Finish or NOT Friday 8.22.2025

Every so often, I have a week were I am away from Bell Creek Quilts. 

This is one of them! 

Tuesday was my Town Hall Quilt Guild trunk show and workshop.

Wednesday was the Howell Melon Patcher meeting.

Thursday was the monthly QOV sew day. I did manage to sew up some signature blocks for the QOV booth. Mostly thanks to my friend Gladys who ironed all the blue strips up and sub-cut the strata into 8 inch blocks. Yea for teamwork!

Friday (today!) is a home and errand day.

Saturday I will be helping out at the QOV Booth at the AQS Show in Grand Rapids. 

whew!

I do have a finish this week...well, technically from last week but I am sharing this week. It's my quilt inspired by Bonnie Hunter's Simply Strippy. I've also heard this pattern referred to as a Lasagna Quilt.

pattern inspiration: Bonnie Hunter's Simply Strippy (or Lasagna Quilt)

panto: serpentine

I always procrastinate sewing on the labels, so this morning I was adding the label to the QOV I am turning in tomorrow. Thanks goodness I took the time to pre-make about 12 labels so I just picked one from the stash and sewed it on!

Sharing today with Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday

WIP Wednesday 8.20.2025

Tuesday I went to the Town Hall Quilt Guild in Clarkston, Michigan. I presented my Crumb Trunk Show and a workshop.  I was supposed to have a friend help but she bailed on Monday morning. I'm thinking it was a blessing in disguise as I had my Acadia payload filled with my stuff! The three suitcases were filled with quilts, one roller bag had rainbow crumbs to share and the other roller bag is my travel sewing machine.

I only took one picture of my set up before I started the workshop demonstration. It checked out pretty good as this was the third time I've given my Crumb Trunk Show.

Since there were only 3 sewers at the demonstration and NONE were sewing crumbs...well, I worked on my own crumbs! I almost finished 33 beige blocks. I only had the last log to add, which I did today at the Howell Melon Heads open sew time. I then went into my 'parts department' and was excited to find 31 brown crumb blocks! My plan is to frame the beige in brown and the brown in beige, set the blocks on point and have a quilt that is close to 85 x 85. I committed to making this size quilt for the local Tunnel of Towers project. In southeast Michigan the plan is to convert an empty hotel into apartment homes for homeless veterans. The quilts will be given to the residents and need to cover a full bed. One hitch...this group does NOT want red, white and blue. Brown and beige to the rescue. :)

Sharing today with the Inquiring Quilter's Wait Loss Wednesday.

Design Wall Monday 8.18.2025

I am continuing my deep dive into 3.5 inch strips. I collected my leftover strips and sewed them short end to short end to make a very long strip of fabric.

I pressed the seams open (as best that I could!) and cut my long strip into 50 inch sections. I then sewed the strips long sides. First two together, press, then four together and press then eight's and press. I continued until I had 23 rows of my 'made' fabric. I then trimmed it all to 49 inches wide. I didn't pay attention to where the fabric fell on the strips except I tried to keep the word up. Unfortunately one part of the words are upside down. :(

I added an inner and outer border and ta-da...my flimsy! This one only took about 4 hours of sewing!

pattern inspiration: Bonnie Hunter's Simply Strippy

Sharing today with Design Wall Monday.

SoScrappy Saturday 8.16.2025

Today is the third Saturday of August of the color teal.

I have one fish that is swimming alone...

A few fish that are swimming with their red partners...

....and the rainbow school of fish!

Sharing today with SoScrappy Saturday.

Finish or NOT Friday 8.15.2025

I have a finish!

It's my red, white and blue Bento Box (also known as Half Log Cabin or Quarter Log Cabin) using 3.5 inch strips. It's simple but I like it.

pattern: Bento Box (also known as Half Log Cabin or Quarter Log Cabin)

panto: serpentine

Sharing today with  Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday.

WIP Wednesday 8.13.2025

I wanted my quilt to be a little larger but I didn't want to add borders so I did sashings instead! :) 

This is the first time that I used sashings with this pattern. I like it! :)

pattern: Bento Box, Half Log Cabin or Quarter Log Cabin (it has many names)

Sharing today with The Inquiring Quilter's Wait Loss Wednesday.

Design Wall Monday 8.11.2025

The time has arrived to dig into my 3.5 inch collection of red, white and blue to continuing making quilts for my September trunk show. I think I may have over cut for this part of my project!

The first quilt in this series goes by a few different names. I've seen it called Bento Boxes, Half Log Cabin and even Quarter Log Cabin. After I made the first few blocks, I decided to change directions and stick with all red/blue combinations and make larger units with (scrappy) rings.

DH was traveling home late with expected arrival at 9 pm. I stayed in the sewing room and completed the smaller units. I'll probably add borders to make it larger... Maybe...Maybe NOT...

pattern: Bento Box or Half Log Cabin or Quarter Log Cabin

Sharing today with Judy at Design Wall Monday.

Sunday Funday 8.10.2025

My son took his 'new to him' Jeep Gladiator for a photo shoot on Saturday. He lives in Bay City, Michigan and the painted silos are in Saginaw, Michigan.

I'm just a little jealous... I'll keep you posted when my Jeep Wrangler gets a photo shoot. 😍

QOV Sunday 8.10.2025

Well...this was quick!

I carved out about an hour (ok...the checkerboards took me two hours!) each week to Sew-a-long with Alycia and The Ribbon Quilt. I did spend extra time last week to quilt and bind. :) I did adjust the borders a wee bit to make it longer (2.5 inch cut inner, top/bottom: 4.5 inch cut  and sides: 3.5 inch cut)

Hop on over to Alycia's blog and search The Ribbon to find all the steps. The directions are free for now but soon the directions will disappear and re-appear in Alycia's Etsy shop.

pattern: The Ribbon by Alycia

panto: serpentine

SoScrappy Saturday 8.9.2025

Today is the second Saturday of August of the color aqua.

Here is my 2025 Stash Buster Block. I actually made the block in the red month as I was one of the sewers that thought Angela called aqua when she was simply searching for aqua thread in her stash. 

pattern: 2025 Stash Buster Challenge block.

Sharing today with SoScrappy Saturday.

Finish or NOT Friday 8.8.2025

I have both a finish and a NOT (well, it's a flimsy!)

First is my finish. The green 'Duckworth' is done and ready for the Crumb Trunk Show on August 19, 2025! 

I learned a few 'things' with this quilt (and my piecing style):

1. My scraps have plenty of other colors mixed in, so I don't feel I needed to add the 'extra pop'. If I do, make sure the scraps are on the smaller size.

2. Old habits die hard...I really didn't 'need' 4 patches as my 'starters'. I should have just stuck with the log cabin beginning pieces.

3. I have.more.green...so I will try this again. :)

pattern inspiration: 'Duckworth' quilts on FB Scrap Quilter's Enthusiast's page

panto: serpentine

My second is my NOT but it is a flimsy. It is The Ribbon Sew- Along by Alycia of Alycia Quilts. I just love her designs and this was quick! I did piece the first border in the wrong order but you really don't notice and when I put it on the design wall for this post. Well...sideways but I just went with it! :)

pattern: The Ribbon Quilt by Alycia

You can find the links on her blog if you search 'The Ribbon Quilt' but better do it in a jiffy because the steps will vanish in a few weeks! After that, the pattern should be available for purchase.

Sharing today with Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday.

WIP Wednesday 8.6.2025

I am continuing making blocks for my green 'Duckworth' quilt. Here is a link that explains the concept of 'Duckworth' quilts. Basically, it's an improv log cabin that you square to any size you want. (I squared to 6.5 inches). The main 'thing' with a 'Duckworth' is to pick one main color but remember to use all the colors in the rainbow.

All of my green 'Duckworth' blocks.

All sewn together and ready for quilting!

pattern inspiration: 'Duckworth' quilts.

                               You will find a YouTube by another quilter explaining the technique here. 

                               FaceBook Scrap Quilter's Enthusiast's group.

Sharing today with the Inquiring Quilter's Wait Loss Wednesday.

 

Design Wall Monday 8.4.2025

 As part of my Crumb Quilt trunk show, I've been wanting to make a 'Duckworth' quilt. This style is popular on the FaceBook Scrap Quilt Enthusiast's page. It's a private group so you will need to request to join to see the quilts. Here is a quick Google Search that shows a few Duckworth Quilts.Basically, it's a Improv Log Cabin block without any angles in the piecing. Here is a link to a You Tube video another quilter posted about this technique.

In May 2025, I sorted, ironed and cut my green scraps. I pulled out my bin and set to work.

The 'thing' about a Duckworth is that JoAnn (Merrill Duckworth) uses all the colors in her piecing with one color being dominate. Since green is my dominate color, I chose warmer colors (pink, red, orange) to be the accents. The making of crumb blocks do tend to be messy, even for me!

I want this quilt to me 48 x 60, with 6 inch blocks that will be a setting of 8 x 10 or 80 blocks. I made 16/80 with the accents colors or roughly 20%. Here are the beginnings on the design wall.

Ummm...this is a departure from my usual crumb piecing technique. I'll be making more to 'see' if I like it. :)

Sharing today with Judy at Design Wall Monday.

QOV Sunday 8.3.2025

 Alycia released the next step in The Ribbon Quilt Sew-a-Long and it's the layout!

The Ribbon Quilt - Layout

I stopped for lunch with a little more than half the top sewn together.

After lunch, I finished sewing The Ribbon center together. This week Wednesday, Alycia will post the borders. I have a feeling that I will change up the borders just a little bit. :)

pattern: The Ribbon by Alycia

I also received this QOV. It's a simple 9 patch made with 5 inch cut squares with the center square the same fabric as the border and binding.

pattern: No Name - it's a 9 patch with 5 inch cut squares and 2.5 inch cut sash

                                 and borders.

panto: stippling - large

SoScrappy Saturday 8.2.2025

Today is the first Saturday of August of the color teal.

Time for my teal Happy Blocks.

pattern: Happy Blocks

Sharing today with SoScrappy Saturday.

Finish or NOT Friday 8.1.2025

I have a finish this week and it's QOV Signature Mike!

pattern:    signature squares finish at 7.5 inches, stars finish at 7.5 inches, and

                novelties finish at 7.5 inches

panto: serpentine

Sharing today with Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday.