Birthday Mystery Quilt - Block 47

I was able to complete this block in one day.  I can't remember if I was able to do that with another block.  I won't admit that it was a quick block because of the applique.  

    My block 47

From Laundry Basket Quilts blog 

Since I had hand-appliqued the circles, I pushed my other projects aside and used all my attention on this block.  It was relaxing to slowly hand-sew each circle.  I had the block finished by the time I went to bed.

Till next time,

- - - - Jane - - - - 

Birthday Mystery Quilt - Block 46

This week's block was another fun block!  I adore triangles in a quilt and this one consisted of one-inch half-square triangles.  They are pretty small.

   My block 46

From Laundry Basket Quilts blog 

This block reminds me a little bit of a pineapple block surrounded by the small triangles.  Sometime in the future, I'd like to make a traditional pineapple quilt.  For now, I've got this block.

Till next time,

- - - - Jane - - - - 

Birthday Mystery Quilt - Block 45

It's unbelievable! There are only ten blocks left in this quilt along!

This week's block took a little longer to complete than the others.  There was a fabric that was not included in the Birthday Bundle of fabrics.  The fabric with light blue circles is not in the Cocoa Blue collection.  I believe it is from a newer collection called Pebbles. 

 My block 

From Laundry Basket Quilts blog 

I want to use the same fabrics as the blocks that are used when there are introduced in the blog.  I couldn't find this fabric in my LBQ fabric stash, so I had to purchase a half-yard cut of it.  The worst part was waiting for the fabric to arrive...

So, I waited...and waited...and waited...

The delivery of this fabric had been delayed.  The fabric arrived after 8 days.  Eight days typically isn't a long time for items to be shipped but I was very inpatient, and it was torture.

I pieced my block a little different than the original blog block.  I eliminated some of the seams in the center of center square and some of the triangles, but I did add some Y-seams.

Till next time,

- - - - Jane - - - - 

The Last of the Little Baskets - I Hope!

It all started with the first 6 blocks.  I have decided to stop at a total of 108 blocks.

These little baskets are truly addicting, you just can't make one.  

I'm not sure how I will lay-out the baskets in a quilt.  I may add a tan color, something a bit darker than the background, as sashing or filler blocks.

Till next time,

- - - - Jane - - - - 

Birthday Mystery Quilt - Block 44

This week's block may be one of my favorites.

 My block 44

From Laundry Basket Quilts blog 

The block resembles an elongated sawtooth star block.  I'm not certain of the name of the star portion of this block.  I love how the star points create a pop of blue on a neutral background.

Till next time,

- - - - Jane - - - - 

2021 Mystery Quilt - Michigan - Part 2

Now, I'm having to transfer the applique lines to the other borders.

In the past, I've always used a window to trace the applique lines to the fabric.  Over a period of time, my arms would get really tired.  With my new house, I have a large glass patio door.  It was really nice for larger appliques, but I couldn't mark as many blocks as I wanted to.

Last Christmas, I gifted myself a Cutterpillar Glow Light tablet.  It is like a light table but smaller in size.  My tablet has a lighted area of 12 inches x 16 inches.  It has made it so much easier to mark the applique lines.

Once I knew where I wanted the applique pieces to go and machine-appliqued to the border, I layered the next border on top and traced the shadow with a Frixion pen.  The marks disappear when the hot iron is used to adhere the appliques.

I couldn't make up my mind with the color of thread to use for the blanket-stitching.  It would have been simple to use one color, like the darker blue, but I didn't like how it looked with the lighter blue appliques.  I ended up choosing three thread colors, a light, a medium, and a bolder blue.  

This is my completed Michigan quilt.

And with one of the borders.

Till next time,

- - - - Jane - - - -      

Birthday Mystery Quilt - Block 43

This week's block was a little complicated for me.  It was my error, so it took a little longer to complete.

 My block 43

From Laundry Basket Quilts blog 

I was in a rush to finish this block early, so I really didn't take the time to look at the fabrics.  Initially, I saw the large floral background print surrounding the dark blue block.  It wasn't until I had the three rows sewn, that I realized that a solid cream fabric was used as well.  

At first, I was going to leave it, as is.  It wasn't that noticeable, but it did bother me.  It wasn't a duplicate of the block shown in the blog.  So, I ripped the seams from that block and fixed the problem.

Till next time,

- - - - Jane - - - -