Spiraling Butterflies

Spiraling Butterflies is my finish for the QuiltCon Michael Miller Glitz Fabric Challenge.

The butterfly blocks were made using Little Bluebell's paper pieced Modern Butterfly pattern.  I just love this pattern and have so many other butterfly quilt plans!

The background fabric is Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Blush and also in Love.  The color variation is quite subtle, but I like the depth using two different colors provides.

I finished making the blocks and determined the layout while at our Orlando MQG retreat (still need to post about that!).  Having creative input from others was awesome!  After that, the top came together quickly.

I used my walking foot to quilt spirals (THANK YOU Jacquie and Craftsy for the refresher) starting a little offset from the center.  Aurifil 2410 in 40wt was the thread I used.  I had just enough left over from this quilt and the color matched perfectly.

Twice before, I quilted spirals, but one was a mini quilt and the other was just on a portion of the quilt.  I said I would never do it again, but this time I found the process quite therapeutic.  Crazy, right?!

The Cotton Couture solids are SUPER soft, so possibly that made a difference in the quilting?  All I  know is, the {continuous} turning of the quilt through my Juki didn't seem as difficult as I remembered.

 
The backing fabric is Michael Miller What's Your Angle? and the binding is the pink pearlized dot from the Glitz line.

 The binding was hand stitched to the back while on Thanksgiving break.  I finished just in time to photograph and upload before the deadline.  This is my first time entering a quilt into a show.  I must admit, it was quite exciting and nerve wracking at the same time.

I saw on Instagram this morning that a record breaking number (1,810) of quilts were entered in QuiltCon 2016 and approximately 300-350 will be accepted!  What an incredible show it will be!

To me, it's a win-win.  If my quilt gets in...Cool!!!  If it doesn't....I don't have to make a hanging sleeve and ship it have to part with it!  Good luck to all who entered!

Friday Finish: Baby Quilt

Yay, my Michael Miller fabric challenge quilt is done!

just a little more hand stitching to do

 I started working on this quilt in June at Jacquie Gering's log cabin class.  I needed a project for that workshop and an idea for my MM challenge and a baby quilt for our guild charity drive, so there you go!  Three for one!

with Jacquie and Debbe

I neglected to post about the workshop held at a LQS over the summer.  I didn't even have to travel to Austin (or Chicago or Kansas City) to see Jacquie!  It was wonderful seeing her again and spending some quality time together after class.

auditioning background fabric

The above six blocks were pieced in class and Jacquie and LQS owner Mel helped me choose this lovely shot cotton.  I would not have thought to go with this color and love the way it looks with the MM prints and other shot cottons from my stash!

"In My Room" backing fabric

The remaining blocks were pieced and the quilt top assembled at my Gruber's retreat.  My DIL inadvertently chose the backing fabric while in Montana when she noticed this Jenean Morrison print.  I originally bought the fabric intending to make something for Kasi until I noticed it would be perfect for this baby quilt.

spiral quilting with my walking foot

With my walking foot, I quilted organic spirals starting in the center and working my out.  I say organic because of the laid-back-not-really-marking-or-measuring method I tend to quilt...it's very forgiving ;-))  I used the center of the flower petal to start the first circle and then used the edge of the walking foot as my guide from there. 

my favorite thread is Aurifil!

Aurifil #2315 in 50wt is the thread I used which to me is a perfect color for this baby quilt.  I love the way it blends into the background of the yellow shot cotton and then shows up nicely against the bluish gray and salmon colored shot cottons.

ignore the Clover clips on the binding

Of course we finally got much needed rain at the time I chose to do a photo shoot.  I settled for using my great-great grandmother's baby rocking chair near a window for photographing purposes.

binding with shot cottons

I chose that same bluish gray (need to find out the official name of this shot cotton) for the binding.

42" square

There's still some hand stitching that needs to be done to finish up the binding and then it's off to be washed and delivered to our guild's charity coordinator.

Quilt stats:  MM baby quilt, 42" square to be donated to Beta Center, pieced and quilted by me, blocks and layout based on Jacquie Gering log cabin workshop, fabric donated to MQG by Michael Miller plus Kaffe Fassett shot cottons for the top, In Your Room by Jenean Morrison for backing, Aurifil #2315 50/wt thread, spiral quilting done with a walking foot.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.  

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the long weekend!

WiP Wednesday 8/27/14

Progress is being made on my spider web blocks.  I was out of town all last week, but did manage to squeeze in some sewing time before I left.

filler blocks

 These are what I call the filler blocks that will alternate between the bee blocks.

leftover trianges

 I love the triangles that are created when trimming the blocks.

quilt basted

My Michael Miller quilt top is basted.

"In My Room" backing fabric from Jeneane Morrison

I also pieced the back as I didn't purchase as much of the backing fabric as I thought, adding the same shot cotton background fabric to the Jeneane Morrison fabric.

OrlandoMQG Sew Day is Saturday so more spider web blocks should be finished by next week's check in.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced.  Thanks for stopping by,

WiP Wednesday 8/12/14

Now that my bee blocks are all current, there are several projects in the works that need attention.  I'm thinking Lee's WiP Wednesday may help with accountability.

bee blocks from friends

I brought my spiderweb bee blocks to work on at Gruber's.  I assembled all the blocks made by my bee mates (I requested them unassembled so I could play around with layouts) and pieced them into giant blocks.

not the prettiest design wall but love my blocks

While at retreat, I also decided on a layout for the quilt and determined the total amount of blocks needed (quite a few more actually but not as many as pictured below!).  I cut and marked the necessary background blocks, prepped fabric strips and even managed to sew a few blocks.

layout designed with Touch Draw app

Now that I am home, I put all the blocks back up on my design wall, prepped more strips and am excited to get moving again on this quilt!

Michael Miller challenge needs quilting

My Michael Miller fabric challenge quilt top was started during a workshop with Jacquie Gering in June and finished at Gruber's.  It just needs to be basted and quilted.  I have already picked out the backing, thread color and quilt design.  This quilt is destined for a baby quilt charity drive.

Our guild is encouraging members to finish those old WiPs, so I need to get busy.  There are a lot more where these came from ;-)

Linking up with Freshly Pieced.

Thanks for stopping by and happy stitching,

Friday Finish: Home is... quilt

Last year my oldest son was married in Washington, and at the Florida reception we had guests sign quilt blocks. You can go here to see the quilt for their wedding (delivered just a little bit late), so I was happy to give them the quilt made with the signature blocks in person on their one year anniversary (which was celebrated in Montana).  We're all over the place ;-)

Leo with his parents

The theme of their wedding and the subsequent Florida party was based on the Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros song Home.  My daughter even played this song on the violin during the processional, so I decided to make a wall hanging with the song's chorus on the front and piece the signature blocks on the back. 

some guests have a wicked sense of humor!

During the process, I randomly came across this quilt which also has the lyrics but uses a different piecing method.  (Has this ever happened to you?) Using the techniques in Tonya's Word Play Quilts, I free pieced the letters using natural linen, quilter's linen and a variety of my favorite fabric scraps.

individual letters making the words

from design wall to design floor

 As I mentioned the signature blocks were written last summer, and the individual letters have been pieced for a while.  I brought the "parts" with me to Montana in order to finish the wallhanging by the anniversary date.  Working with a design wall is so much better than a design floor ;-)

it's growing

The assembling of the quilt top, quilt back and most of the quilting was done before the "newlyweds" arrived, but a little quilting remained as well as the binding.  This called for some sneaky stitching ;-)

straight line quilting

 Straight line quilting was done with Aurifil #5011 to match the linen and a variegated #4060 to give a little texture.  There is also a line of a bright King Tut variegated (#944) stitched randomly here and there just because ;-)  

only quilted through the top and the batting

I worried the numerous lines of quilting would interfere with the handwritten messages on the back, so when basting I left off the backing.  This meant the quilting only shows on the top.

another humorous message

I learned this trick from Juanita Yeager's workshop.  The backing was then stitched to the back of the quilted piece and bound.  This technique probably wouldn't work on a large quilt but is just fine for a wallhanging.

Home is... quilt

Here's the completed quilt hanging temporarily in Montana.  Looking forward to receiving a picture of the quilt hanging in its new home.

beautiful family

Quilt stats:  "Home is...." quilt, free pieced letters in linen and quilter's cotton on front, signature blocks in Kona cotton solids on back, binding is Weave by Moda, measures 26"x39"

If you want to see other letter quilts and/or lyric quilts, check out the Unruly Quilter,  The Proverbial Quiltalong with Poppyprint using Denyse Schmidt's pattern,  Elizabeth Hartman's Billboard Quiltalong, and of course Kaye's beautiful version of Home I mentioned above. 

Linking up with finish it up Friday and crossing this off my WIP list for our OrlandoMQG challenge.  

Thanks for stopping by,

Friday Finish: Pillow Challenge

I don't know about you, but I am SO glad it is Friday.  Today, I actually have a finish to share with you.  A quick gift was needed and I remembered how fun the holiday llama pillow was to make, so I decided to make another pillow cover using this same tutorial.

quilted pillow

I started with four leftover linen triangles (still have plans for the others) from the spiderweb mini quilt I'm still working on (almost done...just needs to be quilted) and added wide strips of the Riley Blake Challenge fabric around the three sides to make the blocks.  

pillow cover

The scraps of Riley Blake fabric were put through my AccuQuilt Go cutter using the triangle die.  I pieced those triangles for the outer border leaving a strip of linen on two sides.  Linen is also used for the inner border.

organic quilting lines

For Christmas, my mom gave me an Aurifil thread set and the spool of #5011 is a perfect match for the linen which is what I used to quilt organic lines using my walking foot.

quilted top

For the backing I used a print from IKEA which I love and bought by the bolt but forgot to photograph ;-)  The pillow cover measures 22" square and I stuffed it with a 24" pillow form to make it soft and squishy.

gift for a friend

This one finish counts towards my Riley Blake Challenge (a little past the deadline), Amy's Pillow Collective, Amanda's finish it up Friday and a gift for a friend!

I'd say that's sewing smart ;-)

Happy Friday and happy stitching!  Thanks for stopping by,

Double Wedding Ring Challenge

My piece for the Double Wedding Ring Challenge announced by the NYC Mod Quilt Guild and encouraged by our OrlandoMQG is finished!!!

This was my first attempt at the DWR block so I chose to make a quilt for the Small category which only requires one ring.  I used the EZ Quilting templates, and once I figured out which way the templates went and my seam allowance (scant 1/4" was too small), the block went together quite easily.

The process was similar to putting together a puzzle, and I was quite happy when the pieces all fit together nicely!  The fabrics for the rings are in blues and purples from my scrap basket.  The background, backing and binding fabrics are all from the Mama Said Sew line by Sweetwater for MODA.

Once the double wedding ring block was pieced together, I machine appliquéd it with a zig zag stitch onto the background fabric using gray thread (Aurifil 50wt #2610).  Using my walking foot and the same gray thread, I quilted around and inside the double wedding ring shape.  I also quilted circles around the outside of the ring.

I was having too much fun quilting circles around the ring that I just kept going.   This picture (above) shows my original quilt was a bit larger.  It wasn't until after quilting, binding and photographing the quilt and went to link up with the challenge that I realized my quilt was supposed to be 20" or smaller.  Six or eight inches was cut from each side, and I had to restitch the binding.  It's all good - I like the smaller size better for keeping the focus on the ring and I learned that I need to pay more attention in the future ;-)

I would not have attempted this block if it wasn't for the fact that our guild encouraged us to participate.  Thanks Yanick for that!  I can say this was quite a challenge for me as well as a learning experience.  No doubt I will make this block again.

Quilt stats:
Name:  Sewing Circle wall quilt
Pattern: Double Wedding Ring block
Finished size: 20" square
Fabric used: Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater and blues and purples from my scrap basket; pieced with Aurifil 50wt #2021
Quilted: by me using walking foot and Aurifil 50wt #2610; binding hand stitched with Aurifil #2692

Thanks for stopping by!!
Happy stitching,