Happy Needle and Thread Thursday!

Hey there, y'all!  The tradeoff for going back to school at the beginning of August is that we are out for summer before Memorial Day, which means it's officially the final week of the school year for us, and my heart is so happy!  In case you missed my post yesterday, I finished up my Pop Star quilt, complete with some pretty intense free motion quilting (for me, anyway).

Today, I've been playing with these gorgeous fabrics.  This is the Splendor collection by Amy Butler, and the colors are so luscious.  For full disclosure, these are the stock photos from Amy Butler's website, because I just couldn't get photos that did proper justice to the colors.

Ordinarily, I design a pattern first, and then pull fabrics with the specific design in mind.  My local shop stocked layer cakes of this collection and I certainly wasn't going to miss out, so this time my process is a little backward.  I don't usually work with precuts, nor do I usually design patterns for precuts, so it has taken me much longer to decide how to use them than usual.  Never fear though, I have done some sketching and settled on a design that I love, that will really show off these colors and prints.

Before we get to the highlights from last week's party, I owe you five giveaway winners!  Just an FYI, the first winner is from the Sliding Geese Mini post, which was part of the Benartex Summer Mini blog hop, which was separate from my My Sponsor News post.  Since there are so many winners, I'm going to list them out for you to make it easier to follow!

*Color Strokes Bundle (from Benartex)- comment #5, Paige
*$20 gift certificate to LouLou's Fabric Shop- comment #110, Cara
*Halloween fat quarter bundle (from Fort Worth Fabric Studio)- comment #170, Chiska
*$25 gift certificate to Lady Belle Fabrics- comment #117, Sue
*Midnight Essentials 10-Karat Mini Crystals (from Fat Quarter Shop)- comment #69, Wendy

BIG congrats to all of the winners, and a HUGE thank you to all of my fantastic sponsors for providing such amazing prizes.  I'll be contacting each of you via email shortly!

Okay then, let's check out some of the projects from last week's party that really caught my eye.  Gasp!  This Courthouse Steps stunner is by Maryse Makes Things, and oh my goodness.  Just look at that quilting!

This fun quilt is called Party Pop, by Slice of Pi Quilts.

and this Pretty Posy Mini by Paige at Quilted Blooms is so sweet!

Okay friends!  Time to get our party 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!

*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!  :)

A Pop Star Finish

I'm so excited to share my finished Pop Star quilt with you.  I'm continuing to branch out in the free motion quilting department, and for the first time, I actually quilted three different motifs on the same quilt.  In the past, I've worried about everything looking too busy and just stuck with an allover design, but I'm so pleased with the way this one turned out.

The Kona Navy background just makes these colors sing, but unless you're looking at the quilt in person, it does make it more difficult to tell how it's quilted.

Though these are technically stars, I kind of thought of them as flowers when I decided on the quilting designs.  The main petals of each block are quilted with loops, which really add to the flower effect, and I decided on a very tight organic (read imperfect) grid for the center stars. The grid spacing is smaller than 1/4 inch.  Since I used the center star outline to travel from one area to another, I decided to embrace a "sketchy" outline on them.  It seemed easier than trying to perfectly travel over lines of stitching, which would have inevitably ended with gnashing of teeth.

The background is stippled with navy thread.  You know, because stippling is still my very favorite, and it seems I just can't help myself!  You can really see the quilting detail on the back of the quilt.

Since I've had some of you ask me with other quilts, I'll go ahead and let you know that there is no marking involved in any of these designs.  It's all done free-motion, including the outlines of the stars themselves.

The only fabric I had to purchase for this one was the navy, as well as the red and white backing fabric.  Everything else came right from my cabinet.  I even had these little yellow polkadots in my stash, and they are a perfect little pop of sunshine against the dark background.  I'm calling this quilt a win on all fronts!

Sliding Geese Mini, and a Giveaway

Good morning, friends!  Today, it's my turn on the Sew In Love With Fabric Summer Mini blog hop, and I'm so excited to share this little mini quilt with you, featuring the Patio Splash fabric collection.

These particular prints from the collection are called Color Strokes, and they are absolutely gorgeous.  They have the perfect amount of texture for when you are looking for fabrics that are almost solid, but not quite, which makes them extremely versatile.  They are so saturated and fun, and are perfectly summery!

I decided to design a mini quilt using flying geese, a classic quilting building block, but give it some interest by varying the sizes to create the sliding effect.

I have written a full tutorial for this mini, making it super easy!  Be sure to head over to Sew In Love With Fabric to check it out the full tutorial.  But before you go, I'm thrilled to let you know that Benartex is offering a fat quarter bundle of these luscious fabrics as a giveaway, so take a second to enter.

Just leave a single comment on this post to enter the giveaway.  I'll announce the winner at next week's Needle and Thread Thursday post (5/24).

By the way, and I also have FOUR other amazing giveaways going on right now which also run through next Wednesday evening.  To enter those as well, just head over HERE to check them out.

All of these giveaways have ended, and I'll announce the winners this afternoon in my NTT post!

Good luck to all, and happy (almost) summer!

Come Party, Friends!

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday!  We have been practically living at the baseball field this week, so I'm feeling pretty accomplished to have my latest quilt basted.  I haven't gotten to actually start quilting on it yet though, so let's jump right into with some features from last week's party!

These awesomely modern placemats are by Jayne at Twiggy and Opal-

Karen's Quilting shared this scrappy postage stamp masterpiece-

and Jan at The Colorful Fabriholic linked up this fun Dancing Plusses quilt-

So without further ado, it's time to 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!

*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!  :)

Pop Star for Keeps

Happy Monday!  I hope all of you mommas out there had a fantastic Mother's Day weekend!  I had a packed weekend, and part of it included finishing up this Pop Star quilt (pattern available HERE and HERE).  With 18 inch blocks, this one went together pretty quickly.

Little by little, I've been remaking several of my quilts to use as class samples, so this one is for keeps.  I decided to use a navy background on this one to give it a little wow factor, and I love how the colors just pop against it.  I'm still deciding how I want to quilt it. but since we are smack in the middle of our end of season baseball tournament, this one may have to wait a little while until I can finish it anyway.  We practically live at the ball field at this time of year, and I love it!

When Things Just Don't Work

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday, friends!  I really debated with myself on whether or not to share these two preemie quilts with you.  In fact, if I'm being totally honest, I really struggled with myself on whether to even finish them.

To give you the full story, I need to back up a few weeks.  In the midst of finishing up my book manuscript, I decided I wanted to work on something easy and stress-free, and decided to make a class sample of my Interference pattern.  I pulled a group of fabrics from my stash in a palette that I really loved, even if it was a little different from the norm for me, and I got super excited for a fast finish.

Even now, as I look at the stack I pulled, I think this color combination is awesome.  Unfortunately though, these fabrics didn't translate into a quilt I loved- at all.  I made a lap size quilt, measuring 55" x 66" and...I hated it.  I don't know if the colors and prints were just too busy or if the problem was something else, but I just didn't like the result.  Even though several of my guild members thought it was great, it never grew on me.  The quilt top sat in my cabinet for a few weeks while I decided whether to finish it or cut the whole thing up into scraps (no kidding- I almost did this).

Luckily, before I cut the entire quilt apart for scraps, inspiration struck.  Instead of calling this quilt a total loss, I split it into two preemie size quilts, and I will donate them to our local children's hospital with my guild this fall.  Though I never grew to love this one, the fact that several of my guild members loved it means that it is donation-worthy (I would never donate a quilt that everyone agreed was a total mess).  All in all, these little preemie quilts feel like a win (though I still need to make an Interference class sample).

Before we get to last week's highlights, I want to offer an apology to those of you who tried to link up but had trouble, or noticed that the linky list was missing altogether.  The problem was with the server of linky service itself, and it should be fixed now.  Thanks for your patience!

At last week's party, Sew Not Often Enough shared this beautiful finish, called Cool, Cool Water.

This gorgeous quilt was linked up by Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty-

and last, but not least, check out this lovely medallion quilt by The Lilac Cat-

Okay, ya'll!  let's party!

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!

*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!  :)

Come Party!

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday, and happy MAY!  I can't help it.  All of those years as a teacher means that I get positively giddy when May rolls around, because it means that summer is just around the corner!  This week, I've been doing more secret sewing (for a different purpose than my book), and I hope to be able to share some news on that with you soon!  I'm not too sad about that though, because there was plenty of eye candy at last week's party to pretty-up this post.

Like this awesome triangle quilt for Slice of Pi Quilts-

Or this beauty by Myra at Busy Hands Quilts, called Brick Cottage Lane 2-

And how about this fun quilt from Tanya Quilts in CO?  I just love those pops of green!

Alrighty, friends!  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!

*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!  :)