Sapphire Stars

I am joining a mystery hosted by Kevin the Quilter called Sapphire Stars. I love mysteries!

As you can see from the instructions for Clue #1, Kevin begins with blues (makes sense, right? SAPPHIRE stars). Since blue is not a favorite for me, I chose to go with red--I'll probably substitute blue where he uses red later in the mystery.


I had a lot of trouble with the concept of light red. I didn't want pink, or salmon, or coral--so I wasn't sure how to determine the lightest shade. In thinking about it, I believe the problem for me was that since red is my favorite color, I always go for the rich shades in bright or dark. I searched through some scraps from a friend and some collections of fat quarters, and I found some that I think add a bit of contrast--I just hope the difference in shades isn't too subtle to show up well in the quilt.


Here are a few of my blocks:

You KNEW there would be a sock monkey!

A few of these need a little trim, but, all in all, they went together well.

The beginning of a scrap quilt is the hardest--with only a few fabrics, you wonder if this will work out. Once I get lots more fabrics playing together, I know I'll be pleased with the results.

Thanks, Kevin, for hosting this mystery online--I look forward to the next clues.

Little Camper

My nephew and his wife are expecting a baby boy this summer, so, of course, I had to make a quilt.

Flannel Little Camper Quilt

The pattern is Tiny Turning Twenty by Tricia Cribbs. The fabrics are so cute that I had to take several close-ups.

The Little Camper

A Tent in the Woods

This block teaches a lesson: Never leave your food container on the ground--it attracts bears!

Green flannel back with a striped insert

I'm looking forward to meeting this young man when he arrives!

I'm linking with Fiber Tuesday 117 at The Quilting Room with Mel .

Silly Cats

This quilt has arrived in its new home, so I can post about it!

Not only are my nephew and his wife expecting a baby this summer, but so are my niece and her husband! This is my baby quilt summer.

Flannel Silly Cats

This is a simple nine patch with unpieced alternate blocks patterned with grinning felines.

Nine patches and goofy kitties

The back is pink flannel with a vertical insert of rainbow dots.

I love flannel--warm and snuggly--perfect for comfort.


Welcome to the world, little one!

I'm linking with Fiber Tuesday 118 at The Quilting Room with Mel .

Last Pinwheel Quilt For A While--I Promise!

Here is the last of four pinwheel quilts for donation.

You can see the other three HERE.

Pinwheels 65" x 75"

Pinwheels (detail)

Pinwheels (backing and binding detail)

I love pinwheel blocks, but I'm ready to work with something else for a while!

Stringing Beads--An Original Design

I love making string quilts. When I came up with this design, I decided to combine it with the April Multicolor Rainbow Scrap Challenge from soscrappy.


You can find previous posts about this quilt HERE (Part 1) and HERE (Part 2).



Without further ado, here is Stringing Beads:

Stringing Beads 68" x 75"

Stringing Beads (detail)

Stringing Beads (quilting detail)

Stringing Beads (backing detail)

I have no idea why the color went wonky in the last photo!


This is the most densely quilted piece I have ever made, but I like the effect. I am glad to have this one done. The quilting took a long time, (I'm not usually one who uses quilting for effect--it is my least favorite part of the process, and it is the one I am the least confident about.) but I'm glad I did it.


It is nice to see an idea become reality! Thanks, soscrappy, for spurring me to create.

For basic instructions on how I made this quilt, look HERE, or click the link on the right sidebar of the blog labeled "Stringing Beads Instructions."

I'm linking with Fiber Tuesday 116 at The Quilting Room with Mel and Jo's Country Junction UFO Progress.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge--June--Yellow & May--Green

With the flooding cleanup in May, I fell behind in my photography of my RSC blocks. This month (June) is yellow and last month was green. I decided to wait to photograph and post them both at the same time.

Here is a sample of my sunny June blocks:

While yellow is not my favorite color, these make me smile. (Of course, Big Bird, ruby slippers, and a French hen help!)




Here is a sample of my May blocks:

I love all the shades of green included here. I've used a lot of green this year, so the scraps were handy:

Green hourglasses for En Provence

En Provence

Green squares and green and neutral HSTs for Twirl Around

Twirl Around

I'm getting ready to quilt the top I made for April's multicolor challenge. I'm calling it "Stringing Beads":

Stringing Beads

I am enjoying this year-long challenge. Thanks to soscrappy for hosting it.


I'm linking to ScrapHappy Saturday at soscrappy.

Another Donation Quilt

Earlier this year, I made a bunch (around 150) of scrappy pinwheels to use in donation quilts. I have finished three quilts--the final top is done, but not quilted--and I have only one pinwheel left! :)


I chose to do these quilts with different layouts; on this third one I set the pinwheel with alternate half-square triangle blocks.

Must have caught a breeze--the bottom really is straight!

Green with HST alternate blocks

These are the first two quilts:

Orange and on-point

Straight layout with sashing and cornerstones

The final quilt is a simple pinwheel to pinwheel layout--I'll post a picture after it is finished. I have enjoyed trying out the different layouts; I've never focused on just one block in different layouts before.


I've been working on several other things, but some are gifts, so I can't show them yet. I'm enjoying the summer break and being able to sew every day.

I'm linking with Fiber Tuesday 115 at The Quilting Room with Mel.