Quilts

Field Flowers • Top Finished

March 20, 2019January 11, 2026 Elizabeth E.10 Comments

Field Flowers (quilt top only)
69″ wide by 74 1/2″ tall

I took it out in the backyard for some photos, easily done with my new quilt stand. It’s very satisfying to look at this, noticing scraps of fabric here and there that remind me of different quilts and times.

The pattern is Flowers for Emma, by Sherri McConnell, and like a true A Quilting Life pattern, it’s easy to follow and a lovely design. [You can also buy it at Fat Quarter Shop.] I’ve already tucked the completed quilt top away in the closet, awaiting its quilting (at some time in the future). I added a couple of extra rows and a couple of hexie blocks to lengthen out each row, wanting it a bit bigger.

Here’s where I started, a year ago on April 25, 2018. Nice to be at the “finished top” stage.

I’m calling this Field Flowers, as each petal of my hexie flowers is small, and contains visual treasures, like this vista of wildflowers in bloom on the hills around our city.

These are all closeups of small flowers at my feet: pops of color that delight. So instead of a “Field of Flowers,” I chose “Field Flowers,” a different connotation entirely.

Field Flowers_being photo'ed — *Backstage, after the fans have gone home.*

The spring equinox supermoon is tonight. Don’t forget to look!
(You can also see it tomorrow night, too.)

Quilts

Temperature Quilt, Etc.

March 17, 2019March 12, 2019 Elizabeth E.9 Comments

Temperature Quilt_11

I’m making progress on my temperature quilt. I don’t attach the months together until they are complete, so what’s shown is only January and February. In my garden. Of course.

Temperature Quilt_12

The Los Angeles Times published the unique factoid that our past February was the coldest it had been in 113 years. I was remembering back to last year when we had a high of 84. We get cranky in Southern California when it is that hot, that early in the year. So we’re all loving this year, of course.

Wunderground, which is owned by Weather.com, has changed up my easy-access for looking up past weather. So, after some searching, I found the Time and Date had the information I needed. Their information for March for my area is not presented in a neat little calendar, but in a scrolling graph. It works for me, though. (Don’t know why Wunderground changed everything–now it only gives forecasts, not history, and yes, I sent them an email.)

Temperature Gauge for quilt

I finished my “Temperature Gauge” block, to go on the back of the quilt. We had hail (!) the other day, and I wished I had some sort of indicator for that. But my choice is to keep it simple.

Bee Happy Week 2

I finished Week One’s blocks of the ancient-history Bee Happy Sewalong Quilt, or as I call it, Being Trapped in the Dungeon of Cute.

Sew Sassy threads.jpg

I used Sew Sassy Threads on the detail stitching on the Flower Pot. It’s a thicker thread, made by Superior Threads, and it sews really easily. Sometimes on thicker threads I like to use sashiko needles, but I this time used a regular needle with a slightly larger eye and it worked just fine. Bee Happy March 2019

Here they all are together, and yes, they are cute! Leisa made me promise that there was no deadline for getting this done (we are doing this in tandem), so I’m taking it slowly. It’s a good project for me to have as I like to have handwork at night to do while I watch Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up episodes. I live in dread that she is going to ring my doorbell and make me pile up all my fabric on my bed, then make me give away all that doesn’t spark joy, saying thank you to each fat quarter that doesn’t make my heart sing.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Dublin and Fish and Chips

I leave you with this image of my husband standing out front of a genuine Fish and Chips shop in Dublin, Ireland, when we visited last September.

May your heart sing everytime you touch fabric.

Dublin Fabric Shop — *This was right across the street from the Fish & Chips plac*e.

Home-Keeping Hearts

March 12, 2019January 11, 2026 Elizabeth E.12 Comments

Home-keeping Hearts, top only
44 1/2″ wide x 51″ tall

I finished my most recent Merrion Square variation, a grouping of houses made by friends and Gridster beemates, plus a few more from my own workshop. This would be a terrific signature quilt for an out-going president, or a friend who is moving away, with everyone signing their names on the doors.

I call it Home-keeping Hearts, taken from a verse by Longfellow:

Stay, stay at home, my heart and rest;
Home-keeping hearts are happiest,
For those that wander they know not where
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best.

Merrion Square Pattern_opquilt_illustration

To make this quilt, use the basic home unit from my Merrion Square pattern. I originally had all my beemates put the lower sidewalks/treetrunks piece on, but when I was assembling them, I could see that only the lower row needed them, so I removed the others.

I originally tried out some dark 4″ borders, you know–to frame the piece, but when I held up the yellow-green floral from Kaffe Fassett, it just seemed to be the whimsical field of flowers I needed for my houses. I did do an inner border of 3/4″ inch, as I love this print (it is in several of the houses I made).

Of course, it’s not finished yet…not quilted or bound. I’m just about at Week 9 of rotator-cuff recovery, and using my quilting machine is a good three months down the road. But that gives me lots of time to think about how I’ll quilt it up. Thanks to all my beemates and friends who made and sent houses. I think this is the fastest I’ve made up a bee quilt, ever!

Continuing on:

Somedays it’s fun to just look at my design wall, even though a lot of it is “in-process.” I put my house blocks up there as they came in from all over the world.

Saw this recently in my Instagram browsing.

I finished up my Gridster Bee blocks for Marsha. She’d asked for blocks that resemble a circle of geese, but instead, they meander; the pattern is a free download. You can find all our blocks on Instagram at #gridsterbee. We’re going on our third year, and have a wide range of blocks up there, if you need ideas for a Block Lotto, or something fun for your next quilt.

What kept me absorbed throughout all this stitching? Jane Harper’s novels. I finished up The Lost Man, and can highly recommend it. I’m in the middle of the The Dry; I’ll let you know how that turns out.

Mini-quilt · Patterns by Elizabeth of OPQuilt · Quilts

Merrion Square • A New OPQuilt Pattern

February 27, 2019January 16, 2026 Elizabeth E.11 Comments

Merrion Square, Version 2_OPQuilt — *Merrion Square* 26″ Mini Quilt

First you saw this, way back in December of 2018. I had this idea in my head and with a stack of Alison Glass fat quarters from Andover, I decided to try it out.

That idea led to this mini quilt, named for a square in Dublin that is known for its doors:

At the center of the square is park, with interesting tributes to famous Irish poets and writers, so I had to include the bushes and trees.

Then I changed it up a bit, making it a rainbow of scrappy and leaving off the border.

And then this version emerged from my late-night tinkering around. Because of the (ahem) shoulder situation, I can’t quite quilt it yet, but I was able to sew it together. (I think this is my favorite.) I have since made three of these: one to send off for a sample for the Utah Valley Quilt Guild Workshop, another to head to the Valley of the Mist Quilt Guild, where I’ll be teaching it again in May, and one to hang around, just so I can look at it.

I worked with my new Affinity Publisher Beta software and wrote it up, and now it’s available for sale in my PayHip shop. Both versions are included — well, really, all three versions are included — if you go there, you can click on the little banner in the upper right corner and download a Preview, which includes a list of fabrics needed to make these.

Some of you may have seen this on Instagram today. I’ll be teaching this for the first time at a workshop with the Utah Valley Quilt Guild. I’m pretty excited about it.

You may have also seen this: I asked my Gridsters Bee Mates to make me up a slew of little houses, taken from this pattern. I want to make a lovely little quilt of houses:

I’ve had this idea floating around just as long as the others, and am looking forward to putting this together, too.

The pattern is $12.00, has 13 pages of colorful illustrations with clearly written directions. It is available for a PDF download, and you can have it immediately. [Update: it also includes the Far Away Doors pattern.) It is available in my pattern shop on PayHip.