moroccan tile

I made this quilt top years ago.  It's been hanging in a closet waiting to be quilted.  Finally, I made time to get it done. 

This is the Moroccan Tile pattern from Amy Smart's Fabulously Fast Quilts.  I used Denyse Schmidt's Ansonia line for the tiles and Essex yarn dyed linen blend for the background.

I was lucky to find this backing fabric, also from the Ansonia line, on Etsy for a super sale price.  Who doesn't love a great deal when buying yardage?!

I free-motion quilted a simple design in each of the colorful tiles, which is really hard to see, then got out my walking foot for all the straight lines.  

It's great to have a finish!

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful week!

a roald dahl proverb

Years ago I won a package from Denyse Schmidt and it included her Proverbial Quilt pattern.  I studied it then but it overwhelmed me.  Early this year Denyse announced an online Proverbial quilt-along.  I signed up immediately.  I knew exactly what my quilt would say as I had previously chosen this ↑ Roald Dahl quote from The Twits.

Then Covid and lock-downs and quarantines hit.  The quilt-along took on a whole new life.  So many fantastic quilts resulted from the emotions of the changes going on around the world.  I considered altering my plan for about 2 seconds, but no, I needed to stay positive and keep moving forward.

I dove right in and made 85 scrappy letters.  Some improv, some following the pattern precisely.  I still can't believe there is only one R in the whole quilt!  

I combined my letters into 20 words, 

and then used spacers to created the 8 rows.

I added a few extras; 4 hearts for my 4 grandchildren and...sunbeams!  (These 5 blocks took me an entire day 😜)

When the entire top was complete I took it outside for a "stained glass" photo.  So many pieces!

I used fun letters for the backing fabric and that stashed 1/2 yard of oval elements for the binding.  It was a perfect match for the blue strips between the word lines.

There were several categories to enter our final quilts in.  I chose "Quilts in the Wild" and got this shot under my favorite redbud tree.  I hadn't been anywhere for the month prior so this back corner of our lot was like wilderness!

After these photos were taken I added Roald Dahl's name to the quilt.  Now it's complete!

"A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but 

if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

💙💚💛❤️

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you've been well and are keeping good thoughts! 

liquid gold!

So this month was supposed to be all about quick posts and baby quilts but...

We've been making maple syrup! 🍁
We've lived in this house for almost 30 years.  There are several sugar maple trees on the property.  I've always wanted to tap one and finally, this was the year.  

It's so simple:  drill a hole at a slight angle, insert the tap, hang a bucket on the tap's hook...

and watch the sap flow!  (I lined our old bucket with a zip-lock because it's cleaner and easier to empty.)

We just tapped one tree this first year.  I cannot believe how much sap has dripped in less than a week.  I empty the bag at least 3 times a day.

I've been boiling it down in small batches on my stovetop.  This very wide Calphalon pan I purchased at an outlet store years ago has been perfect for this task.  

It takes about 1.5 hours to boil down to 2 cups which I then filter through a coffee filter.

When I've boiled down 3 pans (so I have about 6 cups) I put it in a smaller pan and boil it down some more.  Actually, now it's like making candy, I cook it till it's 219 degrees F.   

This year, I'm putting it in small canning jars.  I turn the jars over while the syrup is still hot and let them cool that way.  The jars seal themselves!  
Next year I'll plan ahead and be ready with cute maple leaf shaped jars to store it in. 
🍁🍁🍁
Have you ever turned sap to syrup?  

Having something new and fun to focus on has really helped me thru this week.  
Stay healthy!  

koalas

How cute are these koalas?

The pattern is by Elizabeth Hartman and available here!

In January, Elizabeth offered to donate 100% of her proceeds of this PDF download to WIRES, a wildlife rescue in Australia.  In less than 24 hours she sold out of the available downloads and donated $19,638.79 AUD to WIRES!!!  How amazing is that?  

The back is a cozy gray crosshatch flannel.
Hoping lots of babies are cuddling with Koalas in 2020!

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great week!

meadowland night hike

I've made several baby quilts this past year that I've not yet shared here so I'm hoping to catch up with short weekly posts this month.  

Last year there was an online quilt along using this Meadowland pattern by Then Came June.  I did not participate but I sure was inspired.  Every quilt was prettier than the last.  This pattern seems to work with any fabric.  These prints are from Heather Given's Night Hike collection.

I picked up the fabric while shopping Small Business Saturday sales at Crimson Tate last November.  What a cute shop!  I even won one of the hourly door prizes!  Thanks again, Heather 😊

The selvage reads so good I had to include it!  
The backing is super soft Cuddle from Shannon Fabrics. 

Baby quilts are such fun to make and give.  Have a great week!