Rocky Mountain Puzzle SBOW 2012

 I finished another quilt this week! This was the pieced SBOW from Primitive Gatherings last year. If nothing else, it helped me become more accurate with my piecing skills. The blocks finish at 6" and were filled with little half square triangles.

 The fabrics are what I like best about this quilt! It was fun every week to see what they would be and each block just stood alone by itself but also went great with all the others.

 Gorgeous reproduction fabrics!

 This quilt and Evelyn's Album were the first BOW or BOMs that I had ever done where I received a packet in the mail. They came rather quickly last summer but are both pretty yet different quilts.

 Just some more close-ups to show the pretty fabrics.

I found a pretty border, backing and binding to complete the "Repro Look". 

Rocky Mountain Puzzle

 Here is the Rocky Mountain Puzzle that I have just completed all the blocks and the top (minus the border). There is close to 2,000 pieces in this quilt and the blocks are 6" finished. Now that's a lot of sewing half square triangles for me!! The fabrics that came in the SBOW from Primitive Gatherings are beautiful, though. It was to help me be more precise with my piecing.

 Here's a close up! Oh, and beginning in June, there are new SBOW's coming up at their shop for this year.

 And here is another little quilt top that I just finished yesterday. I bought a kit from Cinnamon's Quilt Shoppe, pictured below, in Jacksonville, Florida. The pattern is Snuggle Blocks by The Pattern Basket. This went together really easily and could be made with so many different fabrics, using fat quarters. You can see my temporary design wall but it has worked well. This quilt is going to be for a little two year old patient with cancer that we met, hoping it will bring some joy to this family, traveling from the UK for treatment. I will take this home to quilt it.

A neat little shop which has fabrics from reproduction to Kaffee's to novelty prints for children, basic colors, contemporary, wool and wool kits, and many batiks. Something for everyone in quilting. We've made more than one trip over there.

Just a Little Stitching Going On

First, let me say, that I have signed up for many block of the month programs - often free or rather inexpensive, and some not so free, but I have NEVER kept up with any of them. So, why did I opt to sign up for a Block of the Week program this summer? And not only one, but two!! Well, I had a customer bring in a beautiful quilt to be quilted and it was from the SBOW 2011 from Primitive Gatherings and she began telling me about them. So, since I really enjoy applique and lately have dabbled with wool, I decided to go for both programs. This one is called the Rocky Mountain Puzzle.

So, above are the first week's blocks. They are six inch square. Not near so small as Dear Jane blocks but I feel as though I've never mastered half square triangles so this is a challenge for me. So far so good. Slow, but good. I'm now working on Week 2. Now my goal is not to finish the blocks every single week but just to finish the project eventually, which is more than I've ever done before with BOMs. Again, I thought I'd show the difference in the blocks on point and sitting straight.

Something else I'm still trying to get used to are pressing seams open when they are only 1/4". I've quilted for 30 years and rarely pressed seams open but I'm trying to follow the instructions and make my blocks lay flat. It takes a little while and for me a burst of steam in the end, but they are turning out well.

Now here are the fabrics for the second and third week's blocks........if nothing else, the fabrics are beautiful together and I'll have a nice collection to add to my stash if I don't finish them - LOL!

And now I've saved the best block til last. This is the wool applique, Summer Block of the Week,  Evelyn's Album, which I am really enjoying. No edges to turn under, bond the blocks with gentle Steam a Seam 2 Lite and stitch away. Lots of stitching but I really like this primitive look for a change for me. These are ten inch finished blocks so a little larger to work on.

And here I chose some fabrics the other night for my Farmer's Wife Blocks. That is one of my favorite parts of quilting - choosing the fabrics to go together. I just took my time, went through my stash and gathered the fabrics for the next 8 blocks. Hopefully I'll have those to show in a few days.

Happy Stitching and enjoy the journey and not just the finished projects!