Just a quick show of what my design wall looks like today. I have all the blocks made and ready to sew them into rows. 
To see more walls go to www.patchworktimes.com
Theresa
Author: alwaysquilts
Design wall 1/16/17 Dutchman’s puzzle blocks
We are having a row by row exchange next month at my guild and the theme is 1930’s prints. I decided not to procrastinate this time and get them done early. I still need to sew the 2 halves of the blocks together and then make 6 rows with 6 blocks in each of them. Good thing I started early on these. One down, 35 more to go……..👍🏻
Check out more walls at www.patchworktimes.com
Theresa
Shortcuts
I’m always looking for shortcuts to speed things up. I cut out my lock in quilt and decided that on the rectangles that need to be cut in half diagonally, maybe I could use the accuquilt cutter on them……
I used the 5″ strip cutter and laid the rectangles on it, matching up the cutting lines with the corners of the triangles.
Wow! That was quick!
After I cut all the rectangles in half for that quilt, I decided that I could cut the flying geese units that I’m making for another quilt the same way.
I’m doing the no waste method on them and after finishing the first step, I was able to cut them apart quickly!
I love shortcuts!! It didn’t take much time at all to get them cut apart. Wish I could find a quick way to square them up!😳
Oh well……a few minutes saved is better than none!
Theresa
Design wall 1/2/17 string quilt
I didn’t get much sewing done the last couple of weeks with Christmas, but I managed to find enough time to get the blocks made, the rows sewn together and the sashings added. The top is now ready to add the borders. I originally thought about just adding some plain borders to it but now I’m thinking that a string border would look good on it. Hmm…… we’ll see. Anyway, it’s on my design wall today, waiting for borders. 
To see more walls check out www.patchworktimes.com
Theresa
Christmas blocks
Years ago (maybe 15 or so) I participated in a Christmas block exchange at my guild and I have never put the blocks together into a quilt. Each year at Christmas, I think about those blocks and tell myself that I need to get them sewn together, but soon Christmas is over and I move on to other projects. After all, I have plenty of time to work on them, it’s a whole year before it’s Christmas again.😳
When I saw them in a drawer this Morning I decided that 2017 will be the year that the blocks become a quilt. I am hereby challenging myself to accomplish that goal. So, this time next year, I’ll have a Christmas quilt.
The bottom right hand block is the label. 
Merry Christmas!
Theresa
Design wall 12/19/16 the next string quilt
My design wall is starting to get covered with string blocks. 
Eight down with 12 to go! The snow this past weekend allowed me lots of extra time to spend in my workroom quilting and sewing. I guess maybe there is something good about snow. LOL!!
That’s it for my wall this week. Check out more walls at www.patchworktimes.com
Theresa
Purple string quilt ready for quilting
I finished the purple string quilt tonight and it’s now ready to be quilted. 
It will get an edge to edge quilting design on it. The string sashing was perfect for finishing off those blocks. This quilt will be one of the quilts I will show in my lecture on string quilts that I am working on putting together.
Now back to sewing more strings!
Theresa
Design wall 12/12/16 progress on purple string quilt
My design wall is still covered with the purple string quilt, except now the sashings and cornerstones are on there too. I was hoping to have those last 2 sections sewn on by now but there’s only so many hours in a day and I ran out of them! LOL!
That’s my quick update for today’s wall. To see more design walls, check out http://www.patchworktimes.com
Theresa
Ruby’s treasures blog hop winner.
I hope everyone enjoyed the blog hop featuring the Ruby’s treasures fabric line from Barb Eikmiere. After being asked to participate in the hop and deciding which block I would showcase, I thought about an old box of old Kansas City Star patterns that I had. I dug the box out and discovered that I have 49 original patterns from the Star newspaper that were Ruby McKims designs.
I didn’t know at the time that I had picked a design from one of the patterns that I had.
I looked through all my patterns to see if I had any of the patterns that the other hop hosts had used. I didn’t, but I do have the one that Barb made using the beggar block pattern and her Ruby’s treasure fabric line.
What fun it was to discover that I had the original block pattern that had been published in the paper.
I hope you enjoyed the blog hop and the winners are Gloria Cotten for the fat quarter bundle and Kathy Cummings Slaughter for my e-book. Congrats ladies!
Have fun and enjoy using The Ruby’s treasures fabric line!
Theresa
http://www.101patchworkpatterns.com/
Design wall 12/5/16 purple string quilt
I have become so addicted to string quilts. Whether I’m making squares or sashing units,it doesn’t matter. I just love sewing those strings together and coming up with different ways to put them together into quilts!
I bought these blocks online probably 16 years or so ago. At the time I thought it would be a fast way to put a quilt together (save time by not having to piece the blocks) and have something to practice my machine quilting on.
Needless to say, I never did get them made into a quilt top.
I always knew I had them in a box somewhere………but where?????
I finally ran across them this last week and knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. I started pulling purple strings from my string basket and cutting a few more.
I’m hoping to find time this week to work on getting the sashings finished. I have all the string pieces made, just need to sew them together to make the sashing units.
But right now I have to get back to the longarm. Check out more design walls at wwwpatchworktimes.com
Theresa
Always Quilts 