More Quilts of Valor

A while back, over a year ago, I attended a small local quilt show.  There were close to a dozen quilts that all used the same pattern and I was inspired by the red, white and blue version thinking it would be a great one to make for Quilts of Valor.  

After studying the pics I took, I came up with this pattern in EQ7.

 I entitled the design "It's A Mystery" and is made with two different 12-inch square blocks.   

Here's a stack of the B Blocks before I assembled the quilt interior.  Those triangle units are not my favorite to make.  No matter how careful I am in cutting and piecing they seem to stretch and distort the entire block.  I did starch the large triangle before piecing, but in hindsight, I should have starched the side triangle, too.

Because I wanted the design to prevail, the length ended up a bit larger than I prefer.  I decided to add a small, 1-inch, border all around just to finish it off.  The quilt top measures 62" x 86".

I chose to make the borders two colors, two sides are red and two sides are blue.

At our last QOV sew-in earlier this month, I worked on combining pre-made quilt blocks.  Because we have so many people making blocks they are not always all the same size, so I had to trim these down to one common size before proceeding.

 I really like the fabric I used for the cornerstones and outer border.  

One of the gals at the sew-in dressed up the plain white stars with the embroidered "USA" in the center.  

This is the Floating Star block we often make for these quilts.  I think the USA fabric in the star center adds a lot of interest to the block.

I'm planning on submitting this top, along with some others, at our next sew-in.

Thanks for stopping by.......Happy Quilting!!!

~ Diane 


 
 

Stars-N-Stripes QOV #5

This week I finished up my latest Stars-N-Stripes design for Quilts of Valor.  I started with my first design and then made changes to the center portion of the quilt.

QOV Stars-N-Stripes design #5

 After constructing all the blocks, I laid them out on my design cloth and was prepared to sew them together.  But, the center seemed too blue.  That's probably because I used a dark almost solid blue.  After letting it set for a while ( a week or more) I decided to change those blocks and add some of the multi-colored fabric that I planned to use for the outer border.  

This quilt top measures 63" x 81".  All 35 blocks finish at 9-inches square. 

I'm linking up with:

     Finish It Up Friday

     Link A Finish Friday

Please check out these links to see what others have been working on this week.

Thanks for stopping by....and...Happy Quilting!!!

   ~Diane

Quilt of Valor - 8 Blocks On Point

Yesterday I was able to get my latest QOV quilt top completed.  Yeah! 

This top measures 56 1/2” x 80”. 

Two of the blocks in this quilt are the QOV 10th Anniversary Block.  If you are interested in making this block it can be found at HERE at qovf.org









I started with eight 9-inch finished blocks and added dark blue/navy strips to make the blocks measure 12-inch. 






The sashing is 4-inch wide with cornerstones that create stars at the intersections.









I made each setting triangle separately using three different fabric strips before cutting the triangles.  The corners are two triangles sewn together to form a larger one.  Getting the red strips to line up from triangle to triangle was a bit of a challenge for me.







This will be the last QOV quilt top I’ll be making for a while.  Next month I’ll be heading up to the lake for the summer and have other quilting projects planned for my time there.  In the meantime I’ll try to get more blocks cut and made before the next sew-in.

Thanks for stopping by.
I'm linked up with Patchwork Times and Free Motion by the River and Freshly Pieced.

WIP...QOV Eagle

A couple of days ago I posted my design wall progress on this quilt for Quilts of Valor.  Since then I was able to finish piecing the small red stars as begin sewing the blocks into rows.

My goal for today is to get the rows sewn together.  I'm not sure if I have enough blue fabric left to create the 6-inch borders as I planned so I may consider adding some red and white.

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.   

Happy Quilting,
    ~Diane

Design Wall Monday…March 24, 2014

A while back I made the eagle block with the intention of using it as the focal point in a new QOV (Quilts of Valor) quilt.  Unfortunately I did not have enough fabric to make the rest so the block hung on my wall for several months.  Recently I was able to track down the identical red and blue fabrics.

Earlier this month I went to my local QOV sew-in and was told that we need 100 quilts done by June for a presentation.  That gave me incentive to finish the design and get this quilt top put together.
 
I found the eagle block in an old quilting magazine about ten years ago.  Unfortunately I only sketched up the design and did not record any information about the source of the design or the publication.  If anyone out there can provide that information, I’d be grateful. 

There are still twelve small red star blocks to make before I can put the top together.
Thanks for stopping by.  I’m linked up with Patchwork Times.

Happy Quilting,
  ~Diane

Design Wall - January 6, 2014

With the local Quilts of Valor sew-in coming up this week, I thought I'd better get working on this.   You can read my previous blog post about this quilt top Here.

Original design plan

I took my friend Dot's advice and decided to set the blocks on point.  Then I made four more blocks for the corners.  Some of my decisions were based on the amount of fabric on hand.  I was determined not to go out and buy more fabric but to use what I have.  

When I calculated the side setting triangles, I made them expecting to cut the small red cornerstones in half as shown in the pic.  But as it turned out I was able to keep those cornerstones and only clip off the points, which makes the quilt interior a bit larger (almost 48" square) and that's good.  

I also changed the width of the white inner border because I didn't have enough to cut the strips as wide as planned.  Today I'm hoping to finish mitering the wide (6") red outer borders.  This quilt should finish at about 60" x 80".  

I'm linked up with Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.


Thanks for stopping by and Happy Quilting!  
      ~Diane

Design Wall Monday - November 25, 2013

Over the weekend I was able to get the four alternate blocks made.  I chose white for the background fabric which is a bit brighter than the off-white used in the original blocks.  

Once these blocks are all assembled the interior of the quilt will measure about 34-inches square.  The next step will be to figure out what or how to expand this to meet my goal of a quilt that measures about 60" x 80".

I'm open to any suggestions you might have.  Just leave me a comment if you have any good ideas to share.  Thanks for stopping by.  I'm linked up with Patchwork Times.

Happy Quilting,
         ~Diane
  

Design Wall Monday - November 18, 2013

Last week I went to a QOV (Quilts of Valor) sew-in and worked on some orphan blocks that someone else had made.  I added the light blue strips and red corner stones.  There are a total of five blocks which I'll lay out in a giant 9-patch.  Now I'm auditioning fabrics and possible designs for the offset blocks.  

Please visit Judy's blog for links to other design walls.  

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Quilting!

        ~Diane

My "QOV Stars" quilt is quilted

I was so pleased today when I went to our local QOV (Quilts of Valor) sew-in at Montavilla Sewing in Portland, Oregon.  My quilt has been beautifully quilted.  In fact I heard that it was one that was quilted by the group during the recent Machine Quilting Expo last month.  I don't know who to credit, but they did a wonderful job.  I love the stars.

I also finished with making the pattern instructions and graphics.  Whew!  So, if you would like a pdf copy of my pattern, "QOV Stars", you can find a link on my Free Patterns tab here on my blog.  Please remember that any of my free patterns are for personal or charitable use only.  

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Quilting,

             ~Diane