Project Update: 28.02.2023

Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

After a few weeks of warm weather and melting snow, Winter has returned, bringing frigid winds and flurries of snow. Of course, I'm not a fan of the cold weather and between that and a broken foot, I've been spending lots of time indoors working on various quilt projects!

In the month that has passed since my last update, a lot has happened; I've started a new BoM project, finished a quilt, and started quilting another! Along with all of that, I've been slowly working away at my other projects as well!

So Friends, let's take a closer look at what I've been working on!

Summer Garden BoM

As usual, I'll start off this update with my current guild block of the month project; Summer Garden!

I went to visit my Mom a few weeks ago to work on our Summer Garden blocks. At our monthly dining room quilt retreat, Mom worked on her Snowball blocks for February, but I had finished mine ahead of time to show as samples at the guild meeting. Instead, I worked on my Dove at the Window blocks, which were supposed to have been made in January.

I think they turned out really well!

I love how the colours in the dove units can be rearranged to make this rosebud shape! It creates a completely different effect than the original colour placement!

Now that I've finished those blocks, I'm completely caught up on my Summer Garden blocks and am ready for the release of the March block next week!

Summer Garden is an original pattern design I'm releasing for my guild's 2022-2023 BoM project. The next set of block instructions will be released here on the blog next week on 07 March!

Hexie Harvest BoM

My next BoM project is a new one I started earlier this month; Hexie Harvest!

I originally introduced this project with a preparation post in January, which consisted of me selecting fabric and making templates. Those templates were originally designed for the English paper piecing (EPP) method, but I don't really like the extra steps and amount of waste produced by using backing papers.

Instead, I'm using the prepared edge piecing method that I use for my Generations Quilt blocks. It involves folding the seam allowance to the back of the piece and thread basting that in place.

This method works really well for me! The basting thread acts as a stabilizer, so the papers aren't needed to prevent the fabric shape from warping, and I don't need to use any specialty tools, just a pencil, needle, and thread!

Using the prepared edge method, I was able to piece both sets of blocks for the month of February, Mistletoe (top row) and Rosemallow (bottom row). These blocks are really interesting because they use the same set of pieces, a central hexagon surrounded by six trapezoids, but the different placement of those pieces totally changes the effect of the block!

In addition to the February blocks, I also basted my Kindling blocks!

The Kindling block isn't scheduled until April, but it uses just a single large hexagon, so I wanted to cut them while I still had the biggest possible pieces to work with. I've noticed there are three blocks scheduled for August instead of two, so I may reschedule one of those to be the second April block.

But before we get to April, we first have to make the March blocks! I'm really excited to continue this project and have been anxiously waiting for February to end so I can continue, and lucky for me, March starts tomorrow! I can't wait!

Hexie Harvest was designed by Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth. It is currently being run as a block of the month quilt along, which will end in Autumn 2023.

Chilhowie Mystery Quilt

Yet another quilt along project I've been working on is Chilhowie. When it originally started, I had hoped to keep up with the weekly pattern releases, but I got sick at the beginning of the year and fell behind.

Now that the quilt along has been over for a month, I've realized there's no urgency to finish the project and am slowly working towards completing the quilt at my own pace!

Since the last update, I've continued to work on clue no.6 and have finished piecing an additional six blocks. That means I'm almost half done!

The Chilhowie quilt pattern was designed by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville. It was initially released as a free mystery quilt along, but the pattern is now only available in the Quiltville Store.

Generations Quilt

Moving away from quilt along projects is the Generations Quilt!

Last month, my goal of completing at least one block went uncompleted. That's not to say that I didn't work on blocks, I had pieced a few Dresden Plate applique shapes, I just hadn't sewn them onto backgrounds when the month ended.

I continued to work on those beige Dresden blocks through the beginning of February and have now completed all six of them!

I wouldn't say this colour combination is particularly representative of my usual style, I've never made an all beige quilt before, but it does show off my interest in trying new things and experimenting with different colour combinations!

And with those blocks completed, I decided to get started on the next set of Dresden blocks!

For these ones, I wanted to use one of my favourite colour schemes, rainbow accents on a dark background. I've used variations on this theme in a lot of quilts, including my recently started Hexie Harvest quilt. I love how the dark background makes the bright rainbow colours really stand out!

So far, I've cut enough pieces to make four Dresden Plates. I've begun piecing the first one, but haven't quite finished it yet. Once all of them are finished, I'll begin auditioning background fabric!

The Generations Quilt is an intergenerational collaborative project which uses two traditional applique quilt blocks; the Dresden Plate and the Six Pointed Star.

Simply Woven

This is the project I am most excited to be sharing an update on because Simply Woven is finally finished!

Of course, this shouldn't come as a surprise since I was working on binding in my last update. However, I can finally confirm that Simply Woven is complete!

This quilt has been in progress for about 10 years. It was started by my Grandma and finished by me to be gifted to my partner. It's been a great learning experience and I'm excited to be able to say I've finally finished my second full sized quilt!

The Simply Woven pattern was designed by Jessica Kelly of Sew Crafty Jess. The free pattern was originally released on the Moda blog, but is now most easily accessed through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Meadow Mystery Quilt

The final project I have to share today is the Meadow Mystery quilt.

This is one I haven't worked on in a while. It was last year's guild BoM project and I had to stop working on it last Spring when I ran out of background fabric. Now that I've finished Simply Woven, I was able to use the cut away backing fabric to finish piecing Meadow Mystery!

With all the blocks pieced, I decided to try using quilt as you go to assemble the quilt top. Last week, I shared a post with more information about the quilt as you go method I plan to use!

Simply Woven taught me to not over complicate my quilting design, so I planned a really easy motif for this quilt.

The brown background areas will be filled with a machine quilted en pointe grid, while the accent piecing will be outlined with hand quilting. Working with this simple design has been a lot of fun so far and I'm excited to continue!

In the first week that I've been quilting this project, I've finished four blocks, leaving me with 45 left to go! At this rate, it should definitely take me lass than two years to quilt this project, which will be a new record for me!

The Meadow Mystery pattern was designed by Cheryl Brickley of Meadow Mist Designs. The free pattern is featured on her blog as the 2016-2017 mystery quilt along.

Friends, it has been a busy month. I've made so much progress on so many different projects and can't wait to see how they continue throughout the rest of this Winter!

If you have any questions about any of the projects I've shared, feel free to reach out to me in the comments below! I would also love to hear about the projects you have in progress, share photos below or tag me on your social media posts to I can see what you've been working on!

You can find me on Instagram @v.a.fibre.arts where I share my progress on various projects throughout the week as well as updates and thoughts that don't make it onto the blog. I'd love to hear from you there!

Until Next Time Friends, Keep Creating!

~VA