BOMs Away - Eternal Bloom Rosebuds

At long last, the Eternal Bloom rosebuds are finished! They really shouldn’t have taken five months, but…that’s pretty much the story with this Block of the Month quilt. Somehow, despite starting it a decade ago, I will probably still be working nearly up to the deadline for Birmingham’s QuiltFest 2026.

I don’t actually think this is all the rosebuds - there’s supposed to be twelve single rosebuds total in the borders, plus some with the bigger flowers maybe? But it’s all the rosebuds using all the fabrics that are in the main blocks. Minus the blue because I already did those. So really, it’s nothing significant!

But, since I finished the last blocks so quickly, I peeked ahead and started writing down the black parts needed for the next blocks. Cutting the black is the hardest part (and hurts my eyes!) so if I can tackle one bit every day or two in preparation for next month, that would help a good bit.

The deets

Pattern: Pam Bono’s Out of the Darkness / Eternal Bloom / A New Beginning - out of print and extremely hard to find (believe me, I tried)

Fabric: Block of the Month kits from a quilt shop that closed in 2015

BOMS AWAY FOR EVERYONE

BOMs Away Monday is currently being hosted on Facebook - please join and post your block of the months in the group!

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Quilty Fun Row Along - A Finished Quilt

A year long project, all finished up! This row quilt was started in March 2024 - not coincidentally, National Sewing Month - and I actually managed to finish it for the last Friday of March 2025! (Okay, so I had a deadline…)

THE METHOD

Isn’t it pretty!? It’s the Quilty Fun Row Along with the Fat Quarter Shop, from Lori Holt’s book of the same name. I’m pretty sure this was Lori Holt’s first book? Or near the beginning. The rows were a beginning quilting class that she taught to friends, then the internets, then complied into a lovely book.

This was the tenth anniversary of the book and a row along sew along to celebrate! The book is essentially thirteen blocks, the row along quilt, and then another ten projects using the various blocks! (I almost made the mittens into a table runner because everything else felt very spring-y, but I decided they could be gardening gloves. Also I didn’t want to do the math to remove a row.)

You’ll probably notice that my borders are much simpler than the book borders. The rows are made longer and cut to size, so I was able to force them into submission for the width of the quilt with heavy pinning. However, I lost almost 2” of the length in the assembly process, and…did I mention I didn’t want to do quilt math?

With the two borders I did use, I was able to force the length into square submission, so I decided to just leave it there and be glad that it was square. (Well, rectangular, really.) I left the green border wide in case I wanted to cut it into a scallop to mimic the pattern’s borders, but…clearly I did not.

THE QUILTING

The quilting was a fun decision, actually! I knew I wanted something basic, because there’s a lot going on in a sampler quilt already. I found this floral meander, and didn’t really like it when I popped it into Patricia’s quilting designer.

But then I changed it from straight row repeats to alternating repeats (so the even rows are offset from the odd rows) and it turns out, that’s the PERFECT spacing. It changed it from a blah meander to just the right amount of florals. So that’s going on my quilting page.

THE FABRIC

I used Echo Park Paper Co’s layer cakes from three different lines - Farmhouse Summer, A Day In The Life, and Flower Garden - for the blocks. When I started, Echo Park was a designer with Riley Blake. They are now transitioning to Andover Fabrics, so there’s very little left of these fabric lines, and once it’s gone, it’s gone!

BUT! If you like these fabrics, I have a ton of layer cake squares leftover. (I over-bought for the scrappiness, and I barely used the white background pieces!) I will be selecting 42 of the remaining squares - no repeats, for a unique Echo Park floral layer cake - and having a giveaway for my newsletter readers. So, you know, be a newsletter reader.

My background fabric is Texture in Cream by Sandy Gervais, the red border and binding is Sparkler Marsala, and the green border is Dapple Dots Asparagus. (Is there a recipe for asparagus in marsala and cream? Well, yes, there actually is!)

If you don’t want to pick your own fabric, there are still kits available from the Fat Quarter Shop. Featuring Lori Holt’s fabric, obviously!

My backing is less exciting. As I’m sure you have noticed, Joann’s is closing. Back in February, we found out that gift cards had to be used by the end of the month, so I made a list of the projects I was going to finish soon and needed backings. This was a wide back blue flannel that pretty much worked and used up the gift cards I had left.

64x80”

(and no the quilt swirl doesn’t work)

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BOMs Away - Quilty Row Along

It’s a bonus Monday month! Which means I could push Pam Bono off a week, and work on the Row Along. Anything that lets me push poor Pam Bono off for a week! (Actually, the Row Along is due to be finished this week, which means it…actually needs to be finished.)

I should have been doing this as we went along, but it was easier to take a picture of loose blocks, and then tuck the blocks back into the box for Future Kate. And now I’m Future Kate and all those blocks need to be sewn into rows! Eek!

The rows are going well, though - I’m not pre-planning or over-thinking anything. Just sewing things together and trying to alternate colors and tones a bit.

In between putting the rows together, I’ve been sewing the rows that I missed (or messed up.)

I’m down to just a few more twinkle stars and chubby chevrons…and the fall leaves. Ugh - I don’t want to redo all those. That’s definitely a problem for Future Kate…which is to say, Tomorrow Kate.

My cutting table is a mess - I’ll be glad to finish this all up and clean up! I still have a ton of layer cake squares left, so those will be a giveaway in the newsletter. And I’ll probably still have enough leftover for a baby quilt!

MY DEETS

BOMS AWAY FOR EVERYONE

BOMs Away Monday is currently being hosted on Facebook - please join and post your block of the months in the group!

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Traverse - A Finished Quilt of Valor

Monday’s strip sets and blocks have become Friday’s Quilt of Valor! And I know we’re not supposed to have favorites and all - but it’s not like the other quilts have feelings that I’m insulting when I say this one is my favorite. And it’s not just me - it’s listed as the second most popular on the Connecting Threads QOVF kits.

THE TRAVERSE KIT

My husband picked this one out because it was “darker” - but I think it’s the light blue that really makes it pop. It’s one of those quilts where when you’re doing the strip piecing, it’s fairly dull looking - but when you put it up on the design wall, it’s WOW. That REALLY works!

It’s the Traverse kit, done in Connecting Threads basics. The pattern is by Needle in a Hayes Stack. (Almost all of the CT/QOVF kits are her patterns. Good thing she’s a good pattern writer!)

I especially like the different shades in the setting triangles. It gives it another extra little something. (And a little extra scrap colors!) I wonder if I could pull off swapping the blues and reds? Something to ponder when it’s time to plan the next CT/QOVF kit.

THE FABRIC

The top is CT True Colors basics - I had my husband make a spreadsheet of the different RWB basics I have on hand now, and they really like throwing Weathered Tonal Navy in these kits. I’m going to be able to make a whole Weathered Tonal Navy quilt by the end of this ambassadorship!

In fact, the kit/pattern called for a wide navy border, but it was already at my favorite QOVF size, so I skipped that step and ended up with even more leftover navy. (In retrospect, I should have done a thin border, because some most of my points are hidden in the binding. Or maybe made the setting triangles a bit bigger so the top floats more.)

The binding was supposed to be the white fabric, which…okay, does anyone actually want to use white as their binding? Anyway, I had the excess navy, I used the excess navy.

The backing is my perpetual favorite, Trail of Stars in Ivory.

THE QUILTING

The quilting is Three Tours Wavy Star by Joyce Lundrigan. I thought it needed something swishy to offset the geometric design. And stars, obviously - since there’s no stars in the actual design! (Not that stars are a QOVF requirement, they’re just nice to have.)

60x80”

You can now find the Connecting Threads/Quilts of Valor kits on the bottom of my QOVF page, if you want to see the previous kits.

Also of note: 10% of the sales from their QOVF kits go to QOVF National, and you can get an extra 15% off with the code ACTKATIEMAE.

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