Mini Teal Swap and Quilt Blogger’s Festival

Hello everyone! Today, I want to show you my mini quilt for the Teal Mini Swap 2016 hosted by Beth at EvaPaige Quilt Designs for Ovarian Cancer Research. I’m also going to enter it in the mini category in the Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy of Amy’sCreativeSide.

 

My swap partner, Melissa of Albuquerque, has received her quilt so I can show it to you now. Melissa is the Editor-in-chief of Generation Q Magazine. Check it out. She is participating in the swap for her friend Earlene. I wanted to participate to support Beth who is one of the Maggie’s First Dance BOM featured bloggers and because I think this is a good cause. Ovarian Cancer is still one of the hardest to detect and I hope that more research can help in this area.

 

OK, on to the mini. The pattern is Flash Point from Make It Mini: Small Quilts and More 2016 from Better Homes and Gardens. This design is a mini makeover of Sharon Tucker’s “Black, White and Bright.” (Please forgive the exposure on this photo. I’ve tried to correct it, but haven’t been able too and the quilt is gone).

The quilt is 16 1/2″ x 16 1/2″ and the block size is 6″. I deviated from the design by adding the 1/2″ inner border and making the outer border 1 1/2″. The circle fabric is the swap fabric provided by Moda. The blue teal is from Pat Sloan’s Hometown Girl, and the rest are from Sherri and Chelsi’s Valley and Bright Sun, all by Moda. I pieced and quilted this with Aurifil 50 wt cotton.

The construction for this mini is different than what I have done before. You started with a wedge shape that made a circle.

I was very happy that my blocks laid flat. Then, I used a 6 1/2 square ruler to trim the circle and you got these:

I used the teal swap fabric for the centers.

To get the circles nice and round, I drew my circle onto some woven interfacing, then used my open toe foot to sew them together. I cut a hole in the center of the interfacing, turned, then had a nice round circle. Next, I hand appliqued with Aurifil 50 wt.

One of the fun things about this pattern is that you can turn the blocks and get different designs. Here are a few things you can do with it.

Melissa told me that she was making her mini in memory of her friend, Earlene, that lost her battle with Ovarian Cancer. Her friend didn’t quilt, but she did do embroidery. I wanted to include some in the quilt, so I decided to embroider on the label. Jenny of Elefantz provided me with the perfect design. It was part of August’s Stitchery Club, just in time for the quilt.

All the floss is DMC except for the varigated flowers, which is a Sulky 12 wt.

Next up, how was I going to quilt it?

I stitched in the ditch around all the rays, then quilted graduating circles in the background. This was enough to make the rays pop. As you can see, I marked my circles with a purple disappearing pen.

Next came the borders.

I thought is would make the rays stand out even more if I continued those lines into the border. I marked the extension of the lines, but then used my Westalee Ruler foot and ruler to quilt them.

I always like how the back can really show off the quilting.

Here is the back with the label.

Melissa, I hope you enjoy the quilt. It was a lot of fun to make.

To see more of the Mini Teal Swap quilts, visit Beth’s Facebook page. If you like my mini, you can vote for it here starting on September 25 in the mini category of the Bloggers Quilt Festival. Be sure to visit Amy for all the other wonderful quilts in the festival. Thanks for stopping by.

Brenda

PS  What am I going to do with the leftovers?

 

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Happy weekend everyone! I am going to enter a couple of quilts in the Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy of AmysCreativeSide.com.

The first one I’m entering is my Fall Flyway in the home machine quilted category.

The pattern is Atlantic Flyway by Deb Tucker. This is perfect for the season, too. I made it last fall and is the first quilt that I used with a ruler foot and quilting templates. The fabrics are from my stash and Deb Strain’s Forest Fancy by Moda.

I use a Phaff 4.0 Quilt Expression sewing machine to piece and quilt with. It has a 9″ throat area so it make’s it a little easier to maneuver the quilt. I use the mid-shank Westalee Ruler Foot when doing template work.

I started by quilting in the ditch around the star and the flying geese.  For this quilt, I only had the template set that came with the ruler foot. I used the Westalee circle template to make the center of my flower, then used the Westalee 12″ Arc/Straight to make the flower petals. I quilted on the inside and outside of the star points which gave me a nice overlap to quilt some graduated circles. I also did pebbling inside the center circle. Just a note, I do switch to my open toe free motion foot when I’m not using templates to make it easier to see where I’m going.

Then I quilted arcs on both sides of the flying geese. The template wasn’t quite long enough to go from point to point on the outside edge of the geese, so I moved it as I went around the geese circle and into the sashing strip. Next, I added 1/2 ” curved cross-hatching on the inside of the star points. For the corner section, I used the arc to make my first line in the corners, then echoed 1/4 ” away. I used 1/2 ” curved cross-hatching in the corners, fudging a little to get to the centers. I used a little swirl to fill in the background of the flying geese in the center medallion.

I drew a lot of different designs for the outside geese.  I finally decided on the curved arcs outside of the geese. Then I quilted a feathered fan inside each of the geese.

In the border, I used the straight edge of the template. I quilted double diamonds on the top part which made a heart shape. I then filled in the bottom with some straight line quilting.

I hope you enjoyed viewing my quilting progress on Fall Flyway. It was fun learning the process of quilting with rulers. I do have to give credit to Amy at Amy’s Free Motion Quilting Adventures. I followed her tutorials and took her Craftsy Classes on quilting with rulers on a domestic machine. By the way, all Craftsy Classes are less than $20 through the weekend.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit Bloggers Quilt Festival and vote for your favorite quilt in each category.

Brenda

Maggie’s Winner and Other Things

Hello everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. I want to announce my winner for Maggie’s First Dance, Block 4. It’s Rita from Alabama and she’s going to receive a pattern pack from Snuggles Quilts. I hope you enjoy it Rita.

I finished and mailed my Teal Mini Swap for Ovarian Cancer. I hope to do a blog post on it next week after my swap partner receives it. This is just a little peak at the back.

I also finished the top to September’s Minis and More.

It’s Sherri’s Scrappy Fall Place Mat, only I made mine a table topper. You can see her original design and free tutorial  here. There’s still time to make it. The parade is on October 1.

We are off to Savannah for a few days. Thanks for stopping by.

Brenda

This and That for the Past Week

Hello Everyone! It’s been over a week since I last posted and I’ve been busy. A lot of what I’ve been doing I can’t show now. I’ve been working on Maggie’s First Dance Free BOM by Jacquelynne Steves setting blocks for next month and the The Teal Mini Swap that supports Ovarian Cancer. The mini top is finished, now I need to quilt it. As soon as my swap partner receives it, I’ll do a post on it. I really like the way it has turned out. I’m also still plugging away on Jake’s Disappearing 4-patch.

I’ve had July’s Blocks on the Go for Quilts that Grow finished for several weeks, but I finally took pictures of them last week.

These are blocks 27,28,29, and 30. I’ve started August’s blocks and have 2 completely pieced.

These are blocks 31 and 32. Both centers are from Bonnie and Camilles’s Handmade by Moda. The line has some nice motifs for fussy cutting.

These are block 33 (partially complete) and block 34. I’m trying to get caught up. My goal is to be caught up by the end of October.

 

These are September’s blocks ready to go. I cut these out while watching a few football games and getting caught up on some recorded TV shows. It takes me a long time because I play with the fabric combinations so much, but that’s the fun part. The dot background in these pictures is a sheet of scrap book paper.

I’ve also started a new embroidery piece by Jenny of Elefantz.

This is from August’s Stitchery Club patterns. I hope to get it finished tonight so I can get it ready for quilting.

I also have all my fabrics cut out for September’s Minis and More.

This month’s pattern is by Sherri of A Quilting Life.

This is a picture of Sherri’s Scrappy Fall Place Mat. It’s a nice way to use up your scraps. I’m going to turn mine into a Table Topper. You can find the free tutorial here. There is still time to make it and join in the parade.

We’ll are going to Savannah next week for a few days and it’s a long car ride through middle Georgia to the coast. I should get some of the Blocks on the Go hexies pieced then.

Thanks for stopping by and have a good rest of the week.

Brenda

 

Maggie’s First Dance BOM, Block 4

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you have had a good weekend so far. For those on the east coast, I hope you haven’t suffered too much damage from the storm. If it’s rainy where you are, it’s a good time to make Maggie’s First Dance, Block 4 by Jacquelynne Steves. This month’s prize is being sponsored by Deannne of Snuggles Quilts.

She is also a guest blogger this month and I’ve added her to the blog hop list. Read to the end to find out how you can win these great quilt patterns. Now for Block 4…

This is my embroidered version.  The fabrics are Bright Sun by Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life. As I have done with the other blocks, I’ve added a little extra to the embroidery based on Jacquelynne’s note cards.

The main parts of the design are worked with 3 strands of DMC floss, the running stitch in the flower is done with 2 strands and I used 3 strands for the satin stitch inside the leaves. Now that the blocks are finished, I can color the cards and use them.

Notice the darker blue in Block 4. (Sorry for the tiny threads. I didn’t notice them until the pictures were on the computer).

When  I looked at the other 3 blocks, I thought they were all very close in value and I needed to add something darker. However, when I put this block with the others, I thought it stood out too much.

I had already made one of the setting blocks so I could see how the fabrics in that block were going to fit with the others. I looked at them on my design wall for a few days.  There was something about the combination that I didn’t like. I am using the blue dot in Block 2 in the setting blocks. The problem was that the blues were all the same value and the one in Block 4 was so much darker. I decided to make a change. Not to Block 4, but to Block 2.

I carefully removed the seams around the blue triangle, cut a piece of the new fabric the same size, then sewed it back onto the taupe piece.

Much better, just enough darker to make a difference.

Here they are all together. I am much happier with the new combination. I guess my point is, if you’re not happy with something, then change it. I would hate to spend all the time required to make and quilt something, then 2 years later wish I had changed it every time I looked at it.

Now for the appliqued version.

As you can see in the applique, I changed the combination of colors a little. Instead of the red/white print in the flower, I used the grey. I changed the leaves, too.

I think I’ve changed the applique color placement in all of them. The combination of fabrics Jacquelynne chose are beautiful. I just need to be a little different, make it my own, which is okay. Speaking of the fabrics, they are Hometown Girl by Pat Sloan for Moda. A few weeks ago, I was fortunate to meet Pat and do a workshop with her. You can read about it here. She is an awesome lady and has accomplished so much in her quilting career.

Now, to win this month’s prize…

…leave a comment and tell me what size quilts you like to make. Do you like to make full size and larger, lap quilts, baby quilts, wall quilts, minis? You get the idea. I’ve really gotten into making minis. I also like to make lap size for us to snuggle under in the winter. The contest is open to all readers; US and international. You have until 11:59 on September 11 to leave a comment.

Make sure you visit all the other bloggers and leave a comment for your chance to win and see all the creative goodness that is going on with Maggie’s fourth block.

http://www.snugglesquilts.com/index.php/blog/

http://greydogwoodstudio.com

https://farmhousequiltsblog.wordpress.com

http://thecraftyquilter.com

http://www.evapaigequiltdesigns.blogspot.com

http://gogokim.blogspot.com

http://lilypadquilting.blogspot.com

https://thequiltingnook.wordpress.com  (That’s me)

It’s always so interesting to see how everyone completes their blocks, so be sure to share your completed blocks at the following places:

• Jacqulynne’s Linky Page
• Pinterest
• Facebook
• Instagram #MaggieQuilt

Just one more thing. As I’ve said above, I enjoy making minis. Sherri McConnell at A Quilting Life hosts a monthly Minis and More Parade. She is trying to up the participation so this month’s mini is a  Scrappy Fall Place Mat. She designed it and we are using it for September’s mini. Sherri has a free tutorial for it here. I plan on making mine into a table topper. I hope some of you will decide to join us this month.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy making Block 4.

Brenda

August Minis and More and a Finish-A-Long

 Hello everyone, happy Thursday and 1st of September. It’s hard to believe that August is behind us and that technically fall is almost here. I hope we see some cooler temps soon. Since it’s the first of the month, I have my finish for the Minis and More Parade hosted by Sherri and Michele. It’s also my 4th finish for the 2016 Finish-A-Long, 3rd Quarter.

 

This month’s mini is Handmade Mini by  Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms.

My fabrics are mostly Calico Days by Lori Holt for Riley Blake. The yellow gingham is Ambleside by Brenda Riddle for Moda. The blue check and blue dot are from my stash.

Even though there were lots of little pieces (120 1″ squares):

the mini went together easily. I have started using Sherri’s tip and use starch on these little pieces. It does help make it more accurate when I’m sewing to have them slightly stiff. I use Mary Ellen’s Best Press.

Before quilting, I did the embroidery. The blue is a Weeks Dye Work floss and the green is a DMC floss. I used 3 strands of each to back stitch the words.

Since the fabrics have that nice vintage look to them, I thought hand quilting was in order. The quilting is a semi big stitch using 3-strands of a Weeks Dye Works variegated green.

I marked my embroidery and quilting lines with a blue disappearing pen. It all washed out and gave the mini a nice old fashioned look to it once it was dry.

I really had fun making this one. I hope you decide to join us for September’s mini. Visit  Sherri and Michele to see the rest of the parade and see what this month’s mini will be.

Thanks for stopping by!

Brenda

 

 

This Week’s Quilting

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you’ve had a good a productive week. I’ve been busy with family things and quilting since I last posted.

My daughter started her second year of college in Pensacola this week, so we went with her to help her move into her apartment last week. She has a very nice place with her own bathroom and a large closet. She spent the summer planning out where everything was going on the walls and in the room. She also made a lot of “DIY’s” to go in her room.

This is one corner of her room and her first day of school picture. I’m glad she sent it. One day, my kids will get a photo album with their first day of school pictures all together.

While traveling, I was able to get two Blocks on the Go for Quilts that Grow pieced.

These are two of July’s blocks. I don’t have any more of the white background pieces cut. I plan on spending a few hours this weekend getting some of those done.

After we got back, I just wanted to sew, so that’s what I did all day Saturday.

I finished piecing my Handmade Mini by Thimble Blossoms on Monday.  I decided to hand quilt it, so that’s still a work in progress. I want to have finished by August 31 for the August Minis and More Parade.

This is just a peak at what I’m doing with it.

I also went to Sip N Sew at Cottontail Quilts yesterday and finished piecing all my 4-patch blocks for Jake’s Disappearing 4-Patch quilt.

 

I made one disappearing 4-patch block to see what they would look like. I love the way those plain 4-patches turn into something with some dimension and style.  I think it’s going to make a great quilt for him.

One last thing. I received my Mini Teal Swap information yesterday.

You can still sign up here until August 29 if you would like to help this very worthy cause.

Thanks for stopping by and have a nice weekend.

Brenda