Project Update: 08.04.2025

Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

I was actually getting ready to post a Project Update last week, thinking it was still the end of March, but after getting set up at my computer, I realized April had arrived. How the time flies!

And despite being well into the Spring season, the weather is deceptively Wintery. Last week was the ice storm and this morning I woke up to a blanket of fresh snow, which Meara has been very excited to play in!

With the weather being what it is, I've been happy to spend my time in the sewing room! I have several projects underway, and am excited to see how much progress I've made, especially considering it's been nearly two months since I last shared an update! Let's take a look!

Ice Cream Soda

In the last couple of weeks, I haven't spent much time with my Ice Cream Soda quilt, but back at the beginning of March I finished the last of my full sized blocks!

Since that was a month ago at this point, I'm not really sure which blocks I've shown on the blog and which ones are new. It also doesn't help that I've sorted the blocks by colour now, mixing together all of the old and new ones, but sorting them this way has a purpose!

For the layout of my Ice Cream Soda quilt, I want to create a three way gradient effect, with the blocks of one colour flowing smoothly into the next. I'm hoping for it to look something like this;

Most of the blocks I've made don't contain a singular colour and will fall into mixed colour areas through the middle of the quilt, which should help to smooth the transition between the different colours!

Though I haven't laid out all my blocks together just yet, I have tried making a little white to gold gradient with a few blocks. After seeing this, I'm optimistic my plan will work out!

Of course, since I'm fitting these roughly hexagonal blocks into a square quilt, I will need to make a few partial blocks to help shape the edges.

I started putting together a few of these partial edge blocks, making three that I was happy with, but then realized that these edge blocks would need to fit into my gradient too.

Since I haven't laid out all of my blocks yet, I don't actually know how many partial blocks I'll need of each colour. Once laid out, I may find that certain colour areas are much larger or smaller than I'd originally thought, which will effect the number of partial blocks I'll need to make using that colour.

After reviewing my progress on Ice Cream Soda, I'm now really excited to lay out my blocks and see how the gradient looks! I hope I'll get to that soon!

The Ice Cream Soda quilt is based on a design by Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth.

The Generations Quilt Project

I think the reason my progress on Ice Cream Soda has been delayed is largely because I've started working on the Generations Quilt again!

After getting together with my Mom and Grandma in March for a little project meeting, I took on the task of finishing my Grandma's Generations blocks.

Grandma pieced 11 each of the Dresden Plate and Six Pointed Star blocks, leaving me to make 9 of each pattern. She had some fabric already set aside to be used for this project, which gave me a good starting point!

Using that fabric, I completed 10 additional Dresden Plate blocks in Grandma's style!

Admittedly, there are some differences; Grandma's original blocks have a pastel, watercolour look to them, while my duplicates seem to use more intense, jewel tones.

I was using up the pieces Grandma had already cut, but not used in her own blocks, so I don't know if the difference is happenstance based on which prints she pulled randomly from her bag of cut pieces, or if she went out of her way to mostly avoid the darker prints and that was why so many were left.

And one other difference is the background fabric;

Taking a closer look, Grandma was using a white on white print densely filled with teardrop shapes. She had enough of that fabric left to make four more background squares, but I needed to find something else for my remaining blocks.

I chose a print I felt was similar, with elongated teardrop shapes clustered into fans. The print isn't quite as dense as the one Grandma chose, but I feel the use of the teardrop shape makes them similar enough!

As for the Six Pointed Star blocks, I've managed to finish those too!

I feel the 9 Star blocks I made turned out looking more like Grandma's original blocks than the Dresden Plates did, which is likely because I was much more selective about the prints I was including!

Grandma's Six Pointed Star blocks typically featured two prints; one busy floral and one corresponding solid or semi solid. The solid print sometimes reflected the dominant colour of the floral and sometimes contrasted it, but always used a colour from the floral print.

Since these guidelines were so specific, I think I was more successful in replicating Grandma's block style!

Of course, having enough background fabric for all 9 of my blocks also helped!

For her Star blocks, Grandma was using silver metallic prints. The first one she chose was the silver star design shown in the bottom right of the picture, after using all of that, she started on the glitter print in the top left, which doesn't have a particular design.

There was enough of the second background for me to make one block, but she had set aside the silver holly print for these blocks as well, and there was enough of that for me to make the remaining 8 Six Pointed Star blocks!

With that, all 40 of Grandma's Generations Quilt blocks are finished! I haven't shown her the blocks yet, or consulted with her much while making them, so I'm excited to see what she thinks! I doubt she'll reject any of them, but if she has any thoughts, I'm quite happy to make a few more of either pattern that incorporate her feedback!

Even with all of that said, I still have more progress on the Generations Quilt to share!

After laying out my blocks next to my Grandma's and Great Grandmother's blocks, I decided I like the way my scrappy white applique blocks looked more than any of my coloured blocks.

I've since gotten started making more blocks in that style!

I originally made 6 Dresden Plates and 6 Six Pointed Stars using this colour scheme and have made 3 more of each, this time on orange backgrounds!

Unfortunately, these particular blocks were really tough to photograph. They kept ending up either very under or over exposed, so this is the best picture I got. I promise they look really good in person!

Photography skills aside, I've pieced even more applique shapes than I've finished!

As of right now, I have 12 Six Pointed Star appliques pieced, as well as 8 Dresden Plates, and another Dresden still in progress!

I'm anxious to get these blocks finished soon. With the work I've done on my imitation Grandma blocks, and Mom's progress, I think everyone else's blocks are finished and ready to go. It's exciting to think we might begin assembling quilt tops soon!

The Generations Quilt is based on the traditional Dresden Plate and Six Pointed Star blocks, using templates drafted by Valerie Anne.

Indigo Way Mystery Quilt

With all the work put into the Generations Quilt, it's crazy to think I still managed to work on other projects! Luckily, Indigo Way only really had a few steps left before it was finished!

The last few things to do were; piecing the triangle in a square units, piecing the square in a square units, and assembling those units into decorative pieced border strips!

I'm really happy with how these turned out! I would love to see how they look with the rest of the quilt, but got sick shortly after finishing them and didn't have the energy to do more than put them in the box with the rest of the blocks.

For now, that is where this quilt will stay, but I'm hoping to be able to take it out and do some quilting soon!

The Indigo Way quilt is based on a design by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.

Old Town Mystery Quilt

While it's a little sad to leave Indigo Way on such an anticlimactic note, finishing that project has opened the door to starting a new one!

I've been waiting several months to get started on the Old Town mystery quilt. So long, in fact, that it is no longer a mystery!

Originally, this quilt was made one unit at a time, but because I know how the finished quilt comes together, I've decided to make it one block at a time!

So far, I've pieced seven blocks, each with a unique background colour, and I love how they are turning out! I've also loved working with all the bright and beautiful prints, and have had a lot of fun jumping between green, orange, and pink backgrounds!

I can't wait to piece my next Old Town block!

The Old Town quilt is based on a design by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.

Friends, I have been having so much fun working on all of these projects!

Two months is a long time to go between updates and I hope I won't make you wait so long for the next one! Progress can pile up fast, but also be easily forgotton, so I think it's important to take some time to acknowledge your efforts!

Now, after sharing my recent progress, I'd love to hear what all of you have been up to! Please share photos and stories in the comments below, by sending me an email, or by messaging me on Instagram!

I can't wait to see what we continue to make together!