Another Pop Star

As I mentioned in my last NTT post, I've been working on another Pop Star quilt in twin size, and I just finished the top this morning.

My aunt asked for this one after seeing the original, lap sized quilt I made.  The biggest difference between the two is that she wanted the turquoise and purple to be paired with yellow instead of orange.  That's just fine with me, because I don't know about you, but I prefer not to make identical quilts.  Even if I love the colors and pattern, making a duplicate gets a little bit tedious.

This pattern really is super fun though.  Making only 20 blocks for a twin sized quilt was awesome!  It went so quickly. Gotta love 18 inch blocks!

The backing for this one all is ready, so as soon as I can get everything pressed, I'll get this baby basted (ugh) and quilted!  Maybe, just maybe I'll have it finished for next week's NTT- that's my goal!

TGIFF is ON!

I told you, this week is party-central around here.  Yesterday was Needle and Thread Thursday (still going on through Friday at midnight, by the way), and today I have the privilege of guest hosting TGIFF- the party just for finishes!

As promised, I am thrilled to share my latest quilt top with you, made with the super-cute Tweet As Can Be fabric line.

This line has colors and a style that is a little more grown up than other fabric lines for girls.  I think it's perfect for a tween or teen.  I wanted to keep the pattern funky and modern to go along with the feel of the prints, so I decided to use my Unruly pattern.  I've been wanting to make another, bigger Unruly quilt since the preemie quilt I made a few weeks ago, and I'm glad I finally got the chance!

Here is a close up of one of my favorite prints from the collection.  Look how fun these little birdies are!

As soon as I finish it, I am donating this quilt to my church for a fundraising event.  Lots of tween and teen girls participate in this event, so I think it is perfect!

Soooo... time to link up your finishes for the week!

Just remember-
*visit lots of other links and spread some comment love.  Everyone loves encouragement!
*include a TGIFF button or text link in your post so that others can party too!

That's it!  Now let's party!

Needle and Thread Thursday!

Welcome to NTT, friends!  I've been working on a new quilt using a really cute and fun fabric line, but I can't show it to you just yet.  This week, My Quilt Infatuation is party-central!  I am also hosting TGIFF this week, and I want to show you my quilt top finish at the party that's just for finishes!  So, you'll see it Friday!

What I can show you are the pieces for another quilt I've started.  I am making another Pop Star quilt in twin size.  My aunt is redecorating a bedroom in her house for her granddaughters when they are there, and she loved the Pop Star pattern.  The bedroom already has a rich shade of purple on the walls, so she wanted colors that were similar to the original.  I substituted the orange in my original quilt for yellow, and I think it is going to look just as pretty.  I started cutting into my fabrics for this quilt before getting a lovely stacked fabric shot, so you'll have to settle for an in-process photo of my paper plate block sort.

This is my favorite method for keeping all of the pieces for one block together.  I got the idea a long while ago from Megan at Tales of Ineptitude.  It also helps me pair fabrics together easily and see if a fabric or two needs to be switched around.  Once everything is all sorted, I can just stack the plates up and know that my cut pieces are exactly where I need them once I start sewing.  The plates can be easily stacked on a shelf if I'm working on something different, and of course, they can be used again and again, so it's also a cost effective way to keep things organized.  What about you?  How do you sort and keep your block pieces together?

Okie dokie!  Let's get to the amazing highlights from last week...and boy there were some beauties!  Leanne at Devoted Quilter shared this gorgeous rainbow round robin quilt.

Diana from Red Delicious Life shared this fun pink and gray top for her niece.

And finally, after months of hard work, Maryse from Maryse Makes Things finally finished her clamshell quilt.  Isn't it stunning?

Y'all are such a source of inspiration for me week after week!  One of my favorite parts of the day is laying in bed at night with my iPad, browsing through all of the links just before going to sleep.  I can't wait to see the amazing things you have going on this week!  Let's link up!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

Don't forget to come back with your finishes on Friday for TGIFF!  I'll be showing off my latest finished quilt top then!

Marina

I finished my quarter log cabin quilt on Thursday, but just found no time to blog it!  I have been in house cleaning and prepping for entertaining mode for the past couple of days since I'm hosting a baby shower tomorrow.  Also, our MQG chapter spent a huge chunk of yesterday at our local children's hospital delivering quilts to babies in need.  Since my son was a preemie and in the hospital for 5 weeks, it was such a moving experience to be able to bring comfort to these families in a specific way.  All activities aside, I'm glad I finally have a few minutes to share the finish with you!

I don't know why, but the colors and shape of the blocks remind me of the bright sailboats and flags in a marina, so that's what I'm calling this one.

This quilt was a really fun one to work on.  It was a breeze to put together, and made great use of fabrics I already had sitting in my cabinet.  I don't know about you, but even though sometimes I like to use an entire collection of fabric, it feels so amazing to be able to make a whole quilt from whatever is in my stash.

I really only needed 16 different fabrics for the front of this quilt, but you know me...I always like to have some leftovers for the backing.  So I used 20 different prints, which gave me a couple of rows of blocks to round out the WOF strips on the backing.

For the binding, I used some of my favorite Denyse Schmidt navy and orange polkadot fabric.  I found it on a crazy sale awhile ago and bought a few yards to have on hand.  Blue and orange are so common in boyish fabrics that I knew it would get used up!

If you've never made a quarter log cabin and are looking for an easy, relaxing project, I highly recommend giving this pattern a try.  This quilt measures 64" x 64," and in case you missed it, I gave a little explanation in my last post on how I put the blocks together, and I included cutting diagrams there as well.

Marina is already in its new home, in the reading nook of a friend's son.  It makes me happy to imagine him snuggled up with it, along with his favorite book.

NTT And Other Happenings

Happy (almost) Thursday, friends!  The week has been a great one around here, albeit a busy one!  You know, beyond a general acknowledgement of the fact that I'm sewing, my wild thing doesn't make a ton of comments on the quilts I make.  Sometimes he'll say "oh, that looks nice, Mom." I think that's about as effusive as a 5th grade boy gets.  But every now and then, he will ask why I don't make very many quilts for boys.  In all honesty, I don't really have a good answer for that, besides the fact that I make quilts with fabrics that I like, and since I am a girl myself, that's usually how things go.  By in large, my custom quilt orders are for girls as well.  But when he makes a comment like that, I figure it's time to go ahead and make a quilt that is boyish, or at least gender neutral.

Lately, I've been making a lot of quilts that had HST's or corner to corner sewing, and I just wanted something easy.  This quarter log cabin really fit the bill, and used up 20 fabrics from my stash- yay!  I cut my fabric like this (using either fat quarters or quarter yards)-

*not to scale

These are the same measurements I used for my Stacked Squares modification, and it works great for this pattern too!  I just sewed the strips around the center square, cut into quarters, and had fun with the layout, orienting all of the squares in one direction. Sewing strips to squares is about as easy as it gets!

I also finished up my Pop Star pattern, and it is listed in my Craftsy and Etsy shops!  I just love the high drama of these stars.  These are 18 inch blocks, so the quilt goes together in a flash, and it perfect for showing off bold prints.  The quilt is written for lap, twin, and queen sizes, and I hope you'll check it out!

I have one last bit of business to share with you before we get to last week's party features.  I owe you a winner from last week's giveaway!  The winner of the gorgeous custom labels is Leanne Parsons, comment number 12.  Congratulations, Leanne!  This really is an awesome prize!

Leanne ParsonsAugust 14, 2015 at 3:41 PM

Those are beautiful ribbon labels! I've been thinking about getting some labels like those, but haven't taken the plunge yet. Thanks for the chance to win!

ReplyDelete

If you didn't win the spool of labels, I hope you'll still check out Finer Ribbon to design some for yourself.  My labels are 2.25 inches wide, and I know that the $98 price tag for that width may seem steep for some (narrower labels are less expensive).  I want to point out though, that this is for an entire spool of 1000 labels!  That's less than 10 cents per label, which really is the cheapest I found anywhere for full color printing.  With great quality and customer service to boot, that's unbeatable.

Okie dokie!  Let's get to last week's party highlights.  Sandy from Upstairs Hobby Room shared a tutorial for her amazing Summer Breeze block.  Doesn't it make a spectacular quilt?

Heather at Modern Parti Quilts linked up this fun Sea Monsters penny patch quilt- perfect for a baby boy!

and even though I shared it in its unfinished state, I couldn't resist showing this Yuma quilt by Made by Chrissie D again now that it's finished.  It's amazing how the colors and the white just pop right out against the gray...gorgeous!

Let's party, y'all!  I can't wait to see what awesomeness you share this week!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

Pop Star Finish

I finished up my Pop Star quilt this weekend, and I can say with certainty that this color palette is one that I will have to use again.  I love it!

I found the perfect shade of purple polkadot for the backing and added a stripe of the turquoise tile print.  Unfortunately, despite the fact that I thought I measured properly, when I basted it, the backing was about two inches too short.  AARGH!  I had to peel the whole thing off of the floor and figure out a plan.  Luckily I had a just enough of the tile print left to add a stripe to the top to make it long enough.

Basting is absolutely my least favorite part of the quilting process, and I had to do it twice to fix my mistake, but I must admit that it was a bit of a happy accident.  I think the top stripe looks pretty cool!  

One of my favorite parts of this pattern is the cross shape in the negative space.  Plus, the fact that the blocks are 18 inches made this quilt pretty quick and fun to make. This finished quilt measures 54" x 72."  I am madly working on the Pop Star pattern in this size, plus twin and queen sizes, so be on the lookout for it soon!

Unexpected Colors From My Stash

If you're looking for NTT, it is still going on HERE, but I just couldn't wait to share this with you...

When I am choosing fabrics for a quilt, unless I am using fabrics from only one collection (like when I just pull from my stash), I feel like I sometimes get stuck in a rut.  I guess we all gravitate toward our favorite color combos, and my favorites usually involve greens, blues, and aquas.  With my latest quilt, I really set out to try a palette that I've never done before, with colors that I don't often see together, and as the title suggests, I wanted to pull completely from my stash.

When I first pulled these fabrics, I wasn't sure I could get used to them, but the more I work with these rich hues, the more I like them.  Since the prints themselves are all small and tonal, I wanted to make sure there was plenty of interest in the color variation.  I almost substituted the lightest aqua and the lightest orange fabrics, but I wanted to keep the quilt from being too matchy.  I think having the different shades of each color adds depth to the quilt.

The bright sunshine is wonderful for showing off those colors, but it seems to magnify every little wrinkle.  I was so excited to get a photo of the blocks all put together, I didn't even bother pressing the top beforehand, so you'll have to excuse the wrinkles.

This is my latest pattern, and I've decided to call it Pop Star, since the stars literally look like they're popping open.  It's another design that's been hanging around in my sketch book for awhile, and the fact that it is finally taking shape makes me so happy!

Party Time!

Welcome to NTT!  It's back to school week here, which means that my house is very quiet, and considering that I am usually back to school myself, it is also very strange.  My wild thing is a big 5th grader this year, and although he was ready for the school year to start, I really wasn't.  I've been getting lots of uninterrupted sewing time, but I love having him home during the lazy days of summer.

I've been working on a new pattern with these fabrics, and I can't wait to show it to you (soon...very soon).

This is a little bit of a different color combo for me, but I'm really loving it.  I'm also loving that I have the time lately to actually make the patterns that have been languishing in my sketch book.

Before we get to last week's features, I owe you TWO winners for the Tango fabric bundles, generously sponsored by Benartex.  The first winner is comment number 148, Nancy A!

The second winner is comment number 33, Little Black Cat Quilting!

Congratulations to both of you!  I'll be contacting you by email soon so I can get your fabric to you!

Now, let's move onto the awesome features from last week's party!  Veni Vidi Vicky shared her Tagged baby quilt.  Adorable!

Dawn Chorus Studio linked up this fabulous improv quilt top.  The bright colors are amazing!

and A Quilting Chick showed off her Delectable Flowers quilt.  Gorgeous!

Time to show off your projects for this week.  Let's do this!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

Preemie Quilt and TWO Giveaways!

Yesterday it dawned on me that our my monthly guild meeting is tomorrow, and that all of my little preemie quilts are due so they can be taken to our local children's hospital.  Last year I donated four little quilts, and I set a personal goal to donate six this year.  Well, yesterday I took a look at my pile and realized that I only had five.  It's a good thing they don't take too long to make once you have a plan.

I put together this little quilt with a bundle of Benartex's Tango fabric line.  I got it earlier this year, and I just haven't gotten around to using it.  These fabrics are so summery and bright, that I knew I needed to go ahead and use them up before fall gets here.

I modified my Unruly pattern for this quilt.  This is such a fun, easy pattern.  I love that it looks like it requires lots of planning for the random look, even though it doesn't.  Since I like to make my preemie quilts 36 inches square, the large 18 inch blocks were perfect for this.  Four blocks...and done!  I really enjoyed making this pattern the first time around with my Amy Butler prints, and I can't believe I haven't made another one since.  I think I'm going to have to do another bigger one soon!

Some wide stripes made for a fast backing, and a scrappy binding finished it off quickly!  Hooray for accomplishing goals.  Here's a recap of all six!

The kind people at Benartex asked if I would like some extra fabric to give away to my lucky readers, and of course I said YES!  So, up for grabs are two bundles of the Tango line, each with 8 prints.  I cut these myself, and without thinking, I cut them into regular quarter yard cuts, rather than fat quarters,  just FYI.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post.  Make sure you leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger.  I'll announce the winner at next week's NTT.  By the way, this giveaway is open to everyone, but if you do not live in the US, I will just ask that you pay the shipping for me.  Good luck to all!

This giveaway has now ended.  Thanks so much to all who entered!

Edited 8/30- I'm linking these preemie quilts up to 100 Quilts for Kids at Quilts in the Queue!

NTT- Come Link Up!

Welcome to Needle and Thread Thursday, friends!  In an effort to keep NTT a little more streamlined, I posted my finished Folk Dance quilt earlier this morning.  I am SO in love with it, and wanted to show lots of photos.  Hop over and check it out!

So check out some of the projects from last week that caught my eye!  Jess at Quilty Habit shared this tutorial for creating a selvage strip pillow.  Cute!

Tanya Quilts in CO shared TWO boxy stars quilt tops in fun, bright colors!

And this Scrap Wave quilt by Pug Mom Quilts is just gorgeous!

Let's see what you're working on this week!  Bring it on!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

Folk Dance

Folk Dance is finished!  I have been working on the pattern and quilt simultaneously, and I am so happy that both are ready to show you.

In case you missed my last post, when I created this pattern, I wanted to give the illusion of twirling, colorful skirts.  I think the combo of pattern and the Anna Maria Horner Folk Song fabrics really illustrate this beautifully!  I needed 17 prints for this pattern, and the Folk Song line only has 14, so I had to pull a few extras.

The first was a no-brainer.  The coral print on the left is from the Dowry line, and my LQS happens to have it in stock, so I snatched some right up.  I also added the Amy Butler dark red print at the top, from the Love collection, as well as the little polkadot in the bottom right corner.  I picked that fabric up at my local shop almost two years ago, and I have no idea what line it is from.  If anyone can help identify it for me, I'd appreciate it!

AMH fabrics have such a distinct style that they can be hard to mix with others, but I love how these three blend right in.  I took advantage of the fact that my local shop had plenty of the coral print in stock and used it in the backing as well.

The fabrics have almost a vintage vibe going on, so I worried about putting a stark white against them in the background.  I used Kona Prepared for Dyeing and it is the perfect shade of creamy white.

For the binding, I chose Kona Oasis to pull out some of the cool colors in the quilt.  There is so much red, coral, gold, and pink, that the teal and blue takes a little bit of a back seat, but the binding really helps pull them out.

I absolutely love the way this quilt turned out, and I couldn't be happier with the pattern.  It really does give the illusion of movement, and the block is simpler than you might think.  Folk Dance is available in my Craftsy and Etsy shops, and I hope you'll check it out!

ps- NTT is still on later this evening, but since this post is so picture-heavy, I figured I would break it up.  :)