A Jewel of a Quilt

For the past month I have been having lots of fun making 4" log cabin blocks. Hoping to have a ruler for this size soon! Here is one I finished on Sunday. It takes just 2 days to make one of these cute little quilts. One day to piece the blocks and a second day to sew them together, and free motion quilt it. I can try out lots of setting ideas for my blocks without a big investment of time or fabric when I sew 4" blocks. . The name of this collection is Joyful by Quilted Koala, and it is by Andover Fabrics - andoverfabrics.com

I named this quilt Gemstones because the colors remind me of sapphires, rubies and onyx with pearly white for the background. I had the black and white paisley fabric for the border in my stash. I think it makes a perfect frame.

Tomorrow I am off to Houston TX for the annual Quilt Market. I will be seeing lots of new products and I plan to take pictures of my favorites to show on this blog after I get home. This is going to be exciting.

Its a winner! Circle of Nine

Here's how it happened......
On Wed, Aug 12, 2015 at 8:14 AM, Alissa wrote:
Hello! I love your circle of nine quilt book/design and I am finally creating one of my own!  :) Please may I have your permission to enter it in a local county fair competition? I will gladly give reference to the two of you and your "Circle of Nine" in my submission. Thank you for your consideration! Alissa Mills

My reply: Of course you may enter your Circle of Nine quilt in a local county fair competition. And thank you for thinking to ask for permission and for giving reference to Circle of Nine in the submission. I would love to see a photo of your quilt....perhaps on display at the fair? JA

Today: Good morning! My quilt got a blue ribbon at the Clay County Fair :) and a friend of mine loves it and has a perfect place for it so I gave it to her :) Here is a picture of the quilt. It's mostly pieced but the center square is appliqués. I loved doing the circle of nine concept! Many blessings to you. Alissa

Today's reply: Alissa, your quilt is just beautiful! I am thrilled that you won a blue ribbon for it. It may be our setting but you chose the blocks and made the quilt with expertise to win that ribbon! I have put it on my blog for everyone to see. JA

There are 3 editions in the Circle of Nine book series co-authored by myself and my sister, Janet Houts. They are available for the special sale price of $17.50 each on my website jeanannquilts.com

Cotton Candy

Back to making log cabins. This one has 4" blocks. I pieced all he blocks and sewed them into a quilt in just one day. After dinner I layered the quilt sandwich. The next morning I started free motion quilting about 7 AM. I finished the quilting (with a break for breakfast and walking the dog). Then I put the binding on and had lunch. I love these little blocks they are so cute and it doesn't take long to make a quilt. This was just plain fun and I can try all kinds of setting ideas with my favorite log cabin blocks with a small investment of time and materials.

I named this one Cotton Candy.

So Many Rulers...so little racks

For years I have been storing my rulers in ruler racks on my cutting table. My ruler inventory has grown with my own rulers and with other Creative Grids© rulers. Saturday my daughter came over to install some peg board on the back of a solid closet door in my studio. When the door is closed the rulers are in hiding. When I want a ruler I just open the door and there they are, hanging in place and easy to find.

You can see I have an old fashioned wood panel door and we had to add the peg board both above and below the door knob. Some of my rulers still have their labels attached, but I also have a notebook with clear plastic pockets in it to store the labels with directions to use the rulers for the rulers that I use the most often. This includes the directions for my own rulers as I still do refer to them when I am cutting and using the rulers. The ruler racks on my cutting table now just hold the rulers I use the most often.