Modern Quilts
Plus Dash Pattern Testing WIP
Hi, I thought I would post a quick WIP report on what I am working on this week. I am pattern testing for The Colorful Fabriholic and making up a twin size version of her new pattern Plus Dash.
I am making 20 blocks. I have 4 different prints in 5 color ranges. I found these fabrics as fat eighth sets at JoAnn Fabrics around 2 years ago. I think they have something similar still but in different color offerings. It was a hard decision for me to choose which prints to use. I did not know exactly how the larger prints of the group would work at first, but I do like how the blocks turned out. I chose to use a solid pewter gray as my crosses versus the black and white print that Jan is using to make her quilt’s pluses.
Here are my teal blue print blocks.
Here are my green print blocks.
Here are my purple print blocks.
Here are my pink print blocks.
And here are my yellow/orange print blocks.
There are a lot of “happy” color prints in this quilt. I really like the pewter plus. It’s been quite awhile since I made churn dash blocks and they are quite fun. The blocks are a nice 14 inches when completed. I am definitely going to need a design wall to lay out all the sashing strips to get them in order.
Thanks for stopping by this week and checking out my quilt projects. I will link these WIP with various linky parties.
Looking Glass Flimsy in Zen Chic Comma prints
Hi, I would like to share today my completed Looking Glass quilt flimsy. I am pattern testing the Looking Glass pattern for Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. I made the queen size version which ends up being 90 by 89.5 inches. It fits nicely over the top of our full size bed. The pattern used 7 charm packs and I used Zen Chic’s Comma. I had 5 charm packs in my stash and had to do some serious searching online to find anymore charm packs available. I found some at a quilt shop in Minnesota.
The pattern instructions were great and everything went together smoothly. I loved being able to chain piece the blocks and only having two seams to worry about matching. The only problem I had putting together the quilt was adding the long sashing. I had added a sash to the top and bottom of the bottom pieced strip and when I went to add the next pieced strip, after sewing 3/4 of the way across, I saw that I was going to be short. I almost wanted to cry when I had to tear out 75 inches of stitching. I ended up figuring out that I was going to have to pin each end and a few places across the center and then everything went together smoothly. There is nothing wrong with the instructions, just need to allow the sewing machine to ease in sashing to the pieced rows. I really like how the quilt design worked out. I really love Zen Chic’s fabrics. They have such a nice feel to them. This is my second time sewing with that fabric line and I hope to be able to use more of her fabrics. Comma was especially fun since there were 40 different prints in the 42 charm pieces.
I have to make a back for the quilt yet. I am looking at using the solid gray and black and somehow include the 14 extra charms left from the 7 charm packs to make up a pieced design. I have found an orange, yellow and lime green solids to add into the mix for interest. I am still thinking over how I want to quilt this. Maybe rows of a scalloped stitch.
Thank you for looking at my quilt top. Please check out Cheryl’s blog as she will be offering up for sale the Looking Glass pattern in the very near future.
I will be linking up this finish with various weekend linky parties.
Happy Sewing,
Shelley
Looking Glass Pattern Testing
Hi, This week I am pattern testing for my friend, Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. She has a new quilt design in the works called Looking Glass.
I am working on sewing up the Queen sized version. I have made a few of Cheryl’s designs before on my own, but this is the first time I have pattern tested for her. I am using my stash of Zen Chic’s Comma charm squares. I had 5 charm packs stashed away for quite awhile, and managed to purchase what may have been some of the last Comma charm squares that were available online to make up the 7 charm packs I needed to make up the Queen size Looking Glass quilt.
Here are eight of the blocks sewn together and laid out with the sashing.
I have everything pieced and pressed to finish up making the 70 blocks I need for this quilt. I really like how the design goes together so nicely. Being able to chain piece everything and only have two seams to worry about matching when making the blocks is making this a fun project.
I am working on making a pieced quilt back pulling the black and gray and adding accents of yellow, orange and lime green. I was given a deadline of November 21st, so I am looking good at completing this before that date.
I have another quilt pattern I will be testing before Christmas for a different designer that I am working on pulling fabrics for this week too.
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my quilts. I will be linking up my work in progress with this week’s linky parties.
Happy Sewing,
Shelley
High Tea Quilt : Batik Version Pattern Tested
Hi, I would like to share the quilt I finished up today. I was given the opportunity to pattern test a new quilt pattern, High Tea that was self-published this week by New Zealand quilt designer and blogger, Adrianne Reid, who blogs as On The Windy Side. Please check out her blog to see all the lovely versions of her new quilt design. It is charm pack or layer cake friendly.
I chose to make my quilt with a set of batik charm squares that I found last year on Etsy. There were 100 squares with a few repeats and I cut down some extra batik squares to size from fabrics that I had leftover from my batik Shadowbox quilt, that was still in my stash. I think I ended up with upwards of 70 different batiks. I choose to use a light gray and black solids as my sashing strips that were cut and sewn into a checkerboard type pattern. One of my fellow pattern testers describes the pattern as similar to a disppearing four patch. This describes this pattern quite well. I loved the creative ideas some of the other quilters came up with, substituting some of the four patches for layer cakes makes endless ways you can work this pattern.
I took a photo of my quilt flimsy last week on a rainy day, so used my bed to lay it out for size.
I decided to try something different for me when quilting this quilt top. I attempted to use what I think is a serpentine stitch or it may be a four step zigzag that I adjusted out to the size I wanted. I used this stitch over all the seams. I used my walking foot. I have not used the walking foot with Mom’s machine much yet, so it was a new experience. I was spoiled when I could sew and quilt with my Pfaff as it had the IDT feed automatically and no walking foot was needed. I guess I need to put the Viking walking foot to use, since that foot alone cost over $100 when Mom purchased it. This special stitch took way more thread and I had to wind extra bobbins. Many times I would only manage 3 rows of quilting per bobbin. I quilted with a medium gray colored thread.
Here is a photo of the back of my quilt. I had misread the number of gray and black strips I was to cut, so I used a couple of them to piece my stripe center in the back. I used some extra batik squares, that ranged from 4-7 inches each. The black really showed off the gray zigzag quilting.
I have decided to use this quilt finish as one of my quilts I planned to give as Christmas gifts this year. This person really loved my Shadowbox quilt so hopefully she will like this quilt. It has many of the same fabrics.
Thank you for looking at my version of High Tea. If you would be interested in attempting your own version of this quilt, please check out Adrianne’s blog. Her pattern went on sale this week..
I will be linking up my quilt finish with various linky parties this week.
Wednesday Work In Progresses
Hi, I thought I would share a couple of my current work in progresses.
I am testing a new quilt pattern for quilt blogger and designer, On the Windy Side. Since the pattern has not been released yet, I am only allowed to share a sneak peek. I am showing one of my finished blocks. I am using a possible 70 some different batiks in my quilt top. I purchased a set of 100 batik charm squares off of Etsy and there were multiples in the set, and I cut down some of the leftover squares from my Batik Shadowbox quilt to make up my needed squares. So I would estimate 70-75 different batiks and I am using gray and black solid as my coordinating fabrics. I think it is possible the pattern will be announced in the next couple weeks.
I pulled one of my older long term work in progresses from the storage bin to play with a mock layout of the quilt design. I am using the fabric line Fandango to make the Sunnie Skies quilt pattern by Missouri Star Quilt Co.
This quilt’s block need a major pressing, maybe even a little starch. I am thinking I might take the chevron’s apart and rework the main seam. I think they are more than a scant 1/4 inch so things should go back together better, if reworked.
I will be linking up my Wednesday WIPs with various linky parties.
Batik Shadowbox Quilt Finish
Today is my birthday and I thought I would share one of my most favorite quilt finishes. I had come across a photo of a quilt on the wall of a quilt shop that was featured in one of the Better Homes and Garden’s Quilt Sampler magazines from 2008-2010. I could not find a name for the quilt in the magazine and had not come across it online. This was before Pinterest.
The quilt design was a Shadowbox that appeared to be constructed from something in the 5 to 8 inch square range. I have since seen numerous patterns that have squares, rectangles or even a combination of both. Mountainpeek Creations has a very popular pattern for a rectangle shadowbox.
Since I did not have a pattern, I chose to draft up my own. I had a stack of batik fat quarters that I had cut 10 inch squares from for another quilt so from the leftovers I decided to base my design on a 6 inch square. I layed out 2 1/2 inch strips alongside my 6 inch square to determine what size I needed to make the shadow strips. A few calculations later and a test block and I cut out all my fabrics and pieced my blocks.
Please forgive the sour looking face. This was one of those late 2 AM quilt finishes and I was exhausted.
I used up extra pieces of the batiks to make a pieced border. I used the idea of the pieced border from Moda Bake Shop tutorial Easy As Cake quilt pattern. I had used this pattern to make a quilt that I had cut the 10 inch squares from this fabrics for. The quilt went to my best friend.
My sewing room is also our office, so after a big quilting project it can be extra messy.
For the back, I pieced a simple striped back with a really fun batik that packed a lot of color punch.
Making this quilt taught me that I could be fairly confident in drawing out a design and calculating how much fabric it might take to make what I had in mind. It would have been much easier if I had known if there was a pattern out there and what it was. This was also before finding my trusty Quilter’s Fabri-Calc calculator. I had made numerous quilts before this one, but making this one seemed to help fuel the fire or quilt making obsession. I made this quilt as a birthday gift to the Mother of my daughter’s then boyfriend. She was a family friend as our husbands worked together. She did truly love it. My daughter and that boyfriend broke up after 4 years together.
This quilt is my favorite and it has been the favorite of all that I have made when seen by other friends and family. It seems that most of my best work goes out the door as gifts. I do have some regrets of this one getting away . I would chalk this up to being similar to knitters and the “boyfriend sweater curse”. Never make a boyfriend a sweater as by the time it is completed, the relationship may have or be ending. My daughter’s previous boyfriends received rag rug style quilts. This boyfriend had even helped us make his and helped man the scissors to do all rag cutting.
I have come across a couple tutorials on making shadowbox quilts. There is one that is in 8 inch squares, MaDan’s. And also a tutorial that uses squares and rectangles over at Ludlow’s Quilt and Sew. Some day I may have to make myself another version of this quilt.
Thanks for looking. I will be sharing this quilt finish with various linky parties this week.
WIP: Broken Frames Flimsy
Hi, I would like to share my flimsy that I have been piecing this week. It is made with the Broken Frames pattern by Meadow Mist Designs. I used 39 different black and white prints and a turquoise solid fabric. I used these same prints in completing my 39 Shades of Charming quilt top made from the Charming quilt pattern also designed by Meadow Mist Designs.
I think it is amazing how different the same fabrics can look in different quilt designs. I started with a fat eighth set of 32 fabrics (Moda’s Shades of Black) , took out the white and gray prints, keeping just the black and white prints. I purchased 12 different fat quarters and a set of 50 charm squares and throw them all in the mix to end up with a combination of 39 different black and white prints. I cut alot of charm squares obviously, since I used 120 squares in the Charming quilt, and 63 in Broken Frames and I am still left with 157 charm squares but that includes the white on white and gray on white prints. I have also a stack of 2.5 inch strips so I can probably design at least two more quilts by adding in another solid color for wow effect.
I am back to taking photos by laying the quilt top on the bed as we have had two straight days of rain and no sun. I guess it is better than snow.
I am hoping to quilt this up for a Christmas gift. I tend to be last minute sometimes, well actually all the time. So by starting my projects when there was 75 days before Christmas, versus 60 days or even 30 days would make me hopeful to completing more and not having to stay up til 2AM everynight the week before Christmas. This quilt flimsy will be temporarily set aside while I test piece a quilt for a designer from New Zealand.
I am looking forward to possibly trying a new quilting technique that Lee from Freshly Pieced will be sharing in the upcoming weeks on her Chandelier quilt along for Bernina Sewing Machines. It looks right up my alley, no freemotion and you can use your walking foot on your domestic sewing machine.
I will be sharing this WIP on various linky parties this week.
Buttonholes: A Batik Quilt Finish for Mom
Hi, I thought I would share another fun quilt finish. I made this quilt for my Mother inlaw as a gift. It had been planned as a Christmas gift but Mom and Dad had both been under the weather during the holidays, so our family get togethers had been postponed. I had the quilt top all sewn in time so I used the delay to complete some other projects like also make Dad a quilt. I quilted both tops at a later date . Mom got hers for Mother’s Day and Dad got his train quilt for Father’s Day. As with a few other recent quilt finishes, the quilt tops were completed in a timely fashion. It just sometimes takes longer to get them quilted. Sometimes quilt tops are created without a recipient in mind. The quilts decide who they should go to.
I chose the quilt pattern Buttonholes by Wendi Gratz of Shiny Happy World. Wendi is a children’s book illustrator besides quilt designer. She has a fun website and weekly newsletter email. She makes some of the cutest stuffed animals.
The Buttonholes quilt pattern lends itself to so many creative possiblities. I chose to use some of my favorite batiks paired with cream solid for the front and used a lovely blue for the backing. The backing quilt design that Wendi has created for this pattern makes such a neat design that it makes the quilt reversible. I truly almost like the back better than the front of the quilt on this one.
And of the back of the quilt.
I prequilted the pieced back to my batting to help keep the stripes in the location I wanted them.
Quite a few of these batiks I used in creating this quilt have become favorites of mine. I have used them in two other quilts. It is amazing how far a good stack of fat quarters can go, if you cut your own precuts.
Thanks for looking at my quilt. I will be linking up my quilt finish with various Friday quilt finish linky parties.
Get Your Kicks Route 66: Wedding Quilt for Snowbirds
Hi, Today I thought I would share a Flashback Friday quilt finish. I made a wedding quilt for a now permanent snowbirds couple who got married on Valentine’s Day in 2013. The couple are our daughter inlaw’s Mother and StepFather. They were both leaving the cold winters of Iowa and Minnesota for a new home in Texas and since the couple and their families had lived everywhere from California, LasVegas, to Branson, Missouri, it seemed fitting to make them a Route 66 themed quilt as their gift.
My quilt’s focal print fabric is Alexander Henry’s Route 66 fabric. It is such fun fabric. Alexander Henry has to be one of my all time favorite fabric line designers. I had made a quilt before using this fabric for a friend of the family who was an over the road trucker. The guy even had a full arm sleeve tattoo of Route 66 locations so the quilt was loved. I thought odds were in my favor that this couple would like a quilt with the same fabric.
I did my best to pull coordinating colors from the Route 66 print to give the most Wow factor. I knew our DIL’s Mom would like the purple and I liked the teal and soft blue as accents. The size of the photos in the design of the fabric are quite large and I needed to come up with a design with large blocks so it did not chop up the focal print willy nilly.
In preparation of writing this blog post, I searched to find what the name was of the quilt pattern I used. I am pretty sure it was a design in one of the Better Homes and Gardens American Patchwork and Quilting magazines or had been on their blog. The quilt ended up finishing at 86 by 92 inches. I had calculated I had quilted it with over 10,000 inches of quilting.
For the back of the quilt, I pulled all the coordinating solids from the front and pieced in a stripe of the last of the Route 66 fabric. I now see it is from this quilt’s leftover fabrics where I got some of the solids to piece into strips for our grandsons’ Scooby Doo Crossing quilts that I finished last week. This was fitting since this couple are also their grandparents.
I really liked using this pattern and hope that I can find it back. I have another fun Alexander Henry print that could use a large block quilt pattern to show off the fun complexity of the design.
I will be sharing my quilt finish with Finish It Friday, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Link A Finish Friday, Whoop Whoop Fridays, TGIFF, Show It Off Saturday , Lily’s Quilts Small Blog Meet and a few other weekend linky parties.
Scooby Doo Crossing Quilt: 2 Quilts Finished
Hi, I would like to share my newly completed Scooby Doo Crossing quilts that I made for my grandson’s 3rd birthday from the Adding Up Nicely pattern by Meadow Mist Designs. I had decided to make a matching quilt for his older brother so they could be used as bedspreads on their new bunk beds. I chose to use a layer of muslin cotton yardage as a replacement to standard batting in my quilts for the boys. It is amazing how heavy it makes the quilts. My sewing machine had no problem sewing thru the three layers or four layers when quilting across the appliqued names on the back of the quilts. I have made quilts before for other children and used muslin or another cotton as the batting and they washed and wore like iron. That is something needed when sewing for little boys. My binding was 2.5 inch strips folded in half and I attached them to the backside of the quilts and pulled them to the front and sewed them down by machine. I know that is definitely not the standard way to attach a binding. I did it once by a fluke chance and liked how flat it lay and it did seem to wear nicely on the quilt.
Here is the back of the quilts with Sawyer and Shaderek’s names appliqued to the center stripes.
For once in what seems like many years, I got my quilts completed two days before our party. It took me 2 hours to whip out the quilting on each quilt that is when I had enough bobbins wound in advance. Since I was not so rushed to take photos, I was able to attempt to be more creative in how I showed off my finished quilts. I managed to not use our bed and I found natural lighting. It is wonderful how nicer the quilts look shown this way.
Here is my Scooby Crossing quilt on the gates to our corn fields and the winds decided to pick up and catch the corners of my quilt.
Sawyer seemed to really like his quilt as much as 3 year old can. He yelled, “Scooby” when he opened it up. I think I saw him lean over and give his name a kiss when his greatgrandma explained that it was his name on it. His brother Shad told me “that his” better not be Scooby. Well, It is! And it has your name on it too! Haha I am sure he will warm up to the idea some day. His likes and dislikes have taken a major turn since he is in school.
Our whole world almost came undone the day after Sawyer’s birthday party. The next day he and his brother attended a friend’s 5th birthday party and the party was held at the swimming pool at a local hotel. It was just a handful of kids and all the parents at the pool. Everything had been well, until somehow Sawyer ended up out of his floatation device and somehow fell into the pool. Sawyer was found floating face down in the water by the 5 year old’s sister who is just 10 years old.. She drug Sawyer out of the pool. He had taken on alot of water and was not breathing. Her Dad had a voice in his head tell him, that he Had to start chest compressions and CPR. Thankfully after a couple of chest compressions and Sawyer puked up a bunch of water and started breathing again. The Paramedics were there in about 4 mins, which they told us was record time. They were so happy to be able to walk in there and find Sawyer crying. This was the best sign. They had unfortunately lost a little boy recently to a drowning at another hotel pool. Sawyer was taken by ambulance to the hospital to be checked out. The Doctors said he was looking good but one has to be so careful about the chemical burns to the lungs from taking in all that chlorine water. Pneumonia can set in within the first 6 to 8 hours and the threat of a dry drowning later. He was life flighted to our university children’s hospital. He did amazingly well and was awake and talking with the wonderful flight nurses and paramedics. He did not cry once. None of us had been allowed to fly with him. Once we got to the hospital, he was found sitting up in bed watching cartoons. He was kept overnight for observations and thankfully showed no signs of pneumonia or any other problems. He did not even need to be on oxygen when he was at the second hospital. Once we were released from hospital we knew we had our Sawyer back. He was completely normal. Talking, singing and getting into things.
Our family truly believes in Guardian Angels after this weekend. We will forever be in debt to our family friends for being there and pulling Sawyer from the pool and getting him breathing again. All it takes is a blink of an eye and life can be changed forever. We are so grateful that we have our precious grandson back and can enjoy many birthdays to come.
I will be sharing my quilt finishes with various linky parties this week. Fabric Tuesdays, Linky Tuesdays , Sew Cute Tuesdays , WOW Wednesdays , Let’s Bee Social, WIP Wednesday, Show and Tell Tuesdays, Needle and Thread Thursday, Fresh Sewing Day, I Quilt Thursdays ,
