Crossroads Quilt

 It's all done. This is the Crossroads Quilt pattern from the Treehouse Textiles shop in Australia. I expanded it by one row and one column which was super simple, of course. It measures 63" x 72" and is machine pieced and hand quilted. The striped binding and newsprint backing are both favorites of mine. 

I contemplated various patterns for the quilting and settled on a custom clamshell design. I don't love how the shells meet in the middle of the red squares but everything else is good. I also did a wee bit of bartacking as a final step because it seemed that the unquilted sections were too big. 😍

Komebukuro (AKA Rice Bags)

Komebukuro bags are traditional pouches that were used in Japan to carry rice offerings to the temples or shrines. They were often hand sewn in a patchwork style and were decorated with Boro stitching. I have also heard them called kinchaku, which means attached to the sash (the obi of kimono?) but I don't really know the distinction between the terms. Made of cotton, they usually have a drawstring closure and are reversible.

I used this pattern by Karen Stevens to make the one in the first picture and a technique described in this tutorial to make the others. They used up some scraps, for sure, and are quick and easy projects.  

Flying Geese Quilt For My Brother

 

My brother and I were talking about hobbies and he surprised me when he said "I would love one of your quilts." 

My starting point was the solid steel grey as I wanted to stick with manly colors and keep to a limited palette. Each goose measures 4" x 8" and the quilt is 63" x 71". It has barbed wire binding and a newsprint back. Too bad the newsprint is poetic instead of the sports page. The quilt is machine pieced and hand quilted.

Carpenter's Star Quilt

 

My friend Maureen's first grandchild is due in October. She mentioned that the color palette for the nursery was going to be forest green and coral. Well, that's all it took and I had a quilt plan forming in my head. 

The pattern is the Carpenter's Star Quilt from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. It is an easy design to make - I made mine a little bigger by adding an inner striped border and the scrappy outer border. It is machine pieced and hand quilted. It finished at 41" x 42" after it was washed and dried. It's bright! 

Crossroads Quilt Top

The Crossroads Quilt is a PDF pattern that I first saw on Instagram. It was love at first sight and I made my version out of a lot of fabric that I have recently purchased. I really like how it is "matchy clashy" and how the little red squares hold it all together. I am waiting for backing fabric to arrive and then I will start in on the hand quilting.