Modern Red Rectangles - A Finished Believe Circle Quilt

In December, it was my turn to choose our design, and I chose simple blocks in red and neutral.

They don't look like much individually, but put them all together and they form a stunning modern design.

I love how, with some general guidelines, a group of blocks made by ten different quilters can result in such a lovely finished quilt. And I also love that these projects help use up fabric stash that may have been around for quite a while.

Sometimes it is more than fabric stash that gets used. Thread stash needs help from time to time as well. As you can see, I have tried a wide variety of thread over the years. I'm a fairly die hard Aurifil fan these days and I was ready to see some of these older threads go, especially the ones with such a tiny amount left on the spool.

Normally, I lean toward neutral colors for quilting but for this project, it was going to be all red all the way. What a great way to use up some of that lingering thread stash. The wavy horizontal quilting lines have become one of my favorites for adding texture without overwhelming the quilt.

It's always a tension risk to mix up weights and brands of thread and I thought I was being careful each time I changed thread, but apparently I was not being careful enough. Fortunately, this only happened for a few rows, so the unsewing was not too overwhelming.

Look how much thread was used! Now there is more room for trusty Aurifil.

This is why I don't like using most other thread brands. The lint and build up is so heavy. This is not good for your sewing machine. A good cleaning is in order before the next project begins.

The quilt back includes two extra blocks from the twenty blocks made by our circle.

There was enough extra from one of the backing fabrics to use for binding.

Now to throw this quilt in the wash with three or four color catchers. Hopefully, they will keep those reds right where they belong. The Believe Circle of do. Good. Stitches sends most of our quilts to My Very Own Blanket, an organization that gives quilts to foster children so that they will have something that belongs just to them and can stay with them no matter where they go. That is where this quilt will be shipped later this week.

Cardinal Blocks - More Sampler Block Shuffle

Four blocks were added to my cardinal sampler project this weekend. This project has been on the shelf for a while so it was fun to revisit all the blocks and add some new ones to the mix. There are 30 blocks in the Moda Sampler Block Shuffle. With the weekend additions, 19 have been made.

This is block #26 and was designed by Amy Ellis. This is the first time I have used this black Joel Dewberry print. It may be the last time, too, as I only had a small scrap to work with. I was holding out for a block that would show off this print. I like the result.

This is block #18 and was designed by Lella Boutique. I like the diagonal line of cardinals on this one. As I get near the end, it will be more and more challenging to place the cardinals, mostly because the pieces start getting smaller.

This is block #29 and was designed by French General. I only had a charm square of the red with white polka dots. I'm glad I found a way to work it into this project.

This is block #27 and was designed by Sweetwater. I intentionally wanted to add a dark block into the mix.

Nineteen blocks stitched; eleven blocks to go. This is a fun project to fit in between other projects. I'm starting to feel the finishing itch on this one though, now that I am well past the half way point. We will see just how quickly this project reaches the finish line. There is no hard deadline but I'm thinking it would be nice to finish it up for the winter season.

Cardinal Blocks - Five More

And then there were fifteen cardinal blocks. I have a group of projects I'm circling through now, and it is fun to see each one making small strides of progress. This week, these cardinals needed some attention.

The patterns are from the Moda Sampler Block Shuffle. There are thirty patterns in all so that means I'm half way through. I seem to making these in batches of five. Some of the fabrics from my initial pull for this project are getting low so I will be going back through the stash again soon to see if I can find a few more good fabrics to join the project.

Here is the very first block in the series. It was designed by Pat Sloan. Originally, I was going through the patterns, picking and choosing the ones I wanted to make.

Then I decided I was spending to much time choosing so I put them all back in number order and swore I would just make them in order. This is block three in the series. It was designed by Sandy Gervais.

This is block eleven. It is designed by Brenda Riddle Designs. It has a bit of a psychedelic vibe to it. Did you notice the big jump from block three to block eleven? Well, maybe I am making them in a selective, sort of numerical order. There are a couple of applique ones that I wasn't quite ready to make so I skipped those and I suppose I was simply being picky about the ones I wanted to make.

This is block thirteen. It is designed by Bunny Hill Designs. All the blocks in the series are great.

And the last block for this time is block twenty-two. It is designed by Basicgrey.

Now that there are fifteen blocks made I am starting to contemplate a layout for them. I am happy with the way the colors are dispersed through the blocks. They aren't too heavy in any one color. And I still can't get enough of those cardinals.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and Whoop Whoop over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Cardinal Blocks Update

Five more cardinal blocks were added to the mix from the Moda Sampler Shuffle block series. At least now I know there are thirty blocks total which means I am a third of the way toward completing all of the blocks.

Rather than sew them in the order they were released, they are organized loosely by complexity and ease of cardinal placement. This is Block 10 by Deb Strain.

Here we have Block 15 by Janet Clare Designs.

Block 14 is by Fig Tree & Co.

Block 12 is by Zen Chic. The edges of this one are a little wonky. Actually, the edges are wonky on several of them. I am waiting until they are all made to decide how best to trim and square up the blocks.

This block starts getting into some serious piecing. When there are 45 pieces in a 6 1/2 inch block, you know it is time to kick the accuracy up a notch.

Ten cardinal blocks ready for some friends to join them. Can't wait to stitch some more up to share with you. I like how they look as a group. I'm hoping all it will take is a bit of sashing to turn them into a quilt. 

We will see as more blocks are added to the mix.

Linking up with Whoop Whoop with Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Sampler Block Shuffle With Cardinals

Finally, I cut into my Charley Harper cardinal fabric. 

Why oh why did I only buy one yard? I love these little birds and want to keep them around for a long, long time. I'm glad I found a project that highlights these pretty birds while not eating up all of my yard in just a few cuts. 

The Moda Sampler Block Shuffle is a series of free blocks offered by shops that carry Moda products. The series has been going on for a couple of months now and runs through the end of January. Participating shops offer two or three new blocks each week. Each block is designed or sponsored by a different designer. There are two copies of the pattern on each printed page. The idea is to keep one for yourself and share the other with a friend. The blocks are only available for a limited time. I am getting mine from the Intown Quilters.

This is Block 2 by Me & My Sister Designs. Because the cardinals are fussy cut, I went through and sorted the blocks that have been published so far so that the easier ones to cut are first.

This is Block 4 by V and Co. I have collected 24 blocks so far and stitched up 5. It took a while for me to commit to using my cardinals for this project. 

This is Block 5 by Kathy Schmitz Studios.

Block 6 by American Jane. I altered this block slightly. The center is supposed to be a four-patch but I liked using a bigger piece of the cardinals for the center.

Block 8 by little miss shabby. Again, I turned the center from a four-patch to a single larger square.

I like they way they look together so far. This is a good project to fit in between others or when I want something that won't take a long time to do. I'm not sure what the final count of blocks will be for the Moda Sampler Block Shuffle series but I intend to make them all. There may be a few alterations along the way so they fit with my cardinal themed sampler. Hoping to share more progress with you in a few weeks. I'd love to see your blocks if you decide to play along.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts and Work in Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Also linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and Scraptastic Tuesday over at She Can Quilt.

One Last Finish - Modern Dresden Wreaths

What a great way to finish the year...with a bright Christmasy modern wreath wall hanging.

The striped fabric had been sitting on or near my cutting table for a long time (like more than two years!). I knew I wanted to make something festive with it and had pulled a number of other stash pieces to go with it, and finally a couple of weeks ago, the urge to make some modern dresdens hit.

Interestingly enough, the original dresden, made from the stripe and a cream print, didn't even make it into the final project. I had peppermint candy in mind when I started, but as the bright lime greens and vivid reds took over, there just wasn't room for anything else. It was really fun to sew strips together, cut the dresden pieces, and sew, not being quite sure what the final result would look like. I can see someday making a bigger quilt playing with the possibilities. It was lots of fun.

Each one is raw edge appliqued to the background fabric using a machine blanket stitch. It needed a little something more so the lighter green circles were added. The quilting on this was fun although it was hard to decide what to do.

Each of the small circles was quilted with a snowflake and the big dresdens were quilted with an asterisk with lots of extra lines.

The stripes and the narrow background piece were quilted with straight(ish) vertical lines.

I wanted to quilt more on the background but I feared overdoing it so I stopped while things were looking good. The backing is a fabric that I considered ugly so I turned it over and used the wrong side. Take that, ugly fabric! I like the way the green thread looks on the back, although it looks a bit yellow in these pictures.

When I was growing up, I was always told that whatever you were doing on New Year's Eve is what you would be doing a lot of the next year. So I'm all set to create, experiment with design, and FINISH lots of quilts next year.

Hooray for a finish, especially a bright fun one; hooray for a blog to share it all, and hooray for readers like you who take time to read and comment. I am thankful for you all.