I have declared it “Hug A Quilt Day”! I lovingly carried all my quilts back down to Tuckerville. I hugged each one as they were either hung or folded on a shelf. I’m so happy my quilts are home! Thank you all for your prayers, kind words and support!
Holy Moly, thank you Judy Jackson! My OBW quilts were delivered safe and sound 9:00 AM this morning after being lost for 13 days. Funny thing, they were in TWO boxes as I wanted. The UPS store in Lake Havasu put all 15 quilts in one box even though I didn’t want it that way.
Needless to say, there is a One Block Wonder in Judy Jackson’s future!
Thank God and Judy Jackson of UPS – they found my quilts in Georgia. The UPS office in Lake Havasu, AZ didn’t package them correctly. The box was severely damage and the label came off. Luckily they found my list of quilts and my address inside the box. They are at the corporate office in Georgia and will be packed correctly and be on their to me in several days. Thank You all for your concern. I was overwhelmed with the your responses. God bless you all & Judy Jackson!
UPDATE: my quilts have found! Thank you all for your prayers and kind words!
I’m completely devastated! After my One Block Wonder Trunk Show for Quilting by the Lake in Lake Havasu, Arizona I shipped my quilts home by UPS only to have them disappear at the Chicago Area Consolidation Hub (CACH) Facility in Hodgkins, Illinois. I have no idea how long their investigation will take. These Quilts are irreplaceable. I can not just remake them. I am writing this because I feel helpless and frustrated!
I have been in Lake Havasu since January 4th. I was honored to be invited to teach One Block Wonder at “Quilting By The Lake” for the Havasu Stitcher’s Quilt Guild. I had a great group of ladies. They did a fabulous job!
The week ended with a OBW Trunk Show
The best part of the trip was meeting my half Sister Marti for the first time! We found each other through Ancestry DNA test. We had never met until January 2020.
Marti and her husband Mike! We have had so much fun.
I even got to meet “Walter the Orphan Donkey” from Oatman, Arizona! Walter was abandoned by his mother and this family brought him home, saved his life and are now raising him. Walter thinks he is a German Shepherd dog and even uses the dog door! You can follow Walter on Facebook. The donkeys roam around the town waiting for us to feed them.
A few more days and I will be heading back to snowy New York! I had such a great time. I can’t thank my new sister Marti and her family enough. They have made me feel so welcome and loved. I have a whole new family!
Twas the night before Christmas….no it’s more like a week and a half before Christmas and I just had to finish this One Block Wonder instead of doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m supposed to be working on my last quilt of the year for Island Batik.
I just love this panel by Timeless Treasures. My quilt measures 60″ x 62″. If you haven’t tried a One Block Wonder using a panel, here are my tips:
Happy Holidays!
The Unicorn is all about opening up to infinite possibilities and that the infinite possibilities surround you and are available to you at all times.
I made this One Block Wonder for my son Jason’s birthday in a few weeks. Spiritually the Unicorn symbolizes success. If you summon the power of the Unicorn, the Unicorn will give you the blessings to be a success in whatever you choose to pursue. I love you Jason, Happy Birthday!
Here are my tips for using panels to make a One Block Wonder:
You may have realized I love history and cemeteries. As my sister and I were visiting family in Forest Hills Cemetery (Utica, NY) we were drawn to this tree.
When I saw this panel I couldn’t believe my eyes. I have been taking photo’s of this tree since 2010. It is very near the grave of John Adams Great Granddaughter Mary Louisa Adams. Johnson and not far from our family. I love trees, I think I was a Druid in another life! Needless to say I just had to make a One Block Wonder using this panel from Quilting Treasures.
First attempt at designing.
When I stitched the rows together, I discovered I needed to add some fabric so the hexies would line up as I wanted them to. Then I had to disguise the added fabric and soften the edges.
I’m pretty happy with it. Below is a downloadable description of how I design a OBW with panels.
At least when it comes to One Block Wonders (OBW) it does. There are so many “Size” questions when it comes to choosing our fabrics. What size repeat should I choose? What size panel? What size strip width should I cut? What size design elements. The first thing I do when choosing OBW fabric is check the size of the repeat. Then I decide what size to cut the strips based on the size of the design elements. If I want to cut my strips 3 3/4″ wide then I want the design in the fabric to be larger than 4″ or I will not be taking the fabric apart.
I was going through my OBW stash and this found fabric I had started to cut up. I don’t know how long I’ve had it. It was The Saturday Evening Post line by Quilting Treasures. I had 4 yards of this striped pattern and another 4 yards of a different layout. I separated the strips and then found the repeat which was 8″ x 23″. I decided it was large enough to align the repeats and cut into 3 3/4″ strips. I could have cut the strips narrower for small blocks but I decided the design elements were large enough for 3 3/4″ strips which make 6″ finished hexagons. I used the ripping method to separate the strips to be sure they were straight. I have to say I don’t like this method. It made the edges wavy and was rough on the fabric. It may have easier to rip but next time I will use ruler rotary cutter,
It is not quilted yet but I do like the design. I used strips from the original fabric for the inner border. The outer border is from fabric number 2. It was also a striped with these small 5″ squares and larger 10″ squares below:
I have eight 10″ blocks of each, that leaves 6 panels for the blocks and 1 for the top with one leftover. Repeats can be from yardage or 6 panels can be used for our hexagon blocks. If I cut the strips 2 3/4″ I will get 3 strips will a little wiggle room left over. If I cut the strips 2 1/2″ wide I will get 4 strips with very little margin for error.
I made this 12″ block from hexagons cut from 1 1/2″ strips.
The photo of the tree is from Forest Hills Cemetery in Utica, NY. It is just above the grave of Mary Louisa Johnson, Daughter of John Adams, granddaughter of John Quincy Adams (6th President of the United States) & Great Granddaughter of John Adams 2nd President of the United States. The panel was 36″ 44″. It was so large it took 12 flowers pins to align it instead of the usual 6. I can’t wait to design it.
I spent last weekend cutting these panels into equilateral triangles. Now I’m ready to stitch away to my hearts content.
The more you practice the better you get at something. The same is true with quilting. This quilt was supposed to be for my son Josh for Christmas (last Christmas). Oh well, better late than never. This panel is called Northern Lights by Abraham Hunter for Elizabeth’s Studio. It claimed to be 36″ x 44″ but is was closer to 39″ wide.
I aligned my 6 panels, cut my hexagons and began designing around the panel. I do not trim the panels before I align them. Once they are aligned I can decide whether to use any of the borders or not. I decided not to use the border in the blocks so when I guesstimated how much to trim off to even the edges , I included the borders.
I start by trying to get an idea of how many hexies will fit across the top and/or bottom of the panel. It is just like making a pieced border to fit around the center of a quilt. The width of the panel should be divisible by the finished size of my hexagon block.
You have two ways to make sure your hexagons will fit across the top and bottom of your panel. You can trim or add fabric to your panel and/or you can also adjust the size of your finished hexagon so it is divisible by the width of the panel.
| Strip Width Yeilds | Finished Hexie Size |
| 3.75” | 6.0” |
| 3.50” | 5.5 |
| 3.25” | 5.0 |
| 3.00” | 4.5 |
| 2.75” | 4.0 |
| 2.50” | 3.5 |
| 2.25” | 3.0 |
| 2.0″ | 2.5 |
I decided to cut my strips 3.75″ for 6″ finished hexagons and trim my panel to 36″ wide. Six hexagons will fit across the bottom and/or top of the panel.
I kept playing with the design.
Once I was satisfied with the design, I stitched the hexagons into four sections.
I laid the top portion of hexies on the panel to help give me an accurate width to trim off. I felt I would not lose an important part of the panel by cutting off the tree.
I trimmed the panel, Trimmed the portion of the hexies so it could be stitched to the panel.
I discovered when the bottom set hexies were aligned with side hexies – I needed to add about 1 1/2″ of fabric.
Now it all fit together wonderfully. I just needed to hide the fabric I added and trim the top and bottom points.
You can’t even tell where I added the fabric or hid it with smaller hexagons. Next I will get quilted!
No moose were hurt in the making of this quilt as Tucker was on duty supervising me the entire time.
If These Threads Could Talk 