Jack's Chain - A Finished Quilt

So last week’s finish sent me off on a rabbit hole, which leads us to this week’s finish! I backed last week’s Quilt of Valor in a red wide back that I know I originally bought for my Jack’s Chain quilt, but when I got home from the sale, I remembered that I wanted to bind the Chain in the same red dot as the triangles, and it did not go with the red backing.

So when writing about the red backing, I went looking for my Jack’s Chain post to see when I last worked on that. Friends, it was 2019. There’s been, like, a WHOLE LOT OF STUFF since then. And the dang quilt top was finished! And it didn’t even need a new back, because I bought that some time in the last, um, two years or so?

So I made the backing, loaded it up on Patricia (for goodness sake, Patricia wasn’t even computerized when I finished this top!), and briefly considered some fancy quilting in the hexagons/triangles/nine patches. And then I remembered that my points are, hmmmm, something we don’t wish to draw attention to. So a nice all-over Citrine was perfect!

The pattern is Jack’s Chain Improved by Quilt Design NW - the original quilt has loads of Y-seams, which, ick, no thanks. But she came up with a clever way to make it with setting triangles and it’s totes easy and perfect. Well, if you do your points right. Stop looking at mine.

And just as promised, I bound it in the same red as the triangles. I bought that red in South Korea when we were there picking up the younger minion. Which was 2014. Yuuuuuup, this one marinated a while.

The backing is Fall Frolic plaid from Kaye England, and I have to assume Past Kate said every quilt shop’s three favorite words (“finish the bolt”) because I had 7.25 yards for this 60” quilt. Expect to see it again, there’s enough for another lap quilt. And because I matched the back seam pretty darn well!

Despite the cruddy points, I adore this quilt. Pretty much every nine patch is my favorite scraps. That pink on the bottom right? The apron I made my niece when she was a toddler. The blue-green swirls on the left? The backing of Lori’s quilt. The yellow to the left of Lori’s was used in Because Science. The purple in the top center were in the Spokane Lilac Day parade quilts. So many memories in one quilt!

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Double Disappearing Nine Patch - a Finished Quilt

So last week was Veteran’s Day, so naturally I was out doing alllllllll the Quilts of Valor things. I did five group presentations and two private presentations, for a total of 30 quilts! Some quilts were supplied by the guilds and some came from my basement stash. Which means - it’s time to restock my basement!

I got an email asking me to present at the state DAV meeting in Tuscaloosa in January, and one of the presentations is to a woman vet. Which made me think of this quilt top that I finished over the summer - it’s got a good bit of floral elements, and I don’t get a ton of female nominations. So I grabbed my top and a nice red wide back, and had Patricia the Longarm get to work!

Okay, the fabric is sooooooo busy that you can barely see the quilting, but that’s okay - it’s not my favorite design. There was more back-tracking than I care to do. I should really mark my favorites, I know I have a swishy star from Urban Elementz that I love. And Patricia literally has a feature to mark favorites!

The pattern is a disappearing nine patch, doubled. For the first D9P, I used charm packs from Connecting Threads (I bought them in Oklahoma which means they’re at least four years old at this point! But Connecting Threads always has a lovely Americana fabric line.)

After the blocks were sliced apart, I measured the quarters, then cut the equivalent out of fat quarters. Made the nine patch again with the already-disappeared blocks in the corners, sliced them up again, and voila! Double disappeared!

I kept the reds consistent as the centers to give it some cohesion. It’s pretty chaotic but I think it worked!

The backing is a red wide back that I bought to go on the back of my Jack’s Chain, then decided I didn’t like it with the reds on the front. Luckily red (and blue and white!) can be easily repurposed in my basement! I also used it as binding.

The quilting design looks way better on the back. Which is kind of the point of using a blue thread!

(Also, when grabbing my link, I discovered that my poor Jack’s Chain top was finished in 2019 and still hasn’t been quilted. I even have a new backing that I love! Oof. Guess I have weekend quilting plans.)

58x76”

And now I have to assemble a Split Star with blocks from the Tuscaloosa guild before January for my second DAV quilt!

Summer Breeze Garden - a Finished Quilt

Woohoo! It’s a finish that took so long, that I’m actually a day off on blogging it! It’s Veterans’ Day week and I’ve done five Quilts of Valor presentations for a total of thirty quilts in the last week. So I haven’t been keeping up with my computer time. But now! Finally! My mother’s Lazy Gardener’s quilt!

I don’t know why it’s called Lazy - that’s a loooooooot of HSTs! Of course, the pattern is reasonable and uses 7” starting squares, finishing 56x74”. My mother is not reasonable and asked for queen size using charm packs. (Love you, Mom!)

I collected as many of the older Summer Breeze charm packs that I could find - I believe there are five different sets in here. They’re paired for Moda Bella solids in yellow, blues, greens, and white/creams. And at least using charm packs eliminated most of the cutting step!

The binding is Summer Breeze 2023! I needed to get just one more iteration in there. Really, it’s a problem. Sometimes I take the theme just a bit too far. (No I don’t!)

The quilting is my first foray into mild custom quilting! The floral bits have a wishbone in Pearl thread, and the solids have a zig-zag-heart in a variegated thread. (Signature French Country - in blues, greens, and yellows.) It took three full days of work with Patricia, but it was totally worth it!

The backing is Prairie by Lori Holt from Riley Blake, that I bought last year at a Black Friday sale. Yes, that’s how long it took to finish this! I just kept adding rows…and trimming more…until basically I ran out of charm pack squares.

The binding is hand-stitched, which I rarely do. Shows how much I love my mom! It’s for her bed, so I wanted a smooth finish.

Look at that quilting texture! I did so good. (Okay, Patricia did so good.)

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Scrappy Star BOM - Sarah's Choice

Oh, look, it’s a variable star variation! I know you’ve missed these. They’re the best! This month’s scrappy star quilt block is Sarah’s Choice Star. Or you can call it Kate’s Choice. Or Your Name’s Choice. Make it yours!

Photo by Lori Barbely / Brands By Lori

I tried to find the history of Sarah’s Choice, but there’s…nothing. It’s very similar to the Eight Pointed Star (in fact, a lot of bloggers have instructions for the eight pointed, not the Sarah’s Choice variation, when they post about Sarah.) But I couldn’t find anything about who Sarah actually might have been, when the variation came about, or anything! So Sarah remains a mystery.

Although there’s lots of HSTs in the block, only the middle ones and the middle of the star points need to be pressed to nest. So there’s not an obscene amount of arrows on the diagram. It should be a fairly easy sew! Maybe use the extra time to count your remaining HSTs. Because you might need a looooooooot next month. #sorrynotsorry

THE DEETS

The pattern is here - it will be free the first month, and goes to $2 once the next one is posted. Blocks will post on the first Friday this year, not Monday. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Quilts of Valor Foundation.

• approximately 1.5 yards of red print scraps, 1 yard of blue print scraps, and 4 yards of background scraps (Don’t have enough scraps yet? Try a fat eighth bundle!)

• the Quilt in a Day triangle ruler to trim half and quarter square triangles (not necessary but highly beneficial!)

• Find the past (and future!) blocks here.

If you’re joining me in these blocks, please use #ScrappyStarQuilt on Instagram or comment here so I can find your blog!