Quilt withdrawal to be solved by Carol Doak

I haven't quilted in at least a week because my husband and I have been busy packing and moving into our first home.

I realized last night that quilting must have a calming effect on me and I should make time to do a little each night, because I've been super stressed over the past few days.

But my quilting dry spell will come to an end tomorrow when I learn how to paper piece at Carol Doak's Sunrise Quilt Mariner's Compass Star class through my quilt guild tomorrow. I figured if I was ever going to try the intimidating quilting method, I might as well learn from the queen of paper piecing.

The block we'll be making is from Doak's book, "Mariner's Compass Star." I'll be sure to let you all know how the class goes.

Goodies from Washington, D.C.

Since I've taken up quilting, I've made a habit of going to quilt shops while on vacation to take home fat quarters and thimbles as souvenirs. Eventually I'd like to make a quilt out of all the fabrics I collect on my travels.

On my trip to Washington, D.C., for my cousin's wedding last weekend, I searched out any and all fabric shops. There were plenty within driving distance, but the only one accessible by metro was Capitol Quilts in Gaithersburg, Md. To get there, you have to take the red line to the final Shady Grove stop, which was quite a trip for us since we were staying at the opposite end of the red line. But from there it's just one short bus ride to Capitol Quilts.

The problem my husband and I ran into is we didn't realize we had to cross the street to catch the bus on the return to the Metro instead of getting on at the same side of the intersection we got off on. So we sat on the bus for 45 minutes as it ran the route.

The shop had a wide variety of batiks, black and white fabrics and children's prints. But what they didn't have was a wide selection of patriotic fabrics, which seemed odd considering the name of the shop is Capitol Quilts.

I did manage to find some fun fabrics though. I think I'll need to find some star blocks to make out of them for my travel quilt some day.

Super cute watermelon placemats

My mother-in-law's birthday was Wednesday. She said she didn't want us to buy her anything, so I decided to make something.


My boss saw watermelon placemats at a quilt shop on vacation and, thinking of me, got a copy of the pattern. The placemats are actually quite easy to make. I fused fleece to the wrong side of the green fabric for the back to make the rind. Then I sewed 1.5-inch strips of red fabric to the fleece side of the placemat using a flip and sew method.


The flip and sew method doesn't lend itself to quick assembly line sewing, but it did take care of the quilting at the same time as I sewed on the red strips of fabric. Lastly I used straight edge red binding across the top of the watermelon and bias edge green binding on the curved edge for the rind.

They turned out really well and I have enough fabric to make more, so I think I may make another set to sell on Etsy.