In the Fast Lane … Speeding Toward More Quilty Adventures!

Sundrops and Starflowers.
Teaching class at Southern Charm Quilting in August. 

It’s been a whirlwind since I last blogged at the end of May. Things have been changing a lot around the quilting studio as major projects are completed and new adventures begin. And, you guessed it, most of the fun has revolved around quilting and friendships. It feels like I’m speeding in the quilter’s fast lane! 

Our June Stitchers Etc.
    Stitch In Saturday!

One of the best ways to mix quilting with friends is through stitch groups. Our Stitches Etc. has been in ongoing since 2006! We meet monthly and have Stitch In Saturdays every other month or so. Our June Stitch In was combined with Comfy Quilts. Our guild – Heritage Quilters of Huntsville – has a Comfy Quilts program where we make and donate quilts to various community organizations that give the quilts to underserved children, children undergoing a crisis and veterans. Recently, Comfy Quilts was invited to store fabric and other supplies at Epworth UMC, which is where Stitchers has its Saturday Stitch Ins. This allows Comfy Quilt coordinators and volunteers to move all the supplies out of their homes and into a dedicated central space. I’m looking forward to assisting Comfy Quilts as their liaison to Epworth UMC. Thank you to Epworth for providing this much needed space. Below are photos from our June Stitch In/Comfy Quilts event. Those attending included Mary Ann, Diane, Patti, Renee, Vangie, Sharon, Tracy, Tamara, Teresa, Janice, Suzanne and me!

What Not's Club
at Southern Charm Quilting.

June marked the halfway mark in the monthly What Not’s Club classes that I’ve been teaching at Southern Charm Quilting. The result has been some pretty awesome little quilts designed by Kim Diehl. Even though I’ve gotten lots of oohs and aahs over the resulting little quilts, the six monthly classes haven’t been so very popular. I started out with four students, but two cancelled because they didn’t want to make a large fabric purchase. Then, one of my students had conflicts with our last couple class dates, which leaves me with one student! But, Mary Ann is a very fun and accomplished student. It’s been great spending our class days together, and I’ve learned a lot about teaching. 

Here are pictures of my two students and the quilts we have made together:

My two students --
Mary Ann and Lisa.

Talk of the Town

Stash Hash

Sing for Your Supper, Jam Packed and Zigging and Zagging

This past month has also been marked with prep work for the Let’s Get Sporty! class coming up in mid-July. The class is based on my Bama Fans Quilt … and, right now, I have 13 students! I’m really looking forward to teaching this class. I’ve spent a lot of time getting the patterns together and building the lesson plan. The quilt is a Kari Hawkins design! So, I’m looking forward to sharing it.

 

 And, I finally finished the Sundrops and Starflowers quilt top that I am supposed to teach in August if I have enough students sign up. It is another Kim Diehl design. I really think this is going to be a beautiful quilt. But, I think I may add some additional blocks and a border to make it larger than the pattern. I want to use it on one of our guest beds as a fall quilt.

 

But, the biggest accomplishment of the last month or so, was finishing my son’s 30^th birthday quilt! I’ve been working on it off and on since last year. Tucker chose the pattern from a book by Lisa Walton called Beautiful Building Block Quilts. He wanted purple as the main fabric. Batik fabrics seemed a perfect choice for this quilt, and many of the fabrics were purchased in the discounted back room at Stitchers Garden in Nashville. I decided to throw in a bit of blue and green, pulling the color from a purple and blue fabric that is featured in the quilt and in the quilt’s first border. I think the addition of these two colors gives the quilt more interest. I finished piecing it in May and quilted it in June. It was nearly done for Tucker’s birthday. But, I still have it because, well, it wasn’t all the way done and because now I want to show it off a bit at my quilt groups before I give it to him. He will have it by the end of July, only a month late!

I’ve also done a bit of playing around this month with pinwheel blocks. At our June Stitch In, my friend Tracy was working on a pretty quilt that produced leftover triangle scraps trimmed from her blocks. She had no need for them and planned to throw them away … until I came along! When I discovered these scrumptious tidbits away, I asked her if I could have them. Now, she is supplying me with wonderful little triangle scraps that I am making into pinwheel blocks for a future quilt. My friend Beverly is also supplying me with triangle scraps. I am some lucky girl!                                                   

Pinwheel blocks trimmed to 3 inches.

Speaking of luck ... or, as I like to think of it, blessings ... I received great news last week that two of my quilts will be showcased at the International Quilt Festival in Houston in October/November! I am so looking forward to seeing my quilts in this awesome show. There really is nothing like the way the Quilt Festival showcases the quilts at their shows. It's like walking into a museum of quilts! One of my entries is an original design and the other is an Irene Blanck-designed quilt that I will be teaching later this year. Even though I’ve had quilts juried into this show in previous years, it is still super exciting to make the cut again! 

So, what’s in store for the Dog Days of Summer? More classes! A quilt retreat with 23 friends! And, the transition that takes me off the monthly grind of being the Program Vice President for Heritage Quilters of Huntsville, and leaves me to focus primarily on our 2026 quilt show. Long term? I’m looking forward to visiting the International Quilt Festival in Houston, seeing my quilts there and spending time with my daughter, who lives in Houston and happens to have a birthday around Quilt Festival time.

Hugs and Hope and Happy Quilting!

Kari