Karen Roy's Sewing

Adopting Orphan Blocks

9/30/2026

In quilting, an "orphan block" is when a quilter starts a quilt, or does a sample block to test a pattern, and for whatever reason doesn't finish. So the blocks sit in piles, and land in give-away bags, and find their way to thrift stores or free tables. I enjoy adopting other quilters' orphans to make my own quilt tops, because a lot of the finicky work is done, and I can play around with colors and arrangements with a degree of freedom that comes from low emotional investment in the project.

This project is a perfect example, and one where I ended up loving the end result.

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Signature Quilt (2023-2025)

9/30/2026

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Sometimes, while browsing The Quilt Index, I see signature quilts, and I love the idea of them. When I recently went back to college, I decided to make one.

I started a two year program in 2023, graduating in 2025. Each year admitted a small cohort who went through all the same classes together, so when I was a first-year student, the class before me were second-years. When I was a second-year student, the class after me were first-years. This gave me an opportunity to collect signatures from three classes, or 6 years' worth of students!

When I graduated, my cohort presented the finished quilt to the program director.

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QE1 Quilt - goose in the pond

4/11/2025

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One day, while trawling the internet, I found On Point Quilter's blog post about a quilt called "geometric garden" and the blogger's use of Electric Quilt software to reverse engineer the block. I was struck by how cool the antique quilt was, and immediately saved it in my inspiration folder for later!

The part that most caught my eye is where the two stripes intersect with the 9-patch, because that creates a mini-staggered effect. It looks more complicated than it is, and it places the seam allowances where they don't conflict.

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Meadow Quilt FINISHED!

3/29/2025

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Back in 2019, I started this piecework by making paper templates and using scissors to cut out mini triangles and so on. My friend & not-yet-quilting-mentor kept watching me do it with a face that said "you're doing it wrong - I could show you!" But she didn't impose, and I'm the sort who has to do it my way first - that way I figure out what problems need solving; afterward, I appreciate learning better techniques! I also get bored with beginner projects and kits, so I start with a vision beyond my capacity, and ride the struggle bus the whole way. That's just how I am.

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"Haberdashery" quilt pattern

12/30/2024

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This pattern is Haberdashery, by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet Co. Someone gave it to me, and I can't find it on her website (though it looks like it was part of her currently unavailable "Fashion Fun" collection), so I don't know if you can buy it; it might have been an exclusive in Fat Quarter Shop's Sew Sampler subscription box. The repeating motif of hats is darling, and simple enough to be a palate cleanser between more complicated projects.

This is a quick project: a few nights of cutting and counting squares until I have enough; a few nights of assembly, and the top is now tucked away in a bag of to-be-quilted items. I don't have much to say about the sewing. However, I'd like to honor Lori Holt's wish from her "About Me" page on her website: "My wish is that my designs . . . will inspire others to create and will also instill the desire to pass down the valuable lessons of days gone by taught to us by our mothers and grandmothers."

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Lilac Roses baby quilt

12/23/2024

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Another baby is joining my family! My previous nieces are my sister’s children, but this niece-to-come is my brother’s. For my other nieces, I’ve been making “big girl quilts” when they are a bit older, but in this case, as I haven’t met my sister-in-law yet, I decide to make a baby quilt to welcome the mother into the family as well as to wrap and cherish the baby once she’s born. My brother told me his wife’s favorite color is lilac.

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Alcott's 9-patch Quilt

3/30/2024

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Alcott's 9-Patch, finished

Every crafter has half-finished projects. Sometimes, we let them go -- half-finished -- for someone else to play with.

Last year, I acquired a bunch of fabric from someone else, which included twelve hand-sewn nine-patches. The stitching was pretty close to the raw edges, only an eighth-inch seam allowance, which made me nervous about fraying in the wash! But I was charmed by these sweet, lopsided nine-patches, and decided to set them in some brown scraps (leftover from another crafter's plundered kit).

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My first quilt (so heavy!)

12/26/2023

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I am visiting my mom for Christmas; look what she has on her bed!

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Micro-Mini Quilt

11/27/2023

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Last year, at the Northwest Quilters' Guild's Festival of Quilts, I saw a selection of "mini quilts". Most were doll-bed sized. I remember looking at them and thinking two things simultaneously:

1. What's the point of a tiny quilt?
and
2. I can make it tinier!

So one day, I took a post-it note for foundation paper, and marked one-inch squares on it. Within those squares, I marked the lines of a pineapple block. This picture shows several stages of the process in one frame: the back of the quilt-top, half made, half bordered, half-un-papered!

But let's look at more pictures.

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Fabric Collage

11/10/2023

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Last night, I pulled out a bunch of scraps and some double-sided applique web, and tried my first fabric collage. As I worked, I was thinking of water and aquatic plants, but subsequent alterations make it resemble mountains more.

I was in a creative zone, and took few pictures, so I'll describe verbally what I did, with reference to the pictures I do have.

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<<Previous

Adopting Orphan Blocks

Signature Quilt (2023-2025)

QE1 Quilt - goose in the pond

Meadow Quilt FINISHED!

"Haberdashery" quilt pattern

Lilac Roses baby quilt

Alcott's 9-patch Quilt

My first quilt (so heavy!)

Micro-Mini Quilt

Fabric Collage

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