A peak at the design wall

I had a great time at quilt retreat. I did nothing but sew and chat with other quilters for three days, and while my husband doesn't understand why that was so fun, I'll definitely be going back for the fall retreat.

On Friday afternoon I finished the quilt top for my signature quilt, layered and basted it. Then I spent the rest of the retreat making quarter square triangles and flying geese for another quilt I'm working on. It's all in shades of brown and cream with a few greens, blues and reds thrown in for variety.

I've started arranging the blocks on my design wall. I need to buy eight more fat quarters to have enough fabric to complete the quilt, but when it's done there will be 42 different fabrics in the quilt. I'll post a few more glimpses as I add more blocks to the wall.

Success: Signature quilt top is pieced

I'll admit that there were times when I thought I'd never get around to sewing together the top to my signature quilt, but it is officially pieced together.

I still have to add two borders, but that's a piece of cake at this point. I've even gotten a little ahead of myself and started marking a quilting pattern on the top. I'm just going to quilt in the blue and orange sashing around the signatures, because I don't want to take away from the messages our friends and family wrote us on our wedding day.


I'm really glad I made these blocks instead of just having a guest book. In addition to well wishes, we also received lots of marital advice. And my aunt, also a quilter, even put our monogram on one block. The monogram is a big joke by the way as Adam, Soebbing, Stephanie, spells out ASS. There will never be monogrammed towels in our bathroom.

One of my family members that signed the quilt has passed away in the six months since the wedding, so I have a feeling that as my relatives get older, this quilt will be cherished.

I'm going to quilt it by hand using the big stitch method. I got blue and white variegated thread, so that should look nice as it weaves through three different colors of blue and orange. Now I just have a little less than six months to finish it before our one-year anniversary.

A few things I'm working on

I've been working on some new (and old) projects now that I've finished the patriotic T-shirt quilt for a client. I'll post pictures of the quilt later, as my camera died the morning I delivered it.


I'm finally starting to sew together the signature blocks that guests signed at my wedding in August. We had our six-month wedding anniversary this week, and my goal is to have it quilted, bound and labeled by our one year anniversary.

So far I have the 80 blocks sewed into 20 squares of four. I want to get the top, including the borders, sewed together this weekend so I can start quilting it by hand in the evenings at a quilt retreat I'm attending next weekend.


I also am almost done sewing together two table runner tops from a Moda Blush charm pack. And yes, I did create a makeshift design wall by taping batting to the wall in our hallway. It makes life a lot easier when arranging charm squares and making sure the signature blocks, which are grouped by families, are in the right place.

I promised my husband I would take it down by last Monday, but I really do intend to take it down after this weekend when I get the signature quilt top finished. But a design wall is going to be a must have when I have my own quilting studio if we ever find a house.

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to quilt the table runners with diagonal lines or in a stipple pattern, but I do know I'm going to call them "Think Spring." Once they're done, I am going to list them for sale on my Etsy shop.

What are you working on?

Making time for personal projects

I've been working on a T-shirt quilt for a client. He has several T-shirts from his days in the Navy, a union member and from several presidential elections.

The sashing is an appropriate red, white and blue. I finished sewing it to the top and left sides of the blocks two days before meeting the client so he can decide the layout of the T-shirts.


So I've been using my free time to work on a few projects of my own. I learned the big stitch quilting method in a class last fall and finally finished quilting my first block in the hand quilting style. Once I finish the entire quilt, I plan to use it as a wall hanging in my sewing room.


I also decided on a layout for a signature quilt of blocks signed by the guests at my husband and my wedding. They're made with the colors from our wedding. We'll have been married for five months on Friday, so it's about time I start sewing the blocks together. That's Lady, one of our three dogs "helping" lay out the blocks.

In defense of my procrastination, the best man forgot to sign his block at the wedding and just sent it to us in the mail a few weeks ago.