More Free US State Quilt Blocks - 21 thru 30

Time to catch up and collect more US State quilt blocks from the Around the Block - USA Tour.

Today we're covering ten more blocks, 21 thru 30, making it easy to collect several blocks at once. Just joining in? Find the lists of previous blocks thru the links below:

More FREE US State Quilt Blocks - 15 thru 20

More FREE USA Quilt Blocks - 10 thru 14

Keeping Up with the FREE USA Quilt Blocks - 1 thru 9

Now on to blocks 21 thru 30.

Block 21, from A Stitch in Time, is a beautiful cardinal from North Carolina. 

Block 22, from On Williams Street, oozes all the sunshine of Arizona,

Block 23, from Utah Quilt Appraiser, features the beauty of Utah with this beehive block,

Block 24, designed by MMMunchys  for Rhode Island, comes in two versions, the pieced one shown, and wool applique.

Moving on to Block 25, Appliques Quilts and More visits Peurto Rico, with a fun frog and pretty flower, 

and another pretty flower in Block 26 from The Quilting Room with Mel and the Kansas sunflower block.

Just a few more to go! Block 27, designed by Slice of Pi Quilts, features Nevada,

and Block 28, by Appliques, Quilts, and More, visits both Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands. 

With Block 29, we'll head up to Vermont with Seams Like a Dream, 

finally ending back in Iowa, Block 30, with Lizard Creek Quilting. 

  

Wow! That was quite the road trip, zig-zagging back and forth across the United States. I'll have another update in a few more weeks, plus be on the lookout for my block, Maine, #35. Until then, have fun collecting blocks 1-30!

My Favorite Patterns

Four Star Salute

It's my day to share in the fun of the Show Your Stripes blog hop, hosted by Carla of Creatin' In the Sticks. And when I think of stripes, the color scheme of red, white and blue immediately comes to mind. 

Does it also matter that it's one of my favorite color schemes? And that the Fourth of July is at the top of my list for favorite holidays? When someone mentions stripes, anything patriotic just goes hand in hand. So without further ado, I give you a Four Star Salute.

 

How about that name? I owe it all to hubby! Without me even asking for help as I often do, he immediately came up with Four Star Salute upon seeing my finish. Thanks hubby, for a great name! I'm thrilled to add this runner to my patriotic collection!

Here's a pic of the full runner, which measures in at approximately 13" x 51", a very nice table size. 

Pair it with a patriotic themed floral display for a lovely way to salute the USA this summer.

What do you think of the quilting in the stars? 

 

It's a motif from Amanda Murphy's book, Free Motion Quilting Idea Book (affiliate link), found on page 87, under Friendship Star. Looks great here, right?

And did I mention how easy the Four Star Salute runner is to put together? With only three fabrics, I had it together in a day, making it perfect for a beginner quilter, or those wanting a quick patriotic project.  

Oh I hope those wide 135 degree binding angles don't scare you off! I put together a short video, Binding Wide Angle Corners, on how to master those - it's easier than you think.

Though the Show Your Stripes hop is on it's last day, I want to keep the fun going, which means that the Four Star Salute table runner pattern will be available at special pricing through March 7. Grab your copy now to have the runner completed in time to give a four star salute to everyone this Memorial Day and Fourth of July.

Be sure to visit today's list of quilters for more stripes projects and become inspired! 

Thursday, February 25th

Becky’s adventures in quilting and travel 

Patchwork Breeze

Kathy Kwilts and More

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Inflorescence: Starting to Bloom by Choosing Joy

QuiltFabrication 

Stitch and Quilt

Creatin' in the Sticks

Please visit Carol at Creatin' In the Sticks for the full list of participating quilters -thanks again, Carol, for hosting another fabulous hop!

Happy Quilting!

 

My Favorite Patterns

Midweek Makers 268

Welcome to another week of sharing with Midweek Makers! I'm putting the finishing touches on my project for the Show Your Stripes hop, going on now and hosted by Carla of Creatin' In the Sticks.

As you can see, I'm using one of my favorite color schemes - red, white, and blue. The hop started Monday, Feb 22, and finishes up tomorrow, which is when I'll show more. If you're just finding this hop, check out Carla's list of all the fabulous quilters participating - see you tomorrow.

Did you see these creations from last week's Midweek Makers?

From Grace and Peace Quilting, this miniature Linkety Split quilt,

from Terry Aske Art Quilts, her appropriately named Touchy-Feely quilt piece,

and from MMM Quilts, this very creative Wake Up-Makeup mat.

Now it's your turn - what do you have to share?

• please link directly to your post not your homepage
• please link a quilt related item
• visit with the others and leave some comment love

Have fun!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Stay at Home Round Robin - Log Cabin

Welcome back for round 6 of Quilting Gail's Stay at Home Round Robin. This week is my block choice, log cabin.

I bet your looking at this round and wondering, huh? I'll admit, even though this round features my block choice, this is probably my least favorite round, for several reasons.

While I like the green, turns out I ran out of not only the green plaid but my favorite cream dot print used in the piano key round. That left me with a dozen log cabin blocks to play with. Sure, I could have made more with different fabrics, but that leads to the next problem.

What I discovered, at least for my quilt, log cabin blocks do not make the best choice for a border. I hope that my round robin quilt friends have found a way around this, though I know one asked about skipping a row. And I don't blame her if she chose this row to skip!

So, with a lack of fabric and a poor block choice, this is what happens. An odd border. The best I could come up with was using 8 log cabin blocks in the top and bottom borders, in sets of two. A group of two in each corner,

and two in the border centers.

Okay, that solves for the log cabin problem. Fortunately, I had just enough of the large green plaid to put pieces in the center on the sides.

To solve the remaining green fabric problem, I found a close-in-value green in the stash, just enough to fill in the blanks.

Overall, it looks ok, almost like lightening bolts coming from those stars. But I think I'll put this border in the 'fail' category.

Hopefully, my other round robin quilt friends were more successful with this round - be sure to check out what they did. And link up your round robin creation below!

• January 11:  centre blocks: Gail @ Quilting Gail
• January 18: 1st Round: Chris @ Chrisknitssews
• January 25: 2nd Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
• February 1: 3rd Round: Anja @ Anja Quilts
• February 8: 4th Round: Roseanne & Sue @ Home Sewn by Us
• February 15: 5th Round: Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
• February 22: 6th Round: Susan @ Quilt Fabrication
• February 28: 7th Round ME!!! @ Quilting Gail 

Happy Quilting!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Brickwork Quilt

Here's my newest, easy, and fast quilt - Brickwork!

 

This quilt was inspired after receiving a design call from Dear Stella fabrics. They were looking for quilt patterns that use their Motley Crew mask panel. Just look at that variety of prints!

 

I'm one of those quilters that designs with a wide variety of fabrics. I often find it difficult to use a fabric line, and envy those who do. So when the Dear Stella design call came through my inbox for projects using the Motley Crew mask panel, the selection of prints spoke to me. Jumping into EQ8, I had the Brickwork quilt designed within 30 minutes! 

Pleased with my design, I decided to submit it, a very first for me. Within a couple weeks, I received word that they were interested in my design - woohoo!

Check out Brickwork on the Dear Stella website, using the Motley Crew mask panel, plus the additional Dear Stella blender fabric prints, Moonscape, in Lime and Marshmallow, plus Jax in Plume. 

Though I didn't have a the Motley Crew panel or the accompanying blender prints, I wanted to make my own Brickwork quilt using fabrics from my stash. For my lap size version, I went with a soft green background, light grey sashing and border, and orange/gold accents.

I found a wide variety of prints to pair nicely with that soft green background, though really, any soft background color would have worked. With large pieces, the blocks came together super fast, and with some rotation here and there plus a couple borders, and ta-da - a super easy quilt!

Quilting is kept simple with the Happy Times pantograph in Glide Seafoam thread.

The Brickwork quilt pattern comes in 5 sizes - baby, crib, lap, twin, and queen/king - that's a lot! It's super fast with a pre-printed mask panel or use prints from your stash. Either way, it's a fast and easy quilt to put together.

From now until February 28, the Brickwork multi-size quilt pattern is at a special launch price, available in the QuiltFabrication Etsy shop - grab your copy today!

Happy Quilting!

My Favorite Patterns

Midweek Makers 267

Welcome to Midweek Makers! My share is a secret project I've been working on, a super simple quilt. This is just a sneak peek with the reveal and creation story coming Friday.

 

I'm sad that Valentine's has come and gone, making me move away from heart quilts, and all things pink or red. As with all things in life, I'll get over it and move on, which is how I'm coping with the loss of my beloved Roscoe. 

His human family misses him, but his fellow kitties, not so much. RIP Roscoe.

With a bit of a lull period before the green of spring, I'll feature some very creative projects from last week:

from Dreamworthy Quilts, some windmill blocks in progress,

from Viridian's blog, this Nearly Insane quilt top,

from Bastelhexe's Kreative, this pretty appliqued block.

And don't forget the Show Your Stripes Blog Hop, hosted by Carla of Creatin' In the Sticks, starts next Monday, Feb 22. I'll have a new patriotic piece to show you on Friday, Feb 25 - until then, enjoy the hop!

Now for the linky party - what do you have to share this week? Come link up!

• please link directly to your post not your home page
• please link a quilt project
• visit with the others and leave some comment love

Have fun!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Stay at Home Round Robin - Wonky Stars

The Stay at Home Round Robin, hosted by Quilting Gail, features wonky stars for round 5.

Well, this round worked out well for my design. Sorry to say, but I'm not that fond of anything wonky - I more of a clean lines, everything balanced type of designer. That's why there's only four stars - I had no interest in making more. 

And even though I didn't like the yellow plus signs from before, thankfully, they're now blending in with the addition of the yellow stars in the corners on this round.

Just so I didn't regret my yellow choice as before, I used a softer yellow, one not so bright and with a touch of gold in it.

I even placed them in a sparkly dark blue night sky. If there weren't two more rounds to help increase the quilt size, I think I would stop here. But I shall continue cause the next round is mine, and it would be awkward if I didn't do it.

Check out how my other round robin quilt friends are creating their rounds, and be sure to link up your round this week with Wendy of Pieceful Thoughts on My Quilting Life.

• January 11:  centre blocks: Gail @ Quilting Gail
• January 18: 1st Round: Chris @ Chrisknitssews
• January 25: 2nd Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
• February 1: 3rd Round: Anja @ Anja Quilts
• February 8: 4th Round: Roseanne & Sue @ Home Sewn by Us
• February 15: 5th Round: Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
• February 22: 6th Round: Susan @ Quilt Fabrication
• February 28: 7th Round ME!!! @ Quilting Gail 

Now onto round six, which is my block choice. Not sure what I'm going to do yet but I'd better get it figured out. Until then, 

Happy Quilting!

My Favorite Patterns