Garden Party

Posted byCarol AndrewsPosted inBlog Hops, Life, Patterns, Quilting, What’s Going OnTags:, , , , , , , , ,

It’s that time again! Time to party!

Marian at Seams to be Sew has been hard at work organizing her annual fall RAL and has rounded up 50+ participants this year and an incredible list of sponsors. Thanks Marian for another great experience being part of your hop.

In keeping with the It’s a Garden Party theme, I thought I’d share a Ricky Nelson tune that some of us might remember from our younger days:

Ricky Nelson “Went to a Garden Party

I knew right away what I wanted to do. Then reality set in and I had to wait to make the vision I saw in my imagination a reality until after I had recovered from the eye surgeries and my vision had stabilized enough to check for a new prescription. At one of my checkups the tech suggested I pick up a pair of cheater glasses from the drug store and recommended a strength based on my test results. I popped over and got a pair! I can see and read now 😉

Out came some fabrics from my stash to play with. I pulled a pattern that I did years ago, Dance of the Dragonflies by Annette Ornelas and started by cutting the bits I needed for my focal block. It came together as I envisioned it! Then I cut some 2” squares of bright, pretty prints and my background squares and sewed my pinwheel blocks. I had to do a bit of math to make it all come out right.

Scrap pieces cut for my test block; ready to sew!
Coming together, but I noticed some sections were reversed 😢

Just as I reached the point of having my first test row done, Covid 19 happened resulting in emotional turmoil and brain fog. When I finally got my fabric bits back out and started again to write it up I realized that I had completely miscalculated so had to start again.

Then using the pattern Annette Ornelas of Southwind Designs had made Dance of the Dragonflies I made two more dragonflies. I had made that quilt 10 or more years ago and donated it to a favourite charity for one of their fundraisers. The laptop I had my early photos on crashed and I lost the first 15 or more years of my quilting history photos so I’m not able to show the finish.

Once I had those blocks together, I realized it just needed something more. I was reading a post on another of my favourite blogs. I wrote to Jessica Dayon for permission to use a portion of her You Are My Sunshine pillow pattern (the link is here) for the perfect bit of sunshiny fun in the top corner of my row.

Another test block that wasn’t right!

It was to be a block that measures 9.5” x 18.5 which will finish 9” x 18” in a quilt, wall hanging or project. Boy was I wrong in my calculations again. The Covid Brain Fog had me completely befuddled. My block ended up being 19 1/2” x 37 1/2”. I can’t understand how my math was so off !

Back to the drawing board, or rather the design board I went.

Fabrics cut and sewn, blocks assembled and top stitching being done!

The end result is a 9 1/2” x 18 1/2” block which finished at 9” x 18” in my completed project.

Since my piece for the RAL doesn’t include a downloadable pattern for the dragonflies since it is not my design I will share a fun wonky pinwheel flower block that I was playing with for the hop before I realized my math was off. I created these blocks by using leftover scrappy HSTs and triangles I had left from other projects. I added a row of them to the bottom of my dragonflies. Rows of these do make nice fillers in this RAL project 😉.

Click HERE for a downloadable copy of my Wonky Pinwheel Flowers instructions

I would like to thank Northcott for donating fabric to many of the participants and a huge thankyou to all of the amazing sponsors who are donating prizes to some lucky winners via the Rafflecopter entry form. Be sure to show these sponsors your appreciation by stopping by to visit their websites, leaving them a comment or purchasing their products.

The full list of sponsors:
Northcott Fabrics
Patti’s Patchwork
Charisma’s Corner
Barbara Dieges
Linda Bratten Creations
For The Love of Geese
Mountain Meadow Designs
Inspired LED
Clover Needlecraft
Hobbs Batting
Timeless Treasures
Purple Hobbies LLC
Accents In Design
Electric Quilt
Fat Quarter Shop
Martelli Notions
C&T Publishing
Your Sewing Friend
Hoffman Fabrics
Sulky
Quilter’s Dream
Anita Goodesign
Thermoweb
Aurifil
QuilterChic
Stoffen & Babystudio en de Quiltkelder
Heleen Pinkster

Have you been checking the amazing bloggers posts on the Hop? Today’s bloggers are:

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Heleen Pinkster Quilt Design | Patti’s Patchwork
Quilt Schmilt | Scrapdash | Your Sewing Friend

Please take the time to comment when you check their posts and don’t forget to check all of the rules and shipping regulations for the giveaway on Marian’s post at Seams to be Sew. Thank you Marian for all of your work organizing this hop with such a fun theme! 😉

One of our favourite tools to use is EQ8 and as sponsors of this RAL they are offering a sweet deal to all of us;

Electric Quilt (https://www.electricquilt.com) is offering a 20% discount code off any products except for EQ Academy during the row along. The coupon code is: GARDENPARTY20.

I’m so pleased to be able to host a giveaway from Quilters Dream batting.

They have provided us with a Dream Orient Queen Size Batt. Shipping is to the US Contiguous States only. To enter, please click on the photo of the Dream Orient Batt to go to the Rafflecopter entry form.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/1343370f410/

I’d love it if you followed my blog to share more of my adventures, both in life and in quilting!

Have a great day checking out all the goodies and eye candy, and follow any new to you bloggers that inspire you, and don’t forget to enter for the fantastic giveaways. 😄 Carol

Published by Carol Andrews

I have been fondling fabric and creating things with fabric and fiber for as long as I can remember. My children had homemade clothes, blankets, canning and quilts most of their lives. Now I create goodies to share! Hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoy making them! When I am not creating with fiber or fabric I keep busy with Dear Heart, kids, grandkids, great grandkids.

72 thoughts on “Garden Party”

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  4. I love the block pieced pattern and I love you don’t have to match the seams… To bad the dragonfly block doesn’t come with the pattern, that looks like a really cool block. Thanks for joining the row along again this year Carol.

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  8. Dragonflies!!! Those are so pretty, they look like gems!
    A word about the cheaters, I used them after my eye surgery and lens implants. I only used the lowest ones I could get which was a 1. My eyes healed just enough that I have to continue wearing the cheaters to read! I wish I hadn’t used them at all. I hope you heal just fine!

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    1. Happy to share an ear worm with you 😉. The surgery only took about 8 1/2 minutes and recovery was quick after the second. It was weird after the first and before the second. I could see color! White is my operated eye was white and in the unoprayed eye it was muddy yellow grey. Now I can see how bright and pretty fabrics are.
      I’m glad you enjoyed the dragonflies. It is a pretty pattern and fun technique

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  15. I didn’t realize how far in advance these RALs get planned out! I can understand how all the obstacles would throw you off track. I like both versions of your row and would love to do them. Thank you for the pattern for the flowers. Hope your eyes are working well now.

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    1. Hi Rochelle. Thank you for your sweet comment. Marian always starts getting organized early for this RAL. She is just one of the best to work with. My eyes are doing just fine. I only wear cheaters to read or sew! Thank you for visiting and commenting. 😁

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  20. It must have been heartbreaking to lose so many of your photos and so much of your quilting history! I’m glad you can recreate some of it. And I hope it helps to know that even though you don’t have the photos, the quilt you donated is likely still making someone, somewhere, happy–or living on in their memories, as quilts always do.

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    1. It was sad, but at least I don’t have to look at reminders of my early mistakes Beth! Now I won’t admit how many times I forget to take pictures these days 😉. What’s even funnier: over 300 quilts made and I do not have one in my home! It is nice to know there’s a few people around snuggled down in quilty goodness I created. Thanks for stopping by Beth. 😉 Carol

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  32. That dragonfly is quite elaborate and looks good in your row. Thanks for the substitute idea, too! You’ve been so busy while I’ve been sick! Thanks for all the inspiration.

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