Old Dogs, New Tricks

Civil War Crossroads is done!  This is a wall hanging by Red Crinoline Quilts that I started last year at the Grand Old Flag Gathering at Country Sampler in Spring Green.  It has languished in a plastic box since last June.  My self-imposed rule (more of a guideline, actually) is that I have to finish all projects from last year's gathering before I allow myself to go again, so this one is done, done, done.  I really like it, but it was a lot of piecing - each 7" block has 53 pieces.  Those half-square triangles finish at one inch.  They were pretty easy to do using the Star Singles, though.

The old dog, new tricks part of this is that I watched the Patrick Lose video on Youtube regarding bindings, and I learned a great new trick from him.  I used his technique and I have four square, unlumpy corners on this wall hanging.  I'm really pleased with them, which isn't usually the case with my corners!  That's one of the things the judges commented about the last time I was in a show, so it's time I improved my technique.  If you aren't happy with your corners, here's the link to the video.  Very helpful - thanks, Patrick Lose!  If he's ever anywhere I can take a class with him, I'm going to.

And I'm caught up with the Snapshots Quilt-along blocks.  The cake is from January, sewing machine from February, and teapot from March.  You can tell I started this in the winter - I tend to grab the really bright fabrics when it's cold and gloomy outside.  I have a half-yard of the stripe that has black and bright colors, so I'm going to try to put a little of that in most of the blocks to tie it all together.  My color palette is much different than The Fat Quarter Shop used!  I like theirs, also, but I wanted to use some stash fabrics, and I always enjoy using the brights.  If you want to get in on the quilt-along, here's the link.  The free patterns are released the 15th of each month.  They requested donations to St. Jude's Childrens Hospital, which I was happy to do.  They've already exceeded $20,000 in donations, so everybody wins.  I think this is going to be a really cute quilt.

The quilt top from the retreat I attended in early March is together.  I wanted to get it all put together before I lose all the parts!  I already managed to lose the pattern, so I don't know if this has a name - I guess it's Pieceful Gatherings Retreat Quilt.  I don't plan to quilt it right away, but am glad to have the top together.  It's very pretty in Kim Diehl fabrics and wool applique.  I did the wool by hand, which I'm not sure was the wisest thing, as they got very monotonous by the sixth block!
 

I've gotten into the Modern Quilt movement a little bit, too.  This is Fancy Foxes, a pattern which has been all over Pinterest and Instagram lately.  The designer has some other cute ideas, too, so I think more of her patterns are in my future.  The hedgehogs are calling my name!  These foxes were so much fun to make, I'm sure I'll use this pattern again.  Very easy piecing, and fun to pick out the fabrics for each one. I had five foxes left over, so I put them with some solid gray and made a second one.

This one looks even more modern to me, but I really like it.  I was trying to teach myself to free-motion the woodgrain quilting.  The solid quilt was the first one I did, and I decided the lines needed to be closer together, so I did that with the second one and was happier with it.  Anyway, I have two new baby quilts to give away.  I think the next one I make will have a couple more rows to be more of a lap size.

Now you're caught up on all the happenings at Troublesome Creek Quilts!  We're on vacation this week, so some quilting and blogging is actually happening, along with some painting and decorating.  We're having a lovely spring day today (finally), so I'm headed out to the yard to get some of the fall cleanup (that didn't occur) done!