June 2025 – Time to Quilt

A makeover

This is quilt #8 in the Second Chance Quilt series. Not only am I borrowing Wedding Dress Blue‘s term for this group of quilts but this time, also her design idea, Film at Five Quilt.

I began with this Jelly Roll Race quilt top from my quilt guild’s de-stash table. I wasn’t crazy about it, and I’m guessing I’m not the only one which is probably why it was there to begin with, but I thought it had potential.

My goal is to never use the words “it’s just for charity” and instead, do the best I can with what I have, no matter where I think the quilt may end up. This quilt was no exception.

I used Deanna’s Wedding Dress Blue Film at Five Quilt free pattern and tutorial to turn the top into the quilt below. This version required half as many blocks and a lot less work since I began with strips already sewn together. 🙂

The finished quilt measures 52″ x 68″ and I quilted it with a traditional clamshell design.

I began by de-constructing the top in sections of 5 strips. Then I cross cut them into 2 1/2′ sections. I chose to cut them by hand rather than struggle to line them up just right for the Go! cutter.

Then came the problem. When I pieced 5 strip sections together to form the block I realized that the seam allowances in the original top had been inconsistent. The resulting blocks measured anywhere from 10″ to 10 1/2″. I had no choice but to trim all the blocks to 10″ squares.

Of course that threw the sashing off. I love that detail in design so I had to make it work!

I used leftover pieces and added a 2 1/2″ square of background to make two pieced units. Normally, I’d have sewn the two pieced units together and then added the last print square. Instead, I opted to sew them in the order you see in the left photo above.

I used a 3/8″ seam allowance on both sides of that print square in the middle losing a total of 4/8″ in the sashing strips (2/8″ on each side). This resulted in the unfinished strips measuring 10″, exactly what I needed. You’ll see a slight difference in the dark blue middle square in the photo on the right. It’s not very noticeable in the 31 sashing units unless you know to look for it. (And, you probably didn’t notice until you scrolled back up to check it out, right?)

I’ve only made one Jelly Roll Race quilt myself. It was this one, for my brother’s birthday in 2020. I used a lot of Thimbleberries fabrics, but I gave it a bit more contemporary style by sewing the fabric strips together on the diagonal. I also cut them into half width-of-fabric pieces to mix up the prints a little more. I still had some fall next to each other in the adjacent row. I hate when that happens so it’s the reason I probably won’t use the race quilt method again.

Pulled Pork – 4th of July cookout alternative

I’ve been busy sewing, but nothing that I can share just yet. My Friday night post will be about what I made for dinner today instead.

Try this if you’re bored with traditional burgers and franks for your 4th of July cookout…. and it makes a really good alternative if it’s predicted to rain.

Smithfield sells pork tenderloin with a variety of pre-seasoned choices. This is our favorite.

Ingredients list:

3 to 4 pound pork loin (center cut)
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup vinegar
1 onion, sliced
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
*optional* Barbeque sauce to be served on the side

Place pork tenderloin in the crockpot and top with sliced onions. Mix the remaining ingredients (except for the barbecue sauce) in a bowl and pour over the pork. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. (I’ve recently switched to cooking it in my Instant Pot on the 35 minute meat setting.)

Remove from pot and either slice or shred it easily with a fork. Top with your favorite barbecue sauce or spoon some of the contents of the pot over the pork.

Designing Quilts

I have EQ 8, but I’ve never taken the time to sit down and learn how to use it. I keep thinking someday I will, but it just hasn’t happened yet.

For now, I’m still old school and draw my plans out on graph paper if I’m not using a pattern.

These are a few recent projects.

And, the next one I’m sketching out tonight to begin soon.

Dollar Tree is a great place to buy graph paper, but not all locations stock it.

Recently, I found a source online to download 1/2″ graph paper, which I used to graph the individual blocks for the idea I’m working on.

You can click the download button below for the pdf.

graph paper .5 inch Download

There are are other sizes of graph paper available to download from their website http://print-graph-paper.com

And then there were 7

I just finished the seventh second chance quilt. It looked okay, so I first thought I’d just quilt it as is.

That was before I opened it all the way up and realized the light bluish teal fabric was thin broadcloth, which wouldn’t be very durable. I disassembled it and created a new top inspired by the Fabric Cafe 3 Yard Quilt pattern, Brick Street.

I used quite a bit of the original fabric from the rail fence blocks. The lime green frogs and butterflies will be saved for a future kid quilt.

The peacock fabric used in the alternate block was from JoAnn’s, as was the blue fabric used for the sashing and backing. (I’m sure going to miss that store!) Border fabric is a Benartex print that coordinated surprisingly well with the peacock print.. It was bound in a plum Kona fabric.

I haven’t made any quilts lately with fabrics that are a bit on the wild side and might appeal to a teenager somewhere. I’m hoping this one will.

The quilting design is Happy by Urban Elementz.

Here’s a “before” photo of the next rescued quilt top. It’s a jelly roll race design. I’ve already started it, but I’m curious, what YOU would do to improve it?

My husband’s suggestion was a little drastic, “strike a match”. Is it bad that I’m really looking forward to saying “I told ya so!”? 🙂

Patriotic Strings

This post was set to publish on July 4, 2024. I plan to share updates each Friday night if I have something to share. During the week, I’ll review previous posts, make edits if necessary, and republish them. I had another patriotic string quilt to add to the original post. It’s the first one you see below.

String quilts are among my favorite type of quilt to create. I enjoy transforming leftover fabrics that many quilters discard into something useful and beautiful.

I have several friends online who have been making them for years. My interest sparked when a local friend claimed, “string quilts are ugly!” Gauntlet dropped. Challenge accepted! In the process I discovered how much fun they are to make and unlocked a new realm of creativity. I’ll let you be the judge on whether or not she was proven wrong. 😉

My latest string quilt features blocks that finish at 8″. I use old phone book pages as a foundation for stitching the strings when I have them. For this quilt, I used our local grocery store (Publix) ads, as they provide large newsprint pages that allow for various shapes and sizes. The strings often aren’t straight or even, and often cut on the bias. Paper foundation helps stabilize them.

The stars were made using a free pattern from Urban Elementz called Fast No Match Stars. I like how easy it makes piecing the rows without worrying about clipping off the star points.

This star quilt was made by piecing 8″ string sections for the centers, stitched horizontally rather than on a diagonal. The finished block is 16″, with 1″ sashing and cornerstones.

My smallest strings are stitched to adding machine tape and trimmed to 2.5″ wide. I replaced the pieced squares in the pattern Star Trails by A Bright Corner with strips of strings.

I have friends who avoid paper foundations because they don’t like removing them. I prefer paper because fabric left in the block makes the quilt too heavy for our warm South Florida climate.

I actually enjoy removing the paper while watching TV in the evenings. It’s not a bother for me and keeps my hands busy when I’m not stitching a binding by hand.

I’m really happy with how the three quilts turned out. I still have many patriotic strings left, so I’ll look for my next idea to use them after I finish the million other projects on my quilt bucket list!