Every once in a while, you find a block that is easy and beautiful. Where did it come from? Is it an old block that just came to light? My new favorite block was found on Laura Kate’s blog Daily Fiber. Tracing it back, it was on Quilting Gail’s blog. Quilting Gail said that Barbara G. Harper was the designer. All three sites are worth a look. There is no name for the block that I could see so I named it the Baby Potato Chip block. That block came from Lea Louise. The Baby Potato Chip is one round of the Potato Chip Block with modifications. Inspiration comes from others that are far away and yet are a sisterhood of quilters.

I wanted to make a purple quilt. The Baby Potato Chip would be perfect. It could be made in eight units. I gathered eight different fabrics. six are purple and the other two are blue. There are 64 blocks, so each fabric was used for the center eight times. The second color was different than the center.

This is the Baby Potato Chip block. The center is 4 1/2″ by 4 1/2″. The surrounding rows are 2 1/2″ wide.

The purples, blues and black are dark so it needed a very light fabric for the sashing. I chose a white on white. Each block had a different orientation. They were sewn together in units of four with the colored pieces of the block toward the center.

The units of four were sewn together in units of four which made 1/4 of the quilt.

A 4 1/2″ black border was added to finish the quilt. It is 90″ by 90″ A very big quilt but could be made smaller by eliminating a row of four horizontally and vertically.

There is another version of a quilt made with this block in the above blogs. It is on the diagonal. At some time, I will make it. This block is so easy and fun to make. I’m sure that I’ll have another new favorite block in the future.

There are decisions to be made. Should I make another Baby Potato Chip block quilt. Should I quilt one of the community quilts. Should I finish a ufo top. I did organize the mile a minute basket the other night. There’s lots of ideas in there. This is where I need to make a list and see which one comes to the top.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I need some placemats. The mini guild that meets at my house has grown to seven and I don’t have that many placemats that are the same. I need to make at least eight.

I had been cutting my leftover scraps into 2 1/2 inch by 4 1/2-inch pieces. They were for a future Potato Chip quilt. I had enough to make the placemats with the potato chip block.

Years ago, Woman’s Day magazine had a log cabin quilt pattern that sewed a seam and flipped the fabric over. The sewing was done on a batting and backing. It quilted the block as you sewed the logs. The potato chip block is sewn like a log cabin, and I thought that it could be made the same way.

I pressed the three pieces in half horizontally and vertically to make sure it was centered. The backing is at least 2 1/2 inches larger on all sides than the batting.

Rectangles were added to the top and bottom. they were pressed away from the center.

Two rectangles were sewn end to end and then sewn to both sides of the piece. Then they were flipped and pressed.

The first row was light fabrics. The next row was darker fabrics. Two rectangles were sewn end to end and then sewn to the top and bottom of the piece. They were sewn, flipped and pressed.

The next row was another dark row. Three rectangles were sewn end to end. The strip was sewn to both sides of the piece, flipped and pressed.

Another Three strips were sewn together end to end and sewn on the top and bottom, flipped and pressed.

The backing was trimmed to 2 inches all around. It was pressed to the front. One inch was pressed under. The corners were mitered. Then it was topstitched to make a binding. The yellow line is the light hitting the binding, not a flange. That might be a possibility if I make more.

Now I have eight coordinating placemats.

The Trip Around The World is finished.

It took one hour to cut the batting and backing. Thirty minutes to place it on the basting frame. Six hours to baste. I was watching TV while basting so it probably would have been less time if I didn’t look up from time to time. Seven hours to quilt. I quilted with an even foot. Forty-five minutes to trim the edges. One hour to cut and sew the binding. Then another four hours to tack down the binding. Again, while watching TV. Adding in the ten- and one-half hours before, it makes a total of thirty hours and forty-five minutes. It was a simple quilt.

I like an easy quilt that looks complicated.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

One of the questions that is asked when a quilt is finished is How long did it take you to finish it. When you are working on multiple quilts at a time, there is no answer to that. You just enjoy the process and don’t think of the time. I thought that I would make a quilt and time myself while making it.

I wanted an old-time pattern that was easy but looked complicated. A Trip Around The World was chosen.

The colors were chosen from the border fabric. It took me one hour to choose the fabrics and set them in order.

Strips were cut from the fabric. That also took one hour. Some colors were deleted ane replaced at this time.

The sewing took eight hours. The strips were sewn into a tube.

All seams were pressed to the odd number strips. Then the strips were cut.

When the cut strips were sewn back together, they moved up one block. Therefore, it was easy to finger press rather than pin each seam. The seams went in opposite directions.

The two borders were added. It took 1/2 hour to measure and cut the backing. and batting. So far, the time for making the quilt is 10 1/2 hours. I’ll keep track of how long it takes to package and quilt and let you know the total time in another blog.

There is a lot of fabric left over along with a set of strips. I have a plan for making another quilt with it. But it will have to be after I finish quilting this one. There is a time frame as it has been entered in the Guild quilt show. I have to change I think I can to I know I can.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Granddaughters are wonderful and we will do anything for them. One of my friends made a quilt for her granddaughter in 2000. Her granddaughter brought it back recently and asked her to mend it. The quilt top was shredded. It was beyond repair. The grandmother offered to make a new quilt, but the granddaughter wanted her old quilt. It meant a lot to her. A new quilt would just not do.

I was asked to help repair it. My first thought was that it was so far beyond help and there was nothing that could be done with it.

All of it was worn and tattered, including the binding. The back and the borders weren’t too bad. They were just worn and faded.

The quilt had fifteen log cabin blocks. I decided to make a new center and sew it on top of the old quilt. This is the old block

This is the new block.

It was fun finding fabrics that looked like the old ones. They are similar and look as bright as the old ones would have been when the quilt was new.

The batting had to be patched in places. I cut off the old binding and added new to match the center of the quilt. Many hours later, the quilt is finished.

This quilt was worth saving. The granddaughter will cherish the quilt that her grandmother made.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

It is so good to finish a project. Even part of a project. Eight of the community quits are finished. The labels are on. They are ready to go out into the community.

There are two remaining in this batch of ufos to finish. They need quilting and binding. All these quits were made from leftover blocks and other partially made projects. The bin of leftovers is still just as full as when I began. More quilts from that are for another day.

There was a stack of craft boxes under the sewing table. They have been under there for a longtime.

This is my next project. I will take each box and finish what is inside. As I finish the project, I’ll put another ufo into the box and put it on the bottom of the pile. That way, all the ufos will eventually be finished in an organized manner.

Box #1 was empty. This year’s SAHRR is in the box now. I had finished three rounds when I had to stop sewing for a while. All the remaining rows are planned, and it will be finished when that box comes to the top again.

Box #2 is full of rolled stabilizers. I do have a drawer of stabilizers that is full. Some day when I have a little time, I’ll organize the drawer, add what is in the box and then put another ufo into the box to finish.

Box #3 was full of scraps of leftover Kaffee Facett fabric. I cut all the pieces into 4 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ pieces and made a potato chip quilt. Lea Louise has the pattern for the potato chip quilt. It is the easiest and fastest quilt to make. All the pieces are the same size and there is no seam matching.

Every last scrap was used. I’m going to quilt it with variegated thread. Most of the colors in the quilt are in this thread. The thread is in the bobbin.

The quilt is so busy, the quilting won’t show. I’m going to free motion quilt it upside down with a piece of fabric that I purchased from Connecting Threads

I’ll just follow the lines. I don’t have to wonder where I’ll go next. I’ll have to find another ufo to go into box #3.

Box #4 is a Cynthia English paper pieced project. Some of the pieces are very small. It takes a lot of concentration when working on this one. I’ll work on fifteen-minute increments to finish it. This ufo is over twenty years old.

Box #5 was a surprise. I had forgotten that I won a drawing of bird house blocks at the Maine Guild. The box is full of bird house blocks and thread painted birds. That will be fun when that box comes to the top.

It was good to step back for a while and not be able to sew. I found so many unfinished projects. I was able to organize drawers, bins and boxes. Of course, looking at the fabric, I have many new quilts planned in my head. I found rulers that I had to have and have never used.

The Illusion quilt has come back from the longarm quilter. This is a Missouri Star Quilt Company pattern. Jennie has a great YouTube video to show how to make it. It may look difficult to make but is actually very easy.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

It’s been a long time since I posted. Actually, it’s been a long time since I went into the sewing room to sew, so there was nothing to post. In January and early February, I had cataract surgery for both eyes. It should have been simple, in and out and back to sewing, but I will still need glasses due to a problem. I’ve had to wait until the swelling went down and the eyes were completely healed to be fitted for the glasses. In the meantime, my vision is blurry. I have not been able to drive so have had to rely on my good friends and my family to take me where I wanted to go. The computer is difficult to see. Lots of other little annoyances. My magnifying glass was the best thing for reading and checking email on the phone. I am going this week to order the glasses and things will be back to normal by next week. I am so fortunate that this is just temporary

Dear Jane, the Hexagon Star and the SAHRR are all in a time out.

In the meantime, I found things to do that didn’t require good vision. My scraps are organized. Most all the boxes in the sewing room have been checked. I’ve found fabric that I forgot I had, patterns that I had to have and never made, even a Studio 180 ruler still in the plastic cover. I have more ideas in my head,

I fuse basted several quilt tops, Then I decided to quilt one, I chose to quilt in a wavy line. The stitch length was lengthened, and the width was narrowed. I could see the little red mark in the middle of the presser Foor and the corners of the blocks. I sewed and aimed the red mark towards the corners. Sometimes the stitching line hit the corner and sometimes it went to one side or the other. It was close enough to look like I planned it that way. I’ll sew the binding on when I can see to make it properly.

Last week I got a little bolder. I found a pattern that was an Irish Chain and Stars. Mr. Seam ripper and I became good friends, but I finished the top. I could line up the first and last stitches, but sometimes the sides didn’t line up.

Finished is better than perfect.

I was able to sew three rounds of the SAHRR before I had to put it away, The clues are all published so I know what want to do when I can go back to sewing it. Several of the quilt tops that I basted were SAHRRs from previous years.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The Illusion quilt top is finished. The sewing was very easy. It took longer than expected as there were 36 blocks.

Half square triangles were sewn into pinwheels.

After pressing, the blocks were cut two inches from the center seam on all four sides.

The pieces were rearranged as in the bottom block and sewn to make the top right block.

The finished block looks nothing like the pinwheel.

The blocks are twisted and turned to complete the quilt top. The outside border was supposed to be a solid piece of fabric, but I used scraps for this quilt, and didn’t have the yardage. I had enough scraps to make a rail fence border.

The pattern is from a YouTube video from Missouri Star Quilt Company. On the YouTube video, Jennie used a layer cake with many colors. Her quilt was beautiful. If I was to make it again, I would not use the pastel colors and would only use the darker shades.

The 2025 SAHRR (Stay At Home Round Robin) has started. I have chosen the center block. There are a lot or orphan block in the bin. It came down to two basket blocks and I chose the pastel block. For some reason, it is already hand quilted. I’ll have to work around that. The first row is a block that starts with the first letter of your first name. Fortunately, there are a lot of blocks that start with B. I have a plan in mind and will start it today.

While looking in the orphan bin I found several unfinished projects that I didn’t sew and really don’t like. I don’t know where they came from. I’ve given myself permission to put then into the mile a minute basket or disposed of them in another way. The original sewed probably didn’t like them either,

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The year is coming to a close. I didn’t complete what I had planned to do, but I’m happy with what I did. I’m fortunate to be back to quilting even though it’s slow going. My goal (not a resolution) for this year is to complete as many ufos as I can and start a few new ones.

I’ve finished a quilt that I started in a class with Kimberly Einmo in Vermont several years ago. It kept coming to the top of the pile so I thought that I should finish it. After it was quilted, I liked it much better. It is going to one of my daughters.

The Marble Mystery Quilt is up to date. New instructions should come soon. This month was easy. Just some cutting and a few combining of pieces already made.

The large nine blocks were cut on quarters. This is a great technique for four corners.

Flying geese were added to squares.

One of my granddaughters favorite color is blue so she will get this quilt. It’s much more enjoyable to make a quilt when you know that it already has a home.

The Illusion quilt is coming along also. The 36 ten-inch squares have been cut and matched with the background fabric.

After sewing around all four sides, the squares were cut on the diagonal.

After all of the half square triangles were sewn, they were made into a pinwheel

There is a lot more cutting, sewing and pressing. It looked so easy and fast on YouTube. Of course, Jennie Doane only made one block. All the other bolcis were made off Camera. Making these two quilts will be my day job. My night job is appliqueing the Hexagon star onto the background. Dear Jane is in a time out for a while until I can finish the Hexagon Star.

Have a great day and happy quilting. .

Does it matter if deadlines are met? Especially self-made deadlines. I have finished only one of my self-made deadlines since September and the world is still turning. The last three deadlines for the Dear Jane quilt have not been made, but some progress has been made and there is hope for her. Eventually Jane will be finished. The Hexagon Star has been sitting in a basket for a month. No sewing at all so it has no deadlines.

My only deadline that was made was to finish all the small pieces that I wanted for the community craft fair. Everything is organized and ready to go. The fair will be tomorrow, Then I will be able to get back to quilting Jane and the Hexagon Star.

I missed the deadline for the Marble Mystery block of the month. I did finish it early in November just before the November instructions came out. I like my colors. This month we’re making square in a square. It will be first on my to-do list so I will meet the deadline.

Last month, I went to the Clueless Quilters quilt show in Stetson, Maine. It was an awesome show. I belong to the guild although I don’t live in Maine anymore. Some of my quilts were in the show. The show is held in the Stetson Meeting house.

View from the balcony.

My daughter’s breast cancer quilt

View from the front

Small and miniature quilts

This row held three of my quilts. Miss Molly’s Bad Day was a memorial to her. Sadly, I lost my quality control inspector early this summer. She loved to inspect all my quilts.

Viewers Choice It is a one block wonder quilt.

The binding is sewn on two quilts. One was quilted by my longarm quilter, and the other was quilted by me. There are a lot more finished quilts to quilt. The question is do I quilt them or make a new top that is rolling around in my head. Deadlines do not apply.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I wasn’t going to start another quilt until I had finished a few ufos. But the name of this one intrigued me. It is the Marble mystery quilt. The instructions come once a month on the first Thursday, so I had most of the month to finish the parts that I needed to do.

The first month was choosing the fabrics. I had three piles out and auditioned them. This pile won.

The second month was cutting instructions. In the downloads are labels that tell which fabric, the size and number of pieces. I keep each set of cut fabric in a baggie.

The third month is sewing some of the pieces together. It’s easy when the fabric is already precut, marked and ready to sew.

This month called for sewing two different nine patches.

Four of the above colors and five of the below colors.

The instructions are excellent. The seam pressing is shown by arrows.

Also, this month we made 36 flying geese.

They were made four at a time so didn’t take long. I’m looking forward to the fourth month.

In the meantime, I’m working on the border triangles of Dear Jane. It is slow work as all the sewing is hand sewing at this point. The top row is almost finished.

There are three community quilts that are basted and ready to be quilted. This is taking longer than expected as I have a new, great sewing machine to quilt with. It does much more than my last machine and will be wonderful when I learn where the buttons are and how to use all the new features. Fortunately, there is a lady om Utube who explains the manual one step at a time. She is my new best friend.

Have a great day and happy quilting.