Inspired to Make a Purple BB Quilt

Hi and welcome 😊 It's been a busy week. I'm not sure what I did, but time flew, so I must have been having fun 😉. I got inspired by the wonderful BB (or cuddle) quilts that Frédérique took to the hospital last week, so I put two projects together (BB quilt and July's purple Table Scraps Challenge) and got going. It's almost done and will be finished by the end of the month!

Purple BB Quilt

I wasn't in the mood for anything challenging, so I started sewing purple scraps together. I find it very soothing. Sometimes these scrappy panels become something, and sometimes they sit there, waiting for an opportunity. It's all good, it's about relaxing and doing something I enjoy.

Purple BB quilt - almost done!

I started with scraps from my purple/pink basket and then went digging for scraps in the strips basket. There was more than enough to make the main section of the quilt. Then I added this amazing pink/red border. Because I'm accuracy challenged, I cut my border strips too small😕and had to replace them.

BB quilt pinned and ready to quilt, with possible thread choice

I started FMQ with the threads above but it was a disaster! My tension was horrible, so the front thread was really showing in the back. I almost never unpick my FMQ but there was no living with this - what a mess! Since I didn't trust my tension, I used the light pink thread for the top and bobbin. It wasn't perfect, but I could live with it!

Tension problems - what a mess!

Eventually the tension got better. Using the same colour of thread in the bobbin really helped.

Better tension and the same thread colour helped!

Here are some pictures of the FMQ - unfortunately they're not great images although they are enhanced a bit.

A better picture of the FMQ, as seen from the back

Flower with petals from the front of the quilt

Enhanced - the colours look weird but the FMQ is visible

The BB quilt finishes at 22" x 22" - perfect! I now only have the border to quilt and the binding to do. I'm going to use that yummy pink/red fabric to finish it off. I'm sure that's the best choice.

Lovely pictures in the back yard!

BB quilt from the back - guess who miscalculated again!

Growing in my back yard

As I sat having coffee in my backyard, I spotted some blue among the plants. I haven't mowed it in a while so many things are coming up! This lovely, as I identified it in the plant identification app, is a flax flower! In the summer of 1991 in South Porcupine, Ontario, I planted flax in my backyard garden.  Back then I was a weaver with dreams of spinning my own linen. I had a small yield of these beautiful little flowers but when I looked into what it took to get linen out of a flax plant, I gave all of my plants to another weaver who knew what she was doing!

Flax growing in my backyard

I was wondering how these random flax plants got into my garden - then I googled flax seeds in bird feed and the mystery was solved. Flax is good for birds and it's found in the feed. There are only about a half dozen plants, so not enough to process, just admire. I case you're interested, it's the rotting of the plant stem that is the first part of making linen. I know how smelly rotting plants get - that was my initial aversion to making linen. So this year, I am thankful for the pretty, delicate plants growing in the backyard! 

What I learned

• I was trying to FMQ a couple of nights ago but couldn't see what I was doing. I was surprised that the pink thread didn't show up on some of the lighter purples.
• It was easier during the day to FMQ - either my eyes weren't as tired or the natural light helped.
• I FMQ all kinds of flowers and ferns into the quilt - it was so much fun!
• I even used the FMQ (freehand flower swirls) design that Vicki used in her Criss Cross quilt. I love finding designs that aren't too difficult to draw. 
• I managed to miscalculate the fabric needed for the backing - I guess that my subconscious wanted to make a pieced backing!
• Now I just have the border to FMQ as well as sewing on the binding. I'll get this done before the link up to the July Table Scraps Challenge ends.

Related links

• The last cuddle quilt I made: Sweet Yellow Cuddle Quilt
• April's Yellow Table Scrap Challenge, May 01, 2024 

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You might want to check some out! Please consider linking up below to the FM Mavericks party.

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 541 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a very productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Kat from Scrapbox Quilts is making more Lil Bear Hug Quilts for charity. They are so cute and the perfect opportunity to practice FMQ and to use up orphan blocks.

Lovely crosshatch and orange peel FMQ by Kat

Storm at Sea orphan blocks turned into Lil Bear Hug quilts by Kat

Vicki, from Vicki's Crafts and Quilting made two seasonal table toppers. She's now ready for the fall and Christmas!

Vicki's lovely fall table topper

Details of the FMQ and ruler work in Vicki's topper

The holly table topper, FMQ the same way by Vicki

Gail from Quilting Gail made this lovely quilt - I just love the white and purple, it's just so fresh looking! She quilted it following all of those curves.

Gail's pretty purple quilt, FMQ by following the curves

Sandra from mmm quilts! made another one of her Winter Blues pattern quilt, but this time it's called Kismet and is made with part of a jellyroll. Wow! She was right - it does work! 

Sandra's Kismet quilt - how lovely in that jelly roll fabric

Sandra couldn't just quilt it with straight lines!  From the back, you can see where she changed the direction of those lines. That's very effective!

From the back of Kismet, we can see where Sandra changed
the direction of her lines.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Hexies and a Mindful Stitching Project

Hi and welcome 😊 Thanks for joining me today! I've noticed that for some reason, I now have many new followers. I'm glad that you're joining me on my stitching journey. Sometimes it's very busy here, but mostly I try to keep it slow and steady. This week, it's been mostly slow stitching as I estivate. 😁 I'm hoping that the expected cool nights will perk up my sluggish energy.

More Hexies

I've been enjoying making more hexie flowers using the English Paper Piecing (EPP) technique. It's very relaxing - there's no rushing it! I also love finding the right fabric to go into each hexie flower.

Hexies posing in front of one of my colourful art pieces

Since I usually make hexies from my scraps, it's sometimes difficult to find enough fabric that match to make these larger hexie flowers. 

Bright colourful large hexie flower

I made this one with three pieces of purple scrap fabric that I got recently. They are so much fun!

Purple scrappy hexie

I got a lot of scrappy dot fabric from a friend and I've been using quite a bit of it to make these hexies.

Very red hexie with dots!

Mindful Stitching on Eco-printed Fabric

I just started a small embroidery piece. It's stitched on a piece of eco-printed linen. The eco-printing didn't take that well, but it makes a lovely background to the embroidery. The embroidery is about being grounded in times of turbulence. 

Grounded embroidery piece in progress

I used a double and single chain stitch for the tree and the feather stitch for the roots. I used these stitches after watching Mirjam Gielen's branching video on Patreon. She's a great teacher and uses stiches in very creative ways. 

Tree embroidered using double and single chain stitch

I'm still working on the roots. It took me a while to figure out how to make these since the feather stitch goes up instead of down. I finally figured out to start at the bottom of the piece and make my way up, while intersecting other branches. It worked 😊

The roots, deep in the earth

Sketch with the branching of the tree and roots

What I learned

• There were no backyard animal antics this week. I did have my coffee outside a couple of mornings but it's been so hot that the animals have all finished their foraging by the time I get up!
• I made these cute hexies. It's nice to have something to do that is relatively mindless and is quick and easy. 
• Now that the studio is tidy, I want to take out the new fabrics I bought recently to make more hexies. Since they are mindless, I get bored very easily - so I need different fabric to play with!
• I love the small embroidery piece that I'm working on. It was great to sketch something quickly and then stitch it. I got a lot done in a few hours.
• I joined in the Community Stitching with the TextileArtist.org Stitch Club today. I got a lot further stitching the roots.
• Soon I'll have to figure out what goes at the top. I have a few ideas....😉
• I'm listening to the audiobook of Women's Work, The First 20,000 years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber. I read it about 20 years ago and heard a podcast about the impact that the book had. 

Related links

• Hexies and Chipmunk Antics, July 10, 2025
• Hexies and FM Mavericks, June 26, 2025
• Mirjam Gielen on Instagram and Patreon
• Textileartist.org
• Women's Work, The First 20,000 years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber.
• Haptic and Hue, Episode #52 with Elizabeth Wayland Barber

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You might want to check some of these out! Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2025, Oh Scrap!, Slow Sunday Stitching, 

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 540 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was another productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

Kat of Scrapbox Quilts learned to FMQ watching and following Angela Walters. Angela sells this printed fabric so that you can follow along with her FMQ. The FMQ on this quilt is absolutely gorgeous. You really need to check out Kat's post to see that delicious quilting 😍

Most of the quilt, FMQ by Kat

Details of the FMQ by Kat

Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting has been busy making and quilting a table runner and some banners. 

Lovely gray and yellow batik runner by Vicki

Sunflower banner or wall hanging by Vicki

Hallowe'en Banner by Vicki

Melva of Melva Loves Scraps finished her Crown Royal quilt. She made a two-colour flange binding for it. . Check out her post for details.

Crown Royal Quilt with flange binding by Melva

It's now your turn!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Hexies and Chipmunk Antics

Bonjour and welcome 😎 There's not much going on in my studio....but it has received a dramatic clean-up! The best reason for a clean-up is looking for something important! I didn't find it in my studio (but it was located eventually) but I did find all kinds of useful and forgotten things😁. 

More Hexies

I have been playing with hexies. For a short while yesterday I sat outside to put a few more hexies together. I used up all of my ¾" hexies and ordered more from my supplier! I got a baggie full of multi-coloured hexies that she had created from her own scraps! 

New scrappy hexie templates and a few more hexies on the way

I didn't stay outside for long - it was hot and muggy. It was tolerable because I knew that I could go back into a cool house! 😊

Colourful dotted hexie

Large hexie flower for the side of my Scrappy Hexie Blanket

The last time I took a picture of my Scrappy Hexie Blanket

Purple hexie ready to be stitched together

I now have a few hexies to stitch together - I can do this in the coolness of my living room.

Chipmunk Antics

The chipmunks outside are keeping me entertained. There are two of them and they often zoom past me, not noticing what's going on except for the birdfeeder.

I've had issues with my birdfeeders and have been switching them up. The one that's being used right now is cute and the light at the top is solar powered and rotates like a lighthouse for a couple of hours at night. 

The chipmunks would hang out on the ledge and swat at whatever they didn't like. At some point, one of them got innovative! 

Chipmunk inside the feeder

Chipmunk getting out - the head!

Chipmunk getting out - part of the body

Chipmunk getting out - tail!

How entertaining is that?!!! 

The cardinal posed for this picture - Thanks!

What I learned

• I don't have much interest in spending time in my studio. I do have a things to work on, but nothing excites me.
• Worse case scenario, I'll use some purple hexies in a small piece for this month's Table Scraps Challenge.
• I'm really happy that the chipmunks are not very nervous around me. They sure keep me entertained.
• Poppy came by Tuesday and disrupted everyone outside but it's all gone back to normal now.

I'm Poppy sitting so she's posing for her
obligatory photo that I send to my daughter

Related links

• Hexies and FM Mavericks, June 26, 2025
• An Exhibition and Hexie Love on Free Motion Mavericks, August 09, 2023

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check some of them out - and remember to link up below! Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2025, Oh Scrap!, Slow Sunday Stitching, Monday Musings, 

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 539 of Free Motion Mavericks! I'm so happy that so many of you wonderful quilters are linking up! THANKS!!! Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts was able to show us her Christmas in July, Joyful quilt that was published in Annie's Attic Quilts. You'll want to check her post out!

Joyful - Preeti's latest published quilt!

Kat from Scrapbox Quilts added borders and quilted two baby quilts that had been started by other quilters. These are for the Lil Bears Quilt Mission. You'll want to check out her post!

Cute panel finished as a baby quilt by Kat

Another sweet baby quilt finished by Kat

Vicki from Vicki's Crafts and Quilting showed us many of her recently made patriotic table runners. Wow, what a collection. Here two of them - you really want to go and check out all 5 of them on her post!

Vicki's wonderful assortment of patriotic runners!

Isn't that lovely? Vicki made it with a 10 degree wedge

Brenda from Songbird Design has finished FMQ her Sedona Starburst quilt. It's all custom quilted and the little bits that she's shown us are tantalizingly amazing! We'll be seeing the entire thing in the fall! Here is a screen shot of her two quilted panels. If you go onto her post, you'll be able to see the details - so worth going there!

Go see Brenda's FMQ on her post - it's well worth it!

It's now your turn!

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Orange Scraps and a Baby Quilt

Hi and welcome 😀. I've been sewing baby scraps into a cute baby quilt! Since my studio is still a mess and very, very hot, I've laid out the quilt on the dining room table. I found a 40" x 42" piece of yellow fabric that is perfect for the backing. That made designing the quilt easy since I just laid the blocks and fabric on the backing. It's all about keeping it simple 😍

Scrappy Baby Quilt Flimsy

I've called the post Orange Scraps since that's the June colour of the Table Scraps Challenge. The quilt fabrics are beautiful scraps of mostly muted orange, blue, gold and gray.

Scrappy baby quilt flimsy is finished!

This afternoon it was all sewn up except for the two side borders. I used the two longest scraps for the top and bottom, so the side borders are heavily pieced. I waited until our AC was working before ironing the borders. 

Quilt top with just the borders to attach

As I mentioned, I used the dining room table to audition and design the quilt. I started off with the 4 blocks I had prepared a couple of weeks ago. A lot of the design was based on the fabric I had. After placing the blocks where I thought they might go, I added fabric to complete the rows. It's essentially a quilt with three rows. The blocks make up most of each row, with additional fabric strips added to make it look good.

Bottom row sewn together

Bottom border and the two rows sewn together

The side borders had to be pieced because although I had largish fabric pieces, they were going in the wrong direction. I wanted all of the cute animals facing downwards.

I'm really looking forward to FMQ the blocks since I'll be able to use dot-to-dot quilting a la Angela Walters.

Another look at the scrappy orange baby quilt flimsy

July's One Monthly Goal

Since I managed to achieve my June OMG, I'm going to add a goal for July. With the studio now cool (but still messy), and life somewhat normal, I'm going to work on putting together the Cowboy quilt panel that I was doing during the SAHRR this winter. The panel and blocks are still on my design wall so at least it's accessible 😁 I would love to have a flimsy ready by the end of July, but I'll settle for any progress! 

This was the last layout option...we'll see!

What I learned

• The entire quilt was made from scraps that I received. I'm so glad that I was able to use most of them up. There are now only scraps to be divided among the various scrap bins. 
• I'll have to find some binding fabric that plays well with these. 
• The quilt is roughly the same size as my backing - so I may have to add a few scraps to make it slightly larger, or trim the existing quilt. The largest it can be is 40" x 40"
• These are not my usual colours but I'm so glad that I got to play with them. Maybe quilts don't have to be bright???😉
• I also played with a few more hexies but I'll keep them for a day when I have nothing else to show.
• My dining room table will be cleared of quilty things. Once it's cool enough, I'll be bringing my laptop up there also. People will be shocked!
• I'm so happy to be linking up to June's Table Scraps Challenge. I did the orange but not the beach theme.

Related links

• Scraps, a Finish and FM Mavericks, June 19, 2025
• Putting together the Cowboy quilt and other updates, March 04, 2025

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties, including the Joyful Quilter's June Table Scraps Challenge, and July's OMG. Why not check some of these out and remember to link up below! Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, TGIFF, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2025, Oh Scrap!, 

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 538 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was another very productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. 

Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting finished a UFO Jelly Roll quilt. We know how good that feels 😊She backed it in fleece and FMQ with large stippling. It's perfect for a lovely quilty hug!

Vicki's most recent UFO finish!

Donnalee made another cute mini - this time it's a pumpkin! We're looking forward to seeing her larger pumpkin wall hanging.

Donnalee's cute pumpkin mini

Quilting Gail finished Canuck Quilter's Mystery Quilt. She made the traditional option. It's really lovely with her ruler and FMQ. You may want to check out Canuck Quilter's post - both the traditional and the modern quilt are really lovely.

Gail's finished version of Canuck Quilter's Mystery Quilt

Gail's lovely FMQ and ruler work

Debbie of A Quilter's Table made and quilted a lovely modern scrap quilt based on Carole Lyles Shaw's Stash Jazz pattern to donate through her guild.

Debbie's Stash Jazz quilt, quilted in a grid 

Brenda of Song Bird Designs has been custom quilting her latest quilt, Sedona Starburst. Here are two of the blocks. You may want to check out Brenda's blog to see the lovely quilty details!

Check out Brenda's post for better images - it's worth it!

Frédérique of Quilting Patchwork Appliqué shared with us the lovely BB quilts that quilters in her area made. They will be donated to the hospital. Check out Frédérique's post to see the other cute ones!

The quilt is made in a log cabin style and then cut in ovals

It's now your turn!

 

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Click here to enter