Leap Day

Leap day makes me want to write the date on everything! I've long thought it should be a holiday- because who wouldn't want an extra day off every 4 years?  Since that is not the case, I'll use the bonus time to share my retreat projects (as promised several weeks ago...). 

In addition to the table topper block I made, I brought enough fabric for more projects than I had time to work on. Retreat is the perfect chance for me to start new quilts and this year I finished 2 quilt tops.  The first is a pattern from a blog hop via Fat Quarter Shop using their Jolly Bar pre-cut, found at From Bolt to Beauty. 

This picture is still just blocks on the design wall, but I do have the finished top together.

Did you know a layer cake cut in half is the equivalent of 2 Jolly Bars? With the extra fabric, I added several rows and columns to the design and used a layer cake of Aspen Frost for the quilt, with assorted whites cut for the background. 

Making the Half Rectangle Triangles (a new to me skill) took some time but it went smoothly and I love how they create diamonds and diagonals in the quilt. Here's hoping it'll be finished before Christmas 2016!

My second quilt utilizes a good selection of my sketch print fabrics and is a pattern from the book Quilt Lab. I grumbled about the method for piecing these curves and the wording of the instructions, and tried to do it my own way. Sigh, that never really works well does it? >Thanks Momm for helping me try to do it my way even though it didn't work.< 
Ultimately, I followed the book as printed and it worked out beautifully- of course. While the book pattern pulls the design from sound wave echoes, I see it as radar waves since I used to work at an Electronics Museum.  This will be a quilt for my entry-way wall once it's finished.

Hope your Leap day was extra fun readers and full of good thing!