Star Surround Quilt-A-Long

Posted on August 4, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Happy August everyone! I recently joined an online quilt-a-long designed and hosted by Melissa at Happy Quilting. There is a button link to the quilt-a-long on the right-hand side of my blog so come join us!

For this project, I had to catch up this week with both cutting my fabric and creating this week’s assignment: half square triangles!

Since I just made a quick circle of flying geese project using the Mama Said Sew line from Sweetwater, I decided to use this same line of fabric to create a scrappy version of the Star Surround quilt. For my solid, I’m using Essex Yarn Dyed in Black by Robert Kaufman. This fabric blends in really well with the Mama Said Sew fabric and adds a bit of dramatic interest to my project!

Here’s a look at my 9 groupings of half square triangles, with 1 group laid out in the star shape:

Star Surround Half Square Triangles

I tried to get a photo of one of my quilting cats while I was cutting the squares for my project this week. The photo is a bit blurry, but I think my cat approves of my fabric selection!

Cat Approves Fabric

Our next assignment for this quilt-a-long will be Monday and will feature flying geese.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

A Little Cat Mini!

Posted on July 10, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

While I impatiently wait for the Sisters Quilt Show this upcoming Saturday, I decided to take on a miniature quilt challenge. This is my first mini quilt, although I have made some mini blocks before (just never found the time to piece them together!).

This mini quilt and block is called the Royal Miniature Star and is designed by Carol Doak. I have this wonderful black and white cat border print by Michael Miller in my stash that I’ve been wanting to use but didn’t have the right project. I decided to use this print as the outer border and “catify” my Royal Star! My sister gave me some wonderful black-on-black and white-on-white cat fabric that I used as well. If you look closely at the images, you can see little cat silhouettes in the black and white fabric pieces.

Here’s a look at the mini quilt top:

Royal Mini “Cat” Star Quilt

I plan to quilt it, bind it, and then display it on a mini wire rack soon.

Here’s a look at the quilt top in comparison to my Cow cat:

Cow and the Mini Quilt

Isn’t it such a cute little quilt? The center block is a 2-inches finished while the little cornerstone blocks are 1.5-inches finished. I think this quilt top would also make a fabulous pillow cover or tote panel as well as a fun wall-hanging to make as a gift.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Another Red, White, and Blue Swap Block

Posted on July 2, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

I’ve finished another red, white, and blue block for a quilt block exchange that I’m hosting on the Carol Doak Yahoo group.

This one is the Africa block from Carol’s Mariner’s Compass Stars book. I think this block really gives great movement to the red and blue points. I have enough fabric scraps left over so I could make another one to add to my own red, white, and blue quilt.

Here’s the unfinished block at 12.5 inches:

Africa block

My quilting inspector decided to admire from afar while sitting on the fence under a shady tree. With temps in the upper 90s in the Willamette Valley this week, I can’t blame him!

A Shady Spot

I’m getting very excited for the upcoming Sisters Quilt Show! We only have a couple more weekends to go. I do plan on dropping off my quilts in person later this week and checking out the Stitchin’ Post before the show to pick up some goodies.

Until next time, happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Memorial Day Weekend: Quilting and Gardening

Posted on May 28, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Over Memorial Day weekend, I had a little bit of time to work on several quilt projects.

The first project is a paper-pieced quilt that I’m planning on displaying at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this July. I’ve pieced it, quilted it, and just need to finish up the binding.

Here’s a little teaser:

Rolled binding strips

I’ll post some photos of the completed quilt soon!

My next project involves sewing together lots of hexie shapes! This is a pattern called Snack Time by Jaybird Quilts. I was piecing together some of the shapes when my orange cat made an unexpected move and came to sit behind my sewing machine! Normally, he will only sit on the floor of my sewing room to do his inspection work. The lighting wasn’t great, but I had to take a quick pic before he moved.

Quilt inspector, Tiger, in window

In between rain squalls this weekend, my husband, 7-year-old son, and I decided to build a second raised bed in our backyard to plant more veggies and herbs. We made our first one two years ago, but decided we wanted to have more fresh salads and veggies this summer. We went to the local home improvement store to pick up some supplies and got building.

The larger raised bed is about 8 feet long! We planted zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, bell pepper, tomatoes, lettuce, and kale. We also planted some herbs in smaller containers as well as sugar snap peas in a round container. Our cat, Cow, decided to test the catnip.

Catnip Inspector

Large Raised Bed

Hope you enjoyed your long weekend and a thanks to all who have served our country!
~Jennifer~

Country Lanes Block Swap

Posted on May 17, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

I’ve signed up to participate in another quilt block swap with my sister’s guild. For this latest swap, we have to make 6 blocks using primary colors and a specific block called “Country Lanes.”

I’m really enjoying making swap blocks because they often use color combinations or patterns that I haven’t tried. I looked through my stash for primary colors that would really pop together.

I used batiks, but found out that I only had enough of the original yellow color for 4 blocks. For the last 2 blocks, I used a substitute yellow that I actually like better than the first one! Since the blocks are going to 6 different people, the difference in yellow fabric should be fine.

Here’s a stack of blocks:

Country Lanes – All Stacked Up!

Do the colors pop for you? I like the bright snap of these colors together.

Here’s another look at all 6 blocks together. In this picture, the 2 right-side blocks are the ones using the different yellow:

Country Lanes – 6 Swap Blocks

And, finally, what quilt block can be considered ready until it has received an official cat inspection:

Country Lanes Gets a “Paws Up” Rating

My next step is to package up these swap blocks and mail them to my sister. I can’t wait to see what blocks I’ll get in return!

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Cat Quilt Inspector

Posted on May 10, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

I took this photo recently of Romeo who is one of my cat quilt inspectors! Although he is taking a break from his inspection work, I think it’s a really good pic of him. I think he’s saying, “Mom, why aren’t you sewing?”

How would you caption this photo?

Romeo, the Quilt Inspector

~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

Completed Island Breeze Batik Quilt

Posted on January 17, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Last year, I blogged about starting a large batik quilt because it reminded me of a quilt cruise that I took with my sister. You can read about the start of this project here.

I finished up the quilt blocks over the summer and then took it to my mom’s house for quilting in the fall. Then, I brought it home and there it sat in my to-do stack until last week. After working on winter themed projects for a while, I finally decided to add the binding and finish it.

Here’s a look at the quilt with my cat supervisor in the foreground:

Finished Island Breeze Quilt

This is a large quilt at about 83-inches square. The pattern is called “Island Breeze” by Jackie Kunkel and be found in the June/July 2012 issue of Quilt magazine.

The finished quilt is quite warm and inviting, and I hope to get a better picture of the finished project in different lighting. I really wanted to make a quilt using pink batiks, but not one that would be too feminine for my husband to look at every day! I think the blue, green, and yellow batiks really help to keep the pink from becoming too much.

Here’s another look:

Island Breeze

Just looking at this quilt makes me long for warm, summer days!

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer~

More Progress on Madrona Road

Posted on January 10, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

I’ve worked a bit more on my Madrona Road quilt challenge and have finished assembling the top.

You can read about my start in this earlier post.

For the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, we had to incorporate a word so I choose to use the word, “bird.” There is a cute little golden bird that appears in one of the prints that I used, plus I decided to use a paper-pieced bird block as my center image for some whimsy!

Here’s a look at the center block:

Madrona Road Bird Block

And here’s a view of the quilt top:

Madrona Road Quilt Top

For the top, I took inspiration from Faith at Fresh Lemons and her Lemon Squares Quilt pattern. I altered the pattern just a bit to include my whimsical bird block and added an inner border from Kona cotton and an outer border using one of the Madrona Road prints.

Of course, my cat had to ask me: “Mom, why a bird and not a cat?”

Why a Bird, Ma?

This weekend, I hope to take the project over to mom’s house to quilt it.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer~

Shooting Star Block

Posted on December 12, 2012 by nwquiltedcat

I picked up some fun blue and white snowflake fabric by Maywood Studio for my stash a few months ago. I didn’t have a particular project in mind, but I really liked how these fabrics looked together:

Blue & White Snowflake Fabrics by Maywood Studio

This past week, I had some time in the evenings to put this fabric to good use by creating a Shooting Star block. This block is available for free, but only to members of Carol Doak’s online group here.

I decided to make 4-inch individual blocks. The complete block uses 4 of these smaller blocks so it finishes at 8 inches by 8 inches. A pretty good size to use in a quilt or other project!

Here’s a look at my completed block:

Completed Shooting Star Block

Isn’t it a gorgeous block for winter? I’m thinking of making some more of these blocks for a winter-themed quilt that I can display past the Christmas season.

Of course, one of my little quilting kitties just couldn’t resist getting his paws onto this block. Perhaps I should make a snowflake theme bed for him?