Aiming for Accuracy Sections 1-4

About the time I was finishing the Beginner's Quilt along (which Mishka had actually posted last year). She started a second Qal called Aiming for Accuracy. These are the blocks for that Qal which is in progress currently. She posts a section of the quilt along with instructions and fabulous tutorials each week on Thursday-ish. These are the first/largest sections. The Aiming for Accuracy Quilt along will be going until October 2013. Come join in.

Beginner's Quilt along

When I discovered the Farmer's Wife quilt it haunted me as a project I really wanted to do. I also knew I didn't have the skill for such a large and demanding piece. So I surfed around the net and found a Beginner's Quilt Along at Quilting Gallery (which not only has a fun blog but also a terrific learning center). It was exactly what I needed to learn the jargon and get to know my new machine. I highly recommend this Quilt along for anyone new to the game. Mishka's tutorials and instruction are fabulous.I made this quilt top under her guidance. It's nothing fancy, but pretty alright for a first timer.

And, YES, there is a basketball hoop in my craft room AND my design wall is crammed into a corner AND it's too small for an entire quilt. Ya do whacha gotta do.

The Farmer's Wife Quilt

This Farmer's Wife quilt kit is also from American Quilting. The quilt has a fun history which I suggest you read about here. The Farmer's Wife is the quilt that made me want to make a quilt. I kept seeing quilts and blocks on Pinterest labeled Farmer's Wife. I researched it and loved the concept and decided that would be the mother of all quilts for me at this level of experience. It has 111 unique blocks, each 6 inches when finished and makes a queen size quilt in the end.

It was that research that led me to discover that American Quilting was doing a block of the month Farmer's Wife in modern colors. I was in love! Unfortunately, the BOM had started in January 2013 and runs until November. It was now July and the monthly kits have 12 blocks each. But again I begged, and again the nice ladies at AQ scrounged around and  found me the six back kits and let me join. I have finished 12 blocks  in the week since then. Today is the pick-up date for kit  #7. I'm only about 60 blocks behind. No pressure.

Quilting Progress: ABC - Quilt With Me

I'm making good progress on some of my long term quilt projects. I'll share them over the next few days.

This one is a Block of the Month kit I got at American Quilting. The quilt is called ABC - Quilt With Me. It was last year's BoM so the quilt along ended in June 2013. Having only started this mad obsession a few weeks earlier, I had to beg to buy the kit. Follow the link to check out the finished product on the American Quilting blog.

I knew I had to make this quilt the first time I laid eyes on it. It is the perfect gift for my mother. She has been a quilter all her life and also taught 1st grade for 35 years.The quilt is lap size but small enough that she can hang it as a wall quilt. I love it! I've had a couple of peeps say they don't like the alphabet letters on it. But I explain that quilt block patterns have names. Each block's name begins with the letter of the alpha next to it. For example the A is beside the block titled  Album Block, B is next to the block called Bachelors puzzle, C block is called Chimneys and Cornerstones, D is Duck and Ducklings etc. (And if you didn't go look at the original you have no idea what I'm saying.)  :-P

Rumors

The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. - Mark Twain

I haven't left the building, checked out or died. I had hoped to go back and play catch up blogger but the longer it goes the less likely that is to happen. So Ima just start fresh.

I've taken up a new hobby...can you guess what it is?