Isn’t this baby quilt so darn cute? I am very pleased with the final result, especially the quilting design of bees.
But you know how it is – as one project is finished, you are planning the next four. My current project is Stir Crazy by Brenda Henning in her Strip Therapy 2 booklet.
After piecing for the last two weekends, the quilt center is completed. All that is left is the inner border and a pieced outer border.
The plan is to finish the quilt top today.
Happy quilty week,
Marlene
Rose Garden was completed a week or so ago, but the picture was taken yesterday. This was the November 2020 Quilty Box quilt and I learned so much about working with odd shaped EPP pieces. 
The quilting design is Flower Festival by Urban Elementz. The quilted flowers show so nicely against the solid background.
And, of course, all the extra hexagons went on the back of the quilt – makes me smile.
The March mini top from Kim Diehl’s Whatnot Club was finished last weekend. I added a border to bring the size up to 18″ which works better with the hanger in the dining room.
Working with such small pieces can be a challenge, but I am mostly pleased with my piecing accuracy. There is always room for improvement, isn’t there? Hopefully I can get it quilted this week.
Now it is time to reward myself by starting a new quilt. Here is a sneak peek of the fabrics.
It has been awhile since I have made a red, white and black quilt, so I am ready to get this one started. Okay, okay – this quilt will technically be red, white, black & gray, but either way the colors make my heart sing.
Happy Easter,
Marlene
My quilting progress has been slow in February, but I have completed one project. Mount Fuji is a pattern from the Postcards from Japan series by Helene Knott. It is intended as an applique wall-hanging, however I decided to use a panel instead.
Mount Fuji Pattern
Mount Fuji – my version
I can’t decide if I am happy with this wall-hanging or not. I wonder if the light & dark gray was the right choice, maybe I should have looked for green or brown background fabrics. I also didn’t anticipate how the machine quilting would show up on the moon. Note to self- machine quilt the outlines in the Mount Fuji panel next time.
I have two more Fuji prints, so I may take one and try this pattern again. Hmmm I need to think about that some more.
The hand stitching on Rose Garden is coming along slowly. Three of the five EPP stars have been stitched to the background – hopefully I will have them all completed this weekend.
My plan is to add some pentagons to the setting triangles to add some interest. Plan A was a partial circle, however it is too tight. Plan B is setting them in a straight-ish line of one up one down. I like this a lot better.
I may also add one pentagon to the center of the corner triangles – we will see when I get that far. Rose Garden needs to be finished since I have already received the next EPP project.
The EPP Quilty Box for January arrived and it was full of lemons.
No, that is not a real lemon in the upper right side. It is a lemon stress ball. The project is for bowls which are not my thing, so I will be doing something completely different with them. But that is decisions for another day.
Have a good evening,
Marlene
I am off to a good start on my 2021 goal of curves & circles. My first finish – Twelve Moons.
The pattern directions said to applique the circles onto a background, however I used the Creative Grids Circle Savvy Ruler instead. As long as I remembered that the background fabric was cut 1/2″ smaller than the inset circle all was good.
The panto-graph stitched on Twelve Moons is Kismet by Urban Elementz. I think that Kismet has just become one of my favorite panto-graphs – to me it looks like leaves swirling in water on this block. Yes, I will definitely be using this Kismet again.
And the back of the quilt. It feels so good to use up those odd pieces of fabric and make room for new purchases.
My second circle project in January was Garden Globes by Jason Yenter (Floragraphix II). I bought this kit in 2007, so it had been patiently waiting long enough. 
Jason Yenter is one of my favorite fabric designers. The way he layers motifs on top of each other makes for visually interesting fabric which is highlighted in this pattern.
The Garden Globes pattern was also written to applique the circles on the background and I, of course, machine pieced them instead. They are the same size as the two circles in Twelve Moons, so these nine were no problem – well, no problem as long as I cut accurately, pinned carefully and sewed slowly.
Now that I am caught up on all binding projects, my attention returned to the Rose Garden EPP project. The star block in the lower left was completed and appliqued to the background. I cut the remaining 8 neutral charm squares into 1 1/2″ strips along with some of the background neutral to use as the sashing.
My plan also includes cutting out octogons from 10 of the remaining colored charm squares to make 4 arches for the 4 side triangles. So as you can see, I still have a bit of handwork to do before this quilt top is completed.
I have been collecting my curves & circles projects in one place and there are more of them that I originally thought. I mean I knew I had quite a few, but it is totally different to see them in a pile. It is going to be a busy year.
Next up is two wallhangings – Mount Fuji and Tiny the Giraffe.
What is on your schedule?
Marlene
J7 – the second finish for 2021. What a great way to start the year!
The backing was a great place to use up some leftover bits and pieces.
The panto-graph I used for the quilting is Gravity by Urban Elementz which is a circle in a circle design. I think that I am getting better at taking pictures of the machine quilting.
To keep the “get them quilted” streak going, I loaded Twelve Moons on the frame. I should have the quilting finished in a couple hours since it is on the smallish size (44″ x 50″)
It is a great feeling to have moved so many quilt tops to completed quilts, however now it is time to get back to piecing. I have two new projects – one pieced and one hand-work – that are calling my name.
Have a happy, quilty weekend,
Marlene
Diamond Stars was machine quilted in December, however the binding wasn’t completed until January making this my first finish for 2021.
This is one of my favorite quilts from 2020 and is now hanging next to my quilting frame. I like the unusual star and the rainbow colors.
While finishing the binding on Diamond Stars, the next quilt was coming off the frame.
Both of these quilts were machine quilted with monofilament thread. With such high contrast, monofilament is my go-to thread color.
And now that it is January, I started a new piecing project – Twelve Moons. 
Since 2021 is the year of curves, this project is perfect with two circles. Even though the pattern says to applique the circles, I am going to piece them instead.
My fat quarter bundle included two panels – one in green/gold colors & one in green/blue colors. I combined the blocks that I liked the best to make my quilt top.
Making the fabric choices was the hardest part of this project since the sewing was easy. The above picture shows the progress that I made on Saturday. Today I plan to finish the top and stitch the binding on the J7 quilt. What do you have planned for your Sunday?
Have a good quilty week,
Marlene