It's the Great Pumpkin!

 In August I attended a Boo-Cation sewing retreat in Connecticut with quilting friends, old and new.  My friend Maria runs these retreats and does a great job.  She put together several Halloween kits we could choose to make during the weekend.

My eyes spied a kit containing Daiwabo fabric and I immediately knew which quilt I was going to make:

I finished the top at the August quilt retreat, but didn't start machine quilting until September's COVID hit.  COVID hits me like a nuclear warhead (we've been through this three times now) but I was bored, so I asked my husband to help me to my sewing room and to help me as I prepped this little quilt for machine quilting.  I hoped I could handle sitting, coughing, and doing some simple walking foot quilting without his assistance, and it paid off!

I used my FabuLux Meditation thread for the quilting; it picked up on the taupes in the Daiwabo fabrics beautifully and the sheen of the thread makes my heart go pitter-pat.

I finally bound the quilt and it's living on my sofa for the month of October.

My Halloween-loving daughter-in-law is coming to visit in two weeks, so I'm not sure if I'll still have possession of this quilt after she departs.  If she does commandeer it, it couldn't possibly have a better home.

Babies Grow Quickly!

 As I was looking forward to the birth of my grandson, I bought some yarn and fun buttons to make him a baby sweater.  

Well... he's 3 1/2 months old now and it was time to get moving on that baby sweater!

I used the Pop! Baby Cardigan pattern and Big Bad Wool weepaca yarn.

I made this as I was recovering from COVID and let's just say my brain wasn't fully functioning.  I started and Started and STARTED AGAIN.  I ran out of yarn before I could finish the second sleeve.  I raced down to Pick Up Every Stitch to grab another skein of yarn (phew!!!) and finish the sweater.

That one ball of yarn cost me about $150!!!!  Please ignore the lovely bag of yarn I brought home to knit myself a striped Tshirt.  Yes, that happens in yarn shops just like it does in quilt shops!

I tucked in the ends, blocked the sweater, sewed on the buttons, and bagged this up with a cute pair of OshKosh overalls and a gingham top for a fun fall outfit for the boy.  Wait, I said buttons.  DID YOU SEE THE BUTTONS???

How adorable are they?  My grandson has two cats, so this was appropriate.  And adorable.

When I finished the sweater and updated my project to finished on Ravelry, I saw that I originally planned to make the sweater in a 3-6 month size.  And I remembered how in my COVID fog I made it in the 6-9 month size.  And now running out of yarn makes a lot of sense!!!  And it was a great excuse to buy some yummy Myak yarn for a new sweater, too!

September Project Round Up

 September wasn't my most productive month.

I started the month on a long-awaited, restful, magnificent vacation on Hilton Head Island.  I wasn't up to much walking that week, so my sister kindly sent me beach photos from her walks each evening.

I finished my Samadhi scarf in September, just in time to show my team spirit.  Go Steelers!

After vacation, I finished quilting my Aloha Spirit Mystery Quilt.  (Watch me quilt this on YouTube)

I finished machine quilting Shining Brightly, August's Color Block Quilt (free pattern and video HERE)

Machine Quilting Shining Brightly: A Color Block Quilt

Do you see fabric scraps everywhere?

This is my fifth year of publishing monthly scrap quilting patterns called Color Block Quilts.  In short, I cut all of my scraps into 2 1/2" squares, group them into color families, stitch them into 16-patches, and then stich them into simple quilts.

This year, all of the patterns are designed for babies!  I made this decision in the summer of 2024 before I knew I'd have a new grandbaby this year (June) and another one coming December/January!  (Build it and they will come)?

My latest finish is named Shining Brightly.  All of the quilts for 2025 are grouped together in a free (for now) class.  Once you "buy" the class (for free), it's yours forever even if a price is eventually attached.

This quilt is great for my hometown sports fans (Go Steelers!) but would look great in whatever colors you choose.

I decided to custom quilt this because I was listening to a good audiobook and wanted something to do while listening.

Head to the class for the pattern and machine quilting tutorial.

Get stitching, because you never know when a baby (or two) will enter your life!

Aloha Five-0 Mystery Quilt: How I Quilted Aloha Spirit on my Home Sewing Machine

Are you quilting along with Aloha Five-0 through your local quilt shop?  I joined through Bits 'N Pieces in NH and had sew much fun stitching along!!!  

I just finished machine quilting this quilt and wanted to show you how I did it!

I love how the Graphic Circles Stencils make the quilt look like it was quilted diagonally!

It's a treat watching a quilt grow from quilt blocks

to a quilt top

to a quilt sandwich

to a finished quilt!

This quilt's forever home is with a retired policeman I know through my church.  I hope he likes it!

If you missed this mystery but still want to make the quilt, you can buy the pattern HERE.  The next mystery begins soon, so check with a participating shop and join in the fun!

Representing the Home Team -- Samadhi Scarf

When I was in Pittsburgh last summer, I stopped in at Yarn Bits and Bobs, a shop near my mom's house.  I stumbled into the middle of a Yarn Crawl (think "shop hop" for quilters).  There was a party atmosphere and a guest hand-dyer with her wares.  It was so much fun!

While there, I bought a cake of Whirl cotton in black and gold, Pittsburgh's sports teams' colors.

I knew I was going to make a scarf to dress up a plain black top.  My go-to scarf pattern is Hitchhiker but I branched out this time and made a Samadhi scarf, a sister pattern to my beloved Hitchhiker.  The pattern is adjustable, so I made it extra large until my yarn was all gone.

This scarf has a fun ruffle edge on two sides:

I knit this at my sister's house, in hotel rooms, on vacation, on a 4-day drive to/from South Carolina, and cast off (i-cord cast off, yuck) as soon as I got home from vacation, just in time for football season!

It was fun watching the colors fade from gold to yellow to white to gray to black.

The scarf is 60% cotton so it won't irritate my neck.  And it's extra big and drapey.

This was my first finish for September!

A Fun Finish -- 10-10 on the Side

 When I feel the need to clean my sewing room, I usually can get past it by finding an interesting scrap block and making a whole quilt from it.  My sewing room then has one less block, but it has scraps from one huge quilt for a net GAIN.

That happened recently with 10-10 on the Side*.  I collect 1 1/2" scrap squares and sew them together whenever I get bored.  I found two 10" checkerboard blocks in my orphan block basket, dragged out my 1 1/2" square scrap box, made more blocks, and put this quilt together.

The quilt is 70" x 70" and used (900) 1 1/2" squares.  My 1 1/2" scrap box laughed at me when I checked to see if looked any emptier.  Nope.  Can't tell at all.

ANYWAY... A new for me goal is to finish the quilts I've already started.  (Don't you dare laugh.)  Before starting yet another quilt, I basted and quilted this quilt.

I chose to quilt this with swirls from my ABC Geometric Circles stencil.  It's my current crush.

You can see why!!!!

There is no pattern for this quilt.  There is no video for this quilt.  I just made it because I wanted to.  If you want a video showing how to use my ABC stencils with switchback quilting between them, watch this video.

This quilt gives me the "oft-washed quilt from a farmhouse" vibe and I love it so much!!!\

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* My love of Smokey and the Bandit showed through when I named this quilt.  From Wikipedia's CB Slang page :

CB user will cease broadcasting but will continue to listen.

New Subscriber-Only Video -- Orange Checkerboard Asterisks

In an effort to empty my box(es) of orange 2.5" scrap squares, I stitched this scrappy quilt planning on giving it to a charity of some sort.

I used 1,080 squares from my scrap boxes and I wish I could say the boxes were getting emptier.  They aren't  HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?

I chose a no-mark top-to-bottom free-motion quilting design: ***Asterisks***

This was a soothing quilt to quilt.  I filmed a quick video of the technique.  It is the latest video in As the Bobbin Turns, my collection of subscriber-only videos.  You can subscribe monthly or save money by subscribing annually for a peek over my shoulder as I quilt all of my non-work quilts.

Which charity did I give this quilt to?  My sister.  She claimed it so it's hers. 

Family, am I right?

Fenced In Cutie Quilt -- Machine Quilting Tutorial

Whenever I'm home and and quilting for Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, or Veterans' Day, I like to pull out some red-white-and-blues to make a quilt for veterans. This year I pulled out a fat quarter pack from Pat Sloan -- Paradise Park. It was GORGEOUS!

Cutie Patterns require 16 fat eighths and Fenced In also require yardage for borders. I didn't have yardage... but I had the other half of each fat quarter! I pieced the border using those leftovers.

I decided to machine quilt this using the walking foot on my home sewing machine. That's such a fun and soothing way to spend an afternoon!

I filmed a quilting tutorial for this quilt so you can watch how simple it is to create this curvy cross-hatch texture at home!

If the video doesn't play, use this direct YouTube link.

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Fenced In Cutie Pattern

White Konfetti 50-weight cotton thread

White DecoBob 80-weight polyester thread

Batt Scooters

FREE August Color Blocks Quilt Pattern -- Shining Brightly

I've been away from home for the last 26 days.  I spent a week in Wisconsin at the Primitive Gatherings Naughty or Nice Retreat and the rest of the time I've been in Pittsburgh, keeping my mom company while my sister travels.  

Preparing for this, I made a black and gold (Pittsburgh sports teams colors) Color Block quilt for August -- Shining Brightly.

Being born and raised in Pittsburgh, I have a lot of family here and their babies need Pittsburgh-themed baby quilts!  You can choose to make this in any color you like, however.

Pink/Purple/Mint would be pretty.  Blue/Green/Yellow would be great.  Red/White/Blue would make a great lap quilt for a veteran.  Dig into your scraps and see what colors work for you!

Join my FREE 2025 Color Block Class, download the pattern, and get stitching!

I should be home in another 2-3 days and can't wait to start machine quilting this!

Blue Squared Away Cutie Quilt with Pumpkin Seeds -- Tutorial in As the Bobbin Turns

I think I've warned you of my current obsession with pumpkin seed quilting.  I've used recently it on a few quilt borders (here and here) and wanted to see if I could easily stitch it all over a quilt.

I'm also currently crushing on my Squared Away Cutie Quilt pattern so I quickly stitched one up in various blue fabrics similar to these, basted up my quilt, and sat down to machine quilt.

When I needed to mark, I used a 1 1/2" grid stencil and pounce powder and happily quilted this up!

Doesn't the texture look great on here?

Imperfectly done, but still perfect, right?

This quilt now belons to my new grandson's one-year-old cousin.

Watch the full video tutorial in As the Bobbin Turns, my collection of exclusive subscriber videos.

July Color Blocks Quilt -- "Either / Or" Machine Quilting Tutorial

I've been hiding in my air-conditioned sewing room this summer with plenty of time to machine quilt. I haven't asked myself, "How can I finish this quilt quickly?" lately since I have nothing but time to quilt.  This month's Color Block quilt, Either / Or, is custom quilted and used a lot of thread.  I enjoy the process and love the finished quilt!

I used white thread for all of the quilting and it looks great on both the orange and the blue blocks.

I quilted the four-patch blocks with ribbon candy, continuous curve, and swirls.

I quilted the Color Blocks quilts with continuous points (?) and ribbon candy.

I love the little stars in each block!

Join my FREE Color Blocks 2025 class to download the pattern and watch the machine quilting tutorial.

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Materials:

• Batt Scooters
• White 50-weight Konfetti cotton thread
• White 80-weight DecoBob polyester thread
• Ribbon Candy Stencil