Sadie and I took a field trip this week to view the fall foliage and visit one of my favorite quilt shops up in the mountains. On display was a quilt kit that I’d admired online. It was one of those one block wonder quilts featuring all of the fabrics in the designer’s newest line. As is often the case, the pattern was designed specifically for the kit and was not available for sale as a separate pattern. Tip: If you are willing to wait, designers often release exclusive kit patterns a season or two later as an individual pattern for sale.

Or do what I did. I challenged myself to create my own version of the block. If you look closely, you’ll see it’s a a traditional 9 patch block with a little more pizzazz from the HST and FG units. It took a little while to do the math, but I pieced my block at my Friday sew day. I’m very happy with the result:

When I got home this evening, I pulled up EQ8 and designed a throw size quilt using this block. I have a lot of scraps, so I’ll be making mine scrappy!

That’s the beauty of quilting and crafting. You can be inspired and create something lovely using the tools and resources you already have on hand. In fact, when I set limiters on a project, I often find it’s more fun and challenging. Limiters can be time constraints, certain colors, certain fabrics, orphan blocks, UFOs only, no spend, etc. Retirement has meant more time to create The current economy dictates the need to be more mindful with how I spend my quilty dollars.

We are bombarded with new collections, tools, machines, patterns, books, etc. in our email and social media feeds on a daily basis. Appreciate the beauty of the new collection or the innovativeness of the new gizmo, but you do not need that new item to make a quilt. Take a deep breath and look closely. Are you seeing what I’m seeing? The 2024 collection and project previews from different companies feature “new” patterns and projects that are essentially updated versions of previous releases. Nothing wrong with this, but don’t think you automatically need to buy that pattern. You may already have it in your stash or even better – bet you can figure out for yourself!

The Curved Piecing class @ the Quilt Museum is a go for next Saturday, 10/14. There’s still a couple of seats left if you’re interested and can make it to Carrollton by 10 a.m.

I finally got invited to join a bee group for my quilt guild! 🙂 I’ll have to miss the organizational meeting due to my part-time job on Mondays. Hopefully, the group will select a date/time to meet that’s doesn’t conflict with the job or Sadie’s monthly therapy dog visits. What about my Friday sewing group? New management at the library where we meet has advised that there will be big changes coming for groups wanting to meet at the library in 2024. Thank goodness for the senior center right up the road! I’ll gladly pay $5 month to join to be able to use the facilities.

Reminder: The Georgia Celebrates Quilts Show is coming in June 2024. If you plan to enter a quilt in the show, now’s the time to get busy so you can meet the quilt jurying deadline. Encourage any young stitchers in your life to make a 16″ block for the Block Party exhibit and earn a free admission ticket to the show.

Don’t know about you, but the cost of everything has gone up so much that I’m having to be much more selective about the events I attend. This includes quilt retreats, shows and seminars.

My main goal for 2024 quilty travel is to attend events in places I’ve never been before. Prioritizing my quilty travel list was hard. I have 5 possible destinations on the list – mostly regional with one biggie trip in the mix.

The only booked event so far is a trip to QuiltCon in Raleigh, NC next February. I’ve purchased my tickets and reserved my hotel room. Excited to meet up with some quilty peeps I haven’t seen in a while!

The rest of 2024 quilty travel is still TBD. Rest of 2024 travel plans will be determined by whether not I attend the Mackinac Island Quilting Arts Seminar next May, in Mackinac Island, Michigan. Cost and registration details are supposed to drop any day now, so I’ve been checking the FB site frequently. Who knows, hubs may want to tag along. This is a bucket list destination for both of us.

Should the Mackinac Island trip not materialize, I have plenty more options on my list, plus any other offerings I might learn about along the way.