A Busy Spring

 Not sure why, but I frequently get a bunch of ideas at once and next thing I know I've made a  stack of I spy quilts with no idea what to do with them all.  This spring the start for all those ideas was a baby shower for one of my daughter's high school friends.  While looking for ideas for one quilt I found so many the next thing I knew I had a stack of 10 finished quilts and only one home for them.  No, I'm not going to give the new mom 10 quilts.  I've posted about several of them previously and the one for the baby shower will get it's own post.  Here are the remaining 3.

This idea came from a Jordan Fabrics video & pattern called Jagged X.  I used up a bunch of 2.5 strips and a stack of 2.5 x 4.5 rectangles for this, so there are fabric repeats but it was nice to be able to use the large stash of white novelties I've collected.  It was a fun pattern to do and Donna Jordan had a great suggestion on how to sew the diagonal without marking a line that was helpful, proving that even experienced sewers can learn new skills.  (Search Jagged X Jordan Fabrics if you wish to watch the video).  I think I am going to make this again in the future using non-novelties.  I like the effect and since there are very few seams to match it goes together quickly.

Jagged X

The idea of this next quilt also came from Jordan Fabrics though in a round about way.  They have a pattern called Chain Links which looks kind of like an Irish Chain using a 9 patch alternated with TOT to make a diagonal pattern. Since I wanted to use my standard 4" finished square, I decided to make modified 16 patches instead of 9 patches to make the math easier (1" squares) and allow me to use up some more of those scraps that always accumulate after fussy cutting.  I envisioned a long "leader/ender" project but wow, I should have done the math - 216 little 4 patches to trim. But once I started I felt obligated to finish.  This one goes in the "won't be doing that one again" list.

This next quilt is one of my favorites from the 10 made this spring.  The idea came from Lynne from an online quilt group.  We enable each other frequently with ideas.  I love the secondary zigzag pattern on this one.  Her original quilt used 4 patches and HST but I wanted to have larger pieces of novelty & fewer seams so I made a large flying geese instead.  Still pretty quick to do.