Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by on the blog tour. I've read each comment and am eager to go back and read them all again. So much to be thankful for, this and every season.

Our winner is Cindy, who said:

I'm grateful for a brand new grandbaby that is on its way right now. :) Fun block.

Congratulations, Cindy!

I have a rare, unscheduled weekend! I think it's about time to start some present making, don't you?

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Blog Tour & Giveaway!

The Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Blog Tour kicks off today! And guess what??  I have a block in it!!

This is my first time submitting a block to Quiltmaker! How fun is that?

This issue (Volume 10, which means there have been 1000 blocks to date!) is chock full of inspiration and patterns so you can make the blocks as well. I already have a few that are on my must make list. I'm sure you'll recognize many of the designers names. So honored to be in their company!

If this is your first time here, Hi! I'm Heather. I've been quilting for over 25 years. I'm the founder of the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild. I teach and lecture in and around Baltimore, MD/PA/DE and Virginia. I'm also a contributing author to Classic Modern Quilts. Thanks for stopping by!

Here's the cover of the magazine, so you can recognize it easily when you're out shopping. (Or, if you're feeling lucky, see below to win a copy of your own!)

So, ready to see my block?

It's so artfully named "Pines and Spools." I started with an improv pieced pine tree, sat it on top of a tiny spool trunk, and topped it with a yo-yo star. Fun, right?

Would you like to win your own copy of? Just leave me a comment below. Since it's right before Thanksgiving, let me know what you're grateful for this season. For an extra chance to win, follow me on instagram. I'm @heatherkojan. Then come back and leave another comment letting me know you're a follower! Oh, and make sure I have a way to reach you, too!

Thanks for visiting! Enjoy all the other stops on the blog tour!

Housekeeping

Just before I start a big project, I do a little housekeeping in the studio. I like having a clean slate of everything. I dust, I vacuum (floor and design wall), I put away the detritus of the previous quilt. Sometimes, during the cleaning up process, I'll find a small project to finish, or maybe to even start, and knock that out as part of the cleaning process. It cleans out a little space in my brain ~ the part that has the running "to make" list.

A few weeks ago I finished up two quilts. This one. Plus another (future blog post promised!) And then I decided I needed to make my October Little Amish. And then there were the ornaments. I signed up for the Trim the Tree ornament swap on Flickr. I haven't done a swap in ages, and this one has always been one of my favorites. Fortunately for me, I also signed up for Betz White's Holdiay Stitch-Along Ornament Club. The ornaments need to be posted by today, so finished those as well. (Again, post and pictures later.)

As I was cleaning, and making, and cleaning again, my eyes kept going to the scrap bin. The overflowing scrap bin. It was bugging me. So I made a quilt. Quilt top. A string quilt top, using up all the little bits in the bin. Not really all of them, but enough so that I made a good dent in the bucket. I certainly could have made more, but after 64 8" blocks, I was getting a little bored and finally felt like moving on.

Kitty feet and Katie feet

Don't you just love back lighting on quilt tops?

So today, I'm busting out the vacuum again. Putting the scraps back into hiding. I've got a new needle in the machine, and a new blade in the rotary cutter. New project: I'm ready!

Little Amish Quilt, October

Well, you'll just have to trust me on this that I finished this in October. Or, at least I finished the top. I was kind of dreading this one, and had planned to skip over it and do an easier one. I couldn't figure out how to do simplify this one without doing a gazillion hsts. Okay, not a gazillion. But there are 154 triangles in this little 17" x 20" cutie. In the end, I just went with the quilt as planned and it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. Once I got in the rhythm of matching up/off setting the dog ears, it all went smoothly. And after doing a few very imprecise, free form quilts, it was refreshing to try to do something where everything had to be precise. Not that this quilt is perfect. Far from it. Lots of chopped off tips. Although I do think it's more rectangular than the picture would have you believe.

Did I even post the minis for August and September? Sheesh. Blogging has been taking a back seat to real life, jobs, kids, husbands, oh, wait, that's husband, singular thank you very much.

Okay, so here's the past couple of mini quilts.

August:

and September: 

Katie quilted this on our friend's long arm. Her first time free motion quilting. Actually, her first time quilting. Period. Thanks MJ!

I actually really enjoy making them. It's more like making a bound block, rather than a quilt.

Some people have asked me about fabric selections. Basically, it's whatever is laying around on the floor ~ scraps from whatever current project I'm working on. So yes, that means a red, white and black quilt is in the works!