Takes the Cake by Thimbleblossoms

 

Don't you just love granny squares? I adore them!

so I really like this Takes the Cake quilt pattern that looks like granny squares. It's taken a while, but I'm finally done!

 

The fabrics are Vintage picnic and Life is good and various matchy scraps...

It was one of those things you didn't realize

what I was when you picked it up......

 

 

 

you start out with sweet little piles of squares so pleasing to the eye....

by the way, about 1,200 of them!!!

 

Organize them into the EnTIre quilt..

 

and sew them into 9 squares and H shaped squares....

each one has to go right next to it's neighbor!...

I got this shot of the organization of putting it together, but I forgot to lay down the single row that goes in between the main rows I layed out here.

If you use your imagination, you can picture what's missing....

 

 

Each square was a surprise and a pleasure to see how it came together.

 

 

as always....Polka dots!!

"Swoon" in civil war colors

Here is my version of "Swoon" by Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms.

 

 

I did it in what I call "civil war colors." It's yummy.

 

I did 14" blocks instead of her larger ones. That way I could do more squares and add the cute stars in the sashing...which were a pain by the way, the way you have to lay out every sashing strip in just the right place because every star color was different. Remind me not to do that again!

 

As I've looked around, I find that the real name of this block is not actually swoon at all. It's a very old block (of course it is!) called by several different names. I'd sure like to know which is the most common. Anybody know?

"Broken star, Star of Bethlehem, Dutch rose, Star with diamonds, Star of the east," etc.

 

Whatever it's real name, it sure is pretty!

 

 

 

Raincheck by Thimbleblossoms

I finished my Raincheck quilt! It's a pattern by Camille at Thimbleblossoms that used the

"april showers" fabric line

there's a free download of mini raincheck here.

have you ever noticed that sometimes the separate squares are almost cuter than all of them put together?

 

 

Love these colors!!

 

here's how I machine quilted raincheck...

Farm Girl Vintage Strip Quilt Blocks...

"Mama Hen" quilt blocks...!

from Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage book (there's a link at the end)

They just HAD to be done on a chicken wire background.

Interject some "vintage tulips" by thimble blossoms.

couldn't decide between a row of strawberries...

and a row of floral red...

so I did both!

From Lori Holt's book Farm Girl Vintage 

"Wooly Sheep" quilt blocks

I appliqued the heads on the wooly sheep instead of piecing. It seemed so much easier.

One little Piggy...

I realized later that I forgot the grass! It got into the final quilt. see that here.

I actually kind of like them without grass now that I'm comparing..

Here's the book...

It has over 30 cute quilt block patterns in it. You get measurements for 6" and  12" sizes.

it's for sale in lots of places. here's one.

"Flower Girl" by Thimbleblossoms Quilt with a stem!

 

Finished the Flower Girl quilt that I made with Cathy and Brittany.

It's a Thimbleblossoms pattern but we added a stem.

 

We started with these fabrics...

 

and added some reds and bright pinks...

 

Almost went with the large brown dots. I still like this....a lot.

so hard to decide.

 

 

 

Agonized over it...red or brown....maybe both?

NO. 

 

 

Echo quilting around the stem.

 

 

 

 

 

there's the polka dots...

 

 

 

 I thought this was a cute way to machine quilt the flowers in "Flower Girl"

 

You can see it best on the white...

 

 

Pretty!