Rowdy Flat Library Quilt Block 2 (The Beekeeper) and a reader makes a quilt from one of my patterns

I'm sick of renovations because one thing just leads to another. The attic space has been cleaned, repaired and new insulation installed. In the process some electrical work was done up there and as a result it was necessary to knock two holes in my bedroom wall to run electrical cable. That would not have been so bad but for the fact that there is wallpaper on the walls so this means I have to pack up my bedroom, strip the wallpaper, repair the walls, repaint and so on. I had planned on putting my sewing room back together and will do so but once that is done, all of the bedroom stuff including furniture will have to be packed up and stored in my sewing room. Oh well, I had best stop my moaning and just get on with it!

During all of the commotion I've finished block 2 of the Rowdy Flat Library Quilt designed by Susan Smith. She calls this block "The Beekeeper" because as you will see it is loaded with bees! Here is my start.

At the base of the wreath the pattern called for the quilt maker's initial but I just loved the bees sooooo much that I added a bee instead.

Susan's quilt design calls for a variety of fabrics for the bee bodies but I plan to use the same fabric for all of my bees. I like the warm honey colour and think it works well. All the little details such as the legs and antennae are done with a pen.

The flowers in the three corners were appliqued in place. The pattern calls for flower centres made up of two circles with one being smaller than the other.

I have this fabric in my stash and thought it would make perfect centres for the flowers so I cut them out and positioned them on my flowers. They really sparkled so I didn't need to go the two circle route.

I love the effect of this fabric. for the flower centres!

Finally, here is my finished block....The Beekeeper! Notice the honeycomb in the upper left corner.

I recently heard from a reader, Gretchen, that she had made a quilt from one of my patterns, Cherry Blossom. The pattern is available in my Craftsy store.

Gretchen made her Cherry Blossom quilt larger than the pattern and she added a pieced border. All I can say is WOWIE! Cherry Blossom is one of my favourite quilts and I love her version. Isn't it interesting to see how a border can change the look of a quilt? You can read about Gretchen's quilt on her blog Gretchen's Little Corner.

Gretchen added her own personal touch (I love doing that myself and am really pleased to know that Gretchen did her own thing too) by adding the pieced border!

I've procrastinated long enough. Time for me to start packing up the bedroom and think about stripping wallpaper. Until I post again, happy sewing.

Karen H

Rowdy Flat Library Quilt Block 2 (The Beekeeper) and a reader makes a quilt from one of my patterns

I'm sick of renovations because one thing just leads to another. The attic space has been cleaned, repaired and new insulation installed. In the process some electrical work was done up there and as a result it was necessary to knock two holes in my bedroom wall to run electrical cable. That would not have been so bad but for the fact that there is wallpaper on the walls so this means I have to pack up my bedroom, strip the wallpaper, repair the walls, repaint and so on. I had planned on putting my sewing room back together and will do so but once that is done, all of the bedroom stuff including furniture will have to be packed up and stored in my sewing room. Oh well, I had best stop my moaning and just get on with it!

During all of the commotion I've finished block 2 of the Rowdy Flat Library Quilt designed by Susan Smith. She calls this block "The Beekeeper" because as you will see it is loaded with bees! Here is my start.

At the base of the wreath the pattern called for the quilt maker's initial but I just loved the bees sooooo much that I added a bee instead.

Susan's quilt design calls for a variety of fabrics for the bee bodies but I plan to use the same fabric for all of my bees. I like the warm honey colour and think it works well. All the little details such as the legs and antennae are done with a pen.

The flowers in the three corners were appliqued in place. The pattern calls for flower centres made up of two circles with one being smaller than the other.

I have this fabric in my stash and thought it would make perfect centres for the flowers so I cut them out and positioned them on my flowers. They really sparkled so I didn't need to go the two circle route.

I love the effect of this fabric. for the flower centres!

Finally, here is my finished block....The Beekeeper! Notice the honeycomb in the upper left corner.

I recently heard from a reader, Gretchen, that she had made a quilt from one of my patterns, Cherry Blossom. The pattern is available in my Craftsy store.

Gretchen made her Cherry Blossom quilt larger than the pattern and she added a pieced border. All I can say is WOWIE! Cherry Blossom is one of my favourite quilts and I love her version. Isn't it interesting to see how a border can change the look of a quilt? You can read about Gretchen's quilt on her blog Gretchen's Little Corner.

Gretchen added her own personal touch (I love doing that myself and am really pleased to know that Gretchen did her own thing too) by adding the pieced border!

I've procrastinated long enough. Time for me to start packing up the bedroom and think about stripping wallpaper. Until I post again, happy sewing.

Karen H

Excitement lives here!

I was contacted by the Editor and Publisher of Quilter's Connection, Canada's only magazine for quilters. In addition to the magazine there is a free monthly newsletter. Each month, they  feature a pattern, usually created by one of their staff members. However sometimes they like to feature a quilt designer or blogger that they have come across with interest. (insert drum roll here) Apparently they came across my blog and have requested permission to feature my pattern for Cherry Blossom! How exciting is that? Very exciting! I had been looking my quilt and 15 minutes later there was the email from Quilter's Connection! Such a coincidence!

Cherry Blossom by Karen H 2013

Free pattern available under Patterns by Karen H

I love this quilt - it is certainly one of my favourites.  All of the nine patches were made from scraps. I cut them up into 1 1/2" squares and arrange them on a 6" square of flannel. I keep a stack of these flannels beside my sewing machine and I use the nine patch pieces as leaders and enders when I am sewing. As I finish each block I give it a press and toss it in a box of other nine patches. I have literally hundreds of these nine patches and have made at least a dozen quilts with them! To make Cherry Blossom I dipped into my stash of 3" nine patches and pulled all the pink blocks. When there were no more pinks I pulled oranges, then golds and finally reds.

Close up of Cherry Blossom quilt

Here you can see the Zebra Girls and Zebra Fellow on the quilt. I did the quilting on my domestic sewing machine.

Another example of what I've done with the scrap nine patches is my Baskets and Nine Patches quilt which is a reproduction of an antique quilt that was in a Quilt Engagement Agenda from the 1980s. I didn't have to make a single nine patch block for this quilt - they were all taken from the box of completed scrap blocks! This is another quilt for which I've published a free pattern under the tab Patterns by Karen H.

Baskets and Nine Patches by Karen H 2013

This third quilt is also made from scrap nine patches. I call it Piccadilly to the Nines because there is a feature fabric in the quilt and it is called Piccadilly. The quilt is short one border in the first picture; you can see the final border in the second picture. There are loads of little churn dash blocks in this quilt and they are just a variation on the nine patch!

Piccadilly to the Nines by Karen H

This is a fourth quilt made with the scrap nine patch blocks. You will also see some little churn dash and shoo-fly blocks. The half square triangles (HST) were made with 2" squares. I hate to waste fabric so rather than trim larger blocks down to 1 1/2" for nine patches I used them to make the HSTs.  I also used leftover strips - two 1" strips sewn together yield a 1 1/2" strip from which I can cut 1 1/2" squares. There are all sorts of ways to arrange the pieced squares and HSTs. I had a post about them here.

To The Nines by Karen H

So there you have it - I'm not just about hexagons. I also love the humble nine patch! If you use your small scraps as leaders and enders you will soon have a good sized pile of blocks that will be ready to turn into something fabulous! The variety of fabrics will add depth and complexity to a quilt!

Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

It's Blogger's Quilt Festival Time - Cherry Blossom Quilt

Once again a huge thank you to Amy of Amy's Creative Side for organizing the Fall 2014 Blogger's Quilt Festival. You can submit nominations for two of your own quilts. It is a great way to share your work with others and to be eligible for some lovely prizes. Take a look at all of the registered quilts and then select three for Viewers' Choice category.  Nominations are open now and they close on October 31. You can start voting for your favourite quilts in all categories starting November 1. Voting closes on November 7 and the winners will be announced on November 8th!

I've entered two quilts and this is the second, Cherry Blossom. I wrote the pattern for my quilt and it is available free-of-charge under the tab Patterns by Karen H.  Cherry Blossom is entered in the Original Design Quilts category. The pinks and reds reminded me of cherry blossoms hence the name! 

This is a scrap quilt. Whenever I have some leftover 1 1/2" squares I use them as leaders and enders when I'm sewing. They get stitched into nine patches that finish at 3". When they are done I give them a press and store them in a box. When I decided to make Cherry Blossom I fished out all of the 3" pink nine patches from the box. When I ran out of pink I added some yellows and oranges. These would be stitched together to make larger nine patches. I also pulled 12 red nine patches along with small scraps of all sorts of colours. I used these scraps to make half square triangles that bordered the little red nine patches. 

Here you can see the two blocks in the quilt; the pink nine patches are stitched together with white squares to make larger nine patches and the red nine patches are bordered with white, half square triangles and the background fabric!

I added a nice wide border because I wanted to fill it with a feather and a stippled background.

This is such a summery quilt and it is one of my favourites. If you like it too why not make your own using my pattern! 

Cherry Blossom Quilt pattern, hexagon fun and three more nine patches

 

Cherry Blossom Quilt,  2013   61 1/2" x 73 1/2"

 



My Cherry Blossom Quilt pattern is now available! I am afraid the instructions are rather longwinded but when writing I assume that the reader is a novice so I provide more detail than is necessary for an experienced quilter. I hope you liked my quilt and the pattern and please feel free to share with others by linking to my blog!

Are you addicted to hexagons? If so there a spectacular hexagon quilt that you can see at Grit's blog. Her quilt is called "La Passion" and there are instructions and lots of wonderful how-to pictures to tempt you! Here's a little peek at this exciting hexagon quilt!

Now how about a little hexagon fun? This is another diamond from my hexagon quilt Loopers in the Sky with Diamonds.

Loopers in the Sky with Diamonds, 2005

This block reminds me of a Ninja star! Or a pinwheel! It is very easy but effective. I think a border of these spinning stars would be very lively!

And this is the template I used to make this block! The numbers indicate the order of fabric placement.

I always shorten the stitches on my sewing machine when I foundation piece the hexagon and once it is done it is English paper piecing as usual. If you want to read more about this method there are several posts on my blog including May 30 and 31, June 3, 4, 13 and 28. I have to get these all put together in one place....soon!

I'm still working on updating my two instruction booklets that explain these techniques and when they are done I'll publish them under tips and tutorials!

And for those of you who are addicted to nine patches, this is what I made while working on the binding for Mom's Anna quilt!

As you know I cut up scraps into 1 1/2" squares and lay them out as nine patches on 6" squares of flannel. I use these pieces as leaders and enders when I'm sewing. The result is a 3 1/2" (3" finished) nine patch. I made three when I made and applied the binding to Mom's quilt. They will be added to the box of nine patches just waiting to be turned into a quilt. That's how my Cherry Blossom quilt was made...from the stash of nine patches which were made as leaders and enders!

And speaking of Cherry Blossom, when I mitered the corners I had a bunch of scrap triangles. I used one of them to make this nine patch and I have four light coloured patches that will go into another nine patch block! Nine patches can be every bit as addictive as hexagons....I know this from personal experience!

Until I post again, happy sewing!

The Anna quilt finish, Cherry Blossom Pattern and more!

The quilting is done on Mom's Anna H quilt and I wanted to share some pictures with you because it will be another couple of days before the binding is finished. It will be the same fabric as the side triangle border so it will just blend in.

I very much admire the quilting of the likes of Cindy Needham, Diane Gaudynski and Harriet Hargrave and wanted to create a quilt that was more densely quilted like those made by these three talented quilters. So the Anna quilt is very heavily quilted. This is my first quilt that has been quilted to this extent and I LOVE the appearance. Unfortunately it is difficult to photograph in such a way that the quilting is shown to its best advantage. To compensate I've taken several pictures. So here we go!

The quilting is a little clearer here!

I am really pleased with the look of the quilting in the elongated hexagon border. It is a combination of feathers on the outside rows and figure 8s on the center row. The effect is very pretty, especially from the back!

This is the quilting plan for the elongated hexagons

The border quilting with dragonflies, meander quilting and straight(ish) lines!

 

So there you have it - Anne H's Anna H quilt! Now I'll make the binding for the quilt so Mom can finish it!

 

The reason that the binding isn't made just yet is that I decided to work on the Cherry Blossom Quilt Pattern and I am pleased to say it is almost done. A couple of last minutes checks and amendments and it will be posted tomorrow! I hope you like the pattern and if you make your own Cherry Blossom Quilt, l would love to see it!

 

I've been working on another quilt which I've not yet shared with you but it is coming soon. It is a scrap quilt that was inspired by an antique quilt. It is a fast, simple quilt but it has an interesting little border that I will remain a secret for the time being! For now, here is a sneak peak of my quilt that I call Brick Bungalow!

 

 

And the good news is that there will be another free pattern for this one so stay tuned!

 

For now I'll leave you will some pictures from the garden.

 

Turk's cap lily

 

Bottle brush

 



Bottle brush close-up

 

Until I post again, happy sewing!