Bloom Chicka Boom!

Though of course I love each of the quilts in Stash Statement and enjoyed creating them, the blog hop is now entering my personal favorite section of the book, with four quilts that have Improv in the Background.  In this section, the improv piecing becomes a textured backdrop for the blocks, and the effect is really cool- almost like an impressionist painting.  The four quilts in the section show land, sea, sky, and a neutral.  With its lush blooms, representing land is the super cheerful and fun Bloom Chicka Boom quilt.

It's no secret that green is my favorite color, and in Bloom Chicka Boom, I included green scraps in every shade imaginable.  Eight Kona solids were used for the blocks- Purple, Tangerine, Royal Blue, Pomegranate, Corn Yellow, Melon, Turquoise, and Cerise, and the bold solids against the improv create a cool, three-dimensional effect.

This quilt was so much fun to design and make, and even though it looks like a ton of improv, it's really just an illusion, because the solid floral blocks take up the most visual space in the quilt.

On the back I used this awesome Art Gallery print, which picks up the colors in the front just beautifully, and widened it out with stripes of Kona Pomegranate and Chartreuse.

Bloom Chicka Boom was actually made almost two years ago (publication is a long process!), so I can't remember the actual name of the fabric or the collection for the backing (sorry!).  This was also before I started getting a little more adventurous with my free motion quilting, and it is stippled with 50 wt. Aurifil White.  Confession- even after quilting other designs, stippling is still my very favorite motif for letting the piecing really shine.  I love how it is easy to vary the quilting density, and that it just blends right in.

I framed out these bold blooms with a Kona Cerise binding.  I almost went with a shade of green to blend into the background, but I love the contrast that the Cerise offers.

Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty and Chris at Made By Chrissie D did an amazing job making the Bloom Chicka Boom pattern their own, and I can't wait for you to see them!  Then, make sure to head over to my Etsy shop HERE for your very own signed copy!  You can also find Stash Statement on Amazon, Connecting Threads, your favorite craft book seller, or at your local quilt shop.

It's hard to fathom, but there are only a few weeks remaining in the Stash Statement blog hop!  I'm including the full lineup for you, and just so you know, each time one of these lovely ladies blogs her project, I've updated the links in this list to direct to the specific posts (even for the previous weeks in the tour).  So you'll always be able to find them!

4/16- Grand Bazaar    Shelley @ Cora's Quilts

                                      Connie @ Freemotion by the River

4/23- Louvered  Lindsey @ Primrose Cottage Quilts 

                            Diann @ Little Penguin Quilts

4/30- Precarious  Jess @ Quilty Habit                       

                              Myra @ Busy Hands Quilts

                                                            

5/7- Beach Retreat  Sarah @ Sarah Goer Quilts                               

                                  Liz @ Savor Every Stitch 

                                                           

5/14- Fire Pit   Alison @ Little Bunny Quilts                                          

                         Preeti @ Sew Preeti Quilts

                                                            

5/21- Detour    Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts                         

                         Shelley @ The Carpenter's Daughter Who Quilts

                                                            

5/28- Murrina    Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl             

                            Leanne @ Devoted Quilter

                                                            

6/4- Scattered    Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal                      

                           Christine @ Triangles and Squares 

                                                            

6/11- Bloom Chicka Boom   Chris @ made by ChrissieD            

                                               Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty

                                                            

6/18- Regatta   Susan @ Quilt Fabrication                             

                          Debbie @ A Quilter's Table    

                                                            

6/25- Catch a Falling Star  Cynthia @ Quilting is More Fun Than Housework        

                                              Anja @ Anja Quilts

                                                            

7/2- College Prep   Hilary @ by Hilary Jordan                 

                                Lori @ Crossquilt

                                                            

7/9- Take Flight (free bonus pattern)  Kelli @ Seriously, I Think It Needs Stitches 

                                                             Paula @ The Sassy Quilter

 

Third Time's the Charm (and NTT)

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday, y'all!  I hope everyone had a magical Christmas last weekend.  Ours was lots of fun, but so busy!  I squeezed in some time to quilt and bind my latest quilt, and as the title of my post suggests, this one is called Third Time's the Charm.  This is the third of three identical quilts I've made with these fabrics and pattern, but this one is all for me!

This is made with my Baubles pattern, available in my Craftsy and Etsy shops, and though it looks curvy and complicated, it uses all straight piecing, and goes together in a snap!

It's hard to tell, but I stippled this one with the perfect shade of Aurifil coral thread (#5002).  In person, it adds a fun, unexpected little pop.  I kept the stippling a little wider so that the coral thread didn't add too much busy pattern to the prints.

The Baubles pattern only requires 16 fat quarters for a generous lap size quilt, but since the Joel Dewberry Flora collection contains 24 prints, I used all of them and just put the leftovers to good use on the backing.  I widened out the backing with a couple of stripes of Kona Navy, which I also used to bind.

Though I am busy with plenty of secret sewing for my book, I'm glad I got a chance to fit this quilt into my schedule!

Alrighty, friends!  I'm super excited to share the features from last week's party.  There were so many fantastic things linked up!  Like this scrappy strip quilt from Susan at Quilt Fabrication.  What an amazing use of leftover strips!

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework linked up this Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt.  The blocks are beautifully jumbled up, and it makes the quilt so interesting!

and finally, HeARTs Creations shared this unique red, black, and white finish, called Planetary.  Super cool!

Can I just tell you how much fun it is for me to browse all of these amazing quilts, week after week?  Particularly when I'm traveling and I can't get to my machine, it is so wonderful to be able to satisfy my need for quilty eye-candy via internet.  This is my last post of 2016, and I can't wait to see what 2017 has in store.

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!

*If you're new to the party, here's a helpful tip for linking up- select "Auto Crop"  when selecting your thumbnail photo.  For some reason, trying to crop your own image results in the dreaded "white question mark box," and we definitely want to see your awesome work!  :)

Tips for Working With Liberty Lawn

Ahhh..., this is my favorite time of year for quilt photos.   Everything is starting to become green again, and my roses are in full bloom.  I enjoy the occasional breeze that gives a little bit of movement to my photos, though that was not happening today.  I finished up my Liberty quilt last week, and as much as I love this quilt, I definitely have some thoughts on working with it.

   

Let me just say that this, without a doubt, is the softest cotton I have ever felt.  It is woven with very fine threads, and feels very sheer and delicate.  The drape is just lovely.  This was my first experience with Liberty lawn fabric, and though I was definitely more careful with cutting to be sure that none was wasted, I didn't really do anything else differently than usual.  This fabric is pricey though, and there are some things I learned along the way about working with this kind of cotton.  I decided to compile a list of tips, in case you're thinking of buying some for yourself (and you totally should!).

1.  Press with a dry iron.  I usually press everything with starch, because I like my fabric nice and crisp, but I found that the Liberty was more easily distorted out of shape than regular quilting cotton with the added moisture.  Once I switched to dry ironing, that was minimized.

2.  Choose your other fabrics carefully.  The Kaufman Interweave in my quilt is a really awesome fabric, but it is quite a bit thicker than the Liberty.  It took a little extra care to keep my pieces properly aligned when I was piecing the blocks together.  The Liberty is a little slippery, and wanted to "walk" while I sewed (I don't use pins).

3.  Avoid pins...or at least avoid thick pins.  As I mentioned, I never pin while piecing, but I always baste using large, quilting safety pins.  I did baste this one with safety pins, but I only pinned on the chambray.  The Liberty lawn is so fine, I think thicker pins would leave holes that were noticeable.  I'm sure they would probably wash out just fine, but I would avoid it just to be sure.

4.  Spray AND pin baste.  Basting is the devil, and I think spray basting is the WORST.  I know that some disagree with me, but for me spray basting is messy, and my machine doesn't like it.  The few times I have spray basted, I ended up with terrible puckers on the back of my quilt because the fabric shifted, so I am not a fan.  I just stick with my good ole safety pins.  That being said, ordinarily, when you baste your quilt, the top sticks to the batting, and you can smooth it all out.  Not so much with Liberty.   Since the Liberty fabric is more slippery than regular quilting cotton, it doesn't stick as well to the batting, which can result in the top looking puffy in spots because of shifting during quilting, instead of nice and tight.  Next time, I will suck it up and spray baste first to stick that Liberty to the batting, then secure with safety pins to keep the back from puckering. 

5.  Wear grippy quilting gloves!  I always wear grippy gloves (like Machingers) when I do free-motion quilting, but if they aren't your usual thing, they are absolutely essential when quilting Liberty cotton.  Liberty lawn is so slick, I think they would even be helpful if you're doing straight line quilting.  They aren't expensive, and one pair lasts a long time.  Trust me on this.

Even though Liberty lawn is delicate, and takes a little extra care, it really is worth it.  I love the way my Liberty quilt turned out!  I decided to really show off these pretty prints with my Chapel Glass quilt pattern, and I used Kaufman Interweave Chambray in Black for the background.  I wanted to create the look of light coming through stained glass.  The chambray fabric is a black and white shot cotton, and although it is hard to capture in a photograph, it gives such great dimension to the quilt. 

Because I didn't want to take away from the stained glass effect, I chose to bind the quilt in the chambray as well.  I didn't want to frame the quilt at all, and instead, wanted to draw the eye straight to the Liberty.

Liberty fabrics are just so pricey, so on the back, I used a print from Kaufman's London Calling collection, paired with Kona Ice Frappe.  The colors of this print blend really well with the Liberty bundle, and although it isn't quite as soft and delicate as Liberty, it really is a gorgeous fabric in its own right.  It feels very similar to an Art Gallery fabric to me.

This quilt measures 57" square, and I'm calling it English Manor.  By the way, if you happen to have any additional tips for quilting with Liberty lawn cotton, feel free to leave them in the comments!

Stems and Stones

This is one of those fabric and pattern combinations that I love so much that I have been working nonstop, absolutely obsessed with finishing it.  I had been thinking that I needed to find a new quilt photo setting, and yesterday after church, as I passed our little prayer garden, I realized that it would be perfect!   I love, love, LOVE this quilt.  The vivid colors in the fabrics against the crisp Kona white make me so happy.  Let me go ahead and apologize for the picture heavy post.  I just couldn't stop photographing it!

In my last post, I mentioned my personal weakness for Amy Butler fabrics, and recalled the 40-yard(!!) Amy Butler stash that I powered through almost two years ago.  I don't know that there will ever be a time when I'm not mesmerized by her fabrics, but I have learned to not let them accumulate so much before using them up.

Not every print in this quilt is AB, but many of the others are fabrics that I have purchased and just couldn't fit them into another quilt.  I was happy to find a home for them in this one.  Sometimes, bold colors and prints only work well with other bold colors and prints.

I used all of my extra fabric on the backing, and I decided to improv piece it to keep the leftovers intact as much as possible.  I didn't want to waste any fabric at all trying to cut them to a uniform size.  Although I always use up my scraps on the backing, I haven't done an improv pieced backing in awhile.  I really love the way this one turned out.

I stippled this (of course-it's my favorite) with the tightest quilting I have ever done.  I'm not a lover of super-dense quilting, so you'll probably never see matchstick quilting or micro-stippling on my quilts.  The spaces between my quilting lines on this one are 1/2 to 3/4 inch apart, and as much as I like the result, it's probably the smallest I'll ever go for a couple of reasons.

First and foremost, I like the drape of quilts that have quilting that is a little bit wider.  For minis and wall hangings, or quilts for display only, stiffer quilting is really stunning (and I can totally appreciate the artistry and skill involved in creating such intricate motifs), but for sheer snuggle-factor, I like the softness that wider quilting gives.  My second reason is purely selfish.  When I get into the rhythm of stippling smooth curves, it is a very relaxing process (unless I'm quilting a huge quilt).  The tighter quilting definitely required movement that was much less natural for me, so quilting this one was not very relaxing.  As a result, even though I'm still really pleased with it, I don't think my curves are quite as fluid as usual.

I chose an orchid fabric for the binding that was actually intended for my Interference quilt, but it turned out to be too purple.  I think it creates a perfect frame for this one though!

Formal gardens are simply gorgeous, with their lovely pathways of stones and tiles meandering through perfectly shaped flower beds and topiaries.  The tile shape in this pattern, paired with the flowers created in the negative space, immediately made me think of a walk through a beautifully manicured formal garden; so I'm calling this one Stems and Stones.

  The pattern is already in the works, and it's easier than you might think!

My Kryptonite

No, your eyes do not deceive you.  This new quilt is filled with lots and lots of Amy Butler fabrics (plus a few Art Gallery, Dear Stella, and Anna Maria Horner prints for good measure); and yes, I am completely in love with it.

In case you don't remember, about 1.5 years ago, I had accumulated an AB stash containing 30 different prints, totaling almost 40 (gasp!) yards- you can see that whole glorious stash in the post HERE, and I couldn't help but make a little collage of some of the quilts I made with all of those delicious prints-

It took awhile, but I used every bit of those 40 yards.  Well, Amy Butler fabrics are my kryptonite.  I am powerless against their vibrant colors and bold prints, and so, as the opportunities presented themselves in the form of swaps, sales, and indulgences here and there, I have slowly but surely amassed a new (considerably smaller) hoard.  There are prints from Soul Blossoms, Lark, Love, Hapi, Lotus, and Cameo collections in this quilt, and they all play so well together, (and with the AMH and Art Gallery fabrics too).  I think that's one reason why I love her fabrics so much.  The beauty in putting them all together is that they don't match, but have unity in their color saturation and print scale.

So, back to the new quilt at hand- this pattern is one that I am SO excited about.  I sketch new designs all the time, and many of the patterns I sketch never make it out of my book.  As soon as I sketched a few blocks of this one though, I knew I had to make it, and I knew exactly which fabrics I needed to pull to show it off.

I am calling this pattern Stems and Stones, because it reminds me of a stroll through a formal garden with defined flower beds, surrounded by beautiful hardscape.  The design is a different take on an interlocking tile print, and I think the flowers created in the negative space interlocked with the tiles, gives the pattern a little extra dimension.  I absolutely cannot wait to finish it!

Speaking of patterns, I am also thrilled to let you know that my Interference pattern is all finished, and is now available in my Craftsy and Etsy shops.  This pattern is simple, but all together, the blocks have such great movement.  It's perfect for a beginner, or even for an experienced quilter looking for some stress-free sewing.  Check it out!

As Promised

I just couldn't help myself.  I really love the Gemstones quilt that I finished last week, so the thought of leaving the less than stellar pictures was definitely not an option.  As tempted as I was to go back and edit last week's post to replace the rainy weather, indoor photos with the ones I took in the glorious sunshine today, I decided that another quick (mostly wordless) post was in order to really show this finish.

If you want to read the full story on this quilt, my pattern, the fabrics, and my temptation with the binding, you can read the original post HERE, but today's post is all about the photos.

I love, love, LOVE this quilt, and I'm so glad I was finally able to get some pictures of it that really do the colors justice.

Gemstones and NTT

As far as I'm concerned, 33 degrees and drizzling is just about the most unfair weather ever.  All of the bitter cold, and none of the fun (yes, my Northern US and Canadian friends, I do know that is probably balmy for some of you right now, haha!).  Just one tiny degree means the difference between the nasty weather we have here today, from a beautiful blanket of snow.  Of course, that also means the difference between a pristine snowy backdrop to show off the vibrant colors in my latest quilt finish, or dull inside pictures.  Clearly, you can see what I had to go with.

The larger-scale prints and bold colors in these Flora fabrics are so gorgeous, and I really love how the size of the blocks kept those lovely prints intact, which is always a plus.  By the way, you can find the Baubles pattern in my Craftsy shop HERE and also in my Etsy shop HERE.

On the back of the quilt, I used up all of my leftovers.  I used 24 different prints instead of the 16 that the pattern requires, specifically so that I would have some extra bits (okay, a little more than bits) for the backing.  That, and it's just too hard to choose which prints to exclude.  I did end up having to add that golden yellow print to the scraps to make the best use of every bit of the Flora.  Without the addition of the yellow, I wouldn't have had enough fabric for two complete columns (but way more than enough for one), and several fabrics would have gone into my scrap jars.  It looks solid in the photo, but this fabric is from Art Gallery's Cultivate collection-

The other part of the backing that I want you to see up close is the gray fabric that I used to widen the backing.  It is a Cloud 9 organic fabric, and it is a shot cotton.  It's kind of like an Oakshott, but much more subtle.

For those unfamiliar with the term, a shot cotton is a fabric that has one color thread for the warp (the lengthwise threads that provide structure to the fabric), and another color for the weft (the threads that are woven over and under the warp threads).  When those two thread colors are very different, as in Oakshotts, the fabric looks iridescent and almost seems to shimmer, even though it is 100% cotton.  It is quite striking.  This particular fabric is shot in two shades of gray, so it doesn't take on the iridescent quality of an Oakshott cotton, but it definitely doesn't look flat in person.

My JoAnn's actually carries Cloud 9 fabrics in their designer fabric section, and I managed to score a remnant that was just an inch shy of a whole yard!  They come in several different colors, and if your JoAnn's doesn't carry them, you can find them on fabric.com and Hawthorne Threads (not sponsors, just passing on helpful tidbits).  This collection of shot cottons is called the Cirrus collection.

As soon as I saw the Flora fabrics and started planning my quilt, I had this fabric in mind for the binding.  It is from the Fantasia line, and I thought it would be a spot-on match for the sherbet orange in these fabrics.  When I saw them together, my hunch was confirmed, so I went ahead and made my binding, thinking that I was way ahead of the game.

Soooo... I wasn't wrong.  It IS a perfect match... but then this happened-

I ordered several berry colored fabrics for an upcoming quilt, and they arrived last night.  As I unpacked them and laid them out right next to this quilt, I fell in love with the way the rich berry color complimented these prints.  Look how awesome that berry sketch looks with the Flora fabrics!  I really cursed the fact that my binding was already made, and since I don't have any upcoming quilts with orange, I knew I couldn't immediately use the binding elsewhere.  It took every bit of responsible quilter fortitude to go ahead and use that orange binding so it wasn't wasted, but I did it.  Rest assured, my next quilt WILL have a berry binding!

I am just itching to get some really good outdoor photos of this quilt, so don't be surprised if you see a couple of them pop up in another post!

So, let's move along to last week's features, shall we?  By the way, I haven't said this in awhile, if you're featured on NTT, feel free to grab a "Featured" button for your blog if you'd like!

Sue Daurio's Quilting Adventure shared this fun, bright tumbler quilt (plus a couple of super cute, modern baby quilts within her post)-

Christine at Triangles and Squares linked up this fantastically fresh quilt, made with Kate Spain's Jingle-

And I am loving that orchid color in this quilt by Shannon of The Fleming's Nine-

It's almost time to party!  Just one last bit of business before we get down to it.  There are three amazing giveaways going on right now, and if you haven't yet, you can enter HERE.

Party time!!  Show me what you've got!

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!

*Welcome to any new quilty friends joining this week's party!  Here's a helpful tip for linking up- select "Auto Crop"  when selecting your thumbnail photo.  For some reason, trying to crop your own image results in the dreaded "white question mark box," and we definitely want to see your awesome work!  :)