Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop Weekend

Posted on April 28, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

This weekend, I went shop hopping in central Oregon with my mom. It’s a gorgeous drive from the Willamette Valley over to central Oregon taking approximately 3 hours depending on photo stops! We had beautiful weather with clear blue skies and temperatures in the upper 70s.

I love seeing the Cascade mountain range still in wintery snow coats against the blue sky. By summertime, much of the snow has melted so the vistas, while stunning, do not have the same pizzazz as they do in the winter and spring.

Just outside of Sisters, Oregon, you’ll find this stunning scene of the Three Sister and Brokentop:

Three Sisters and Brokentop

Home of the famous Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and the Stitchin’ Post, this quaint town was our first of eight quilt store stops. We picked up our passports, a pattern, and a fat 1/8th. Each store in the shop hop contributed 1 piece of pattern that will create a mystery quilt. In addition, each store provided a free fat 1/8th which you could use to make a special shop hop quilt designed by Jean Wells of the Stitchin’ Post.

This is the shop hop quilt using fat 1/8ths plus additional batiks: (sorry for the blurriness!)

Shop Hop Quilt

In total, we visited these 8 shops totaling about 450 miles from home:
The Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Quiltworks in Bend, BJ’s Quilt Basket in Bend, Sew Many Quilts in Bend, Homestead Quilts in La Pine, Material Girls in Redmond, Quilter’s Attic in Terrebonne, and The Quilt Shack in Prineville.

Here’s a little slideshow featuring some of the stores, quilts, and scenery from the shop hop:

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It was a fun quilt shop hop, and I hope you enjoyed this little taste of central Oregon.

Three-Fingered Jack

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

New BOM – Toes in the Sand!

Posted on April 23, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

I had the great pleasure of taking a class from Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts at the Block Party hosted by Quiltmaker here in Portland recently. In the class, one of the ladies mentioned Julie’s new BOM. I was intrigued!

I decided to sign up for this BOM through the Fat Quarter Shop. I think the BOM program is now full, but you can buy the full pattern set and pick up your own fabrics to make this great quilt.

Each month, the participants receive the materials to make 2 blocks. April is the first month so we also received the Toes in the Sand pattern book. This book is well laid out and easy to read so the blocks come together quickly and easily.

This BOM also uses Julie’s Hex N More ruler which is a very versatile tool for creating shapes in all kinds of sizes – hexagons, triangles, half-hexies, and jewels. Really, the possibilities are limitless!

I made my two “Baker Beach” blocks last night in about an hour while the hubs cooked a wonderful dinner. I had the opportunity this afternoon to take a photo in the Oregon sunshine with my dedicated cat helper and one of my official inspectors for all things quilt related.

My Cow cat has decided to rename this quilt — “Cat Toes in the Grass” BOM!

Toes in the Sand BOM – Block One

Hope you enjoy these fun triangle blocks, and I’ll post my progress each month.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

A Quilt Mystery Revealed!

Posted on April 19, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

For those of you who have been following my blog, you may remember that I’ve been participating in Carol Doak’s 2012/2013 mystery block-of-the-month program on her Yahoo group. My last post on the BOM showed my March block. You can still join the group to receive all the instructions and paper pieced patterns for this fun mystery!

In late March, Carol revealed the mystery solution! I’ve been working on assembling my quilt top for several weeks and even found a quick break in the rain today to snap an outdoor pic of the completed top. Once I’ve finished the quilting, I’ll post the finished project.

Here’s a pic of the completed mystery top (excuse the weeds growing in the flower beds!):

Mystery BOM Completed Top – Outside

I used just 2 fabrics for the quilt top. The darker fabric is navy blue with large lighter blue stars and small gold stars. The tan fabric continues the star theme with small printed white stars and miniature blue dots. Unfortunately, I do not know the name of the blue star fabric, but the tan fabric is #1472722 – American Banner Rose by Minick & Simpson for Moda.

Here’s another look:

Mystery BOM Top – Inside

I really love how the quilt top turned out with the dark blue stars and the tan background. It has a patriotic/Americana feel to it and both my husband and son really like it!

This weekend, I hope to get over to my mom’s house to quilt a few of my quilt tops.

Until next time, happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Black and White Swap Blocks Received

Posted on April 14, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

I participated in a group swap where each participant made black & white or black/white & zinger 12-inch quilt blocks and then sent them to the swap hostess. All the blocks were designed by Carol Doak.

Yesterday, I received my blocks in the mail! I am so happy with each block that I received and feel that each one is special since another quilter made them with caring and great attention to detail.

Here are the blocks:

Black and White by Mary D

Black, White, and Yellow Zinger by Dorothy H

Black/White/Pink Zinger by Erica W

The top block is from Mary D in Oregon, the middle block is from Dorothy H F in Massachusetts, and the bottom block is from Erica W. Thanks also to our wonderful block hostess – Cathy from Texas!

Here are the blocks lined up together:

Swapped Blocks Together

I am going to use these 3 blocks and add in some of my own black/white and black/white/zinger blocks to make a fun wallhanging! I had such a great experience with this swap, and I hope you enjoy looking at the photos.

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Fabric Postcards for Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

Posted on April 4, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show occurs on the 2nd Saturday in July each summer in the beautiful high-desert town of Sisters, Oregon. I try to attend every couple of years since the drive over is very pretty from the Portland area.

The show is having a fabric postcard contest called “Wish Upon a Card.” The postcards will be sold via silent auction and proceeds benefit local cancer patients. I decided to enter some cards and finished them up several weekends ago. Participants are required to use a 4-inch by 6-inch size for each postcard and must use Michael Miller’s Tiki Winki fabric to be eligible for prizes. Any postcards that do not use the fabric can still be sold for the charity, but they won’t be entered into the prize bucket.

Here are the 2 Michael Miller Tiki Winki colorways:

Michael Miller Tiki Winki Fabric

Both colorways are fun so I decided to use both! I used the brown/black colorway to make 2 postcards. For the first postcard, I wanted to use a Hawaiian beach theme. I found some great fabrics in my stash to complement the tikis so I could build a little coconut tiki hut on a beach. The surprise bonus is the little koa wood turtle coming up to the beach from the ocean.

Tiki Hut Tropical Beach Postcard

For the second card using the brown/black colorway, I decided to go “out of this world” by creating a tiki bar stop in space for a little alien! The alien’s spaceship has 5 hotfix crystals to add a little bling.

Space Tiki Ba

My final postcard uses the pink/blue colorway. After recently seeing the movie Hop with my 7-year-old, I thought a bunny on Easter Island would be the perfect use of the tiki heads!

Easter Island Postcard

These fabric postcards are fun and quick to make. I will make some more in the future to send to friends and family, although I’ll probably send them in a protective mailer so that they do not get damaged in transit.

If you’re traveling to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this summer, do stop by the fabric postcard silent auction. Maybe I’ll see you there!

Enjoy,
~Jennifer

Create Custom Quilt Labels with Spoonflower

Posted on April 1, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

One of the great things that happens at quilt conferences, classes or events is learning about new techniques from other quilters. Several weekends ago when I attended Quiltmaker’s Block Party, I learned a new way to create custom quilt labels from Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts.

In the past, I’ve either made an embroidered quilt label, printed one at home using fabric paper, or hand written one using a fabric marker. I would then hand sew the label to the quilt after completing quilting and binding. That is, if I remembered the label at all!! The problem with this method is that hand sewn labels are not very secure. The stitching could eventually become weakened and the label may fall off (or the label could even be removed at some point). Another issue that I had with home printed labels is that I could never be sure that the printed images would be archival.

Spoonflower to the rescue! What is Spoonflower? It’s an online store where you can create your own custom fabric or purchase custom fabric designs from other people. The beauty of this service is that you can create a simple quilt label as your custom fabric design and upload it to Spoonflower. Your design is then printed on the fabric of your choice and shipped to you.

I created a simple quilt label that is approximately 4 inches by 6 inches using a graphic program on my computer. I used PaintShop Pro, but you can use any graphic program. At the top, I used my initials as well as my name and location. I left the middle of the label blank so I could use a fabric marker to write in the quilt name, date, or any other important details about individual projects. At the bottom, I listed my blog address as well as my blog’s avatar for easy identification. I then drew a grey line for seam allowance around the label.

I got 60 labels printed onto 1 yard of basic white combed cotton for $15.75 plus $3.00 shipping. I got a 10% discount for using my own design.

Here’s a look at the whole yard:

Spoonflower – 1 yd – quilt labels

And here’s a look at 1 label with quilt details added:

Spoonflower Label

My goal with these labels is to piece them directly into quilt backs and quilt through them. The stitching will secure the label permanently to the quilt.

I hope this post inspires you to label your own quilts and maybe try your hand at creating custom labels.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer