What a crazy year it has been! Normally I would have written a few more posts about this year’s Row Along but with my constant health struggles I just didn’t have the time. Many of you are probably aware that Marian of Seams To Be Sew – who came up with the Row Along concept and organized the event every year – unexpectly passed away in March. We had just started the preparations and voted on the theme when we heard the news, and we decided to continue with the Row Along in Marian’s memory. Melissa of The Quilting Room With Mel kindly volunteered to take over as chairperson and put a lot of time and effort into making it happen.

One Fish, Two Fish – EQ Design

Inspiration for my row hit me when I was browsing the Northcott Fabrics website. They generously offered their fabrics to all the designers again this year, and we could choose anything from their current collections for our projects. I have always loved the look of ombré fabrics but I usually don’t really know what to do with them. When I saw the Stonehenge Gradations Ombré collection, the colorway Indigo jumped out at me right away. I could almost swear it was called “Ocean” at the time but I might be wrong. In any case, I suddenly had a vision of colorful fish swimming on this blue background, with the color getting darker towards the ocean floor and lighter towards the surface. The other fabric I chose was a light blue for the bubbles. Thank you once again, Northcott, for your beautiful fabrics.

DP39420-45 Stonehenge Gradations Ombre Indigo

9020-42 Toscana Escape

For the fish, I used leftover batik scraps. The bright colors shine on the blue background, and batiks often have interesting patterns that I thought were perfect for tropical fish. The bubbles were scattered randomly across the background. The instructions are for fusible machine applique (the only kind I do), and I used a machine blanket stitch to applique the pieces.

Once again, I added borders and turned my row into a wall hanging. I would have entered it in this year’s quilt show but unfortunately Covid is still around, and we won’t be able to have one. I am keeping my fingers crossed for 2022.

The pattern for the row will be available for free download for a week. Afterwards the pattern for the complete wall hanging will be available for purchase.

Click to download One Fish, Two Fish Row Along pattern

And before you leave, don’t forget to check out the other two rows that are being published today. Visit Kris at Scrapdash and Althea at Blue Heron Quilting for two more fabulous free patterns. They are only free for a week, so be sure to visit right away. New rows will be posted every Monday until the end of October. For the full schedule please check The Quilting Room With Mel.

Every time I think I am mostly back on track, life throws me another curve ball. I am struggling with health issues right now, and I completely forgot to schedule today’s BOM post. Luckily the blocks are all sewn, and the patterns are all written, so there won’t be much of a delay, now that I finally realized that today is September 1.

This month, we are going back to the beach where our little monkey has built a wonderful sand castle, decorated with shells and a little flag. As always, the pattern will be available for free download until the end of the month and move to the pattern store when the October block is released.

Click to download Monkey Business Block #9 pattern (English/Imperial)

This modern quilt called “Yama to Kawa” was made by Jean. The pattern is by Lorna Shapiro, if you are local you have probably heard of her. She specializes in Japanese fabrics and silk. A few years ago she came to our guild for a trunk show, and her work is amazing. You can find out more about her on her website “Quilter’s Dream Fabrics”. Jean wasn’t sure how she wanted her project quilted and was undecided between custom quilting and a pantograph. I had to admit that this quilt didn’t immediately speak to me, it is a tough one to custom quilt. Looking through my pantograph collection, we found this one called “Time Warp”, and Jean liked it for her quilt. It picks up the rhomboid shapes of the quilt pattern and adds great texture.

“Binding Tool Star” is a very popular Missouri Star Quilt Co. pattern, and this is Sharon’s version. She put the star pieces together pointing outwards instead of inwards, quite an interesting variation of the original pattern. The “Binding Tool Star” is also very versatile when it comes to choosing a pantograph, almost anything goes. Sharon chose “Butterfly Tango” to complement the lovely spring colours in her quilt.

It’s August already, and nothing is back to normal in my life but I am trying to reclaim things step by step. I have started to post again, hoping I can keep it up. I certainly have a ton of quilts to show! My garden is doing well although we are having a very hot and dry summer. Lots of watering required, next year I am planning on having more soaker hoses. It takes up a lot of time to water everything by hand. But the biggest news is that we have adopted two quilt inspectors for quality control 😉 We actually got them in mid-June when they were just three months old, and they are making such a difference in our life. We had cats in Germany and have always wanted to adopt some in Canada, and we felt we needed some emotional support and were lucky to be able to adopt these two cuties. Their names are Lexi and Lucy, and they are full of energy and mischief, always ready to get into trouble.

Lexi

Lucy

Sleeping on the Job

Our Monkey friend has cut up a delicious watermelon this month and is offering slices for refreshment in the summer heat. Funny, I just realized that I don’t have watermelons in my garden, I should write them on next year’s list. The watermelon seeds are quite small. I appliqued them all but although I don’t mind small pieces, that was not a fun endeavour, so I changed them to embroidery for the pattern. Or you could sew on small black beads. I did that for a watermelon block some years ago, and it looked pretty neat. The August block will be available for free download until the end of the month and move over to the pattern store when the next block is released.

EDIT: September is here, and the August block has moved to the pattern store and is now available for purchase if you missed the free download.

Click to purchase Monkey Business Block #8 pattern (English/Imperial)

EDIT: Auch der achte Block ist jetzt auf Deutsch und mit metrischen Maßen im Pattern Store verfügbar.

(Kauf)Anleitung Monkey Business Block #8 (Deutsch/Metrisch)

This quilt in beige and brown colours was made by Bonnie. She knew right away that she wanted it quilted with “Diagonal Plaid Bias Cut”. This design is always a good choice when a quilt has lots of squares, and it complements Bonnie’s work nicely.

This quilt was made by Sandra as a gift for her mom. The fabric she used for the sashing has grape leaves, and those inspired the choice of quilting pattern. “Ground Cover” is one of my favourite leaf patterns, the leaves look a bit like ivy but can also pass as grape leaves and were just right for this quilt.

I am going to make an effort to return to a more normal posting schedule. First up is another round of Show & Tell. Elaine has been busy making more Monkey blocks, here are her April, May and June blocks.

Sigrid has been busy as well, and I really enjoy the different custom backgrounds she creates for her Monkeys. Here are the next three blocks she stitched.

Thank you to both ladies for faithfully sending me a picture every month. I very much enjoy seeing what others make with my designs.

Happy Canada Day! As you can probably tell by the silence on my blog, my life is still very much in disarray. I am hoping to return to some kind of normal during July, but it might take until August to sort everything out. In addition to the emotional upset we spent the last few days under the heat dome in the Pacific Northwest, and no, we don’t have air conditioning. It was no fun but the worst seems to be over, and I managed to keep my vegetables well watered, and they all seem to be doing quite well. The spinach and corn salad bolted before the extreme heat, I had a great broccoli and cauliflower harvest, and the beans, cucumbers and squash seemed to love the weather. I am grateful every day that I continued with my vegetable garden experiment this year, it really helps me keep my sanity.

This month’s monkey is going on safari. This was the block that my husband thought was the most hilarious… a monkey in full safari outfit. But hey, he wants to see the animals too, right?? Coming up with ideas for twelve different blocks is not always easy, and sometimes I just start drawing and it takes me in a direction that I hadn’t really planned. I think for this block I was more thinking of a monkey going on a hike but when his hat ended up looking like a pith helmet I thought it was funny and went with it. As always, the safari monkey block will be available for free download until the end of the month and move to the pattern store in August when the next block is released.

EDIT: If you missed the free download in July, the pattern is now available for purchase in the pattern store.

Click to purchase Monkey Business Block #7 pattern (English/Imperial)

EDIT: Den siebten Block gibt es jetzt auch als Kaufmuster auf Deutsch und mit metrischen Maßen im Pattern Store.

(Kauf)Anleitung Monkey Business Block #7 (Deutsch/Metrisch)

Life is happening in full force right now, disrupting all my plans, unfortunately not in a good way. Blogging and sharing pictures on social media is not high on my list of priorities at the moment. I am spending some of my energy on my vegetables, puttering around the garden makes me feel quite calm and relaxed. I have blanched and frozen a lot of spinach already, trying to get the most out of it before it bolts. The Super Gourmet Salad Blend from West Coast Seeds that KJ mentioned in a comment a couple of months back was my choice this year too, and I love it. Excellent results, and very tasty too. I did have a few mishaps though and killed all my cucumbers and most of my squash plants, and I also overwatered my tomato seedlings but I have learned that they are like weeds and very hard to kill. I transplanted them two weeks ago, and they made a very nice recovery. And I am very happy about the brassicas. We went through the trouble of building a cover for the whole bed, with rebar and PVC pipes (lots of good tutorials can be found on YouTube), and I bought some row cover fabric and a soaker hose. The brassicas are thriving in there, the cabbage moths and root flies can’t get in, and I haven’t seen any aphids yet (fingers crossed). The plants are huge and healthy, and the first florets are coming up on the broccoli. Even my own whimpy seedlings aren’t far behind the ones I bought at Minter’s. Last year I lost all but two broccoli plants to the maggots of the cabbage root fly. They just started drooping one day and keeled over the next, and when I pulled them, there were barely any roots left. So hopefully I will have a better harvest this year.

I will keep posting quilts when I have the time, and the Monkey Business BOM will continue as planned. The patterns are all written and will be published on the first of each month. Should I have to post a bit early or late, I will announce it in advance, so stay tuned for updates. This month, our monkey friend is still at the beach, playing ball and having a blast. The pattern is available for free download until the end of the month and will move over to the pattern store in July when the next block is published.

EDIT: Block #6 has moved to the store and is available for purchase now for those who missed the free download. I have also created block bundles for the last three blocks (# 4, 5 and 6) and all six blocks at a special discount price.

Click to purchase Monkey Business Block #6 pattern (English/Imperial)

Click to purchase Monkey Business pattern bundle 4, 5 & 6 (English/Imperial)

Click to purchase Monkey Business pattern bundle 1-6 (English/Imperial)

Block #6 ist jetzt auch auf Deutsch und in metrischen Maßen erhältlich. Es gibt auch wieder Blockbündel zum Sonderpreis, entweder die Blöcke 4, 5 und 6 oder die ersten sechs Blöcke komplett.

(Kauf)Anleitung Monkey Business Block #6 (Deutsch/Metrisch)

(Kauf)Anleitungsbündel Monkey Business 4, 5 & 6 (Deutsch/Metrisch)

(Kauf)Anleitungsbündel Monkey Business 1-6 (Deutsch/Metrisch)

“Over The River And Through The Woods” is a Crabapple Hill design, mixing hand-embroidered panels with classic pieced blocks. This lovely version was made by Sandra, and she chose “White Out”, a snowflake pattern for quilting. I wasn’t always comfortable doing allover designs across beautiful hand embroidery but Sandra’s quilt is a great example of how good it can look. The snowflake meander blends into the background and doesn’t take away from the exquisite handwork.

Sharlene made this cute quilt as a baby gift. What a great way of using up scraps, the more different fabrics, the better! The empty areas between the kites will be filled by their tails, Sharlene wanted to have it quilted first before starting on the embroidery. The pattern we used for quilting is called “Wild Wind” – perfect for flying a kite!