Hey there, Quilter Peeps! Behold, my Halo quilt top is finally nearing completion: Center Blocks Sewn Together, Border Blocks In Progress I hesitate to set personal sewing goals with actual deadlines, but doesn't it look like I could get this quilt top finished by the end of this week? Now that I've said that out loud, my house will probably be carried off to Oz by a tornado. Or my sewing machine will blow up. I'm not even sure which of those scenarios would be more catastrophic -- that would depend on how backed up my Bernina dealer is for repairs, and whether or not there are any good quilt shops in Oz. For those who haven’t seen this one before, Halo is a pattern by Jen Kingwell that is sold in the pattern booklet Jenny From One Block, available on Amazon here. (This post contains affiliate links). If you’re local here in Charlotte, North Carolina, the QuiltPatch shop in Matthews has been offering classes for this quilt (taught by the fabulous Teresa Raleigh), but if you’re already comfortable with curved piecing you will do just fine on your own with the pattern as I did. The Halo acrylic template set is optional but really helpful for accurate cutting of these shapes, along with a 28 mm rotary cutter (the standard 45 mm rotary cutting blades don’t work well along curved edges). It never ceases to amaze me how much smaller a quilt gets when the blocks are actually sewn together compared to how big it looks when the individual blocks are stuck on the design wall side by side. All of those quarter inch seam allowances really add up. Or rather, they really “subtract up” from the size of the quilt top. So much work for such a relatively small lap quilt! I think this is supposed to finish at 66” square. Well, thank goodness I wasn’t trying to enlarge it to King size this time! I always enjoy making blocks more than sewing them together, for whatever reason. Maybe I’m just impatient by the time I’ve finished making enough blocks. Still, these went together without too much trouble, just careful pinning where the seams need to match up. Making Blocks is More Fun Than Sewing Them Together So now all 36 Halo blocks have been sewn together into the main body of the quilt top and I'm just working on those rectangular pieced border blocks. Which, by the way, is an interesting design choice from pattern designer Jen Kingwell -- the border blocks complete the half circles that would otherwise land on the outer edges of the quilt, deemphasizing and obscuring the block construction in favor of rings and squares that seem to float on a scrappy pieced background. The borders also enlarge the quilt to a more useful size and create outer edges that can be easily bound without fretting about losing any triangle points or turning rings into flat tires. That’s about all I have to say about Halo for now. So let’s have a glimpse of the most recent client’s quilt fresh off my long arm frame: Tara Faughnan’s Double Wedding Ring for Cheryl Now, you only get a sneak peek at this one, because this quilt is still on a UPS truck headed back to my client Cheryl in Minnesota. This is Tara Faughnan’s Double Wedding Ring pattern, and Cheryl’s version is a massive king size made up in Cherrywood hand dyed solid fabrics. Glimpse of Cheryl's Double Wedding Ring Quilt I just love the color palette Cheryl created for this one! This quilt is truly magnificent in person. I used Hobbs Tuscany Cotton/Wool batting for Cheryl’s DWR and quilted it with YLI 40 Tex cotton thread in variegated Pastels. Pattern designer Tara Faughnan was new to me before Cheryl sent me this quilt, but I checked out her Instagram and her online shop and I really like her work. Pat’s Baby Moose Quilt And then, in a completely different vein, we have my client Pat’s very sweet and snuggly baby moose quilt! Pat used the free moose appliqué block pattern from Wendi of Shiny Happy World for her baby quilt. Pat's 45 x 57 Baby Moose Quilt with Carpet of Leaves E2E I used Glide 40 wt trilobal polyester thread in Warm Grey 4 for quilting because Pat had used a similar machine embroidery thread for her machine appliqué. I picked this color because it was the best blender across the various fabrics Pat chose for her little moose faces. Baby Moose Detail: Glide Thread in Warm Grey 4 Also, because I am dorky and this is what dorks do, I googled “what do moose eat” and then went looking through my E2E designs for leaves that looked like willow, aspen or birch leaves… And that is how we selected the Carpet of Leaves quilting design from the many leafy patterns in my digital collection! The batting on this one is Quilters Dream Cotton Select loft. PSST!! I'd Love to Quilt for YOU! By the way, if you or any of your quilty friends has a quilt top or two that needs quilting, I'd be delighted to quilt for you! I am currently scheduling quilts for completion in late August/early September of 2023. Click here to learn how easy it is to book a quilt with me! Hey, Come Sew With Me at 4 PM on August 2nd! Last but not least, if you are local to Charlotte, North Carolina and you are a quilter or you have even the slightest interest in learning more about quilting, I am personally inviting you to come and check out the Charlotte Quilters’ Guild on Wednesday, August 2nd. Starting with our August meeting, the Charlotte Quilters' Guild will be hosting a social sewing afternoon right before our meeting begins, open to guild members and visitors alike. It’s totally unstructured and informal, just bring whatever project you’re currently working on, your machine and any other supplies you might need, and pack a snack if you need one. We'll have irons and ironing boards to share, and if you don't have a project of your own, you can work on one of our free, beginner-friendly donation quilt kits to make a cuddle quilt for a NICU or PICU patient. Arrive as early as 4 PM to beat the rush hour traffic and leave whenever you need to, or stay for our meeting that begins at 6:30. Our guest speaker for August is giving a lecture on how to get better photos of our quilts using just our smartphones. And that is the end of today's plug for the quilt guild. In the interest of full disclosure, I should warn you that the Charlotte Quilters' Guild went and elected me President this year, so you will definitely see me if you show up for one of these events! Please introduce yourself to me and say hello. 😄 I'm linking up today's post with the following linky parties, and then I'm off to make a few more of those Halo border blocks! I'm also going to link up with To Do List Tuesday at Texas Quilt Gal, now that I've cursed myself by setting a goal of finishing my Halo quilt top this week. Y'all should place bets now on whether I finish that quilt top or my long arm machine lands on the Wicked Witch of the East... Happy quilting, everyone! FRIDAY Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday SUNDAY Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework MONDAY Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts WEDNESDAY Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter THURSDAY Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation