D4P blocks

My Disappearing 4 Patch blocks are finally sewn together. It's a fun block to play with and uses up charm squares - the tutorial is here. 
I decided I didn't have enough of any of my potential border fabrics (that I showed in this post and this one) so I need to go shopping to get more. The quilt top needs at least one border to bring it up to a larger lap size. 
I already have the backing, so I'll be ready to finish this quilt soon!
It's so rewarding to see a project move closer to the quilting/finishing pile!

Design Wall Monday - D4P

I finished sewing the remaining blocks for my Disappearing 4 Patch quilt. Now I am playing with layouts and auditioning border fabrics. Every time I walk by, I change the blocks around again! I wonder how long this will go on??!!
Hop on over to Patchwork Times to see more design wall postings... such great inspiration on a Monday morning!

Disappearing 4 Patch

Another UFO closet treasure was re-discovered last weekend! I demonstrated how to sew a disappearing 4 patch (D4P) block for my quilt guild a few years ago, and forgot that several blocks were sewn that day. 

I first saw the tutorial here and have had a lot of fun with this block over the years. 
I guess I must really like it, since this is my third D4P quilt! You can see the first quilt here and the second one here. 

These blocks started with 5" charm squares from the Fresh Flowers fabric line. 
This week I sewed the remaining squares from the charm pack into the D4P blocks. 
I think I will make a layout 4 blocks x 6 blocks, so I need to find a couple more fabrics in the stash to make up 2 more blocks.
It's a very fresh and spring-like project to work on. On the top right is a possible border fabric. I hope to get these blocks sewn into a quilt top before they go missing again!

July's UFO is finished!

I did a mid month switcheroo when I realized I would not have enough time to finish my regularly scheduled UFO. And in the last two weeks, I was able to baste, quilt and bind the chosen UFO. Phew!
This quilt has a softer colour palette than I usually work with, but I am happy with how it turned out. The fabrics are a combination of my stash and my friend Marion's stash.



This is a photo of the quilt from the back, but it's too dark and you can't really see the quilting. 

This is how the machine quilting looks close up in one of the blocks and in the border.

Did you finish your July UFO? I'm sure you can get at least one binding sewn while you watch the Olympics! 
Hop over to Patchwork Times to see other UFO's that were finished in July.

UFO Challenge - January

As part of my commitment for Judy's UFO challenge, I have finished UFO #6 on my list!

Here is the story of this quilt:
I saw the block tutorial on Sally's blog and started trying out the blocks when I was at SewFestWest last April - see photo here.  The blocks were finished in September and then they sat in a bag waiting for the UFO challenge to start in January. I pieced the backing from the scraps and was very happy that there was nothing leftover to put back in the scrap bins.

Here are some photos of my machine quilting, which I do on my 10 year old Brother 1500. I started with the standard stitch in the ditch for the blocks, and then some swirls in the border. All the thread was Aurifil and the quilting was so much fun...not a single thread break and only one slight tension problem when I went too fast around the swirls!
I am going to my guild UFO meeting today and am so happy to have a completed UFO for show and share! Hope I get home safely before the big snow storm arrives!
Check out Judy's blog to see other UFO finishes for January.