Project Update: 14.03.2023

Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

It's been just two weeks since my last Project Update, and in that time, I've done lots of sewing, gotten lots of snow, and had a visit with Mom and Grandma!

Working on my projects comfortably inside while watching the snowflakes fall has been a really relaxing experience, especially so with company, conversation, and curling! I don't normally watch sporting events, but Grandma was really excited about last weekend's Canadian men's Briar and I learned a lot about curling by watching the broadcast with her. Let me know if you watched it too!

But Friends, I'm here to share my quilt making progress, not ramble about curling. Let's get into it!

Summer Garden BoM

Last week, another new block was released for the Summer Garden project! The March block is called Jack's Delight, and after all the blocks made so far, it doesn't offer any new challenges and has been pretty relaxing to work on!

So far, I've made the two sample blocks, both of which were featured in last week's pattern release, but haven't yet started working on the additional three coloured blocks.

Initially, I had planned to add a little variety to my coloured Jack's Delight blocks by having a mix of white and red half square triangles, but the longer I've thought about it, the more I've been craving some consistency. I think I'll be switching over to using just red for the half square triangles and save the white fabric just for the centre of the block.

I'm excited to get back to working on those blocks soon!

Summer Garden is my own original pattern. It was designed as a block of the month style quilt along and will run until May 2023. Check out the Jack's Delight pattern or start from the beginning with fabric requirements!

The $3.31 Quilt

After finishing the last of the animal-themed blocks in January, February brought a new feature to The $3.31 Quilt, the maple leaf!

Along with all the blocks before it, this motif was drawn from an image found on Canadian coinage. The maple leaf in particular comes from the penny, which is no longer being minted but is still well known!

I'm making the lap sized version of the pattern, so I'll need a total of nine maple leaf blocks in various sizes and colours! The one problem with this choice is that the original pattern assumes all the leaves will be of a single colour, so I have needed to do just a little math to make my plan work.

At this point, I've cut all the pieces for all nine blocks and have finished piecing three of them, leaving me with just six more to finish!

With that said, I'm wondering when finishing instructions will become available? Originally, I had read that February would be the last month of this quilt along, but the leaf block was released without the final piecing instructions for the quilt top, so maybe we will get that information this month? I guess we'll need to wait and see!

The $3.31 Quilt is this year's mystery project for CQA members. The pattern was designed by John McPhail of Art East Quilting Co.

Hexie Harvest BoM

The last of my ongoing block of the month projects is Hexie Harvest!

In February, I made my Kindling blocks in addition to the Mistletoe and Rosemallow blocks that were actually assigned. For March, I don't plan to make any extra blocks, I'll be sticking to Cedar and Nutmeg!

I started the month by cutting all the pieces I'd need to make both blocks. Since finishing my February blocks, I'd missed working with the bright, beautiful colours of the hand dyed fabric I'm using for an accent in this quilt, so I was really excited to be using it again!

With all my pieces cut, I got started on the piecing!

I started by making the Cedar block, which uses a set of six trapezoids to make a central pinwheel shape. So far, I've completed five of the seven total Cedar blocks, four in rainbow colours and one in all black, and I'm excited to continue working on the last few!

And with my Cedar blocks still in progress, I haven't yet started to piece the Nutmeg blocks. But with another two and a bit weeks left of March, I still have plenty of time to finish them!

The Hexie Harvest pattern was designed by Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth. She is currently featuring the pattern as a block of the month style quilt along which will end in Autumn 2023.

Chilhowie Mystery Quilt

With the release of the final Chilhowie clue now months behind me, I've continued to work on this quilt at my own slow pace!

In the last few weeks, I've finished two more of the clue no.6 blocks, putting me at a total of nine completed blocks!

Although the process of adding the border units onto the block centres isn't particularly challenging, it does involve crossing a lot of seams, so thorough pressing is a must. With a broken foot, standing at the iron isn't the most appealing task, but I plan to continue working on the blocks slowly and they'll get finished eventually!

In the meantime, I did get a little impatient and decided to try quilting one of my finished Chilhowie blocks!

I'm planning to use one of the sashing inclusive quilt as you go methods for this quilt, so I didn't need to do anything special to prepare, I just jumped in and started quilting! The quilting motif I'm using was drawn from a book called "Edge-to-Edge Walking Foot Quilting Designs" by Melissa Marginet, but I don't recall the name of the motif and can't look it up since the book is currently at my Mom's house. Whoops!

Regardless of the name, I think the quilted motif really suits the piecing in this block and I'm excited to quilt more of them, though I will be waiting until the last of the blocks have been pieced this time!

Chilhowie was designed by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville and was featured as her Winter mystery quilt along project in December 2022.

Meadow Mystery Quilt

Unlike Chilhowie, Meadow Mystery is already pieced so quilting these blocks is what I'm supposed to be doing!

This quilt is one of my first adventures into the quilt as you go technique, so I'm not really sure how it will turn out just yet, but I'm excited to see how it progresses!

I still only have four blocks completely quilted, but with an additional seven in progress. It may seem counter intuitive to start quilting multiple blocks before finishing the previous ones, but since these include a mix of hand and machine quilting, those in progress blocks are actually completed in a way.

The process I've been using so far is to completely finish the hand quilting, then move along to machine quilting after. So for those seven blocks in progress, I've completed the hand quilting and they are just waiting for machine quilting.

The fact that I have so many waiting for machine quilting tells me I should probably focus on that for a little while. I hope I'll have some time available soon!

Meadow Mystery was designed by Cheryl Brickley of Meadow Mist Designs. The pattern was featured on her blog as the 2016-2017 mystery quilt along and was showcased by my guild as the 2021-2022 block of the month pattern.

Generations Quilt Project

Taking a step away from quilting and back towards piecing is the Generations Quilt project!

As already mentioned, I spent some time with Mom and Grandma over the weekend and we all took a look at our progress on our own blocks. I don't have a definitive count for either Mom or Grandma since the purpose of the visit was to visit, not specifically to talk about this project, but I currently have 23 completed Dresden Plate blocks and 17 completed Six Pointed Star blocks.

In addition to my completed blocks are my four in progress Dresdens. Three have been completely pieced and are just waiting for background fabric, and the last one is cut and ready to be assembled!

Once these Dresdens are finished, I'll have 27 completed, so I think I'll just finish all 30 of my Dresden Plates before I return to making Star blocks.

The Generations Quilt is a collaborative project featuring the work of myself, my Mom, my Grandma, and my Great Grandmother. It uses two traditional quilt patterns, the Dresden Plate and the Six Pointed Star.

I have really enjoyed seeing all the progress I've made over the past few weeks! When working on so many different projects, it can sometimes feel as though work is happening slowly, but by stepping back and looking at the culmination of every stitch, I can see exactly how much I've really accomplished!

And Friends, I would love to hear about all of your projects! Please share stories and photos in the comments below, by tagging me on Instagram @v.a.fibre.arts, or by sending me an email! It really makes my day when one of you reaches out and I am always so inspired by your work!

Now I'm off to finish my maple leaf blocks!

Until Next Time Friends, Keep Creating!

~VA