Jack and Benny (2025)

Here's my last finished and gifted quilt for 2025! Our dear friends Jeff & Kelly waited a long time for a special quilt. 

Neutral Jack and Benny quilt

In fact, they waited so long, I don't think they were expecting it at all. Lots of hugs, maybe some tears, and it went right to their bed. 

Holiday snacks, beverages and a surprise!

Gray grunge backing and striped bias binding. 

I had been collecting gray and beige fat quarters for a while knowing I wanted something to coordinate with their decor. I just couldn't settle on a pattern. So much overthinking....

I love the little stripe for the binding.  

I stumbled across Annemarie's neutral version of her Jack and Benny quilt on Instagram and knew immediately I was going to straight up copy her design. 

Annemarie Chaney's neutral Jack and Benny (Instagram)

    

Hmmmm something's not right....

Of course I was scrambling to finish in time for Christmas and was so excited to finish the top. I snapped a pic to text Hubs. Thank goodness I did. 😕

So Jack (the ripper) and I spent quite a bit of time together after that. Six.  That's the number of blocks I had to take apart to fix those two up there.  😩  After that, it was a dash to Donna for a longarm spa day. It's a special friend that will drop everything and quilt for you in December. 💕

Vanilla Grunge background ⭐⭐⭐

Sadly, I was in such a scramble, I didn't take any photos (again) before it was gifted. Would it be rude to show up on a sunny day to stage a photo shoot? Probably. They won't mind. 

The pattern is Jack and Benny by Annemarie Chaney and finished at 84" square. Thanks for a great pattern Annemarie!

Piece...

~ Cheryl

🧵🪡

And She's Off!

She's off the design wall, and she's off to the quilter! My Star Sampler is a flimsy! I don't know why I struggled with this one so much. I wanted it to be special to showcase all the great blocks from friends - something I'll enjoy displaying this summer for America's 250th birthday and for many years to come.  Regardless, too much over-thinking going on for sure.  

Better pictures soon. My planned blue border just didn't work (for me).  It felt too heavy or something so I stopped with the white border. I'm considering the blue star print for the binding to give it a nice frame. Anyway, she's a flimsy! Michelle randomly had an empty quilt frame on Thursday going into the weekend. So I dropped her off at the longarm spa, and she will come home all spiffed up and beautiful in a few days I'm sure.

May Shopgirl Stash Bee 

I'm the May queen bee for our Shopgirl Stash Bee so my blocks were done early.  I jumped on the potato chip block bandwagon and came up with this variation.  I need to dive back into Pinterest to find the block variation that inspired my plan. I'm sure I saved it somewhere so more on that later. 😐 If it comes together as planned, it will be a nice QOV for a family member.

String quilt flimsy

Speaking of QOVs, I also picked up my string quilt from Donna's longarm spa. I love the stars and ribbons she used.  

More (and better) pictures after it gets a binding and label. And Oh I have a plan for these. We have SEVEN (living) veterans in our immediate families. Gratitude starts at home, right? 

Sunday afternoon's bike ride didn't disappoint. Far fewer butterflies this time but plenty of bird watching along the way.  And the headwinds were much more tolerable. 😂 

My cute squirrel friend made himself at home under the cushions!

Yesterday was a long day cleaning the front and back porches.  Squirrel friend evicted, pollen eradicated. Today, I am feeling it all over but the back porch is open for business! Hoping to fill the flower pots this weekend.

May goals:

1. Bind and label Star Sampler (May OMG!)
2. Quilt Honey Bouquet
3. Orange RSC blocks
4. Bind and label the string quilt
5. Layout Carolina Chain blocks
6. Wrangle batting scraps

Piece...

Cheryl

🧵🪡

Linking up a day late 😣 with Judy's  Design Wall Mondays and with Anne-Marie's One Monthly Goal (OMG) for May.