Smorgasblocks Sampler -- Blogger's Quilt Festival

I finished my Smorgasblocks Sampler a couple weeks ago and shared it here on my blog so when I decided to enter it into the Blogger's Quilt Festival (HERE), I did a new set of photographs and have included close-ups of all the blocks with links to their patterns!

The quilt is the brain child of Anneliese at Eye Candy Quilts and it began last June (HERE is the first blogpost about it!)

The sampler is made up of a collection of FREE patterns from a ten quilting blog authors.

We started with Jessica's Feathered Star -- get that pattern HERE.

The fussy cut center of that gal doing her ironing set the tone for the rest of the quilt.

Also in this picture are the Raspberry Kiss blocks from Rachel at Wooden Spoon Quilts -- you might recognize the block if you follow the campaign on Instagram to help @craftycop produce a stash of blue quilts to be given to families of fallen police officers around the country.  Rachel resized the block just for that purpose!!  The original pattern is HERE.

Here's two more of the patterns.  The upper ones are Spinning Pyramids by Jesse, The Art School Dropout.  She designed the pattern for Kaufman Fabrics a couple years ago to show off their wide assortment of solids and to play with values.  

The arrow is a tutorial from Carla of Grace and Favour -- had been on to-do list and now I was doing it!!  You can get to the tutorial HERE!

Sarah at No Hats Quilts provided the Scandi Windmills block -- foundation piecing and curved piecing.  I recall being a bit intimidated, but once through the first quarter section, I was okay!

Surprising to me, it's one of my favorite blocks in the quilt.

When we worked on the section below, I was really puzzled.    It's called Twizzle and was designed by Heidi at Buttons and Butterflies.  How was it going to work into the quilt? And why did I make so many mistakes while piecing it. 

Happily all the mistakes ended up being used in the border!!

It really is a great pattern, just read the instructions very carefully.

I was so excited to find Barn Bats by Elizabeth Hartman as part of the sampler!!

I had it bookmarked but you know how that goes -- lots of bookmarks, not many starts.

It's fun to make and quite clever!

It was originally a Halloween idea and you can find the pattern HERE.

Whiskers is a big block -- whimsical needs to be the mindset for this one from Anna at Six White Horses.  The pink ears redeemed it for me because the scale of the block (15") felt all wrong.

Garden Fence was perhaps the easiest block to piece in the quilt.  It was designed by Cynthia at Hyacinth Quilt Designs.  More of the 1950's laundry routine and I think that floral print is a scrap of vintage fabric that I found in my stash!

The pattern is HERE and the block itself ends at the pink but we added sashing.

Last but not least came Orange You Glad by Emily at Crazy Old Ladies!

The hand stitched buttonhole applique with some silk embroidery thread was my personal touch.

This would make a great scrappy project to carry around for a bit of hand-stitching now and then!

The instructions for making this section are right HERE.

It was a fun project -- I discovered new designers and made a great quilt in the process. 

I worked completely out of my stash and used up all the mistakes and cutting leftovers for the free form borders!

Thanks for coming over from the Blogger's Quilt Festival to see it close up and read about it.  Perhaps you found some new patterns to try out!

It's our first weekend of Fall here in Northeast Ohio and I'm going to spend it birding!!

Hope you have fine weather and good times, too!!

Mary

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Here's my first entry for this year's Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side!
Click HERE to see all the entries -- so much inspiration!

The Lichen Tree is my favorite finish for 2017!!

This is the wall outside my studio where it is currently hanging.

I love how the color of the wall impacts the look of the quilt.

It's an original quilt (no, there won't be a pattern for it).

I love that it's so different from my typical style.

I love that I was able to translate a stalled old project into this updated art piece.

I love the blend of contemporary fabric with fabric from my (oldish) stash.

I love that it won a cash prize early in the summer!

I enjoyed experimenting with quilting as an integral part of the overall design.

 I'm not sure this scribbly section brings a patch of lichen on a tree trunk to anyone's mind, but I know what it means! 

The density of the quilting was unfamiliar territory for me. 

It's a lot more work but worth it in the end!! 

Using a facing for an edge finish created the most anxiety for me and while I'm happy with the result, I'm not so sure I'd do it again.  I'm very good at binding!!

Thanks for visiting and looking at my quilt!

Looking forward to meeting some more quilters through this year's festival!

Mary

One more Blogger's Quilt Festival entry!

This is the cover quilt for my pattern Dresden Star.

I designed it to introduce my set-in piecing workshop students to a block found in a vintage quilt by local shop owner, Karen at The Little Red Quilt House in Medina, Ohio.

This version measures 44" by 48".

I used a layer cake of 10" squares called Good Karma from Moda designer, Stephanie Ryan plus a yard and a half of white background fabric.

I love this picture of it taken in February with a little snow on the ground!

The decision to use white as the main borders had more to do with "not enough fabric" than anything else, but I think the two white borders do a great job of setting off the scrappy second border.

The quilt has a crisp look that I love! 

The original test block I did on the fly for this block is in the center of this piece.

(Read my previous posts about experimenting with this block by searching for "Dresden star".)

 I ran another test of the piecing process as part of a Kaffe Fassett mini swap on Instagram.

The pattern for the quilt is available in my Etsy Shop HERE. 

If you indulge in it, I urge you to adapt the block to your own ideas and settings!!

It's fun!!

Thanks for considering my entry in the Original Designs category at the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Mary Huey

Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry #2

Dream Birds

51" by 66"

Using a blocklotto.com pattern for the birds and with help from the ladies of Stash Bee Hive #7 during 2015, I assembled this funky quilt finishing it in July, 2016. 

It's just for fun -- no idea how I'll ever use it.

The extra blocks have been crafted into these cute drawstring backpacks for my grands!!

Love the bird block -- go HERE for the pattern!

Thanks for checking out my entry!

And don't forget to check out all the other entries at the Blogger's Quilt Festival this coming week!

Mary Huey

10/3/2016 -- Thanks for making this quilt one of the top ten vote getters in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!!

The Bug Hut is FINISHED!!

It's been almost a year and a half since I showed this quilt top from a round robin group -- pieced, embellished and ready to quilt!  You can see my original post HERE.

Over the weekend, I finished the binding and added a casing -- now to figure out where to hang it!

While it does look great out in the middle of the yard, it will need to come inside!
And happily, it's finished just in time to enter into the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side -- entering it into the Small Quilts Category!!

I've been hand quilting it with big stitch in pearl cotton all summer.  Just having fun and being spontaneous on how to quilt each section.  I started in the center with the "hut" and did more embroidery than big stitch. 

Experimenting with ideas, not worrying about what it looks like on the back. 

Then I moved through the six mini-huts surrounding the center.  It's easier to see the outlining I did from the back.

These big "polka dots" seemed perfect for the sashing frame around the center hut.

I got a little carried away with this big bug and jazzed up his wings with embroidery.

My favorite blocks in this quilt are the bees -- the quilting I added defined the wings and made the strips stand out more.

The quilting I added to the fans make them look more like sunbursts -- bugs love sunshine!!

Have you noticed you rarely see pollinators on cloudy days?

Inspired by the spiders who live by my backdoor every summer, I captured the four bugs in the corners of the outer borders in webs.

I also used webs to fill the blank area in the upper and lower borders. 

This is the label that traveled around with the quilt as it was being constructed -- nice to have it incorporated right into the backing!

I love that I was able to finish this quilt.  It will be a "summer" quilt in one of the groups that I rotate on the walls in my home. 

There is so much about this quilt that makes me smile, I know I'll always enjoy looking at it!

And it makes the third finish for the third quarter from my 2016 Finish Along goals!!

You can explore the growing group of third quarter finishes HERE and explore the tutorials!

Yea!!

The Bug Hut

42" by 48"

My Round Robin quilt from a group organized by Bea at http://www.beaquilter.com/

Mary

Be sure to click through to the Blogger's Quilt Festival next week to drool over lots of great quilts and vote for your favorites!!