Scrappy Irish Chain

What's not to love about scrappy quilts plus an Irish Chain pattern? This one was a free pattern online.

And I had plenty of squares already cut - so I chose the container with 1.5" squares already cut. Put together totally random except the raspberry pink squares.

Then I looked for a fabric in my stash that had enough yardage for borders, binding and the squares that bordered the white/cream spaces. I wasn't 100% sure I had what I needed, but I could always adjust the border to a narrower width and do the binding with something else if needed.

And the finished quilt. Lap size with a pink Minky backing.

Gotta love those white spaces to show off the quilting on the front side. (Quilted by Marie of Blueberry Hill Quilts)

And hanging outside in the wild.

Beautiful raspberry pink borders.

And in all it's gorgeousness on the fence! (Just love this spot for photos!)

--Ann

Baby Bear Star Blocks

I had a panel with multiple teddy bear picnic blocks and I found some bright prints to make stars around the pieces I cut from that panel.

There wasn't enough of anything in my stash for borders, so I found this bright blue print at the local quilting shop and added borders. 

And a Fireside backing for soft cuddle factor. Sent it off to be quilted by my friend Marie at Blueberry Hill Quilts.

On a sunny day, took the quilt outside for a little photoshoot and got photo bombed by the horse behind the fence.

--Ann

String Quilt

I've been watching the string quilt hashtag over on Instagram and admiring all the lovely work of other quilters while collecting strips of my own for my version.

I collected my used dryer Bounce sheets to use for my foundation. A foundation is not needed, but it helps me with the length of my strips and to keep the rough block close to finished size. 

I used a 1" wide strip of white diagonally from corner to corner on the foundation and then added random strips to either side until the foundation was covered. 

Then each block was cut to a consistent size. I used green painter's tape to mark the size on the top of my 12.5" square ruler and lined up the white strip with the corners on those measurement lines. Think about trimming a half square triangle - the same principles apply here.

Because the dryer sheets are not square, putting these together makes a nice rectangular quilt top. I added a narrow white border (1.5" wide) and then a wider navy blue border to finish. For multi color quilts like this out of scraps, navy blue or forest green are good border choices to pull it all together. 

And the final quilt is an amazing blast of color! The backing also came from my stash and no fabrics were purchased to finish this quilt.

Do you like string quilts or scrappy quilts? What's your favorite pattern to use scraps?

--Ann

Spring Time Tulips

Springtime and the tulips are popping up somewhere - not here in Alberta yet!

I've had this buttery yellow floral print for a while and thought I could use it to bring a bit of springtime early. (pictures are from early 2025)

A sweet tulip pattern and some custom quilting by me.

It's always hard for me to decide what I want to quilt. I'm getting better every time I do my own quilting, but I still prefer to send my big quilts out to be quilted and my go-to for most projects is an all-over meander. 

And I had a piece of this sweet pink bicycle fabric that was just large enough for the back! Can't say I planned that out - just lucky!

Do you change out your decor for spring?

--Ann

Pillow Talk

The Farmer's Prayer Quilt had some fabrics left over and the pattern had bonus instructions for making a pillow. 

A block echoing one that was in the quilt plus some flying geese blocks around two of the sides makes a nice pattern.

The back is an envelope style that has an opening that you can easily slip in a pillow form. 

Nice project to use up a few left over fabric pieces.

--Ann

(This pillow is sold)

String Quilt Update

The string quilt I've been working on for the last couple years is finally finished!

I love scrappy quilts and this one was so much fun to make with my left over strips and bindings. 

So much fabric history from my scraps. I can remember almost all the quilts made with these fabrics!

If I make another, I will use a larger white strip for the diagonals - this one used a 1" wide cut and I think even 1/4" wider would make a big difference. A different choice like black or teal blue would be a nice touch too.

And the for the backing - I was going to purchase a backing, but then I thought to go to my fabric stash and pick something from there. So these are 3 pieces left from other quilt backings and I pieced them together to make something wide enough. Pretty happy with the result!

Quilted by the amazing Marie of Blueberry Hill quilts in High River, Alberta.

What's your fav scrappy quilt pattern?

--Ann

Hand Quilting

All my quilts when I started quilting many years ago were hand quilted and the binding finished by hand. 

Machine quilting is much quicker and gives a very different look. No method is better or worse - you can show off your workmanship whatever method you chose. 

This table runner is made from some left over blocks that didn't make it into a full size quilt, so I pieced them together with sashing and borders and quilted by machine around the outline of the stars. 

And I'm finishing with some turquoise and brown thread by quilting by hand 1/4" inside each piece. I started by using painters tape to mark my 1/4", but that went out the window pretty quick and I'll be finishing the handquilting by eyeball! 

What do you prefer? Hand or machine quilting?

--Ann