Bonjour and welcome 😊 It looks like Spring is finally here. Last night I heard the Canada Geese coming back. That's such a good sign since they usually know what's going on. I'll have a huge job cleaning up my backyard since the wild rabbits have been coming by every day for apples and seeds! I'll have to wait until things dry up to tackle that 😁
Making extra blocks
Last week's SAHRR plan got rearranged a bit. The centre blocks have smaller 5" blocks on both sides. Well, that's actually not accurate. On one side are the new Chicago Geese blocks that I made to fit. I did a great job on the first block but then managed to make a few errors that I quickly changed into design options. So I have one 5" Chicago Geese block, and three variation on the Goose blocks (one is 6" while the other two are 5"). These blocks started off as an error but when I embraced the error, it got very fun! 😎 I'm really happy with my variations.
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| First 5" Chicago Geese block |
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| Original 9" Chicago Geese block |
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Individual Variation on a Goose
block (top) |
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| 2 Variation on a Goose block |
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Individual Variation on a Goose
block (bottom) |
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| 6" Variation on a Goose block |
While I was working on my project, I cleaned my studio since I couldn't find three of my hour-glass blocks.
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MISSING 3
hour-glass blocks! |
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Replacement hour-
glass blocks |
I ended up making four more hour-glass blocks and used the original one in the centre.
I had mentioned that I wanted to place my Anvil blocks on point. It took a bit of work but I managed to make this lovely block with 2 anvil blocks. I realised that my blocks had very little contrast, so I used a contrasting background fabric. It does seem to help a bit.
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| Two anvil blocks on point |
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| Anvil block with borders and the quilt's upper border |
Finally, after playing around with the layout, I realised that I needed at least one more larger block. In a book, new to me, I found an easy pineapple block. I've always wanted to make one, so I did!
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| My first pineapple block |
So, here is how my quilt has evolved.
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| One set of side blocks attached |
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| Centre blocks with both side blocks attached |
Next steps:
- Choose fabric for the 2" borders around the centre blocks. ✔ I've got these extending over the two vertical rows of blocks.
- Make 4 5" x 5" blocks for the second vertical row - more hour-glass; ✔
- Make 2 5" x 5" Chicago geese blocks for the top row and choose background fabric; or ✔
- Piece a few background fabrics for the top row as negative space.
- Make 2 more anvil blocks on the diagonal for the bottom row; or
- Piece background fabric as negative space
- Choose fabric for the outer border. If it's 4" wide, the quilt would be roughly 41" x 45". If that's not big enough, I may either make it wider or add more borders....?
What I learned
- This was a lot of work - and I'm far from finished!
- It's a good thing that I've enjoyed the process 😀
- Making the smaller Chicago Geese block went well, until it didn't! In the first block, I used a larger half-square triangle block and then managed to add too many sides. I decided to see what it would look like - and I love it. Do you think that this is how new quilt blocks get invented? Who knows, it might have already been invented, but I'm calling it Variations on a Goose.
- How does someone loose 3 blocks? I guess if I knew, I would have found them! 😂I suppose I was meant to have a variety of hour-glass blocks in my quilt.
- I really like how my anvil blocks looks on-point. They are so different. When I made them, the pattern showed a doll quilt on-point. They looked so cool. Thanks goodness I found a good tutorial - if I had winged it, it would have been a mess. I've made on-point quilts a few times, but not enough to remember the process of putting them together. The tutorial is in Related links below.
- I have no idea if the pineapple block I made is different (since it was considered easy). It was easy but I doubt that I will ever want to make enough for a whole quilt.
- The layout is interesting. I'm playing with a few ideas about how to make the top row. I'll be doing something similar for the bottom row. Then I'll probably be adding small side borders. I really am looking forward to cuddling up under this quilt - so it needs to be big enough! Thanks goodness I still have lots of Kona Cotton in matching colours.
Related links
- How to piece diagonal blocks and rows
- Granny Quilt Décor by Darlene Zimmerman
- SAHRR 2026 posts
- Planning my SAHRR Quilt and I Quilted This!, March 05, 2026
- Project Quilting 17.4 and SAHRR, Round 5, February 22, 2026
- SAHRR Round 4 and I Quilted This! February 11, 2026
- Project Quilting & SAHRR Round 3, February 07, 2026
- A Quilter's Cove QAL Link-up and SAHRR, January 31, 2026
- SAHRR Round 1 - hour-glass block, January 26, 2026
- Starting Things and I Quilted This!, January 15, 2026
Linking parties
Welcome to the I Quilted This! linking party that celebrates quilting on a domestic machine or custom quilting on a long-arm. Feel free to link up and share any recent project, even if you're not quilting it! Here are the posts that included FMQ, ruler work and walking foot quilting last week. Thanks for linking up 😊 and feel free to grab the button.
Deb, A Scrappy Quilter, finished up a whole bunch of
baby quilts. Here are a few. You'll want to check out her post to see the others!
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| A lovely baby quilt with light green backing by Deb |
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| The back of the purple and green baby quilt by Deb |
Melva of Melva Loves Scraps finished 4 quilts in February. Here are
two of them. One is a cute scrappy green baby quilt while the other is her vintage linens quilt. The vintage linens are hankies and samplers made by her grandmother! You'll want to read about the making and check it out
here!
Raewyn, the Stitching Farm Girl, made this gorgeous
animal quilt with quilts. There's a great story behind it and I'm encouraging you to hop over to read about this quilt's Show & Tell! She quilted some of the quilts using ruler work, cross hatching and meandering.
Brenda from Songbird Designs has made block 12 of this amazing quilt! The pieces are appliquéd and then she quilted the block. It's stunning and you'll want to read the story behind it and check out her other blocks
here.
It's now your turn!😍
I like your pineapple block!--TerryK@OnGoingProjects
ReplyDeleteThanks Terry. Not bad for the very first (and possibly last) one!
DeleteYour SAHRR is coming along. The pineapple block is a very fun addition.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Kate. Now to do the bottom placement, with negative space :-)
DeleteYour SAHRR is going to be so fun - the blocks are great, but when you set them all together they are a whole nother level of great!
ReplyDeleteawe, thanks so much Alycia :-)
DeleteEmbrace the design decisions! The one reason I'm always reluctant to start a "creative" quilting project (that is, set out with no pre-conceived intentions for how it will finish) is that I am concious of how long it can possibly take to get it it the "Ooh, I like that!" point. It already tends to take me too long to get a project done when I think I KNOW where it's supposed to be going, LOL!! That said, I could feel the fun you were having with your SAHRR work and you pulled it off beautifully! Seeing what everyone has done both this round and prior, I know I must put on my "big girl panties" and try this sooner rather than later. Hope to check in later this year with a ruler work "I Quilted This!" when I go back to visit my MIL and we work on trying that out on her longarm.
ReplyDelete