Moonlit Layers of Charm Quilt with the Fat Quarter Shop

I got an email a few months back from the Fat Quarter Shop to try out one of their new patterns.  I of course said yes.  I picked out a layer cake of Rashida Coleman Hale's Moonlit and an icy blue Bella Solids charm pack, then commenced some very secret sewing.

The pattern is called Layers of Charm (aw!) and you use one layer cake and one charm pack to make it.  There's no cutting fabric, just sew charm to layer and trim.  It went really fast and then I got to do the fun quilting part.

One of the great things about this quilt is that it's such a big blank palette for quilting!  I loaded it up in the long arm thinking I would do some graffiti quilting, then had second guessing time where I pondered all the other ways I could quilt, then eventually went back to the graffiti.  It's so much fun, and kind of like a crossword puzzle for quilters because of the thinking that goes into it.  I love doing it.

I've been cuddling under this quilt for a while.  It's so fun to look at, because the quilting looks so different in all the big squares, some really highlight the quilting, and some squares let the fabric take focus.  Every time I use it, I find something new to love.

For the back, I pulled out my stash of Ikea Britten Nummer.  I found it in a store last summer and rationalized buying ten yards.  This was the first time I convinced myself to pull it out.  It's a pretty thin fabric, but very silky, so the quilt is more for summer night cuddling rather than winter polar vortex cuddling, but I do it anyway.

And the binding is super scrappy, cut from a handful of Cotton and steel fat quarters I had in my stash.  So many seams, but it's so fun.

Puppy is also a fan.

Go check out the Fat Quarter Shop's video to get the pattern!  And hop around to see all the pretty quilts!

Linking up with Kelly for Needle and Thread Thursday and Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday!

Finish It Up Friday: Schnitzel and Boo Tula Mini

I was so excited to get my partner's information for the Schnitzel and Boo Swap.  She seemed pretty much my quilty twin, so I decided to just make something that I would love to receive.

On the long list of designers that we had in common, Tula Pink was right on top.  And I just happened to have been hoarding a pile of Tula from my time working at a fabric store.  I pulled a fun pile of all my blues, purples, and teals, yellow for a pop of color, and added in my raccoons.  She also loved Anna Maria Horner, and I needed some navies, so I added the feathers and coordinates.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the block I would make.  I've loved minis where the blocks make secondary patterns where they meet, so I scoured the internet.  At first I thought I would do nine blocks that were six or seven inches square, but then I found this block and decided that it would look cooler with just four blocks.  Also, the center would be perfect for the raccoons if the block was bigger.

I went a little crazy with the quilting.  When it's such a small space to quilt it's pretty tempting to quilt all the little spaces to death, which I did.  I only left the raccoon alone because I couldn't figure out how to quilt them.  And once it was all done, I thought it looked nice without quilting.

And here's the mini I received.  My partner saw that I loved Latifah Saafir and when she looked into her, my partner fell in love with the Big O quilt.   I love the idea of passing on quilt inspiration!  She did a really great job; it's bright and graphic and has my favorite Carolyn Friedlander print all over it!  Can't wait to figure out where I'm putting my mini wall so I can hang all my new minis.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday and Leanne for TGIFF!

WIP Wednesday: Snow Day Number Two!

So it snowed all day yesterday.  Sure everyone knows about the blizzard, and everyone got snow, but it never stopped!  I don't think we've ever had a storm that didn't at least take a 20 minute break in the midst of snowing.

Yesterday, while we were all penned into the house, I managed to get a binding done and a bunch of pressing but today I decided it was quilting day!  Last night I pulled backing and batting and got it all loaded up on the long arm so I could just start as soon as the coffee kicked in.

And of course I waffled about how to quilt it.  I spent an hour scrolling through Instagram, then watched video after video on YouTube, then flipped through my sketchbook.  I finally just decided to do more graffiti quilting practice.  (Which was my first idea, so I don't know why I didn't just trust my gut instead of wasting hours.)

Luckily, once you get started, it's pretty easy to just keep going.

And one more picture of the snow.  Lucky has decided she likes the snow in the North better than the heat of the South!

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday and Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social #57!

Friday Finish: Pixelated Pinwheels

I've had this quilt by JeliQuilts pinned since she made it.  I loved the colors.  I loved that it was based on something from Ikea.  I have a thing for triangles.  Basically, I've just been waiting for the chance to make one of my own.  So when it was my turn to pick a block for my do. Good stitches group, I thought this would be perfect.

I asked each member to make a block of nine HSTs in warm and cool colors.  I requested solids, but any saturated, tone on tone print that read as a solid would do.  While they were doing that, I made a pile of single HSTs that I used to blend the two groups together.

Once I had the top pieced, I sent a picture to the group's Flickr page.  We're putting on a special exhibit at QuiltCon, and I just knew this quilt would have a good chance of being selected.  Luckily, it was! So I had to get it quilted and finished so I could send it in time for the show.

I struggled with what do do for the quilting.  The triangles are so angular, so I wanted to do something curvy to offset that, but I wanted something that I would be able to accomplish quickly and successfully.  Somehow, this pattern of tall archy squiggles popped into my head.  (if anyone can think of a better name, you'll win a gold star.)

I love that the straight lines don't take away from all those triagles, but because the squiggles are of random length, it's fun to look at.  I can't wait to see it hanging in Austin.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it up Friday!

WIP Wednesday!

So my job today is to get these quilts bound.  Both are gifts that are long overdue, though no one is expecting them, so no one knows they're so late!  Ha!

There's also QuiltCon supplies to gather, more quilts to quilt, and swap extras to make before popping my Schnitzel and Boo mini in the mail.  So I'll probably just go and get to it!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

Friday Finish: Chicopee Plus Quilt!

Here's an old finish for Finish It Up Friday.  I'd finished this quilt a while ago, but didn't want to over share it in case the new owners decided to check my blog.  You never know, and never want to ruin a surprise.  Anyway, I downloaded the pictures to the computer and completely forgot about them until a few days ago when I decided to tidy up my folders.  Yay!

This was a kind of joint collaboration between my mother and I, one of my cousins got married recently and she decided that a quilt would be the perfect present.  Luckily, I was already thinking about a quilt, so she helped me with some of the supplies and then let me have free rein.

I went with Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee line because it just works together, but seems to have a little of all the colors.  I wasn't sure what my cousin would like, so I wanted to give them all of them, in a way that wouldn't blow their eyes out.  And Chicopee does this really weird thing where it's loud and subtle, masculine and feminine, large prints and small prints, retro and modern.  I don't know how it's possible, probably magic.

I modified a pattern for neutral pluses on print backgounds, though for the life of me I can't remember which pattern I used.  And I'm really glad that I gave all those prints some room to breath.  Bonus, it gave me a lot of negative space to quilt!

I used Aurifil Spring Green and a discontinued Isacord in teal.  I would quilt a little in one color, then switch when I got bored.  The effect is subtle on the Essex Yarn Dyed Black linen, kind of like green and teal shadows.  (I really wish I'd gotten better pictures, but it was a rainy week, and my only chance for photos was a half hour window at the reception when it wasn't pouring, on the soaking wet ground.)

I rotated between a handful of quilting patterns in the pluses, all in, more or less, coordinating thread.  This star pattern ended up being one of my favorites, that will get put into the usual rotation.  It's super fun, and doesn't have to be exact to look nice.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday!

Friday Finish: Robotic Buzz-saw Baby Quilt

 Here's a super quick post, mostly because I made this quilt under a deadline and shipped it out to the opposite coast before I could get a good day to take pictures outside.  And light on pictures, means a short post, because who really wants to read a novel about a quilt?  No one.  But a picture book, absolutely.

Anyway, I blew a gift card a while back on a couple books that had just come out.  One was Amy Smart's Fabulously Fast Quilts.  I'm really pleased with that decision, because a week later I realized that I had nothing to send a friend for their baby shower.  And this Buzz-saw pattern was one of my favorite sneaky short cuts in the book, so perfect time to try it out.

I absolutely loved this pattern.  I had all the blocks sewn up in a day, plus some extras that I decided to cut out.  Day two, was putting them all together and making binding.  And the quilting was a short evening of sewing with friends.  I used a new quilting pattern, a squared loop, which is perfect with the graph paper print.

The parents are both science-types, and no doubt their son will also be a genius, so this fabric from Birch Organics was the perfect line.  Normally I don't go for a whole line in a quilt (said the woman who just made a Chicopee quilt) but this was the time for quickness.  I didn't have time for figuring out a color scheme and pulling fabric.

This also turned out to be a great idea I had, because this fabric is the softest, most buttery, heaven to work with fabric.  It presses so well, and crinkled into the cuddliest quilt.  I really want to buy all Birch and clothe myself in it. (for real guys.)

One of the most fun parts was making the label.  I knew, as a baby quilt, this would get washed a hundred times, and a fabric marker might fade or bleed.  And since I'm not usually a label person, I got really nervous that whatever I picked would be the wrong marker, and again, had no time for testing every marker in the store.

So, I just decided to pull out the embroidery floss and stitched up a label.  I absolutely love it, because I got to color-match my thread to the fabric.  And, I'm pretty sure that the floss will lose it's color about the same time as the fabric disintegrates.

This quilt did make it to the shower, and with a few days to spare.  It has yet to meet it's owner, but I know it will be loved.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday and Lorna for TGIFF!

Friday Finish: Orange Peel Vines!

I'm so glad I jumped at the chance to join Quilty Habit's Orange Peel Quilt-a-long.  It's something that I've wanted to do for a while, and I'm really happy with the results.  Like, really happy.  I can't wait to figure out where this will hang in my house.  I'm thinking my bedroom, but we'll have to actually paint first.  It'll give me time to add the hang sleeve.

I posted about a million pictures to Instagram while making it.  I knew I wanted a rainbow of peels, but couldn't figure out the layout, whether to add more, whether to machine sew them down or hand stitch... It just went on and on.  Thanks so much to all the great advice I got, I was just so scared of screwing it up since I loved it so much.

The rows won the layout contest.  The rainbow was more obviously rainbow-y when you lined them all up, and it kind of reminded me of my love or Orla Kiely.  Had I picked a different color scheme, I would have had to track down some Orla sheets to use as backing.

I ended up quilting ghost peels in all the blank spots.  For the two center rows, I used a rainbow of threads and the outer borders just got white thread.  Then I went back in and did some dense straight lines so the peels would really pop out.  They definitely pop, but you can't really see the straight lines.  I think I'm okay with that, but it was a little bummer that that portion of work wasn't obvious.

You can see the lines when the kids decide the quilt is a hat....

I still have to measure it to figure out which category of the QAL to enter, but you'll definitely see me in there somewhere.  And there's still plenty of time to get your orange peel on; the final link up is from August 23 - September 8, so that's almost a month!  Do it!  It's fun, and there's prizes!

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it up Friday and Quilt Matters for TGIFF!

Friday Finish (on a Saturday): Chicopee Crosses!

I really love this quilt.  I think it's because it's a combination of all the things that I normally love, mixed with a lot of firsts.

It's one of the first times that I bought a whole line of fabric to use together and actually used it.  (Sorry fat quarter bundle of Comma that I love but has been on my shelf for a year.)  The recipients have a lack of color in their lives, and I wanted to give them some rich color, but not blow their minds.  So Chicopee was perfect.  There's that amazing citron, but also navy and dark green.  It's low volume in some prints, but loud in others.

And to balance all the color, I used Essex yarn dyed black linen, which is the first time using linen in a quilt.  I absolutely love the texture, and that the neutral isn't just a boring solid (though I still love a solid).  I'm a little nervous because I started using 1/4" seams before I realized that the weave was really loose.  I'm planning on just quilting it to death so there's no chance of critical fraying.  And I didn't realize there was so much stretchiness in the fabric until I started pressing.  Again, I'm going to quilt it to death, which solves all problems.

Last first, it's the first time my quilt math really worked out the first time.  I was trying to figure out what pattern to use with these fabrics, and a quick Google search of Chicopee quilts brought up this Crossing pattern by KelbySews.  It was perfect, but I wanted the color to be on the crosses, so it didn't make sense to center them in the middle of the block and have all the seams be linen to linen.  So I changed the block to be a cross in the corner with two large borders of linen on top and a side.  Little change, but I managed to calculate out everything, including seam allowances, and it worked the first time.  Nothing ever works the first time for me!

So now I just have to quilt and bind it, but I'm not sure whether I want to use the backing options I already have, or search for something else.  I'm letting it simmer for a while until the choice becomes clear.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday!

Friday Finish: Earthy Goodness Quilt

It may have looked like a quiet week on the blog, but really, it was pretty crazy.  It was our first week out of school.  Husband built a new set of stairs for the front of our house.  I knitted half a sweater!  And we played in pools and got ice cream with friends.  (I also put some serious thought into naming my quilts, specifically this one, and failed to come up with anything.)

And I also got some serious sewing done.  This quilt was commissioned by my cousin who wanted a quilt for Father's Day.  I had about a week and a half to do it, so of course I said it would be no problem.

She wanted browns and creams, and I added a little pale blue and green.  I love how those colors aren't really screaming, but they quietly cheer the whole quilt up.  Because I had so little time, I went with a simple block, the disappearing 9-patch.  I think now that it wasn't the fastest block I could have chosen, but I love how it turned out.

I backed it in some super soft flannel and did some loopy quilting.  The result is a pleasantly floppy quilt that's perfect for cuddling under on the couch.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday and Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts for TGIFF!

Friday Finish: A Second Pyramid Scheme Quilt

Deja vu? Yep, just a little.  When my mom saw the Pyramid Scheme quilt my do. Good Stitches group had made in February she fell in love.  After informing her that she couldn't buy that quilt off of me, I offered to make her another.

There were so many triangles!  I used a new method to sew all those HSTs, where you mark a 1/4" from your needle with a long piece of washi tape, then as you sew, you line up your leading and trailing points on that line.  It was really quick, and I managed to get a good rhythm going so this quilt top came together in about a week.  I was a little nervous about needing to trim because sewing the HSTs felt so inaccurate, but it all worked out in the end.  (I posted a picture of the method here.)

I was hoping to get this quilted this week, but life and other more rushed projects took over.  It will go fast when I do get it basted since my mom also liked the quilting on the first quilt, so I won't have to hem and haw over how to quilt it.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday and Glory Be Quilter for TGIFF!



And if you haven't looked at all the awesome blogs on the first week of the Plum and June New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop go check out my intro post here, and be sure to visit the rest of the first week crew!

Michelle @ Michelle Bartholomew

Katie @ Good Golly Ginger

Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs

Karin @ Leigh Laurel Studios

Kim @ Ties That Bind Quilting

Yvonne @ Quilting Jet Girl

Sarah @ Smiles Too Loudly

Vera @ Negligent Style

Jana @ Jane Machado