Design Wall Monday 1.31.2022

I made a few more 16 patch blocks in red and blue.

 I then added a few of the background blocks, changed out one red block and made the star points.

pattern credit: Debby Brown's Woven Star 

This is where I am stuck. I'm trying to figure out if I want to add the sashing and cornerstones or not. Debby's pattern shows cutting triangles for the corners and ends then adding sashing between. Seems like a bit of extra cutting and sewing to me but I'm not well versed in 'on point' settings and the required math involved. 

I think I'll let it percolate for a spell... In the mean time...

I'm linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday.

SoScrappy Saturday 1.29.2022

Today is the fifth Saturday of January of the color RED! I consider the fifth Saturday of the month as a 'bonus' or 'free' sewing day!

Did you guess what I did with my little red crumb quilt sandwiches?

I made 'free'style hearts for the little table top tree I brought on clearance after Christmas! I just might make ornaments for all the seasons and/or months. I'm kinda liking the pop of color on the counter. 😍

I started sewing the monochromatic 16 patch blocks for the November 2021 Color Block quilt Woven Stars by Debby Brown. You'll need to enroll...if you haven't and it's free...and then scroll to the bottom of the directions to be able to click on the downloadable link. Of course, I started with RED! LOL

pattern credit: Woven Stars by Debby Brown

Linking up with SoScrappy Saturday

Finish or NOT Friday 1.28.2022

I finished piecing the MSU top yesterday afternoon. It is approximately 60 x 78 before quilting. I'm putting this one in the bin 'to be quilted at a later date'.

pattern credit: Warm Wishes (with modifications...

                                                strips cut at 2.5 inches, strip sets cut at 6.5 inches and

                                                focus fabric cut at 6.5 inches square)

Linking up with Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday

WIP Wednesday 1.26.2022

I decided to make the Warm Wishes pattern with a few modifications for the MSU quilt. I actually cut the pieced blocks strips at 2.5 inches each to yield a block that is 6.5 inches unfinished. I also cut the corresponding focus fabric at 6.5 inch square...unfinished. Here are the first set of blocks. I'm going to make it 13 rows down and 10 blocks across so it will be approximately 60 x 78 before quilting...no border.

 This is as far as I sewed today when DD called. Of course, I talked to DD for maybe an hour, LOL. Today was an off day so she was able to talk when I was awake! 

pattern credit: Warm Wishes (with modifications)

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers

Design Wall Monday 1.24.2022

Today is more of a prepping and planning day for me.

I dug out my red/blue 2.5 inch strips and also cut a few more. I'm behind three quilts in the Color Block Sew Along with Debby Brown. I like to stick to rwb with the color blocks.

 I also organized the newest batch of QOV's for the Casual Quilter's Guild. I think I need to get a humidifier for the basement as it is really dry down there. The last thing I want to do...is short out the long arm again. Last winter, I shorted out the back display. I was lucky that it is still functioning!

I pulled out my red crumb blocks and made these cute little layered pieces. I decided to use the decorative stitches on Baby to stitch over the top seams like crazy quilting. Any guesses as to what? they will become?

Finally, I pressed some more material. I was thinking about making quilts for my in-laws for Christmas 2022. I also thought if I made the flimsies ahead of time, the quilting would go quickly in November/December. First up will be for my FIL. He's a graduate of Michigan State University, Class of 1962.

That's where I ended my day. 

I put a beef roast in the oven. I'm slowly trying to use 'the food' I purchased for Christmas 2021 that I didn't use...

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday

SoScrappy Saturday 1.22.2022

Today is the fourth Saturday of January of RED.

I wanted to use my crumbs from RSC2021 and when I saw the Crumb Jumble block, I knew I wanted to try and make it! I first saw it on Susan of Quilt Fabrication's blog when she was participating in Bonnie Hunter's Blog Hop promoting her String Frenzy book. 

pattern credit: Crumb Jumble from Bonnie Hunter's String Frenzy book

I finished my Heart table runner. It was a quick quilt and bind project!

pattern credit: Cluck Cluck Sew Hearts in 8 inches

panto credit: serpentine

I had almost two full bobbins leftover from Titan the dog quilt and I thought one of my RSC2021 quilts would take three bobbins...so, guess what? I quilted down a RSC2021 quilt and it did use three bobbins.

pattern credit: Mary's Rectangles

panto credit: serpentine

I had a few very productive days in the sewing room!

Linking up to SoScrappy Saturday

Finish or NOT Friday 1.21.2022

This Friday is a mixed bag of things to report.

First: Titan the Dog revealed! I have a call into my SIL that he is complete and ready for pickup. Or we could meet up or ???

 

pattern credit: Billie Lauder's There's a Dog on my Quilt

                        free pieced letters by Tonya Rucci

panto: serpentine

I had about two extra bobbins wound with white thread from quilting Titan so I decided to quilt down one of the RSC2021 Rainbow quilts. I only needed one more bobbin to do the quilting. So much better than transferring the extra long arm bobbin thread to Baby Brother bobbin thread! Today I put the binding on.

pattern credit: Mary's Rectangles

panto: serpentine

I also made a few hearts for a new table runner in the family room. You guessed it! I wanted use up more of the white thread but decided pink would blend better!

pattern credit: Cluck Cluck Sew Hearts in 8 inches

panto: serpentine

Linking up with Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday

WIP Thursday 1.20.2022

 It's been pretty quiet here at Bell Creek Quilts. I worked on the binding on Titan the Dog and will have his reveal later in the week. I found a cute backing with various colored bones and white 'woof' all over. 

Linking up with Kelly at NTT

Design Wall Monday 1.17.2022

or rather, What I'm Working on...

Titan the Dog is peeking out from the long arm! It feels really good to be gaining ground on this commission quilt! 

pattern credit: Billie Lauder's There's a Dog on my Quilt

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday

SoScrappy Saturday 1.15.2022

 Today is the third Saturday of January of the color RED!

I decided to make wonky (or Maverick-if you're a Bonnie Hunter fan!) stars that I upsized to 12.5 inches unfinished. Here are a few with red centers:

I ended up really wonky, eh? Maybe next month I'll try to even them out...lol 

But wait, how about a couple with reversed colors?

Ummm, pretty wonky! I'm only making a few as they will finish at 12 inches in the quilt so fewer will go further. Or at least, that is my thought. 😍

pattern credit:  If you Google Search 'Wonky Star' or 'Maverick Star'...

                        be prepared for about a million tutorials!

Linking up with SoScrappy Saturday

Finish or NOT Friday 1.14.2022

Oh Boy! I fell off my sewing wagon, big time.

We visited DD on January 8th and 9th to deliver her Christmas presents. She had come down with Covid over the Christmas holiday so she quarantined at her apartment in Milwaukee. I dubbed the trip #Santassleigh... On Monday, I caught up with my Hallmark Channel's movies from the weekend (guilty pleasure here). Tuesday was laundry and grocery day. Wednesday was spent getting the guild batting for the QOV's. The member that had it, is leaving for Alabama for 8 weeks tomorrow. I also met up with the other QOV member that has the unquilted tops/backs and received about 10 of those to work on. Thursday found me battling some stomach 'thing'. I don't think it was the flu as I have been masking up again as Michigan has extremely high number of Covid cases. All I know is that I didn't want to eat or venture too far from the bathroom...TMI! Which brings me to today!

Just as I suspected, creating the back for the Titan the Dog quilt took longer than the top. My plan was this to inset into the backing:

My SIL liked it so I sewed it together. Guess what?! Longer than the quilt top! 

Onto Plan B:

Here it is, inserted in the backing:

I haven't shown my SIL yet but she's pretty mellow. She probably feels about now 'whatever it takes to be done!' I'll be loading it and hopefully quilting soon!

Just a reminder, here is the top:

pattern credit:     There's a Dog on my Quilt by Billie Lauder

                           dog paws found here 

                           dog bones found here

So my Whoop! Whoop! is that I am actively sewing after a little unplanned break!!

Linking up with  Alycia at Finish or Not Friday

SoScrappy Saturday 1.8.2022

Today is actually the second Saturday of January of the color RED!

I suppose that means that I need to decide on a few blocks for RSC2022, right? 

My first block is Angel Wings!

 Just kidding! I sewed it wrong so out came Jack and in a jiffy, I had it fixed. Crumb hearts with the bottom cut-offs. A few of my fellow bloggers and RSC-ers suggested using the crumbs as a base for the hearts and I thought that was a great way to use up some of the crumb blocks I made for  RSC2022.

pattern credit: Scrappy Improv Hearts by Love and Stitches

Linking up with SoScrappy Saturday

Whoop! Whoop! 1.7.2022

I finished this crumb quilt a little while ago but realized I never did the final post.

Here it is! First finish for 2022 and first in the RSC2021!

 

pattern credit: crumb blocks, public domain

                       setting from Stash Statement by Kelly Young

panto credit: large scribbles

I also realized that I never posted my Santa gift I sent. My partner never actually posted that she received the package but did answer that indeed it arrived at her home after I FB Messengered her.

Here's what I sent. I cute quilty mug, the book 'Wrapped in Christmas' about a QOV, a couple of quilty panels, two re-usable grocery bags and a pincushion. I also made myself the pincushion and I actually kinda like it because the pinwheel is dimensional so you can clip clips to it!

pattern credit: Pinwheel pincushion

                       Re-usable grocery bag by Shabby Chic

Linking up today with Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday

WIP Wednesday 1.5.2022

January 2022's color is red so I pulled some reds and whites along with the red crumb block bag to start the RSC2022 challenge. 

I started piecing the extra strip needed for the dog quilt backing I've been working on. My SIL asked that I include the dog's name 'Titan' and the 'Ti' periodic symbol for Titanium. Here they are rough pieced. I'll need to clean them up and make them a uniform height. 

For the free pieced letters, I followed my Christmas walling hanging. Blogged about the wallhanging here.

I thought a few paw prints and dog bones would help to extend the strip.

pattern credit: Paw prints here

                       Dog bones here

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers

Design Wall Monday 1.3.2022

I'm starting the new year out slow in the sewing room. 

Angela announced that the January RSC2022 color is red so I change the blog color to reflect that. I then didn't like my winter scene so I went ahead and found a Heart picture on the web. I'm a little sneaky as I start pulling out my heart themed quilts and placemats in mid-January as my wedding anniversary is January 17th. We eloped to Lake Tahoe, Nevada 36 years ago. 

I had my current crumb quilt from the RSC2021 on the frame so I decided to quilt it down yesterday.

pattern credit: crumb blocks, public domain

                        layout: Stash Statement by Kelly Young

panto credit: large scribbles

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday

 First things first...

and 

both images from Google Search

On to quilty content:

Last year (like in December 2021!), I finished piecing my current crumb quilt to a 'flimsy'. I loaded it onto the long arm as a sorta show and tell for our Christmas parties in case anyone was curious about the quilting process. Here it is on the design wall. This time I decided not to add side borders and I'm going to bind in the gray,

pattern credit:  Stash Statement by Kelly Young