SAHRR Finish: You're Golden

Because I'm planning on donating this, and hopefully as a comfort quilt to someone in need, I wanted a sunshine-y, upbeat, pretty flowers type of name and after pondering for a bit on the yellow that shines all the way through the quilt, 'golden' came to me, and then the expression, "You're golden," meaning you're good, you're not at all wrong, you're fine.

It was extremely windy today, and incredibly foggy all morning. I feel at times as if I live by the sea when the fog comes rolling up the street and over and around the trees and houses. I guess a Great Lake is an inland sea, and it does create its own weather. The sun came out in the afternoon, so I was able to get some good outdoor shots.

SAHRR Round 6 Quilter's Choice

At first I was not liking this prompt from Anja at Anja Quilts because I like the challenge of having a specific direction in which to go. However, knowing that I wanted to end with the floral trellis border print that brought the original four blocks together, made me think to just get over myself and do that! So today was the day to measure and cut and make borders.

I had to quick take the shot as it was fairly windy all day today, even at supper when I zipped outside to take a photo while we still had daylight.

SAHRR Round 5 Two Colours

This time it was Gail of QuiltingGail, the creator of this fun round robin activity, who chose the prompt for this week's round. She asked us to use just two colours in this round. I already had the one purple, a marbled-ish berry, and I decided to put a lighter blue with it.

It definitely brightens up the quilt!

SAHRR Round 4 Show Off Our Curves and Another Publication

Round 4 came from Wendy of Pieceful Thoughts. She asked us to show off our curves. I've had lots of fun over the years with improv curves, and a cool method that uses the bias to make fancy curves, but would you believe I've never made a traditional curves block à la Drunkard's Path? Out came the Betty Crockerass curves templates! 

Another one of the many things I love about Project Quilting and SAHRR is the challenges and prompts that push me to make the time to try something I've always wanted to try. I've done bajillions of set-in sleeves over the years along with the improv curves, so doing this block was actually really easy. Here is where my SAHRR sits right now.

SAHRR Prompt 3 Animal Kingdom

This one gave me pause (paws--ha--just thought of that as I typed). Emily of The Darling Dogwood was our 'director' this week and she asked us to look to the animal kingdom for inspiration, be it animal named blocks, appliqué of an animal, pieced block that looks like an animal or animal fabric. Once again, Kathleen's post was a good one to get the creative brain juices flowing. After round 2, I had a tentative plan to somehow extend the double flying geese into this round to accentuate the diagonal 'pull' they gave. I also had planned to incorporate purple into this round. Here is where it is.

SAHRR Prompt 2 Make it a Double

Happy Full Snow Moon and first of February. When I first read Kathleen's prompt on Tuesday for this week, 'Make it a double,' I immediately thought of a double-double. Like 'Make it a double,' it's referring to a drink, though non-alcoholic. A doubles-double is Canadian speak for a Tim Horton's coffee with two cream and two sugar. 🫶

So we were to incorporate the idea of double, or two, in or round this week. I let that thought simmer while I spent the bulk of the time since working on my upcoming pattern in Make Modern. I took a break from the computer on Saturday to work on my SAHHR, since the PQ 17.3 challenge is released on Sunday. Here is where my SAHRR sits at present after this week's prompt.

Yay for some beautiful blues skies and sunshine for an outside pic

SAHRR Prompt 1 Hourglass Block

I love designing in EQ8 (especially using the Symmetry tool where magic happens) and I really love designing in my graph paper notebook (I do love colouring, rather zen-like still at my age), but there is something at another level of magic about designing as I go on the design wall. It kind of combines the magic and zen of the first two. Every time I do a SAHRR, it happens, and it happened in this first round where Brenda of Songbird Designs (I'm linking this post up there) gave us the prompt to add the hourglass block, also known as a quarter-square-triangle, aka QST.  Here is where I am, first prompt complete.

 You may think, okay, magic... and? Because this doesn't look that magical. Well, let me explain.

SAHRR - Stay At Home Round Robin

This is the fourth year I've participated in this fun, great for the creative brain activity, dreamed up by Gail of Quilting Gail, when we were all in lockdown. The first year I participated was in 2023, and I haven't missed a year yet. If you'd like more information, click the link to Gail's post that explains how it works.

Here are the my previous year's quilts. There are four because in 2025 I made two, one in the round robin style and the other all blocks.

Lower right, coneflower—2023; lower left, fishies—2024; top right, Arabesque—2025; top left, aquamarine blocks—2025

Each one is so very different, no? Three of those four were built in the round robin style of adding a round around the centre. The blues and greens quilt was done in the bloc style where each week’s prompt saw me making a block as opposed to a round. It’s your quilt, so you can choose how you want to build it as long as you fulfill the prompt.

Arabesque Pattern Release

It's been a minute or three since I've had a new pattern out, but here I am with one more for 2025. Many of you will remember my SAHRR this year, and several said it would be a great pattern. So here she is!

Something I realized as I wrote up the pattern is that because the rounds (all seven of them) are 3" blocks or widths, you can really go wild with this pattern, and switch them around to create a totally unique personalized quilt! I told my pattern testers to feel free to do just that!

Oh, and of course, Arabesque is on sale all weekend for just CA$10.🤩

SAHRR #2 - Aquamarine

The name of this quilt just popped into my head when I was writing down details in my longarm notebook. Upon checking that I did indeed have the colour link correct, I learned that the colours of this gem vary from lighter blue to deeper blue-green, but they all evoke the colours of the sea and sky, which is right up my alley or should I say beach! It's the birthstone for March, and the gemstone brings calmness, clarity, and serenity. It belongs to the mineral beryl. (Note to self for a good name for another blue and green quilt!)

The border is a perfect match; you’d think I planned the colours in the quilt from it! It’s actually a piece I bought many years ago in Alberta for a quilt back when my aunt took me to a quilt shop near Barrhead, which I just found out today is still there, and which my cousin‘s partner frequents! I had about 1.5 metre left, most of which was only half the width of the fabric but I was able to get four 1.5" borders and three of the 4.5 strips I needed for the binding. A few extra joins of half-width of fabric strips easily made enough for the binding with about a fat quarter now left. 

SAHRR #2 and RSC

While I was sewing up the throw version of my newest pattern, I started sewing the blocks together for my SAHRR #2. This was the one where instead of doing a round each week according to the prompt, I made a block. I ended up with seven blocks, so of course I had to make two more for a 3 x 3 set.

It turned out so well! I’m so happy to get that striped heart that is in the centre out of the orphan block drawer and into such a pleasing quilt.

Arabesque Near Disaster

I am always wary of red fabrics, and with good reason: they have run on me more than once and nearly ruined a quilt. Yet I do not learn, and rarely think to prewash them. This latest near disaster has taught me to prewash them without fail, and so to that end, I have pulled the yardage off my shelf and done just that. Prior to this incident, I had washed all my red scraps when two quilts I'd made with scraps had run so I figured I was okay for this SAHRR quilt. I must say it is intriguing how certain light-coloured fabrics pick up the dye, while others do not. Here is what happened with Arabesque.

This was before the quilt had been washed. I admit I was a little concerned by the deep burgundy used in the on-point frame, some of the star points and the maple leaves in the four corners. It was yardage, an older fabric I'd had for some time, called Nana's by The Balson Hercules Group. I was fairly confident of the other burgundies because I was relatively sure I had pre-washed them all after seeing them run in the 94 Quilt and one or two of my scrap quilts.

Arabesque

And here she is, all pretty and toute finie!

I couldn’t be happier and more over the moon with this finish. Who knew it would end up so pretty, and, as people have commented and I agree, that it looks as if it was planned from the get-go!

SAHRR Finished Flimsy

I am just so darn happy to show you my finished flimsy for my SAHRR project #1!

Sorry for the inside shot but once again it was crazy-windy (hello, it's spring and I live basically on the shore of a Great Lake)! There was no sun today but at least I had some natural light on the design walll to photograph this beauty. 

SAHRR Round 6

I have my SAHRR Project #1 round to show you today. This prompt came from Emily at The Darling Dogwood. We were to incorporate the kite block into this round. She gave two great ideas for using it as a smaller commenting a 12” block which helps for my Project #2. I had a harder time on this traditional round robin as to how to work it in. I ended up not only working in the four parts of the book into the corners, but also four more complete blocks!

Oh how I am in love with this quilt and I sure didn’t think I would be!

SAHRR Round 5

This week the prompt came from Brenda at Songbird Designs. She asked us to make quarter or half log cabins. For project number one, this really stomped me, but I am so grateful for the other hosts as well as other participants who share inspiration. Here is where this first quilt sits in its fifth round.

I’m not sure what’s going to go between the floral squares so I’ve left it so that I can either incorporate week six prompt there or extend somehow the week five into week six prompt.

SAHRR Week 4

Happy Full Snow Moon! As I compose this post, the name of this month’s full moon is rather à propos since we are waiting for yet another imminent snowstorm. It’s been a lot of winter this year, but that is good for the health of our forests (ticks) and lakes (algae), albeit not so good for summer-loving Sandra.

Here is my glorious joy-filled design wall as of this morning:

SAHRR Numbers 1 and 2, and this year's RSC two blocks

Let me explain!

A Second SAHRR and First SAHRR Update

For those who do follow me on Instagram, you may recall that I had a backup block as my potential centre block, the 2.5" strips blue and green heart block that was a test of one I'd seen floating around on the internet several years ago.

It became the inspiration for the second challenge of Project Quilting, which I named Winter Blues. I hated to put it back in my Lonely Blocks Club drawer. (I love that--it just came to me as I typed.) What if I did what I saw Kathleen of Kathleen McMusing is doing this year: make a quilt that is not a round robin, rather make a block or two each week following the prompt.

SAHRR Round 1

For this round we were to make a King's Crown block or any block that starts with the same letter as our name. I decided to do a Snowball block, and the original thinking was to put one in each of the four corners, and keep this round fairly quiet as the centre block is pretty busy. Let’s see how that worked out.

Yup. Not what I thought would happen. 

Rainbow Fish SAHRR Complete

It was another fun year of brain work in the Stay At Home Round Robin hosted by Gail of QuiltingGail, along with several co-hosts who gave a directive each week as to what to do for that specific round. My forlorn fish and heart blocks have grown into this adorable baby/toddler quilt and I just love how it all came together.

When I drove down Main Street earlier this week, I spied that mural and thought I think I should use it for a quilt photo of my fishies quilt! Thanks to some ‘rough surface’ tape, I was able to tape it to that wall. Don’t worry: I first checked in a small corner that it wouldn’t harm the mural. Eeee! I did a little squeal when I stepped back to snap the photo. It is good!