Road to Oklahoma quilt flimsy

I love the Oklahoma themed batik

I'm in the homestretch of my Oklahoma quilt. It took forever for me to find a sashing fabric. I looked locally as well as online. Big bomb. Then I saw someone comment about Hancocks of Paducah and that's where I scored! Lovely horse shoes on a warm western brown batik. The multi colors tie in with the colors of my Oklahoma batiks.

I was initially concerned that the horse shoes might be too busy. Thankfully I was wrong. Next to the various blocks it is low volume.

Playing with layout.

I was playing with the layout WHILE it was on my En Provence quilt. What was I thinking?! The colors and patterns of En Provence messed with my eyes.

quilt top indoors

The layout tested me as I've never done a sampler quilt before. (I sure am checking off several 'firsts' with this quilt.) I arranged and rearranged a dozen times. Then I put my girls on the task and they whipped out a great design quickly.

Outside on the line seeking sunlight

I really love the 'artistic' slant of different sized and patterned blocks. I think I'm getting brave. I'm eager to get this quilt finished.

Oklahoma! Tornado and teepee

In summer 2018, in addition to The Road to Oklahoma quilt shop hop, there is a nationwide row along quilt shop hop. It is mainly applique blocks. Not my thing. However my youngest daughter hit a few shops and brought me the patterns. They are Oklahoma themed so I decided to include them. My quilt. My design decisions.

First I made the HOME block which was part of the Road to Oklahoma hop.

Then I got really brave and took pieces from 2 different shops blocks to make this block. It needs more detail before I will call it completed. The tornado is my design. I hand drew my own pattern. I will add some lines to give you the idea of motion happening.

I have another block planned using shop block designs and my own again. It's getting exciting!

Home is where the heart is

I'm happily plugging away again at my Oklahoma quilt. I went a week without any sewing. The withdrawal was awful, hehehe.
I pulled in a green fabric that was not part of the Oklahoma collection. It is 2 sided but not a batik. I decided to use it anyway as it reminds me of cow patty stains.

Stitching, pressing and trimming make me so happy!

Yes, I am weird, LOL. In the spring, look at a pale colored cow's rear end and you will find the stains. Dark stains, light stains, in the middle stains. It's real folks :)

The green is playing nicely.

One shop featured an applique block. I'm not overly experienced with applique, however the simple lines encouraged me to make it. I just love that they used a heart as the 'O' in HOME. Then the tiny Oklahoma state outline was the icing on the cake.

The heart was my favorite.

 And .... it gets me more experience at applique. Those deer heads on the baby quilt gave me some confidence. I did a simple machine blanket stitch around each shape.

It feels good to stretch my stitching brain by using new techniques.

Home is where the heart is!

Road to Oklahoma quilt

Hello!

I had made a personal commitment to make a blog post once a week. I had to replace my laptop and couldn't find my way back to my blog. I feel so silly. Thankfully I found a really old email that had a link and managed to work my way back. Wahoo!!

I have started on a new quilt. My husband drove me around the state this past summer on a quilt shop hop. We had the best time hanging out together. I picked up several block patterns and plenty of fabric.

I planned ahead for this shop hop and saved money. That way when I requested the free block pattern, I could also buy a yard or two of fabric. I wanted to support the wonderful local shops that participated. And wow talk about fun! I had given myself permission to pet the fabrics and take some home!

This years theme was Road to Oklahoma. There were special batik fabrics with Oklahoma symbols. I love them! Each block finishes at 12 inches. And since each shop designs their own block, this is basically a sampler quilt.

Have you ever made a sampler quilt? I had not. I am frustrated that I don't have a long range plan for cutting or sewing. It stresses me to look at the fabric I have available and wonder if I will have enough. On the flip side, I am really enjoying the variety of blocks. If this was just a scrappy quilt it would probably be easier. However I chose the added stress by limiting myself to the Oklahoma fabrics. I'm a goofball :)

My goal is a generous lap quilt. I do not have enough patterns as there were only 23 shops in the hop and I did not make it to them all. So I have gone offroad with a few blocks. We'll see how it goes :)