10 Bucket List Quilts

There are so many quilts I want to make, but not enough time to make every single one, so here's my bucket list of quilts that I would like to make.

1. Double Wedding Ring Quilt - I already have one of these that I made by hand when I first started quilting (I may have to take a photo or two and share how it turned out with you!), but I'd like to try this again with a little more knowledge and skill and see how it turns out.

   

   Double Wedding Ring - photo from McCall's Quilting

2. Hawaiian Quilt - I love the bright colors of these quilts and the soft curves of the applique. This seems to me to be such a soothing project to be done completely by hand if possible.

   

   Stack of Hawaiian Quilts - photo from Flickr

3. Landscape Quilt - Art quilts are something I've admired for a very long time, but haven't quite got up the courage to try. I love Gloria Loughman's landscapes and it will probably be something inspired by her that I try when I have the courage.

   

   Windmills by Gloria Loughman

4. Flower Art Quilt - One of my other loves is gardening and I've been collecting photos of flowers along the way as inspiration for a someday flower art quilt. This one will likely be a sunflower or a tiger lily and will likely be one of the first quilts I cross off this list!

   

   Sunflowers in the setting sun by Barbara Harms - photo from AsianArtandQuilts.com

5. Scrappy Trip Around the World Quilt - There are some awesome photos of this quilt floating around cyberspace and with my love for scrappy quilts, I see this one happening sometime in my future - I think it can be a quilt that progresses slowly over time.

   

   Scrappy Trip Around the World from Quiltville.com

6. Christmas Quilts for every bed in the house - this seemed an ambitious project way back in the day when we had kids at home and a bed in almost every room. It might just be more doable now that we only have our bed, the guest bed and the bunk beds! (Hey, that's only 4 beds and one Christmas quilt is already made!!!)

   

   Cowboy Christmas from my personal collection

7. Any of Judy Niemeyer's quilts - I especially like this one!

   

   Feathered Star Queen - photo from Quiltworx.com

8. Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt - I've started a few hexies, but am not likely to get enough to make a quilt of any large size. And I think that I might start putting them together in the traditional rounds, but will probably get bored with that layout and start changing things so they're not quite so predictable!

   

   Grandmothers Flower Garden - image from Pinterest

9. New York Beauty Quilt or a Mariner's Compass Quilt - The challenge for any quilter's piecing skills is consistent and sharp points. This will be an accomplishment to finish.

   

   Mariner's Compass - photo from Quiltropolis.net

10. Log Cabin Quilt - This is another quilt that I've done before when I was just starting to quilt. I'd like to do a larger quilt with smaller piecing like the one here.

    

    Log Cabin Quilt - from All People Quilt via Pinterest

So, there you have it! I won't be done quilting for quite some time, even if I didn't have other projects on the go already! What about you? Do you have a quilting/crafting bucket list?

--Ann

Guild Tinners Exchange Update

Tins have been passed around furiously in our guild and I think some are way ahead of schedule and some are behind. I have 3 on my sewing table to work on before the guild meeting on Thursday, but I think I forgot to show you the 2 that I completed last month.

 This tin had a beautiful, rich, earthy toned orange and brown batik fabric and a pattern. Because oranges and browns are not very well represented in my fabric stash, I used it as an excuse to go visit my favourite quilting stores to go shopping.

The next tin featured some great Asian fabric and some varied, unique blocks.

 I didn't think I had much for Asian fabrics in my scraps, but I found a few that were left from another project and used the featured fabric as the main square in a modified log cabin block.

I hope you're enjoying the peeks at our guild's tinner exchange and I'll try to remember to share the next ones a little sooner!

--Ann

Quilt Retreat

I spent the past weekend in the foothills of the Alberta Rocky Mountains with my sister and a lovely bunch of women. I can't show you what I was working on, but this is the quilt my sister finished. 

And this is the quilt top she was madly sewing on until the last minute. It's completely out of scraps - isn't it lovely?

This weekend was also the first snowfall of the season and I stood quietly under the trees and listened to the snow falling and the smell of the forest. And it took me back to a memory of our family spending time at my father-in-law's trapping cabin for New Years. The smell of smoke from a wood stove, the silence of being so far from civilization that you could hear the snow fall - and being able to fully be with the people I was with - no electronics to distract. 

What's your fav place to retreat to?

-Ann

6 inch Heart Block

This heart block is perfect for putting into a scrap quilt or to use as a label on the back of your quilt. You will need the following:

One 4" square heart fabric

Two 3.5" squares heart fabric

One 4" square background fabric

Four 1.5" squares background fabric

Take your 4" squares and layer them together right sides together. Draw a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner. Sew 1/4" seam on both sides of the line you drew. Cut apart on the drawn line. 

Press one of these pieces towards the heart fabric and the other towards the background. This makes the final assembly of the block easier as the seams will butt up against each other nice and easy and less bulk at the seams. 

Trim to 3.5" as shown. 

Take your four 1.5" squares and draw a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner on each. Line them up at the top of your 3.5" squares as shown. 

Sew right on the drawn line this time. You can trim the pieces or leave them on. I chose to just trim the excess from the 1.5" squares, leaving the 3.5" squares in one piece. This minimizes any stretching that might happen while piecing. Press towards the corner. 

Now lay out your four pieced pieces in the heart shape. 

Sew together and press seams open. 

Sew that final seam, press open and your 6" heart block is done and ready to put in your quilt!

-Ann