Labor Day Quilt Along

Last weekend (Labor Day), Denise Russert at Just Quiltin' had a sew-along with a wonderful pattern she designed, called Mix and Match.  I made this quilt last weekend, and got the borders on this weekend.  This was a really quick, fun pattern that I plan to use as a charity quilt.  Denise's instructions call for a pieced border, but I didn't have enough fabric left to do that, so I just put the floral border on and called it done.  The pattern is still available free on her blog if you're interested.  You'll need to page back a couple times - the instructions came out in three installments.  This is one pattern that I will use again, especially for charity quilts. Thanks for sharing this with us, Denise!

What else is going on?  I've been working on my Summer Block of the Week from Primitive Gatherings...

I've had a lot of trouble keeping up on this one.  You'll see that the last three blocks are still missing.  We have the borders now, so I can start putting this together once I catch up the missing blocks.  I've enjoyed this quilt, but it seems like more work than in previous years!  I guess that's because we have to piece a block before we can start the applique process.

The Country Threads August UFO Challenge for me was this Row Quilt I made last year.

It was mostly finished - just needed some finishing touches and the label and sleeve added.  I'm happy to have this done and plan to enter it into the Appleton quilt show in a few weeks.  I really love the way it turned out.  The pattern for this one is in Quilty Fun by A Bee In My Bonnet.  This needs a final going-over before I pack it up for the show.  One of the rules for the show is that quilts must be clean and free of pet hair.  Clearly I'm not the only one who deals with this problem.  I laid my Pig Quilt out on the floor...

It hadn't been on the floor five seconds before the cat started rolling on it.  Apparently quilt tops are animal magnets.  I'm looking forward to quilting this one, if I ever get time to get it started.  The pigs are all polka dots, with 3D ears and tails.  I need to figure out a creative way to quilt this, once I de-hair it, of course!

My silly volunteer hollyhock just keeps blooming.  It's at least nine feet tall - you can see that it's started bending over because the top is too heavy.  It must really love the spot it's in!  I feel like I'm helping Mother Nature this year, because there are always bees buzzing around this flower.  Our weather is going to turn cool this week, so I think the time's up for this flower, but we've really enjoyed it this summer.

So that's what I've been up to the last six weeks or so!  Thanks for stopping by!