Wake Up to Kona on the Beach + Giveaway!

Posted on January 19, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Monday, everyone!

Today is my day to share the project that I made for the Wake Up to Kona blog hop, and I’m so excited! I’d like to give a big thanks to Madame Samm, our wonderful hostess and supporter of all things quilty and our great cheerleader, Carol, who inspires us all.

We have great sponsors for this blog hop – Amanda Murphy (author of Quilt Essentials), Robert Kaufman (all those delicious Kona solids), and Aurifil threads that keep us in stitches!

For my project, I started with Kona black as my background color and added this delicious grouping of colors:

Beautiful Kona solids!

The colors are: #110 Peony, #141 Carnation, #1062 Candy Pink, #1066 Cerise, #24 Petunia, #1484 Lupine, #1383 Violet, #188 Hibiscus, #1005 Aqua, #1009 Azure, #442 Capri, and #1064 Caribbean.

Next, I selected the Night Sky pattern by Jaybird Quilts for its striking beauty! This quilt uses her sidekick ruler to create the triangle and diamond shapes that are used in the construction of the quilt. Each starbust (or starfish?) has 4 different shades of a color group.

I pieced the entire quilt top using Aurifil threads, 50 wt (#2000 light sand color and #2692 black color).

I used Superior Threads So Fine #50 in Genoa Gray because I really wanted the quilting to stand out against the black background.

We took the finished quilt to the beautiful Oregon Coast this weekend to take some photographs. I had my hubby and son be my scouting location/photography assistants, and I think they did a wonderful job.

Since my cats aren’t too keen on traveling, my dog (and best hiking buddy) became my cat quilt inspector stunt-double. (Yes, he earned extra dog cookies for his hard work!).

Here are some pictures of my finished Night Sky quilt using Kona cotton solids:

Me and Hubby Holding Night Sky (dog legs too)

Night Sky with My Dog (cat quilt inspector stunt-double)

Me holding the quilt in the wind!

Night Sky Quilt – starbursts resemble starfish!

Night Sky Quilt – backside

These last two pictures show the free-motion quilting that I did using the Genoa Gray thread. The quilting alone took me 12 hours! I did a swirly pattern in the black background and did some straight-edge echo quilting in the colored starbursts.

While I was doing the quilting, I ran out of thread – yikes! I called local quilt stores within an hour of my house, but no one had the same thread in stock. Fortunately, I was able to order the thread from Superior Threads directly via 2-day shipping and completed it in time.

I really love how the free-motion swirls accent the Night Sky stars:

Night Sky Quilting Detail

Closeup of the quilting

I hope you enjoyed my project and please check out the other bloggers on the last 2 days of the hop!
January 20th
More Stars in Comanche
Buzzing and Bumbling
Quilting Quietly
Grammie Q’s
The Quilted Cat (you are here!)
The Quilting Queen Online
Lauraluvsloons
Sew Incredibly Crazy

January 21st
Just Sew Sue
Pigtales and Quilts
Miss Priss Quilts
Charlottes Creation
Childlike Fascination
Renee Luvs Quilting
Cherry Blossoms
Sew We Quilt

I am giving away 4 Kona cotton solid fat quarters! Just leave me a comment to enter. If you follow my blog, let me know how you follow for a second entry. I will ship internationally.

Wake Up to Kona Giveaway

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

183 thoughts on “Wake Up to Kona on the Beach + Giveaway!”

Jan on January 20, 2014 at 10:48 am said:

Your quilt is beautiful. I love that pattern.

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Diane on January 20, 2014 at 10:38 am said:

Wow, beautiful quilt. Love the colors you picked.

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Marcy on January 20, 2014 at 10:32 am said:

This is a beautiful quilt. Great pattern, colors and stitching. Amazing photography.

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Susie on January 20, 2014 at 10:29 am said:

Your challenge quilt is just gorgeous! I love the colors you chose, and your quilting!

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Quilting Tangent on January 20, 2014 at 10:22 am said:

Pretty stars quilt, the back is just as good.

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Amanda Murphy on January 20, 2014 at 10:12 am said:

The quilt is beautiful and your quilting is spectacular! I love how it pops against the dark fabric! The setting is beautiful and makes me want to travel to Oregon!

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Gill on January 20, 2014 at 9:59 am said:

I’m an email follower!

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Gill on January 20, 2014 at 9:58 am said:

Wow!
Your stars really sparkle!

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madamesamm@me.com on January 20, 2014 at 9:15 am said:

oh oh my my…..you were certainly in our tops to choose today. Everything and I mean every thing I loved…your colours, your quilting, your photos…wellllll simply put….perfection….

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Rachel on January 20, 2014 at 9:12 am said:

I love the colors! And it came out so pretty. I’m glad you were able to find more thread. Very nice quilting and shots at the beach.

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Pat on January 20, 2014 at 9:04 am said:

Beautiful quilt and great photos. The quilting is gorgeous. Thanks for showing the back, too. I am glad you were able to get more thread to finish. Thanks for sharing … 🙂 Pat

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Mary W on January 20, 2014 at 9:02 am said:

Gorgeous, gorgeous, You did a wonderful job on your quilt. I so love it. Thank you for sharing.

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Joan on January 20, 2014 at 8:58 am said:

OK, I can’t decide if your fabulous quilt or the setting for your photo shoot was better. Wow Wow. I love them both. I love your quiliting. It is perfect! I do have to say, I did a double take at your blog header. I though you had my cat for a moment! 🙂

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LINDA on January 20, 2014 at 8:57 am said:

FOLLOW YOU VIA BLOG LOVIN’

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LINDA on January 20, 2014 at 8:56 am said:

HELLO, BEAUTIFUL QUILT!
THANKS FOR SHARING!

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Margaret on January 20, 2014 at 8:34 am said:

Gorgeous! The swirly quilting reminds me of a Van Gogh painting.

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chanzy01 on January 20, 2014 at 8:26 am said:

Of course I’m a follower.

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Tiffany on January 20, 2014 at 8:26 am said:

I am totally in love with this pattern now! You did an amazing job. I especially love the black background and the quilting on the back.

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chanzy01 on January 20, 2014 at 8:25 am said:

I have been in love with that pattern since I first saw it and your quilt just confirmed that I really need to get it and make one for myself. Love your color choices and the quilting is perfect.

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Pat Helm on January 20, 2014 at 8:22 am said:

Love you quilt and Kona solids

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Audrey on January 20, 2014 at 8:14 am said:

I have Julie’s Night Sky high on my priority list of must dos and it just moved to number one. It is a quilt just made for solids. Your version is stunning. I love the quilted swirls as well. Beautiful photography. A nice reprieve from the mountains of snow and frozen lake out our front windows. Thanks for sharing.

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Cathy on January 20, 2014 at 8:12 am said:

Beautifully done!. I love the colors as well as the design.

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werpsu1 on January 20, 2014 at 8:11 am said:

Your quilt is very striking!

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Bobbie on January 20, 2014 at 8:06 am said:

I would love to be out on a beach with Kona!i am hanging out in my beach house today (aka laundry room) how ever your beach looks more inviting 🙂
Your quilt is out of this world fabulous! I love the on location pictures and Kitty’s stunt double too

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Mary on January 20, 2014 at 8:03 am said:

That is just gorgeous. Those colors are so yummy!

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Brandy Pettit on January 20, 2014 at 8:01 am said:

Oh gosh, what a great photo opportunity!! The quilting is amazing, and your stunt double did a very good job 🙂 Hey, nice Valentine’s colors for your giveaway! Thank you for sharing your gorgeous quilt with us.
~Brandy

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barbara corbitt on January 20, 2014 at 7:59 am said:

i am a new follower.via email please give all your four legged children a pet and a treat from me. lol babscorbitt@gmail.com

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barbara corbitt on January 20, 2014 at 7:57 am said:

your color choices are wonderful. it is wonderful to have a four legged inspector for your quilts. all quilts should include a tag that says inspected and approved by insert name of pet here. thank you for sharing your beautiful quilt. babscorbitt@gmail.com

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Bethany Martini on January 20, 2014 at 7:50 am said:

I love your color choices, your quilt is beautiful!

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Sherry VF on January 20, 2014 at 7:47 am said:

FYI. I don’t think your BlogLovin button is working but I hopped over to their site to follow you. svonfumetti at yahoo dot com

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Sherry VF on January 20, 2014 at 7:44 am said:

Wow! That is a stunning quilt. I especially like the way you left the top and bottom edges jagged to compliment the stars. svonfumetti at yahoo dot com

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Daryl on January 20, 2014 at 7:43 am said:

Beautiful quilt and I love the beach scene.

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Lou on January 20, 2014 at 7:37 am said:

Love her patterns! You did an awesome job! What great quilting!!!!

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Jane Capriotti on January 20, 2014 at 7:22 am said:

Those stars are perfect… I love the colors you chose. Beautiful quilt..to my way to nice to be in the sand.

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bekk on January 20, 2014 at 7:15 am said:

I love the quilting and the back looks fantastic! it was a good idea to quilt it in the contrasting thread. its a real ‘wow!’

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Brenda Hulsey on January 20, 2014 at 7:13 am said:

That is beautiful! Your inspector did a good job of helping you because he didn’t let you do anything wrong with the wonderful quilt!

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my studioQ on January 20, 2014 at 7:01 am said:

I’m a bloglovin’ follower of yours thanks to the Vice Versa BOM!

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my studioQ on January 20, 2014 at 7:00 am said:

Jennifer – I gasped when I saw your finished quilt! It’s beyond stunning and I’m sure it is even more beautiful in person! Diane

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Michele T on January 20, 2014 at 6:54 am said:

I am following your blog via Bloglovin’ – thanks for sharing in the hop!!

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Michele T on January 20, 2014 at 6:54 am said:

Not only do I love your gorgeous quilt but the setting for the photo shoot is breathtaking too!!!

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Susan in OK on January 20, 2014 at 6:52 am said:

I love the fabrics you chose for your amazing quilt. Yes, your assistants and you did a wonderful job of photography. WOW! Of course, the quilt is the absolute star (no pun intended). You must be a Jaybird fan. I saw that you made a Rock Candy table topper, too. I got that pattern and the ruler for it for Christmas and it’s on my short to-do list. Your quilting is wonderful on both. You have an amazing quilt. I was in love with the pattern and now that I see your quilt, I have another pattern and ruler to add to my wish list. Thanks for participating and being a wonderful inspiration I hope to see you in more hops.

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Susan in OK on January 20, 2014 at 6:49 am said:

I follow via Bloglovin’.

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Michele on January 20, 2014 at 6:41 am said:

Wow. Love your quilt. And quilting!

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Sandy K on January 20, 2014 at 6:37 am said:

I love your color choices, the quilting is wonderful.

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Carolyn on January 20, 2014 at 6:36 am said:

Beautiful! I love how the back is just as lovely as the front 🙂

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Vicki H on January 20, 2014 at 6:34 am said:

Love the quilt and the quilting is awesome.

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Joyce Mitchell on January 20, 2014 at 6:31 am said:

Folliwng your blog with Bloglovin’. Thanks again.

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Joyce Mitchell on January 20, 2014 at 6:31 am said:

Absolutely gorgeous – so envious. Thanks for sharing.

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Heidi on January 20, 2014 at 6:28 am said:

Simply beautiful… Your quilting is stunning!

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Vicki B on January 20, 2014 at 6:18 am said:

Beautiful.. I love your quilting. Wish I were that good.

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