Month: March 2014

Granny Square- lost and found

March 27, 2014

Have you ever misplaced something? Of course you have. Have you misplaced a quilt? Probably not. I made this granny square quilt a couple of years ago. Dragged it to quilt market to submit it to a magazine and never did. We have hauled 100’s of quilts back and forth from show to show and have never lost one so I knew this quilt had to be somewhere.

It could have been nicely packed with the show stuff, it could have been in the stack of quilts for trunk shows, it could have been on display somewhere throughout the buildings.

No need to panic. It would show up eventually.

Well surprise, surprise it finally showed up. I had packed it away in a very safe place and completely had forgotten about it. The mind is a terrible thing to loose, right?

I was so excited. It was like running into a long lost friend. I love anything granny square and now that Lori Holt’s new book, Great Granny Squared is out I think I want to start another quilt.

My favorite block used to be nine patches or log cabins but the granny square is quickly taking over the number 1 spot. This quilt is made from all kinds of moda candy 2 1/2″ squares. I love how each block looks different depending on the color and fabric placement.

The red and white block shown above is one of my favs in this quilt.

Striped binding cut on the bias…. I am obsessed about stripes and the color orange still so it is funny to see that I used this fabric as the binding over 2 years ago.

I am notorious for hiding things so well that I can never find them. I am just sure that i have hidden a ton of money somewhere and that some day my when i am long gone my kids will find it. They better not throw out any of my treasures just in case i have stashed their inheritance there. Is that a good way to entice them not to call goodwill as soon as I am gone……(note to jillian)

Do you have a favorite quilt block that you can just make over and over?

-modalissa

#APQquiltalong recap

7 Comments

March 24, 2014

Hello to all,

I wanted to share some APQquiltalong eye candy and thank my friends that did this virtual quiltalong with me.

Quilted by Natalia Bonner of Piece n Quilt
“Image from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine.
©2013 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.”

Here is my quilt from American Patchwork and Quilting.

Miss Rosie greatness.


Amy Ellis From Amy’s Creative Side


Quilt Jane’s version. http://www.flickr.com/photos/quiltjane/


Kimberly Jolly’s version. http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/2014/02/apqs-tone-it-down-quilt.html

Camille Roskelley


WOWSER !! http://lisabongean.com/2014/03/19/apq-quilt-along/

Another dark rich version by Jennifer Keltner

Sherri Mc Connell’s version using all American Jane.

Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill added applique

And here are a few more pics of other quilts I wanted to share.

Maggie Honeyman- machine quilt extraordinaire made and actually got to quilt her own quilt.

http://www.pinterest.com/thimbleanna/

SVETLANA’s version http://sotakhandmade.blogspot.com/2014/01/winter-wonderland-sewing.html

classic vintage by Lynda from NSW http://lyndainwonderland.blogspot.com/2014/01/catch-up.html

What is so amazing to me about quilting is that this is a classic Burgoyne surrounded block named after General John Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga in 1777. Nothing earth shattering about the pattern, it is a variation of Double Irish chain, yet the fabrics used make each version wonderful.

One more little bit of info. I wanted to show a snapshot of the pinterest board, #APQquiltalong. Follow me on Pinterest to see the actual board. There are many more versions to tempt you to make this quilt if you have not started yours yet.

Now that we have accomplished celebrating the General Burgoyne through this quiltalong, maybe we should move on to General Beauregard from Barbara Brackman’s Book, Facts & Fabrications-Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery.

No seriously, moda has so many great indigo’s coming, I may have found my perfect project.

Thank you following the quiltalong, as well as my blog.

Gratefully,

-modalissa

the big question mark pattern

3 Comments

March 17, 2014

What can I say about a question mark?

I got to thinking this may be a good baby quilt option since we do not know the sex of my future grandbaby.

The instructions measure 24″ x 30″ before any borders are added.

Following the instructions from the

#spellitwithfabric blog hop, I enlarged the shapes from GinaMartin’s post and
the sizes and directions are shown above.

A great big @

3 Comments

March 11, 2014

40″ x 40″

WIKIPEDIA Definition – The at sign, @, normally read aloud as “at”, also commonly called the at symbol or commercial at, and less commonly a wide range of other terms,[1][2][3][4] is originally an accounting and commercial invoice abbreviation meaning “at the rate of” (e.g. 7 widgets @ £2 = £14). In recent years, its meaning has grown to include the sense of being “located at” or “directed at”, especially in email addresses and social media, particularly Twitter.
I used a bella solid and a royal blue with white pin dot for my @ sign.

quilt illustrations before side borders are added

I wonder if there is a stat on how many times a day the @ sign is used. We all have email addresses that would not go through without the @ sign. Then there is the whole game of tag on Facebook when you add the @ sign before someone’s name so the post will show up on their page. I just thought this symbol would be so fun to enlarge and make a big quilt.

Following the instructions from the #spellitwithfabric blog hop, I enlarged the shapes from Gina Martin’s post and the sizes and directions are shown above. If there is one of the shapes you want enlarged, leave a comment by Thursday March 13th, I will choose one to enlarge and post the directions here on March 17th.

the baby maker

8 Comments

March 4, 2014

You may remember this post from when my oldest son got married.

Guess what. They are pregnant with the first grandbaby. I would like to take the credit that the baby maker worked but….not to be too personal, I have counted the days and I do believe they might have actually conceived on my birthday.

Or it could have been that we went out for my birthday and then had the most magical dessert from Emporium Pies.

Have you ever seen the movie Mystic Pizza with Julia Roberts.? There was something special about this pizza parlor in Mystic, Connecticut. Well there is something special about Emporium Pies and how it has the same mystical, magical power over you. So if anyone from Hollywood is reading my blog, I think you should make a movie about this place.

The pie we had was called the Drunken Nut. You MUST go to their website to see the pies. Be ready to wipe the drool from your computer monitor. Snowball, Smooth Operator, and Lord of the Pies are just a few of the mouth watering pies.

They are due the first week of June and have no idea boy or girl. They are doing it the old fashioned way and letting it all be a surprise. I have a few tricks up my sleeve as I am trying to keep the baby quilt a surprise as well. Just like the kids are keeping the baby a surprise, I will have to keep my quilt ideas a surprise.

One thing I know for sure is I will have to sneak a pie into the hospital to celebrate the birth!!

-modalissa

REPOSTING CREDITS from my original blog post about this quilt.

A shout out to Camille Roskelley for the pics.

If you would like to get the pattern to make your own “baby maker” check out Rita at Red Pepper Quilts website. Rita does not call the pattern, Baby Maker, The pattern is named Tiffany.

Thank you Rita for the design inspiration for this project. It was perfect.

Blogger Girls BOM-3

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March 1, 2014

Today is the day for the third installment of blogger girls block of the month brought to you

by Monique of Open Gate Quilts.

I continue to learn, which is a good thing right? Here are my blocks from last month and I made the blocks have different fabrics.

This month I realized “LEARNED” that each month we are making 2 blocks of the same pattern, but the layout makes the block look completely different. Most likely I will not be putting these two blocks next to each other in the big quilt.

I choose the same fabrics to make month 3 blocks. They look alike but I think placed in different areas on the quilt, they will look different. Thought I would just give it a try.

These blocks are 6″ so the pieces are fairly small. Each section is trimmed to the exact size needed.
I pulled out my Brooklyn Revolver. No I am not a gun toting quilter. It is basically a little lazy susan with a rotary mat on top. It makes it easy to trim without moving the actual item. Keep the ruler and object in place and rotate the mat.
There are several version of these types of mats on the market. I just happen to like and own this one.
3 months done, 3 more to go.
hope you are enjoying making these quilt blocks.

Here is a link to patterns and the other quilter’s Girls BOM blog posts,

so you can see all the possibilities.

Enjoy,

Modalissa