It has been a month of challenges

Here is my Clementine Quilt Along block for this month. I have had a few too many sick days this month and have not taken those sneak peek photos that are to grab your interest before the big reveal. This block is titled Peaches and Plenty. Once again the steps are straightforward and clearly outlined on the instruction sheet. I hope you will consider joining in. Previous month's patterns are still available and all the Fat Quarter Shop(here) is requesting is a donation to St. Jude's Hospital. If you have ever spent time at a Children's Hospital you know just how important their work is. We spent time at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto with our son over 35 years ago. Happy those days are now behind us. Piecefully, Joanne

Modern Plus Sign Book Blog Hop Winding Down

Welcome to the final day of guest bloggers on the Modern Plus Sign Book Blog Hop. I had the absolute pleasure to be part of this hop. The first part of my quilt was what I called the dark block. A plus sign in the centre of a bear paw. I wanted my fabric choices to be somewhat masculine and thought of black bears and grizzly bears when I was scouting my stash for something suitable.

If you missed the first week of the blog hop and have time to visit the bloggers who highlighted the first patterns shown from the book here is a list that connects directly to their blog post.




Tuesday, March 13th

Signature Plus

Soma @ Whims and Fancies
Ann @ Brown Paws Quilting
Kitty @ Night Quilter

Tribal Plus

Sophie @ Luna Lovequilts
Afton @ Quilting Mod
Shelley @ The Carpenters Daughter Who Quilts

Wednesday, March 14th

Plus Surround
Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal
Jen @ A Dream and a Stitch
Abigail @ Cut & Alter

Kaleidoscope Plus
Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl
Sandra @ mmm! quilts
Karen @ Run Sew Fun

Thursday, March 15th

Postage Plus
Linda @ Flourishing Palms
Bernie @ Needle and Foot
Liz @ Savor Every Stitch
Stacey @ Stacey In Stitches

Rick Rack Runner
Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty
Patty @ Elm Street Quilts
Melanie @ A Bit of Scrap Stuff Blog

Friday, March 16th

Row Addition
Myra @ Busy Hands Quilts
Izzy @ Dizzy Quilts

Transparency Chains
Ruth @ Charly and Ben's Crafty Corner
Christa @ Christa Quilts

 

The second component is one I call the light block. Again a straightforward, no issues quilt block. The book is well illustrated and the directions are very easy to follow.

The end result when the two blocks are combined is this lovely Bear's Paw Plus Quilt. It is so nice to say this quilt is finished and once the blog hop is over will reside on my hubby's easy chair. He has needed a new quilt for some time and this one is just the ticket. 

I used my walking foot to straight line quilt the grid on this quilt. Cheryl and Paige will wrap up the hop tomorrow. If you have been following you will know by now what a great book this is. You can obtain signed copies directly from them. Thank you Cheryl and Paige for letting me part of the blog hop for your fabulous book.  Piecefully, Joanne

Here are the links for this week's Blog Hop participants.

Monday, March 19th

Jessica @ Quilty Habit

Cindy @ Hyacinth Quilt Designs

Jennifer @ The Inquiring Quilter

Julie @ The Crafty Quilter

Tuesday, March 20th

Tish @ Tish N Wonderland

Judy @ Sew Some Sunshine

Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

Wanda @ Wanda's Life Sampler

Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Katherine @ Sew Me Something Good

Wednesday, March 21st

Anja @ Anja Quilts

Kate @ Smiles from Kate

Sue @ Sevenoaks Street Quilts

Carole @ From My Carolina Home

Alison @ Little Bunny Quilts

Thursday, March 22nd

Debbie @ Esch House Quilts

Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts

Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts

Janice @ Color Creating and Quilting

Joanne @ Quilts by Joanne

Friday, March 23rd

Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs

Paige @ Quilted Blooms

The latest Fat Quarter Shop Short Cut Quilt Pattern is out

Meet Jelly Roll ripples. Or rather my practice blocks. The Post Office either south of the border or here decided I needed to wait for my real fabric. So while waiting I decided to use a partial jelly roll and some Kona Red to test out the block.The pattern is truly easy to follow. Each block uses most of a jelly roll strip. My real fabric is here so I need to get on with my real quilt. Hopefully I can post a picture of it sometime next week. Piecefully, Joanne

I do enjoy a finished quilt

At our Guild retreat last fall one of our guild members was throwing out her "bonus" triangles. I couldn't have that. When I said sure I'll use those she was kind enough to start collecting them in a baggie so they did not go everywhere. And then at another quilting get together another friend did the same thing. So these are primarily the bonus triangles from two different quilting friends. So much fun to play with. I used two different fabrics for borders because I did not have enough of either one. As far as I am concerned they work together. This quilt will be going to Project Linus later this week.
Hubby has set a goal of our 50th anniversary for me to get the quilt tops in the house made into quilts. And to facilitate that he is pinning them ready for me to quilt them. He has done three this week and I am just finishing stitching the binding in place on number three. So need to get backing organized for a couple more for next week's pinning session. I do have a couple of years to work on this.
There are a couple of big events coming up in the next little while. Hands2Help sign up starts today. and the Modern Plus Quilts Blog Hop begins this week. More about both in the coming week.
Piecefully, Joanne

Linking up with Cynthia for Oh Scrap! at quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.ca

Welcome to Month Two of the Clementine Quilt Along

This month the block we are making is called Broken Berries. We are adding one new fabric design and taking away one from last month. For those of us living under a blanket of snow these are a delight to work with. Such happy colours. The fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop is fabulous.

The block components are straight forward, clearly illustrated and ones you are likely used to making.

I hope that you are saving your bonus triangles. I am generating a goodly number of them and have not as yet stitched them into actual HST's but they are contained and ready to be my next Leader and ender project.

If you follow some of the other bloggers who are working on this Quilt Along you may have seen the little Valentine purse made by Pat from the  Scrapatches Blog (here). She used her smaller bonus triangles for the project. so far I am generating two different sizes and have just put them all together in my next Leader/Ender container.

And these are my two Broken Berry blocks. I would encourage you to join in. Make a donation to St. Jude's Hospital. We don't have that particular hospital in Canada but we do have Hospitals like Sick Kid's in Toronto that fulfil a similar purpose. The work they do is amazing and has been for years.

Visit the Fat Quarter Shop to purchase a monthly block pattern for a simple donation. Piecefully, Joanne

Hunter Star; A Fat Quarter Shop, Classic and Vintage QAL

The newest Classic and Vintage Quilt Along being offered by the Fat Quarter Shop is the Hunter Star block. Several participants have made a block and several others have made a functional quilt. This particular pattern has been designed to be done "scrappy". My favourite way of working. I have made this block before with specialty rulers but never just by piecing so I was anxious to see how it would turn out.
I selected a light textured grey for my background colour and a textured red for my accent.

I was really pleased with how this turned out. Pressing directions are provided that result in all kinds of nesting situations and that helps with making nice crisp intersections. In fact I was so happy with this that I made another red block and two black blocks.

With some insulated batting such as thermolam this will make a nice table topper for my daughter who has a black dining room table. Stop on over to the Fat Quarter Shop blog (here) to view the helpful video or to purchase your pattern. Piecefully, Joanne

I have never met a blue I didn't like

As we head into the shortest month of the year we only have 28 days to enjoy our blue blocks this month. For some that will just not be enough. I hope you got a chance to make at least Jen's blocks if not some of the other blocks that the Blog Hop crew is offering. I am on the hop to support and enjoy Jen who is a talented, young hard working individual. And I would like to see her succeed.
Again this month I made one 12" block and one 6" block. They went together quickly and help reinforce the importance of value in a block. Karen Combs was the first designer I heard say "Value does the work and colour gets the credit". So true.
Before you leave your reds behind in a safe place so you can find them in December when it is assembly time, think about cutting one 2 1/2" strip the Width of Fabric. You may want a scrappy binding when all is said and done. Have a great February. We have a couple of birthdays this month as well as a non-birthday. My hubby is now much younger than I am.

And one last important note be certain to visit the other bloggers on the hop. Several of the designers are offering alternative blocks. Dionne's applique bear last month was a delight. Here is the list. 

Jen Strauser of Dizzy Quilter
Sherry Shish of Powered By Quilting 
Jen Rosin of A Dream and A Stitch
Nancy Scott of Masterpiece Quilting
Joanne Harris of Quilts By Joanne
Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon Quilting

And of course Jen from PatternsbyJen(here)

Piecefully, Joanne