Gene Pool Quilt

I made Jen Kingwell's "Gene Pool" quilt as a sample for Quilted Strait.  Turned out really nice.

Here's the top with Miranda posing ever so sweetly:

And here it is quilted.  Shelly Nolte of Bunny in the Box Productions long arm quilting did a nice all over pattern.

I laid it on my bed to try to measure for binding but Miranda had other ideas. LOL!!!

I need to get a pic of it hanging in the shop.  Easier to get it all that way. 

Splendid Sampler Blocks 46-48, 50, 53

 I've gotten behind on the sampler because I've gotten burnt out on all the applique and embroidery. I'm determined to stick with the project and just skip more.  

Block 46 - Twirl Time

Block 47 - Circle of Love

This was suppose to be separate pieces appliquéd but I cut it out as one piece.  Worked!

Block 48 - Whim

Block 50 - Flights of Fancy

Block 53 - Whirling in Circles

Low Volume Swap

Time to catch up on posts!   

I've done a few swaps with the Mini QT group on Flickr recently.  One theme was low volume.  I LOVE low volume fabrics so I was looking forward to this one.

I decided to make a few Mini Raspberry Kisses blocks and play with placement.  Have you seen this pattern?  Its a free tutorial on Wooden Spoon Quilts blog. The block is 4.25 inches.  Michael Ann created a tutorial for an even smaller version - 2 inches. 

You can see the difference of sizes below.

I went with the teeny ones and created a 12 inch mini.

Had fun cutting in to my low volume stash.  I hand quilted this one.   

I made a Goody Goody Binding kit to go along with it as an extra.  This is the only picture I could find of it....and its the inside.  The outside had 3 of the larger Raspberry Kisses blocks. 

My partner loved them both.  Yay!

And this is the fun mini & goodies I got...she even sent along a toy for Miranda.

I love that there are so many wonderful free patterns/tutorials online.  I'll never run out of projects to try.  

Splendid Sampler Blocks 38, 41-43

Here are my latest blocks.

 Block 38- Vintage Flower Basket

I arranged my flowers & leaves differently and added some embroidery.  

Block 41-Sew South

I sewed my hexies together (original has them separated) and only one middle hexie (original had a smaller one on top). 

Block 42 - Pencils

I loved making this block!  So cute. I opted to only paper piece the points and did the rest via regular piecing.

Block 43- Pincushion Love

The latest block is another embroidered one.  I'm working on simplifying it.  Sure hoping they give us some pieced blocks next.  I need a break from all the applique, embroidery and paper piecing.

Splendid Sampler Blocks 34, 35, 37, 39 & 40

I've been randomly finishing these sampler blocks lately.  Regular pieced blocks get done fast, paper pieced ones slower and hand work ones the slowest!   These are the the latest finishes.

Block 34 - Lemonade

I love this block.  So cute!

Block 35 - The Wishful Garden

This one was suppose to have a lot of embroidery in that X but I simplified.  Much faster and still nice.

Block 37 - Dashing by Chocolate

A nice easy one!

Block 39 - Balls in the Air

This one was a challenge.  Remember that all these blocks are only 6 inches.  So that means itty bitty teeny tiny pieces to make that curve.  Love the look of it but I doubt I'll ever make another one!

Block 40 - Flights of Friendship

A straightforward pieced block.  

I've got 3 other blocks in process.  Two are nearly done but the other may not ever get done.  We shall see. 

Splendid Sampler Blocks 32 & 33

Block 32 - Constant Needle

This was an easy one to appliqué.  I'm still doing fusible raw edge machine appliqué even though its not my favorite.  Best way I can think of to stay up to date on these blocks!

Block 33 - Selvage Saver

I chose to use just a few selvedges instead of all selvedges.  I am using two fabric collections from Fig Tree & Co - Farmhouse and Strawberry Fields Revisited....so used those.

I will be working on block 31 for a while.  Its another all embroidered one.  This sampler has had a lot more appliqué and embroidery than i thought it would.  They are cute blocks but they really slow me down!

Splendid Sampler - an extra block

Remember the dress block I made?  The original pattern actually had more to it than just the dress.  But I wanted to feature just the dress and use the other elements for an extra block.   Here's what I made:

Cute, huh?   The spool and needle were to the right of the dress in the original pattern.  I just added another spool.  I like it!  

Since I occasionally skip a released block this will have a happy spot! 

Splendid Sampler Blocks 26, 27, 29 & 30

Block 26 - Dreaming of Dresdens.  I haven't made a dresden block in years.  This was fun.

Block 27 - Sewing Machine

Back to raw edge appliqué for this one. 

Block 29 - Happy Scrappy Heart

This one was paper pieced.  I'd like to say its a good way to use up scraps but since you waste so much with paper piecing I don't think its really true.  :)

Block 30 - Simple Surprises

Splendid Sampler Blocks 11 & 28

I was out of town for a little bit and 3 blocks were released - all applique.  I'm not fast with applique so those are going to take a while to get done. 

 In the mean time I did finally finish block 11.

Block 11 - Crocheted Thoughts.  

The original design had a crochet hook and thread that wound around the block but I like the simplicity of just the center.   

Block 28 - Stitching Fashion.

This one also had a spool of thread, needle and thread.  I chose to do just the dress.  The yellow trim fabric doesn't show up too well in the photo, hummm.  I have a different plan for the spool and needle. 

This is one of my favorite blocks so far.  I really love it.

If you are on Instagram check out the #thesplendidsampler hashtag. So many beautiful blocks being made.

Splendid Sampler Blocks 20 - 24

I'm all caught up now. At least till Sunday.  :)

 Block 20 - Natures Walk.

This one was suppose to be all embroidery in the middle but I knew I'd never finish that much handwork so opted for a floral print.  I did stitch one of the butterflies from the original design.

Block 21 - Sweet Candy

A nice easy one!

Block 22 - Goose on the Loose

Block 23 - Hand in Hand

This one had interesting construction for those long pointed bits.  They are 3 dimensional! 

Block 24 - Inspector Sidekick

Looking forward to what's next.  

Splendid Sampler Blocks 17 - 19

Block 17 - Family Stars

Gosh I love this block!  I love stars and whats better than itty bitty ones!   The 4 stars represent my 4 grand kids.  Oh...did you count the number of pieces in this block?  57!  Yes, you read that right.  57 in a little 6 inch block.

Block 18 - Lena's Gift

This was a nice easy block after the last one!   :)

Block 19 - Measure Twice, Cut Once

Isn't this a clever block?  The original pattern had you embroidering the numbers on fabric but I had some tape measure fabric.  I had to turn fabric over and then upside down so it'd look like a real tape measure laid out.   :)   

I love seeing what block is coming next.  Come join in the fun if you haven't already. You can catch up with blocks at the Splendid Sampler site.

Splendid Sampler Blocks 14 - 16

Boy am I behind in showing my blocks here on my blog!

Block 14 - Flying High

 I'd been doing needle turn with the applique blocks but decided these birds were too little to fuss with it.  So I fused and raw edge appliqued.  With 86 blocks to go I didn't want to be behind by adding more hand work.  

Block 15 - Family Affair

This was the first paper pieced block.  I had one boo-boo but decided to fix and not re-do it.  I really like this design.

Block 16 - Pieces of Friendship

Vacation

 I love these women!  Love doing life with them.  We counted and this was our 17th vacation together.  So much fun.

   It was our first time vacationing on Whidbey Island. The house we rented was right smack dab on the beach.  Gorgeous views.

The weather was amazing. A lot of time was spent on the deck soaking in the sunshine.

I didn't really get much sewing done this year.  I was thinking I'd do tons without the puppy around but....girlfriend fun is just as distracting!   :)

I had hoped to finish up the Norway quilt but I only managed to get a few blocks done. I still have two left to do.  

We often do a group project.  This year we all made a Simple Little Pouch from Bloomin' Workshop. Its a decent sized pouch - 12 inches long.  

Thanking God every day for the love of good friends!  Couldn't imagine life without them.

Splendid Sampler Blocks 7, 12, 13

I finished block 7.  Its called Snug as a Bug.  The original design was embroidered only but I decided to applique the quilt. I also enlarged it a tad. 

I'm still working on block 11...another embroidered one....lots of embroidery so I think it'll be while.

Block 12 - Checkerboard

The designers block was just two fabrics but I had to go scrappy!   36 different squares in this one.  :)

Block 13 - Scrap Star

I veered a lot from the designers on this one.  Hers had a two borders and corner squares....I went with just the star middle.

I was on vacation when blocks 14 & 15 were released.  I've been either too tired or distracted this week to catch up and then block 16 was released yesterday.  Ugh.  Hopefully I'll get caught up this weekend.

Splendid Sampler Blocks 8 -10

I am still working on block 7. It is embroidered and applique.....hand work....so slow for me.  I also was sick for a week and hand work is harder to catch up on than piecing. 

Block 8 - Friends Around the Square

Block 9 - Local Quilt Shop

This one is suppose to have an embroidered name above the door but I can't decide if I want to do that. I made it red in honor of my local quilt shop, Quilted Strait.  

Block 10 - Iowa

These blocks really are fun to do.  I find myself anxious to log on and see whats next!