you liked them!

Approximate completion date: summer 2013

A quilty beginning...

I have never finished the first quilt I started. Though the New Year's resolution that got me jump started on finishing projects was to finish all works in progress, I still am not sure I'll ever finish it. I don't really feel all that bad, either. There are so many other projects pulling my interest.

When I moved into my current house, I commented on a quilt group flier I saw on my neighbor's refrigerator. "Oh, do you quilt?" she asked, her eyebrow raised in hopeful anticipation.

"No, no, but I've been wanting to learn; my sister-in-law received the most amazing quilt from her best friend at her baby shower, and ever since, I've been dying to learn." The next thing I knew, we were cruising the aisles at Joann's, buying all the basics I needed. Pins, thread, fabrics for a sampler. I borrowed my Mom's 50-year-old Viking sewing machine (which weighed a ton!) and rotary cutting supplies, and found myself at a neighborhood quilt group meeting. My neighbor, Julie, patiently taught me how to cut and the basics of piecing, and away I went. The group had a sampler book and the host ran copies on cardstock of the templates for anyone who wanted them. I made 8 or 9 blocks and loved deciding which fabrics I would use in each block.

A few months later, the host relocated across the country for her husband's job, and though we tried to keep the quilt group going, it fell apart, and I stopped working on the sampler.

Shortly after, I discovered I was pregnant and decided to make a quilt for my future baby. I picked out fabric (gender neutral since it was too early to find out), and decided to make an Ohio star pattern. I didn't know about quilt blogs, patterns, or anything, and did the math myself on graph paper I printed. Julie showed me how to add mitered edge sashing around the outside, and then showed me how to hand quilt it.

And then I miscarried.

Heartbroken, I put the quilt, still on the large embroidery hoop, in another room and closed the door. Once I became pregnant again, and was sure it was viable, I cautiously pulled out the quilt and began quilting again. I finished quilting, I learned how to bind it, and managed to finish it several months before my beautiful daughter arrived, healthy and safe.

I think every single one of the star tips got clipped off because I didn't take seam allowances into account, but it was my first quilt and I was so proud that I did it all myself, from piecing, to quilting, to binding. And, in many ways, I think it's significant that my first completed quilt was for my child. So often, the most meaningful quilts are the ones we make for others.

I have not hand quilted since then; I just don't really like it, and I prefer the look of machine quilting. But, I've done it once, and I'm proud that I can say that. The whole project was a real learning experience for me, and really propelled my confidence in quilting. Stay tuned for more flashback quilts!

Approximate completion date: August 2009