Making Courthouse Steps Blocks

For several days, I've been occupied with making tiny Courthouse Steps blocks.  These blocks finish at 4.5" square, with each "step" a half inch wide. There are 17 pieces in each block, so lots of opportunities for things to go wonky.  I'm taking my time in an effort to piece accurately.  So far, so good, and I've only had to "un-sew" a couple of times. 

The fabric is from a jelly roll I've had in my stash for a few years.  It is batik fabric is shades of blue, green, and turquoise, with a little purple thrown in.  The center of each block is solid black (Kona black).

More on my plan for these little blocks in my next post.

Pillow Shams Inspired By A Table Runner

About 10 years ago, I made pillow shams for our bed out of some floral fabric that pretty much coordinated with all of the quilts I've made for the bed.  But after 10 years of washing and sun exposure, they were worn out.  The fabric had weakened in some areas so much that it was torn and disintegrating.  So new shams were in order. 

I set about making them, with my design inspired by this table runner pattern by "Quilted Cuties" called Hopscotch. The table runner is 16" by 36" and made out of mini charm squares and some background fabric.  I made some modifications to get pillow shams that measure 20" by 26" and used fabric from stash, cut into 2.5" squares.

Here's the end result...

...and the pair of shams on the bed with the quilt I was trying to coordinate with.  I made this quilt about 15 years ago and it's the post-Christmas quilt in the rotation so usually in use roughly January-March. 

This quilt is a "blended" design that used a lot of different fabrics, all in shades of muted pink, rose, green, and pale yellow.  I found two of the prints (the green floral in the center and pink next to it) still in my stash (I must have purchased them at least 15 years ago!) and added a couple of yellow florals that are newer but mix with those in the original quilt very well.  The background is a tiny yellow floral on ivory.

I did the quilting myself, on my domestic machine with the walking foot, quilting in the ditch for a  cross-hatch effect.  It was not difficult as there wasn't the bulk of a regular quilt to wrestle with, and I am pleased with the result.  If you look closely, you can see where my stitching leaped out of the ditch in a few places but I think it turned out quite well. 

These shams don't coordinate well with the other quilts I use on this bed so I will have to come up with at least one more set.  I have some ideas but nothing that has "jelled" yet.  While I mull that over, I'm turning to another small project. 

Quilted, Bound, and Delivered!

If you have a very good memory, you will recall that my last post was about making lots of 4" blue stars for a quilt designed by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts, called Aurora.

It's a finish, quilted, bound, and delivered to my mom!

Karen Thompson did the quilting, using a pantograph design that fills in the open spaces nicely.

I don't have a lot of blue in my fabric stash so bought some fat quarters and half yards for the stars.  But I did have both background fabrics, the blue backing fabric, and the beige and cream check for the binding on hand.  That made this quilt a pretty good stash buster. 

Making the small stars is the hardest part (and they are easy enough if you can handle small pieces and repetitive sewing), then it goes together very quickly with the large background pieces (8" squares).

Here's the quilt in its new home.  My mother moved last summer, downsizing to an apartment in a senior living development.  She kept her living room furniture, mostly blue plus this floral couch.  But the  throw quilts I'd made her before were for the family room, shades of green.  So it was time for a new quilt for the new home.  We're both pleased with how it looks.

Needless to say, I already have a new quilt project in the works!