The Big News for November: This Year's Quiltville Mystery Has Been Introduced!

I had been seeing comments on Bonnie's Quiltville Facebook group page that the introduction post for this year's mystery was going live on Halloween.  It's true, IT'S HERE!!! 

The name of this year's mystery is "Star of Maghrib".  Once again Bonnie is channeling the beautiful views she saw on one of the CraftTours trips she took.  This time the inspiration comes from her trip to Morocco.  According to Bonnie, "The Maghrib is a region in Northwest Africa comprised of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, and the territory of Western Sahara."  The meaning of Al-Maghrib is "The place where the sun sets." 

Based on the image that accompanied it, I suspected the color scheme would be Blue & White and sure enough it is with the addition of Red and Green.  Ooh, this one is going to be tempting to do!  I have been very obsessed with Blue & White quilts over the last two years and currently have fabrics coming in for the stash for another one (hopefully more on that in the future).   The finished mystery quilt will be a big'un -- 80" x 80" -- because if you know Bonnie, she likes to design BAQs = Big A** Quilts large enough to cover big and tall people!!

As always the first part of the mystery will drop on the day after Thanksgiving aka "Black Friday".  Each subsequent clue will post on Fridays with the exception of the post that would have posted on Christmas Day (a Friday this year) so will instead post on Christmas Eve.

So if you are like me, now's the time to decide whether to dive into the new mystery and start gathering fabrics (or alternate color option ideas) or plan to use the season to finish up previous mysteries you've started but haven't completed.  I had already planned to make it a priority to get at least one of my still unfinished ones done!

And you can see the completed one here.

However, since I do like the color scheme, I also haven't completely ruled out jumping in on this year's just yet, LOL!!

For those of you that have never done one of Bonnie's mysteries, read about her inspiration for the design in the introduction and see if it might spark your interest enough to give it a try.  Remember this is not a race or meant to be a struggle and you are not obligated to complete the mystery by the time the last post drops early next year.   

You can take your time, work at your own pace, even change the size of the finished block units (you will not know how they will be combined to form blocks until towards the end) or make less units and blocks for a smaller quilt.  

It's an opportunity to just come and be part of a world-wide quilting community and share in the fun of a special event.  If you need more encouragement or ideas about how to approach it, check out the post I wrote back in 2019 about the six ways I know of how to make the Quiltville Mystery experience enjoyable.

So will you be joining in this year? 

Finished Or Not Friday: The Mini Quilt Retreat Finish Recap

We're finally back from two back-to-back trips!  The first was my DH and I making our annual Fall trip to visit his mother in North Carolina.  For my husband these trips are a vacation/family visit but for my MIL and I it's also a mini quilt retreat!  

When we left NY in mid-September it was still warm but pleasant with temps mostly in the 70' and low 80's.  Arriving in NC (actually as early as when we made a rest stop in Virginia) it was muggy with temps in the 80's to mid 90's and stayed that way through the first half of our two week stay.  However once the calendar changed over to Fall on the 21st, it seemed like Mother Nature flipped a swtich and suddenly the temps dropped and it stayed cooler and in the 60s until we left!  

Part of the quilt retreat for me was to get another chance to learn to use my MIL's longarm.  I'm pleased to report that her machine and I had a good 'ole time and a lot was accomplished!   So I'm joining in with everyone over at Quilty Girl Alycia's for this week's "Finished Or Not Friday" to report on what got done.  

I will just show the finishes here and then will do a detail post on each in the coming weeks.  Be forewarned,  it's still a long travel post ahead!!

We arrived on the second Friday of September so that I would be there for the monthly Saturday meeting of the Tar River Piecemakers Quilting Guild of which I am now a long distance member.  

As we prepped for the trip down, I had been working on finishing up my "Sparkle and Shine" log cabin quilt made up of giant (22") courthouse steps blocks.  I got 2/3rds of it quilted on my domestic machine by the time we left.  

Fortunately (and despite it having been pin basted for the DSM), I was still able to load the quilt on my MIL's longarm and finish the last column of stitching to present it for Show & Tell the next day at the guild meeting!  This also meant I got some more free-motion practice on my MIL's machine.

The railing on my MIL's back porch was a convenient photo spot this trip.

Here's a sneak peek of the equally bold back!  The sides were courtesy of stash and came from what I had put aside for another project. 

This is my version of the quilt designed by Natalie Barnes to showcase her "Norma Rose" line which was a tribute to her mother designed for Windham Fabrics.  The pattern was published in American Patchwork & Quilting magazine in December 2020.

Mine used fabrics from my stash of what I call "Mod" fabrics that I had originally collected for the next project I got to finish on the longarm:  my "Modern Bohemia" BOM project!

The fun backing for this one is "Unstoppable" by Windham Fabrics!

Ever since my MIL purchased her longarm, each visit has been an opportunity for new "longarm lessons".  On the last trip, we had planned to try ruler quilting and had purchased the table and foot for her Handiquilter Moxie machine for that.  However, we never had time to actually try them so that was the plan for this trip.  Fortunately, this was the perfect project for that!  

I had planned out the quilting for this all the way back in June of last year but as usual "more projects than time" meant I hadn't gotten around to it yet.  I'd like to believe that the Quilt Muses had noted that I could do ruler quilting on my MIL's longarm before I did and made sure I kept busy enough to hold this project until now, LOL!

I stitched four different patterns on the quilt with three different rulers:  a straight ruler, a curved ruler and one that does a "squared spiral" design.

When I embarked on this project as a self-styled Block-of-the-Month (BOM) back in 2020,  I changed the sizes of the originally patterned blocks so I could die cut them all with Accuquilt dies.   However, when I later saw the same patterned blocks used in a runner pattern,  I decided to make the blocks for that in their original size since they came together to create a finished runner perfectly sized for our dining room sideboard. 

This shot of it on the longarm shows the Pro-Stitcher computer quilting design used.

This one was also made from that "Mod" stash.  In the lap quilt I had put the prints in the Churn Dash blocks and the tone-on-tones in the backgrounds but for this runner I flipped that and put the TOTs in the blocks and the prints in the backgrounds.  

There was also one other project made from this stash that was finished back in 2022.  I also have one QAYG UFO that utilized this stash and still have more of this stash in general so I'll have to see what other "Mod" projects may develop in the future! 

The next trip finish was this one, a gift for my High School BFF :

Pattern:  Patchwork PDQ by Swirly Girl Designs

The back with a special label.

She had asked me about a quilt at the end of last year and with this being a milestone birthday year for both of us,  I put a plan in place to do that.  She likes purple and fortunately I was able to add to what little stash I had in that color by picking up some things from two fortuitous year-end and New Year's Keepsake Quilting sales.  

I had planned out and tested the quilting before we left which again called for ruler quilting and also added stitch-in-the-ditch:  

The backing fabric choice used in the sample was changed after this test.

I did the stitching test on my domestic machine.  However, it took me a lot longer than I expected to complete the simple stitch scheme I had planned when I did it on the longarm.  The good news was that I was able to not only finish it but mail it off to her before we left NC!

The last two projects that I finished quilting on the longarm were UFOs that I had a simple straight-line stitching quilting plan for both.  I thought doing that would be easier to execute on a longarm with a "channel lock" feature.

Needless to say this is NOT straight-line stitched!

This is my interpretation of Pat Sloan's "Sting Beans!" pattern that she did as a "Block-A-Day" project back in 2022.  Pat's original design used jellyroll strips and at the time I didn't have a stash of those.  However I did have a huge stash of pre-cut 1-1/2" log cabin block strips and worked up a variation block that utilized them which resulted in this quilt.  

It also has a fun "two-sided quilt" back that I made up in 2023 using Mary Johnson's (of MaryQuilts.com) "Quick Strippie" charity quilt design.

As noted, the original stitching plan was to quilt this just doing straight line stitching across the width of the quilt.  However that was also dependant on determining that the lines would be equally as straight along the pieced "strippie" sections on the back.  The reason this has sat for so long waiting to be quilted is that I wasn't confident about doing that on my domestic machine.  

I thought using a "channel lock" feature on the longarm would allay those concerns.  However with the quilt loaded on the longarm frame, I still couldn't really confirm that the position of the piecing lines would line up with the channel stitching.  So I abandoned doing the straight lines in favor of just stitching it up with an all-over pattern instead.  

The Pro-Stitcher pattern I used.

I am pleased both with the chosen pattern and finally getting this one very close to a finish!

The last big finish was finally quilting my "Letters To Santa" quilt!

I am particularly happy to get this done as a start to the holiday sewing for this year.  Or more accurately, it's a finish of the "Christmas in July" piecing work done on it in 2024 and 2025, LOL!!  I loved being able to just quilt it with straight lines since I thought the words should visually take precedence over the quilting.  

Both of these almost didn't get finished when I decided late that I really wanted to use a fine weight thread to stitch these up.  I put in an order for Wonderfil Invisifil 100 wt  (Red #605 for String Beans and White #104 for LTS) and they almost didn't get to me in time, arriving on our last Friday there!

Our return to NY was delayed by half a day since we were tracking the big nor'easter storm that hit the Northeast on the day before we were scheduled to leave early in the morning on the last Sunday of the month.  However, for me the delay was fortunate because as of that morning I was still trying to finish quilting "LTS".  The leave time delay was just enough to allow me to finish it up!  Whew!!  

The same week we returned from NC we were headed out again at the end of that week for a Fall camping trip in Maine at Acadia National Park --- this time staying on the Schoodic Pennisula.  So I didn't have a chance to trim and bind those last two yet.  Needless to say it was a very productive two week visit and although my MIL is always sad to see us go,  I think her longarm machine was very glad for me to leave so it could get some rest, LOL!!

So that's it for me (for now) so let's all go back over to Alycia's and check out all the other finishes and works in progress for this week's "Finished Or Not Friday" link up!

Design Wall Monday: The State of My Quilt Nation

It already feels like August is starting to wind down.  At this point my husband and I are starting to look towards our plans for September and October.  We are scheduled to visit my MIL in North Carolina from mid to the end of September and the first week of October we're headed up to Maine for our third trip to Acadia National Park.  We're hoping to catch the Fall vistas this time and visit the Schoodic Penninsula for the first time.  

As such I am also reviewing the plans I had for the summer and trying to map out my ongoing quilting plans for the Fall.  Which projects will be interrupted by those Fall trips and which can come along on them?  What deadlines do I have to meet after the trips and can I set them up to work on between now and then or do I need to completely reorganize them to be worked on later?  As of this week here is what I have going on or want to work on:

Leaders and Enders Get the Jobs Done!

As I worked on projects over the sumer I've been leader-endering two projects.  In the case of the first -- my "Alaska BOM" -- many times it has been the primary project.  In my recap of things I worked on in July, this is what had been up on my design wall at one point that month:

I had noted that I had finished making the last of the blocks for the center of that quilt.  So this month I have been sewing the rows of blocks together.  For that process "Alaska" became the leader/ender for another project which will be discussed later.  The good news is that I finished sewing together the seven rows of blocks.

Next up will be sewing the rows together to complete the center of the top.  As I had noted back in JuIy, I have plans to expand the size of the top by adding an additional pieced outer border of blocks.  So there will be more block making (that may be the primary or the leader/ender of other projects) as this month continues and we roll into September.

The other leader/ender work that I'm thrilled to say is done is for this project:

This is the "Magic Cube" pattern that was originally published in McCall's Quilting Nov/Dec 2020 and that I downloaded as an individual pattern during one of Quilting Daily's pattern sales.  The reason I started making this one was this:

Back in 2024 I fell in love with Bonnie Hunter's (of whom I am a big fan) "Shoo Fly Shoo" free pattern which had been her leader/ender project for 2019.  She made two quilts of mostly all Shoo Fly blocks out of the blocks she pieced over the course of that year.  I had planned to just leisurely collect appropriately sized scraps and sew up the blocks until I had enough -- or got tired of making them, LOL! 

Well, the minute I later saw the "Magic Cube" design,  I had to pivot!  First because the Shoo Fly blocks in the outer border of it were the same size as Bonnie's blocks but meant I had to make a whole lot less of them.  Second, the large center star and one of the borders are pieced with strings.  I've been really wanting to make more string designs at the least to start winnowing down my "string collection":

Just by chance, that strip hanging out of the bag was from the border fabric of my recently finished "Rainbow Log Cabin" quilt.

I'm hoping this can be the follow up to the "Scrap Vortex" string top I also made in 2024 (and is unfortunately still awaiting quilting) so was thrilled this gave me two opportunities to make something that will use up some more of them.  Finally, it's a "kitchen sink" scrappy quilt so any scrap is welcome.  What's not to love?!?

So I immediately took the six Bonnie blocks I had made up to that point and moved them to a project bin for this.  Although it has taken me much longer than planned, I'm pleased to say that I've now finished up -- as leader/enders -- the 40 blocks I need for that border!

My plans earlier this year had been for these to have been pieced months ago and for this to have already been a finished top by now in the hopes of taking it with me to longarm at my MILs in September.  However, I'm grateful for the progress that has been made and am still encouraged to continue on.  Next up a whole lotta string piecing!!

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Edited 8/25/26 To Add:  Just saw that Quilting Daily has a "Back to School" promotion going on right now and everything on their site is 40% off until August 30!   

A New Gift Project

My BFF from high school and I are still in touch and both hit milestone birthdays this year.  When we spoke back in December she mentioned she would love a quilt.  I have only made her two things prior: a jewelry roll pouch (the second one in this post) and a mug rug when she had to help homeschool her grandson during the pandemic.  Both were made up in purple fabrics, her favorite color.  I had been musing in recent years that I didn't often purchase purple fabric so began picking up a piece here and there with the intention of finding an inspiration for a project "some day".  Needless to say when she mentioned a quilt, that day arrived!

So with what little I already had in stash and two good Keepsake Quilting Year-end and New Year's clearance sales, I picked up a bunch of new purples.  I had bundled together three sets of fabrics with ideas for three possible projects.  The first (because it was expected to be the quickest to get done) was to make one of my now favorite "9 Fat Quarter Disappearing Nine Patch" quilts (and if you'd like to see the ones I've made click here).  However when I tested a layout of the prints I had bundled together for that, it didn't spark me.  

Okay, second choice was this pattern I had picked up at some point because it also could be made with Fat Quarters:

When I sorted through the bundle of the variety of prints I had pulled for it, I was intrigued.  So this became the primary project for those other two leader-ender projects and the bundled set of fabrics became this:

I've since moved some of the squares in it around a bit more.

I had planned to use the border fabric in the center of the quilt but a re-read of the pattern showed that I'd need some yardage to make this design lap size and I really liked that fabric for it.  So I pulled it out of the layout, replaced it with other things and then had to search around for more of it to have enough for the borders.  Luckily, the only source I found it at also had it on sale.  It was meant to be!  

Of course, the next issue is, "okay how will I quilt this?"  One thing I did think was that I really wanted to quilt it in purple thread but I didn't have any cotton threads that color.  I consulted an Aurifil color card and considered what I felt would work.  However the nearest quilt store to me doesn't carry Aurifil so I would have to order it.  I was not thrilled about ordering thread on the speculation that a particular color "might" work so might also mean having to make additional orders to find just the right one.  

Looking through my thread stash again, I did find two threads that seemed like they would work:  a medium-dark gray Aurifil (#2605) and a polyester Glide thread in Lavender.  Okay, I need a test!

I pieced together this test sandwich from the fabric scraps and the good news was that both threads worked!  The gray not only works on the top but also works on the purple wide back fabric I had also purchased during the clearance sale and was glad to have on hand when it came time to set this up for finishing.  However,  I was also surprised how well the Glide thread worked too.  As long as I kept the quilting simple, it provided just enough color and a little sparkle to the whole thing.  

The original idea was to stitch straight lines but I admit that when I sketched that out, it added too many additional visually linear elements to a top that already presented with a lot of lines from the piecing.  So I will be opting for ruler quilted wavy lines using the same ruler I used to quilt my "Roaring Waves" quilt last year.  Now this will be easy to stitch and the waves will add a little more texture and visual variety to the whole thing.  Good!  Now to go through my batting stash for this!

Project Plans From Now to October

For years I've set up projects for Halloween sewing but then never get around to geting them made up in time for the holiday.  Taking a cue from the practice of doing "Christmas in July" (which I should note, I still have projects from last year that I need to finish up for this year, LOL),  I figured if I want to get some done, maybe I should start now and see what I can accomplish by the time the ghosts and ghouls are on the prowl for candy!  To that end I have two:

This is "Whoo Is It?",  a banner project started all the way back in 2014 from the Fons & Porter's "Quilting Celebrations" Fall issue that year.  It had been cut and laid out since then and now needs a good pressing in order to finish it.  What I've learned in the years since is to roll up applique projects like this on an empty paper towel roll or pool noodle to avoid the kinds of folds and wrinkles I'm going to have to deal with getting rid of now.  I'm hoping to work on it and maybe get it at least to a completed top by the end of this month.  

And speaking of Halloween and my previously discussed favorite Fat Quarter design there's this:

The Annie's Attic company ran another of their infamous pre-cut bundle sales and I should have known better than to go look!  But look I did and saw a cute bundle of five Halloween prints for under $10 and couldn't resist!  I've added some fabrics from my Halloween stash (and actually one from the "Whoo" stash bag) and so far have shifted the fabrics around and worked up two layouts.  However, I am still not sure I like the way they work so have already ordered a few more prints that I think might punch it up better.  

This is a really quick design to make up so would really bolster my enthusiasm for working early on Halloween projects if I can settle on a layout.  Fingers crossed that I can do that and also get this to at least a top or even better finished and quilted by month's end.  I already have an idea for the quilting that I learned in the recent Free-Motion Quilting Summit so I'll see what happens!

And so ends the details of all the traffic on my design wall in recent days.  With all of this putting things on and taking them off, I probably need to do a little clean up of the batting on it now!

My MIL gifted me a couple of these little Temu tools a while back and surprisingly they do work! 

February Trip Review #2: The Mini Quilt Retreat

 My MIL is also a quilter so when my DH and I visit, she and I also have a mini quilt retreat!  Athough with all the projects I brought with me (and one picked up during the trip) this was more of a "maximalist-mini retreat",  LOL!!  This covers the two weeks we were there so this is your advance "long post warning"!! 

As usual, I brought a lot of projects down with me as I can never be too sure what I will get to or feel like working on day to day.  So here's all the stitching and quilty doings during our stay: 

#1.  I had brought down the "Year of the Red Horse" cross stitch project I had been working on.  When I left home it was here:  

I was able to get everything including the numbers for the year (but not the orange highlights) and brown outer border line done before we left on Sunday.  I finished the highlights on the numbers and the border and center floral accents in the car during the the first half of the drive home.

Now it's ready for "fully finishing"!

#2.  I was also able to finish stitching down onto its background the last half of the "Hexie Snowflake" block I had set up before we left.

Pinned....

Stitched!

I actually brought all four of the blocks for this wallhanging project as I was hoping I could get them all done and bring them home ready to constuct the top.  Nope!  

After stitching that block, I only managed to get the papers pulled from half of the next block.  Part of the reason was that I forgot to also bring my "Sixth Finger" stilleto tool.  Ironically I saw one at the Quilt Con show we attended but at almost $20 I decided to try to just find a tapered cuticle stick to use temporarily.  That turned out to be hard to find too but eventually I got one from a manicure kit sold in Dollar Tree.

"Sixth Finger" Stilletto vs Cuticle Stick

Since it is thicker than the stilletto, it was a little harder to work the glued fabric loose from the papers  so it took longer to release them than it had for the first block.  As a result, I only got half of the papers in the second block out during our trip and then finished removing the other half in the car on the last leg of the drive home.  When we got back home was I able to pin it to its background so it's now ready to be stitched down.

#3.  I've visited my MIL enough that I had often attended her guild meetings with her if they were scheduled during our trip.  As a result, last year I joined the guild as a "long distance" member!  We arrived on a Friday and the next day was the Guild's monthly meeting.  There was a great show and tell and some of the Guild members did a presentation on one of my favorite topics:  adding labels to quilts! 

After the meeting,  my MIL and I went to purchase a ruler table and foot for her Handiquilter Moxie longarm.

We agreed to go "halfsies" on the purchase.  I had brought down with me all the rulers I have that can be used on a longarm.  

The plan for this trip had been to try learning to do ruler quilting on her machine.  To facilitate that I brought my "Modern Bohemia" project with me as I originally had plans to ruler quilt it at home anyway.  

When we got back to her house, my DH helped us install the table onto the machine.  Later we took it back off the supports that hold it on the machine as my MIL had a project we needed to quilt but would be using programmed stitches for that.  

In the end, we never did get around to doing the ruler quilting lessons so it looks like those will have to be a project for our next trip down!

#4.  Long aside for a back story:  Each year "our" Guild (still feels a little funny saying that) does a member challenge.  Sometimes it's a specific project, other times it is making a quilt in a specific color or using a specific type of fabric.  Prior to us coming down, my MIL let me know that the Guild had announced that this year's challenge is to make a Log Cabin quilt.  It can be in any design of your choosing for presentation to the membership at the June meeting. 

This is right up my alley!  Every since buying the Accuquilt Log Cabin die as my first BOB purchase, I've been obsessed with the idea of making a lot of Log cabin quilts.  I think this block is one of the most versatile in quilting next to HSTs or Flying Geese.  I believe that you could spend your whole quilting life just making LC quilts and never make the same design twice.  Heck, you could make the exact same block layout but color it different ways and still have them all look different!   

So this was my opportunity to bring down two projects that I've long wanted to make.  

Years ago I regularly followed the blog of Elaine Adair and back in 2006 she designed a quilt called a "Rebuilt Log Cabin" (the one on the left).  I always thought it was such an innovative and unique looking Log Cabin design so of course wanted to make it.  However, this was also well before I had the Accuquilt die so while I collected red fabrics for the block centers,  I never really focused on all the other cutting that needed to be done for the rest of the blocks.  However, once I had the die, I planned to make it using scrap strip cuts like the ones stored in the box shown.  

Eventually, I discovered another design that also became a "want to make priority" that could use the same scrap cuts:  Carrie Nelson's (of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.) "Raise the Roof" (on the right).  I generally kept these two patterns sitting by each other as I believed if I had reason to make one,  I'd also start making blocks for the other.  So with the Guild Challenge in mind, I brought both patterns and the LC Strips box down with me figuring I'd see which I wound up working towards.  

At the Guild meeting they announced there'd be an open "Sit and Sew" session the last Saturday of our stay.  So I figured if I didn't get to these before then, I'd get a chance to sew some blocks up on that day.

However, I also had another "must make" priority LC design I've long wanted to do.  

From the American Patchwork & Quilting December 2020 issue.

In the spirit of Quilt Con, this one is a bright colored log cabin quilt made in what I like to refer to as "mod" fabrics.  The fabrics I put towards this came from the stash I built when I had decided to make the "Modern Boehmia" quilt referred to earlier.  I pulled some background prints from my stash to put with them for the lights.  I also added a bunch of fabrics purchased in 2024 when Keepsake Quilting had the Andover Fabrics "Century Black on White" line on sale which I thought would also work well for this.   

This project has been sitting in a project bag ever since.  When I did the Just Get It Done Declutter Challenge earlier this year,  I thought this would be an easy one to tackle in order to free up the bag.  So I also brought it along on this trip to add to the Log Cabin fun!  I should note that it is a little diffferent approach to LC as the blocks are pieced "Courthouse Steps" style and the "logs" are made using 2-1/2" cut (aka "jelly roll" but not pre-cut) strips. 

I figured the priority was to cut the fabrics for this project first but that wound up taking two days to get done.  Then busy with other things and interrupted by the four days spent at the Quilt Con show,  in the end I only managed to leader/ender the center of one block before we went home.   I should note here that we got word the day before the "Sit and Sew" session that it was being canceled because the heating sytem malfunctioned at the meeting center they were going to hold it at.  

Edited to Add:  This quilt also got finished on the next trip down which can be seen here.

#5.  Also in the spirit of Quilt Con, I brought the pattern, a sweatshirt and charm squares from my scrap stash to work on a "Charming Hoodie" that I hoped to wear to the show.  I picked up some addtional supplies I needed from Hobby Lobby once we got down to my MIL's.  

However, even though I started working on it about five days before the show, I had to alternate focus on it with some of the other projects that follow.  So I only got the sweatshirt deconstructed and prepped for adding the charm squares to it.  

I did get another coordinating charm pack of tone-on-tone prints at the show so am actually happy about what they will add to this once I can get back to it.  

#6.  Another benefit of being in the Guild is that members lend out Accuquilt dies they have.  I've enjoyed making Bowl Cozies for a while now using square ruler cuts and templates to round the corners and cut the darts.  However, I've long wanted to try the Small Bowl Cozy Die to compare the finished size of it to the method I've been using before committing to buying it.  My MIL let the member who had it know and I was able to pick it up at the meeting we attended.  

I had brought fabric for four Cozies (three "Yellowstone" and one for "Bridgerton") and immediately cut them so I could return the die ASAP. 

I did get them all stitched to their batting.  I started the darts on one of them and got another one pinned and ready for stitching around the perimeter but that's as far as I got.  However, I plan to work on finishing them up them so I can add them to my next "Finished Or Not Friday" post.

#7.  For Black history month my MIL volunteered to make an "Underground Railroad Quilt" for a presentation at her church of the "Quilt Codes".  A few years ago she had borrowed the one I made and used it for a similar presentation and ever since has wanted to make one for herself.  Using the Eleanor Burns book as I had, she had been piecing it over the last couple of months but was having problems with a few blocks.  So when I arrived, we worked out the kinks on those and I helped her decide on the final sashing and border fabric.  

This was the first project to get longarmed on this trip.  We discussed potential stitch patterns to use and finally settled on doing "Baptist Fans" which I was familiar with from having quilted one of my quilts on her machine using that pattern two years ago.  This is when we took the ruler table we had purchased off the machine.  

The good news is that we spent the two days before Quilt Con getting it done which gave her time after our show days to trim the quilt and prep and apply the binding for the presentation that Sunday.  

Since Sunday we'd be at the last day of the quilt show,  my DH was given the task of delivering the finished quilt to the church and helping set it up for display.  The presentation was made by one of her church members and assisted by my MIL's friend (also a quilter) who had retired to her town last year.

On display at the church.

#8.  The day before the first day of Quilt Con, we went to the home of one of the chairs of the Guild's "Patriotic Bee" to pick out fabrics for "Quilt Of Valor" kits.  This is also the member who owns the Bowl Cozy die so I returned that on that trip too.  

The guild had been able to purchase fabric for members to make these quilts because of a grant they had been awarded.  It was my intention to get fabrics for two kits:  one was to fill out the additional fabrics needed for a pattern called "Picture That" that I plan to use with a panel I am donating.  

I was able to get the fabrics I needed and since I only brought the panel down with me, I'd wait until I got home to add in the other fabrics I have and work on that one.  

I also picked up enough fabrics to make another top called "Freedom Stars".  My hope was to try to get this one to a top before I left.  I got it all cut and partially laid out and where I could, I pieced the star points.

I did them as Flying Geese as it was also an opportunity to give my MIL a hands-on demo of the Eleanor Burns method I use to make them.  I had also brought down the rulers I use to trim them even more quickly than with a regular ruler so I could demo those too.  

She had also looked at the "4 at a time method" and wasn't sure she was doing that right either.  I had originally learned to do that method and only abandonded it because there is less cutting with the EB method and to get the exact size geese needed, the math for that method wasn't as simple as for Eleanor's method.  

However my MIL showed me a tutorial that gives a simple math formula for doing the "4 at a time method" with oversized squares so now I can go back to using this method in those cases when I need to use different colors for the two "sky triangles" and need to control where the colors are placed.

But back to the QOV:  I did lay out the squares I cut but as I got down to the last of them,  I was finding it hard to keep the variety of prints evenly distributed which left me with a few holes in the layout and kept me from starting to stitch the rows.  

It wasn't until our last Friday there that we went to run what was supposed to be a few errands and make two fabric stops.  Well that turned into a mini shop hop as we wound up making stops at four fabric shops but the good news there was that I found another print at one of them that depicted all the armed forces:  

It was perfect for filling the holes in my layout!  So as I completed the layout...

...and while continuing to work on longarming my quilt (the other  UFO --- details to follow),  the next day I did get to leader/ender this project a bit and get four of the rows stitched up before we had to leave.

And now they are home on my design wall!

  #9.  So the only big thing I actually finished on the trip was that I got to longarm the other of the two UFOs I brought:  a quilt I call "Pulpit Tile".  

A closeup of the different stitch patterns used around the quilt.

I pieced this all the way back in 2006 in my early quilting days.  Made with "Jack in the Pulpit" and "Snowball" blocks, it has sat for so long because after I made it I could never decide how to quilt it.  In my mind, I thought it needed very traditional patterns like Feather Wreaths and other advanced patterns that were definitely not in my wheelhouse at the time.  Then once I gained some of those skills, I had moved on to other styles of quilts so finishing this wasn't a big priority.  

It came around now because I thought I might be able to actually get this done simply using stitch patterns programmed into my MIL's longarm tablet.  I was also looking forward to learning to connect continuous patterns to fill borders which is something I really haven't done up to now.  On my last visit, I had taken a picture of all the stitch pattern screens so I could sit down and figure out possible designs to use for the blocks before I arrived.  

I had my choices mapped out but things went sideways (figuratively) once the quilt was loaded!  This was a doozy that didn't progress at all the way I planned.  Due to throat space limitations and not remembering to bring the right thread for this,  I had to change my pattern choices on the fly.  However,  as usual I learned a lot of longarm lessons.  I won't go into further detail here,  I'll also save that for the next FONF post.   

CODA:  I should note, I also brought two more things that I didn't get to work on:  I had my scrappy "Magic Cube" Shoo-Fly blocks to also use for leader/enders.  

Had I got to do more sewing they might have gotten worked on but the good news is that needing to work on the two QOVs at home now (and on deadline) means they will get done now!

The second thing was that during the December Accuquilt sales,  I had lucked up on getting two of the June Tailor "quilt-as-you-go" kits to make covers for the Accuquilt Go! machine.  

I got one for my MIL and one for myself and had gotten the fabric bundle of the Accuquilt fabrics.  We split the eight fabrics in it between us (she took the light/white/blue fabrics and I took the lime green and orange fabrics).  We both had to add two additional fabrics to our sets because the kit requires having six fat quarters to make the cover.  I added the white and grey and the turquoise prints at the top to fill out mine.  Both of us also made some cuts at the Accuquilt booth "make & take" station at Quilt Con that we hope to add to our covers.  So that too is another project for future sewing or the Fall trip back!

So a lot attempted but definitely not as many things finished up as hoped.  Our next visit in September will be quieter as the annual NC Shop Hop dates have been changed to May/June so we won't have that to participate in.  We will be coming in time for the guild meeting that month.  If DH and I come down on the Friday before as we did this time,  that will also lessen the impact on the rest of the time spent there.  And thus ends the maximalist-mini retreat report!