Here's the Rouenneries quilt completed and ready to go.

Like so many projects, it got bigger and bigger, kind of like Lucy and Ethel baking bread. It began with the purchase of a layercake pack of Moda French General Rouenneries fabric that I just couldn't resist. Originally, it was going to be a small throw... but it grew. I added some simple pieced blocks to break up the monotony of all the plain squares. Then it became bed-size. Then extra long, so it could accomodate a pillow tuck. With a border, it got even bigger.


All the straight lines and squares seemed to call for curves in the quilting. Marge West, my ace quilter, managed to roll this baby out in about half a week. Not sure how she does it; she is one speedy longarmer.


The back needed to be pieced, and there just happened to be enough of the Layercake blocks left to make it work out nicely.


True confession though--the main background fabric was 6.5 yards long. I needed to cut it in half for the backing.

Well. It was late at night and I took up my scissors and cut it in half lengthwise rather than crosswise. So instead of two pieces of fabric 3.25 yards long, I had four 22" wide strips the full 6.5 yards long. Had to sew it all back together again AND THEN cut in in half the right way. What an idiot I am.... As they say, cut once, measure twice.

This quilt will be living in Florida. Our good friends from Chicago, Rose and Jeff, are becoming snowbirds and moving to south Florida for the winter, lucky stiffs. This quilt was their happy-new-life-adventure gift from me. I've been promised a bedroom will be decorated around it.

So this is process...

I've been slogging along on a braid quilt--one of the great scrappy projects on the Quiltville site--since last spring. This is the project I schlep along on my "bowling nights", (this is what we lovingly call our biweekly sewing nights), taking baby steps toward a completed quilt.



I'm figuring to make 14 braid strips, although I probably have enough strips cut for 28 braids--I guess I don't do anything by halves.

Ten strips done as of tonight.



And don't hate me because I'm going on A FIVE DAY quilt retreat next week, but I am. Joy! I'm working to prep projects, and I'm hoping to get the last four braid strips completed at the retreat. Tonight I got all the rest of the red square strips assembled. Sub-sewing, as it were.





These scrappy projects are so satisfying.

Here's my completed very scrappy Bricks and Steppingstones. The early morning light here really shows off the scrolly curlicue quilting done by the fabulous Creations by Marge in suburban Whitewater, Wisconsin


This is a Bonnie Hunter scrap pattern, and once again, thanks to Bonnie and her generosity in sharing a great treasure trove of patterns and ideas on her site. All completely free.

This quilt is entirely scrap from the depths of the Threadlines vaults. It's fun to look at the fabrics, remembering where and when they were bought. I just love how the scrap fabrics work out their own color story. It's not really chaotic at all, as long as the consistency of the black and white four patches amp down the busy-ness just a bit.


My first quilt memory is looking at a quilt on my parents' bed, and searching for all the different fabrics. That's fun for grownups too.

Bricks and Steppinstones came together easily over a long weekend, at a retreat last spring.


Very enjoyable sewing--it has my stamp of approval for simplicity and speed. (Have to show off the funky backing fabric once again.)


Wouldn't it also be gorgeous made with a real color scheme? And with the right fabric/color mix, it could even qualify for the Fresh Modern Quilts category...