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Sunflower Panel Quilt

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Sometimes a quilt just needs a couple pieces of fabric, in this case, a beautiful "You Are My Sunshine" panel, a golden yellow inner border and a bright all-over sunflower print. This quilt was backed with soft gray minky and quilted by my friend Marie on her long-arm quilting machine.  A solid black binding completes this beauty and somewhere, someone is enjoying this quilt! I love piecing quilts together and even though this one doesn't have much piecing, its' still a stunning quilt that will be cherished for a long time. --Ann

Spicy Spiral Table Runner

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These table runners were so much fun to make. They take a 9 or 10 degree ruler and 8 different fabrics. The fabrics can be a gradient from light to dark in one colorway or you can do what I've done here with 4 fabrics dark to light and then another 4 going light to dark.  The pattern is called Spicy Spiral Runner and you can find it easily through an internet search. There's also YouTube instructions.  These are quilted quite simply along the seam lines of each wedge. The fabrics are first pieced in what quilter's call a strata - all strips sewn together in order - and then cut in wedges according to the instructions.  Piecing the wedges together in the right order makes the distinctive turn and shape.  The binding needs to be a bias binding because of the curves and is a little tricky at the points. A good pressing helps it all lay flat in the end.  Needless to say, none of these runners stuck around very long and I hope they get tons of use in their new homes. --Ann

Spinning Star

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This pattern is one that I've admired for many years. It's called Spinning Star and I've seen patterns for it in various places, but I found it in a kit form through one of the places I buy fabric from. The kit made the quilt in the first picture here.  I had a little bit of trouble with making the points at the center all come together neat and tidy but took another try at it with fabrics from my own stash to make this yellow and blue version. I even took the extra effort to mark and machine quilt the feathers in the background.  All in all, this was a fun project - if you want to try it for yourself, just do an internet search for Spinning Star Quilt and go from there.  This is a pattern I will try again - it comes together fairly quickly and doesn't take a lot of fabric. --Ann
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Hello Again! One of my goals for 2023 was to revive the blog and start documenting again the processes behind the quilts that I make. The past few years have been busy with family and even just the basics of keeping up with my Etsy shop, Facebook and Instagram have been enough for me. But as I sort through and clean up my photo files on my computer, I've got so much to share and the blog is a good place for me to do just that.  These are a few of the quilts I made in 2021, but I have so many more from 2022 and will be adding more in 2023.  I hope you're still along for the ride and that I am able to inspire you to either create or curate your love of quilts and quilting! --Ann
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I did a lot of custom quilt making in 2021 and one of the most challenging was to make a queen size quilt from a collection of Crown Royal bags.  The assortment of bags had a variety of purple, black and specialty bags. I bought some solid cotton fabric in a rich purple and a gold color to make the star blocks.  Bags were cut apart and then cut into squares that included the Crown Royal words plus some of the gold stitching that held the bags together. These were pressed carefully and with a cooler iron than I would use for an all cotton quilt as the thread on some (not all) would melt at the touch of a hot iron. (Experience points here!) Because of the shear number of bags I was given to work with, I not only had enough for the centres of the star blocks, but also enough to make a border all around from the Crown Royal bags. Some of the specialty bags were made from a suede like fabric and still others from a satin fabric that frayed easily. From an ease of construction point of view,
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After almost a year of being an absent blogger, I thought maybe I should introduce myself and start again! LOL! My name is Ann and I have been in love with quilting for most of my life, but an actual quilter since my kids were born over 30 years ago. My first quilt was a hand embroidered baby quilt that didn't make it past the 2nd baby and I haven't got a single photo of it to share. My second quilt was a bit more ambitious. It was a double wedding ring quilt that was one of the feature quilts in a McCalls quilting magazine. I painstakingly traced and cut out each piece by hand, hoping to sew it all together by machine, but quickly realized that wasn't going to work.  So, I carefully pieced it all together with hand stitching in all the stolen moments between caring for small humans. I'm so proud that I actually finished it even if it took me all of TEN years! I've taken a few classes, but prefer to learn on my own. The internet and its endless resources have been s

Scrappy Trip Around the World

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When I first discovered Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.com and her scrappy quilts, the Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt was one of the ones I wanted to make.  While I was cleaning up and sorting and folding my scraps, I began to cut 2.5" strips for making this quilt.  I didn't take ANY care for which fabrics I chose or didn't choose. Anything went. So, there's a real assortment of fabrics in this colorful quilt and it makes me happy just to look at it! Every time I added a few more blocks, I played with the layout.  Originally, I thought Option A was the layout I would end up using, but. . . in the end, Option B was the one that I like the best. Our granddog was right there when I went outside to take a photo of the finished quilt.  All the colors look fabulous! The full effect of this quilt is exactly what drew me to this pattern from the start. Ready to keep someone warm by the firepit on a fall evening. Just look at those colors pop! This quilt is destined to be a