XO Rekindle

I'm a firm believer that quilts are like fine wines and cheeses.  They need to age!  I made 4 X-O blocks 3 years ago to enter in the Madison Modern Quilt Guild's monthly Block Lottery.  For some reason, I couldn't make it to the meeting, so my blocks never got entered.  I tucked them away in a tote with the thought that I would turn them into a quilt someday.

This year, I brought the blocks and fabric I had set aside with me to retreat, where they safely stayed tucked away in their tote!! =O  I was hoping to find a way to arrange the blocks with the 2 yards of grey fabric that I had into a modern design with a lot of negative space.

Last week I was motivated to move this project along.  I hung the blocks up on my design wall and squinted at them a while.  More blocks!!  I need to make more blocks!  So I started to assemble what I could with the grey that was separate from my 2 yard cut.  That made almost 6 blocks. Now that I have momentum, I've decided that I need to do 20 blocks total and arrange them in a 4 x 5 layout.

Here is what I have so far:

Ironically, Timehop shared with me that it was 3 years ago this week that I made the original block!!

I can't wait to assemble this top!

xoxo

Kristin

ps

linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts and Patchwork Times

Retreat Wrap Up

It's been a few weeks since I've been home from retreat and it's been hard to find the time to write a summary.  Instead, I've been using any spare time to keep on sewing!

I'm fuzzy on which year was my first at Lutherdale-- it was either 2010 or 2011.  Either way, I've been going there in January for quite a while and it is a highlight of my winter.  This year was just as enjoyable as all of the others. My focus this year was on starting new quilts.  Often times I use this week as an opportunity to finish what I've started, so this is slightly different for me.

The first quilt I worked on was 'Legendary' by Elizabeth Hartman. She blogs at Oh Fransson! and I absolutely love her graphic style.  I was warned in advance to be very, very careful with the organization of the cut pieces and how I sew them together and that was good advice!  The size differences of the pieces from branch to branch is very subtle!  My little forest of trees took 2 full days to cut and piece.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to make the sasquatch block at retreat,  I was ready to move on to something else!

And that something else was to make a baby quilt for my co-worker!  This was so much fun!  In about 1 day, I cut and pieced this entire top!  They don't know the gender of the baby and are decorating the baby's room in grey and mint.  I've been hoarding stashing black/white and grey fabric for a while and found a great inspiration on Pinterest.  This is the first 60 degree triangle quilt I've made and I love this so much, I think I might do another version in Pink!  My quilt guild is doing a challenge this year with a black and white fat quarter.  It fits PERFECTLY with this quilt!
 

 

All throughout the weekend, I demo-ed how to make wonky stars to the other retreaters.  I had already made several of these blocks and the plan is to assemble all the blocks in an improv setting and donate to Lutherdale's auction in August.  As a group we made a ton of blocks and now I have my work cut out for me!

Speaking of donations for the auction-- I brought my finished Strawberry Quilt with me and after showing it off to everyone, I left it there.  I had a good chunk of fabric left from the backing and Janet graciously turned it into a pillowcase! (forgot to get a picture)

Here's Janet in the Elvis apron she made!

That about sums up my 2017 retreat.  As usual, I didn't want to leave and as soon as I did, I started counting down the days until next year!

xoxo

Kristin

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts - Let's Be Sewcial and Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish It Up Friday