Throwing Snowballs At The Castle Wall - A Hand Quilted Finish

 

Throwing Snowballs At The Castle Wall

It's a hand quilted finish!

48 x 63

The center block is called Castle Wall and finishes at 21 inches. Back in 2014 I had this grand idea that I would use my little collectiton of Valentine themed fabrics bought over the years on clearance after many Valentine's Days to make a Castle Wall quilt consisting of 12 Castle Wall blocks.  So in 2014 I made one block.    Then in 2018 I made two more blocks including this one.   Then in 2023 as I was evaluating UFOs and ran across the three blocks I finally decided my 2014 grand idea of a Castle Wall quilt was not meant to be so I made three different medallion quilts. 

More back story on my 2023 blog post about this quilt.

In 2023 I framed the Castle Wall with a little solid pink border and made it the starting block to a medallion quilt.  Since the Caste Wall block had purple, red, pink and black in it I pulled out mostly Valentine fabrics with those colors. 

Then I decided to throw some Snowballs at that Castle Wall.

I alternated Snowballs with black and white corners. 

Then I needed to add a little length because I usually prefer to make rectangluar quilts. What better to add for a border than a couple of hearts and some roses! 

Then as you can see I big stitch hand quilted it all with black perle cotton #8. 

It has a pieced backing. 

And it is bound with LOVE! 

FYI - the other two Castle Wall quilts:

Smitten was finished in 2023

Hugs and Kisses at the Castle Wall is still an unfinished top

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

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REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)

I received a box of treasures from Nann yesterday. And, woohoo, it included a big bag of postage stamps (PS) - 1.5 inch fabric squares - so I can continue on with a couple of PS UFOs! 

It's A Hand Quilted Finish! Smitten

Smitten

63 x 81

It's a finish!

And it's hand quilted!

And this one is for me!

Back in February of this year I was pondering what to do with a Castle Wall ufo. I had three super-sized  blocks made for a quilt I was calling Valentines at the Castle Wall. The oldest block, above, was made in 2014. I really wasn't sure I liked how all three blocks looked together and I really didn't want to make any more blocks but I really wanted to use those blocks so in February I turned the one ufo, Valentines at the Castle Wall, into three different quilt tops I named "Throwing Snowballs at the Castle Wall", "Hugs and Kisses at the Castle Wall" and "Smitten". 

Smitten was inspired by a c. 1890-1900 quilt. You can read more about that and the making of Smitten on my February blog post. 

I big stitch hand quilted it very simply with red perle cotton #12.   I stitched in the ditch around the Castle Wall block and around the heart in the middle. 

In most of the six inch patches I stitched around any whole hearts that were showing. 

In the three inch and one inch patches I stitched about 1/4 inch along the seam lines. I didn't mark anything...just eyeballed it. 

The binding was aqua solid to match some of the aqua patches on front as well as the roses on aqua backing. 

This quilt is full of a few of my favorite things - scraps, hearts and roses. 

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

What's In The Hoop?

During the summer I usually put hand quilting on hold because without a/c it is too darned hot to have a quilt on my lap while hand quilting.  It has cooled off a bit although yesterday made it to a record high I think.  Well, anyway, a couple of weeks ago I finally pin basted a quilt and got it into the hoop so I have something to do while sitting with a very sick and weak hubby who now has a feeding tube. Like a newborn baby he certainly requires a lot of attention right now but after 50+ years of living with the man I think he is definitely worth it. 

So anyway...I have been big stitch hand quilting on Smitten with red perle #8 because that is what I have on hand.  If I stitch long lines I run several needles at one time in a hoop of fabric. That is particularly helpful at this time because I had to get a new hoop because the other one not only had cracked clamps but one of the base pieces had snapped. The clamps always seem so tight on new Qsnap hoops so it's not that easy to get them off and on.  But now they are starting to loosen up a bit, thank goodness. 

Smitten is one of three quilts I ended up making with three big old Castle Wall blocks. This one is inspired by a vintage quilt and has a couple of my favorite things...hearts and roses.   If you would like to know more of the Smitten story I blogged about it back in February. 

I 💓 this one. It said "Be mine, valentine" to me. 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

 

The Last Castle Wall Block

Smitten

63 x 81

It's a top! 

This month the theme in my sewing space has been Hearts and Flowers. I challenged myself to move UFOs forward that fit that theme. You may or may not remember my blog post at the beginning of the month where I pondered what to do with three very old super sized Castle Wall blocks.  Well, now its the end of the month and all three blocks are out of the box and in quilt tops.  This last block was made in 2014 so it's about time I guess. 

Actually this quilt was inspired by a vintage c. 1890-1900 quilt top that Mary Elizabeth Kinch blogged about in 2018.  I've had it on my list of "want to makes" ever since I saw it. I have to say my version is a bit wilder and more colorful. 

I used lots and lots of scraps left over from making lots of other tops this month with valentine fabrics. I also threw in some scraps with birds and roses since those were in the Castle Block. 

The center section has lots and lots of 2 inch squares. 

And then there's 3.5 inch squares...

...and some 6.5 inch squares...

...and finally there are some 3.5 x 9.5 inch rectangles. 

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! At Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

Throwing Snowballs At The Castle Wall

Throwing Snowballs at the Castle Wall

It's a top!

48 x 63

This is the second Castle Wall medallion quilt.  If you missed it I blogged about the first one yesterday.  It was difficult to take photos of this one  today because it has been very windy. 

I made this (one of three) Castle Wall block back in February 2018.   The block is a whopping 21 inches. I made my first block back in 2014 then made two more blocks in February 2018. I was always thinking I would make 12 blocks for a Castle Wall quilt someday. Well, this month I decided that's not going to happen because I'm not going to make any more Castle Wall blocks. 

Since this month the theme here is Hearts and Flowers I decided that once and for all I needed to do something with the aging blocks.  This Castle Wall block was the starter for this quilt. 

For this quilt I made six inch Snowball blocks.  They took on an octagon shape like the center of the Castle Wall block. The darker fabrics have white with hearts corners and...

...and the lighter Snowballs have black with hearts corners.  I alternated light and dark corner blocks. 

For the top and bottom borders I made a couple of hearts for the center and used up a black polka dot fabric with hearts, ribbons and roses for the rest of the border. I wanted to just use the polka dot fabric for the border but didn't have enough of it so that is why I made the hearts for the center of the border. 

Now that leaves me with one more Castle Wall block -- the first one I made in 2014. 

I'm still pondering what I want to do with this one. It is not real Valentine-y looking so I'm thinking I ma want to add some birds and flowers to it for something completely different than the other two Castle Wall tops I just completed. In fact I'm thinking I may take off those block corners with the heart fabrics and replace it with something else. I have not ruled out turning it into a cushion cover or small card table sized tablecloth. Time will tell. In the meantime I have other heart and flower projects I can work on for this month's theme here in my sewing room. 

And sew on...

 

Hugs and Kisses Around The Castle Wall

Hugs and Kisses 

around the

Castle Wall

It's a top!

48 x 63

I made this (one of three) Castle Wall block back in February 2018.   The block is a whopping 21 inches. I made my first block back in 2014 then made two more blocks in February 2018. I was always thinking I would make 12 blocks for a Castle Wall quilt someday. Well, this month I decided that's not going to happen because I'm not going to make any more Castle Wall blocks. 

Since this month the theme here is Hearts and Flowers I decided that once and for all I needed to do something with the aging blocks.  This Castle Wall block with XO fabric and lipstick stains was the starter for a medallion quilt.  I made hugs (Os) with some light valentine fabrics and I made kisses (Xs) with red and pink valentine fabrics. 

I had enough of that lipstick print to make a snowball border for the top and bottom. I thought the snowballs kind of looked like the center octagon of lipstick prints in the Castle Wall. 

Years ago when I used to buy fabric I liked to collect valentine fabrics after Valentine's Day when they went on sale so I do have a small stash of them I hope to put to use this month. 

XOXOXO

And sew on...

 

To Be Or Not To Be

I made this 20.5 inch (finished) Castle Wall quilt block back in December 2014.  I thought it was a good block for a little collection of Valentine fabrics.  There's a lot of Y seams in it and I found it difficult to make but thought I'd challenge myself to make 12 blocks. Well, I didn't make any more blocks until 

...February 2018. Then I made two more blocks and...

...I have not made any more since.  This month the theme in my sewing space is Hearts and Flowers so I thought I would get these blocks out and decide once and for all what to do with them and move this UFO forward. 

The link to the free tutorial I used in 2014 is now broken but I did print off the directions and templates way back when it was working. I reviewed the directions again and decided that I still would love to have a Valentine Castle Wall quilt BUT I don't want to make any more of these blocks with all those Y seams BUT I do want to use my little cache of Valentine fabrics. 

So, I searched for a similar and easier to make block and found a Dutch Rose (aka Swoon) block. And I found several different ways to make it without Y seams. 

Yesterday I tried the tutorial at Double Nickel Quilts for a 16 inch finished Dutch Rose block.   I like it well enough but not with my Valentine fabrics because a lot of them are directional and larger prints so they don't look quite right in this block. I am going to try the Dutch Rose with my garden rose prints instead.  

So now I guess the plan is:

1. Make a simple quilt of 9 inch squares alternating with 9 inch Nine Patches in order to use some of the directional and big prints.

2. Use the Castle Wall and that Dutch Rose block as the centers for some lap or wheelchair quilts. I did consider making a table runner but I do already have a Valentine table runner and placemats. I also considered using one as a cushion cover and that still might happen.

And sew on...

Valentine Castle

 I was digging through my Valentine fabrics and found a ziploc bag with one Castle Wall block made with Valentine fabrics.  Evidently I haven't made any more since December 2014 according to an old blog post. 

These are big 20 inch blocks. I think I'll make 12. 

Now I have 3 blocks in my Valentine Castle.

Sew, Stitch, Snap, Share!

I Guess I Know What I'll Be Making With My Valentine Fabrics

Supersize Castle Wall Block

It finishes at 20.5 inches. 

I followed my own directions and not the directions in the tutorial. 

I'm trying to figure out what to make with all my different collections of themed fabrics.  Then I make a block before I forget.