Vintage Christmas Quilt Along, Month One Blocks

Posted on January 10, 2025 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

In my previous post, I talked about the new Vintage Christmas quilt along hosted by Fat Quarter Shop. This quilt along lasts 12 months and features blocks from Lori Holt’s book, Vintage Christmas. Each month, we’ll sew 4 blocks and you can join at any time!

Let’s take a look at my remaining three blocks from January (see my earlier post for details on the first block).

Candy Canes block

Vintage Christmas Quilt Along, Block 2, Candy Canes

This block came together pretty quickly. If you’re using directional fabrics, be careful how you place the reds/pinks and whites so they are all facing the same direction.

Candy Swirl Block

Vintage Christmas Quilt Along, Block 3, Candy Swirls

This block was the easiest to sew this month. Again, watch your directional fabrics if you want them to face the same direction. In this block, I kept the directional fabric going vertical for the outer ring. For the darker reds in the middle, I made two of the half-square triangles with the print oriented vertically and the other two with the print oriented horizontally.

Christmas Candles Block

Vintage Christmas Quilt Along, Block 4, Christmas Candles

This block has some very tiny 3/4″ pieces! The are situated in the candle flames and in the greenery at the bottom. These small pieces are challenging so go slow. If I were to make this block again, I think that I’d foundation paper-piece those sections (by drawing my own pattern based on the block).

Vintage Christmas Quilt Along, First Four Blocks

You’ll notice that three of these blocks have a darker background fabric, and one block has a lighter background fabric. I’m using the kit from Fat Quarter Shop so these blocks will all pop nicely against the sashing when I put the blocks together.

Join me again in February where we’ll make four more blocks! Let me know in the comments if you are quilting along with this BOM. I’d love to see your progress. You can also follow my progress at Instagram at @nwquiltedcat.

Happy quilting!

Jen

A New Year and A New Quilt Along!

Posted on January 3, 2025 by nwquiltedcat

Wishing you all a very happy 2025! We started the year off with a short hike through a beautiful forest. The trail contained so many hues of green from the giant sword ferns to the mosses to the trees. The trail was quite muddy from all of our recent rain, but we were fortunate to have cloudy conditions and no rain during our walk.

For 2025, I’m doing a themed quilt along with the Fat Quarter Shop called Vintage Christmas. For this sew along, you’ll need this quilt book by Lori Holt. You can use your own fabrics or you can buy the quilt kit once it is restocked.

Each month, we’ll make 4 blocks, each finishing at 6-inches. The quilt along runs until December so you’ll have a beautiful quilt finished in time for Christmas 2025, assuming you can finish the quilting, ha, ha!

I’m using the quilt kit, and here’s a look at my book with some of the beautiful fabrics.

Vintage Christmas book and fabric kit for the quilt along

I do starch my fabric, usually one block at a time because I don’t have the time or space to starch the entire kit all at once.

When I work on these smaller 6-inch blocks with many pieces, I like to label them with Alphabitties and place them on little design boards. You can make design boards by using a foam board, batting scraps, and fabric scraps for the binding or purchase them here.

Vintage Christmas block one with Alphabitties on a design board for easier piecing

When sewing these blocks, go slow and careful to maintain accuracy. I do lower my stitch length slightly and backstitch where the pieces will be exposed on the edges. I don’t like to use steam in my iron so I do a final press when a hot, dry iron and Flatter spray. I also use wooden clappers and let the blocks cool completely with the clappers on top.

Here’s a look at block one called “Away in a Manger.”

Away in a Manger block – Vintage Christmas Quilt Along

I hope you’ll join me along in this festive quilt along. I’ll post the other month one quilt blocks this week to inspire you.

Happy quilting!

Jen

A Cute Cat Jack O’ Lantern Block for Halloween

Posted on August 26, 2022 by nwquiltedcat

Are you looking for a cute and not scary block for Halloween? How about a cute little cat face on a pumpkin? This adorable block will work on trick-or-treat bags, table runners, mini quilts, and larger quilts.

Pattern

For a limited time, this cute cat jack-o-lantern quilt pattern is on sale in a favorite Halloween craft magazine. You can choose to purchase a hard copy that is mailed to you or a PDF download, which you can download to your computer.

Here’s a look at my block:

I loved using a pumpkin-themed fabric for my cat face! Aren’t those little cat-faced pumpkins with fangs just adorable? I want to make several different fabric combinations using different oranges, blacks, and low-volume backgrounds and create a lap quilt.

For my block, I used the following fabrics:

Background fabric: white dotted fabric from “Too Cute to Spook” by Me and My Sisters Designs.
Cat and handle fabric: purple/orange pumpkin fabric from “Bring Your Own Boos” by Cotton + Steel
Pumpkin fabric: orange fabric from “All Hallow’s Eve” by Fig Tree Quilts

This block is a great stash buster, and you can really have great fun with different fabric combinations. I love seeing a cat face block with the whiskers. It adds a nice element of whimsy to the block.

The quilt pattern in the magazine has a great layout with plus-shaped blocks added between rows of cat jack o’ lanterns and makes a finished quilt at 45″ x 48″.

Time to get started on those Halloween projects!

~Jen

Grinning Cat O’ Lantern Quilt

Posted on October 21, 2021 by nwquiltedcat

Have you heard about the Spooky Box from Fat Quarter Shop? Each year, they release a Halloween themed mystery box, filled with quilting goodies including a project with fabric and notions! You can still buy the 2021 box at Fat Quarter Shop with this link.

For last year’s 2020 Spooky Box, the quilt project was a fun Cat O’ Lantern mini quilt. I pieced this quilt last October, but then set it aside in my to-quilt pile. I was inspired to pull it out and quilt it recently as I was decorating my yard for Halloween.

I made a few modifications from the original pattern. I swapped the black and purple fabrics so that I could have black cat popping up from behind the pumpkin. I also changed the shape of the cat’s eyes and nose from squares into diamonds and a triangle. I knew that I’d quilt in more face details such as whiskers and the famous cat grin.

I did all free-motion and hand guided ruler work using Glide thread in Apricot Blush for most of the quilt and Glide thread in Black on the cat.

Here’s a look at a little spider that I added to each of the black triangles at the top and bottom portions of the quilt:

In the orange triangles, I quilted little ghost shapes. I did some basic fills in the background portion, and a swirly pumpkin fill in the purple behind the cat.

For the cat face, I added some eyebrows, whiskers, pupils, and grin. I later enhanced the pupils with an outline of black thread.

I gave the cat a little dimension by quilting some swirls on the forehead, checks, paws, and tail. For the pumpkin, I kept it simple with straight-line quilting to keep the emphasis on the sweet cat!

We went to pick pumpkins last weekend, and my son held the quilt up while I snapped a quick picture in between other pumpkin hunters. I love a striped binding so I used this black/gray/white striped fabric in my stash that I think really frames this little Cat O’ Lantern quilt perfectly.

Happy Halloween from the cat at the pumpkin patch!

~Jen

A Nutty Quilt!

Posted on September 21, 2021 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

This past weekend, I did some traditional piecing and started work on a nut themed throw quilt for fall. What nut, you might ask? The acorn! I’m using the Acorn Woods pattern by Fig Tree Quilts, which you can get on sale at the Fat Quarter Shop this month.

I’m also using the Pumpkin & Blossoms fabric line by Fig Tree with beautiful pumpkin oranges, grays, greens, and creams. It is such a warm and cozy fabric line for the fall season so you can use it for months. I like that this fabric line isn’t Halloween-y but you could use it for Halloween-themed quilts.

I cut all my pieces and labeled them with Alphabitties so that I could just sit-and-sew all the blocks assembly-line style. The Alphabitties keep everything tidy and organized, and I don’t mix up some of the smaller sub-cut pieces when I’m at my machine.

Here’s a look at the acorn blocks. Aren’t they fun?

To add a little more fall theming, this quilt contains some leaves to sprinkle in amongst the acorn blocks. The bright green leaves add some color interest to the layout.

In addition to the leaf and acorn blocks, there are some low-volume setting blocks. The blocks come together pretty quickly, and I was able to sew them together over the weekend and on one evening after work.

Here’s a look at the quilt top outside in my backyard this afternoon:

I thought that I might have a cat come over and inspect the quilt, but they were too busy dozing in the sunshine.

This quilt top is really pretty, and I can’t wait to quilt it! I want to finish it soon so that I can take advantage of the fall sunshine and get some pictures of it on a lovely hike with beautiful leaves.

Happy quilting and happy fall!

~Jen

Limited Edition Liberty Box from FQS

Posted on June 18, 2020 by nwquiltedcat

Hi all,

If you are a subscriber or just a fan of the Sew Sampler boxes from the Fat Quarter Shop, they are offering a 2020 limited edition Liberty Box for advanced reservation for $4.99.

The box will be red, white, and blue themed, and will contain 5 items that you can only get in this box.

I really love patriotic themed quilts, but I don’t have many for myself so I jumped at the chance to reserve one of these boxes. The box ships in late June, when you’ll be billed the remaining $23.99 plus shipping.

You can reserve a Liberty Box at the Fat Quarter Shop now until they are all gone. If you order via my link, I get a small commission (about 30 cents), which helps me to offset the cost of this blog.

Let me know if you ordered a box! Can’t wait to see the project.

Happy quilting,

Jennifer

Stellar Twist Pattern for Sale!

Posted on August 15, 2017 by nwquiltedcat

Greetings!

I had a wonderful time teaching my Stellar Twist block in an introduction to foundation paper piecing class at Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe.

If you want to purchase the pattern, you can find it here on Craftsy starting today. I’d love to see what you make with it! I’ve made a mini quilt plus a Halloween themed table runner and a holiday themed table runner.

Stellar Twist Mini Quilt

This pattern is very versatile and comes together pretty quickly. I don’t show you how to do foundation paper piecing in the pattern so if you need to learn how, ask your local quilt shop for a class!

Happy quilting!

~Jennifer

Stellar Twist Quilt Pattern and Class!

Posted on June 7, 2017 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

I’ve designed a foundation paper pieced pattern (FPP) called Stellar Twist! This pattern is perfect for beginners who want to learn the basics of FPP techniques. I’m so excited to announce that I’ll be teaching this pattern at a local quilt store, Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe on Saturday, July 29th.

In addition, Hollyhill is having a Grand Opening Celebration at their new location in Wilsonville on Saturday, July 15th. I’ll be attending the celebration, so come out and say hello and register for the class!

Currently, the pattern is only available if you attend the class. At a later date, I’ll likely have the pattern for purchase on Craftsy.

Here is a look at the mini quilt version using the Sunday Supper fabric collection by Sweetwater.

Stellar Twist Mini Quilt

I used my HQSixteen to do some heavy custom quilting on this mini using white Aurifil thread in 50 weight.

Stellar Twist Custom Quilting

Stellar Twist Mini, photo by Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe

The Stellar Twist pattern is very versatile! Add more blocks to create a crib quilt or bed quilt or stitch blocks together vertically to make a table runner. For the class, I’m also making a Halloween table runner sampler and a holiday table runner sampler.

Here’s a look at a Halloween table runner using Moda Grunge fabric. This one will be quilted soon!

Stellar Twist Halloween Table Runner

Next, I will sew the holiday table runner version in time for the meet-n-greet at the Grand Opening Celebration!

Enjoy and happy quilting!

~Jennifer

Sunset at the Painted Hills, John Day Fossil Beds

Posted on June 1, 2016 by nwquiltedcat

Hello everyone!

I didn’t do any sewing over the Memorial Day weekend. Instead, my family and I went camping near the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in central Oregon. The weather was perfect! It can get really hot here in the summer so we were happy that day time highs only reached about 80 degrees for hiking.

There are 3 different units within this monument, spread out over some distance requiring several hours drive time. Having a whole 3 day weekend, we were able to visit all 3 units. In the past, we’ve usually limited our visit to just 1 or 2 units.

We hiked the short Leaf Fossil Trail, mainly because I wanted a comparison picture of our son from the last time we visited. Look how he’s grown!

Leaf Fossil Trail, age 3

Leaf Fossil Trail, age 10

For the first time, we got to see the spectacular Painted Hills unit at sunset. The Painted Hills are quite beautiful at any time of the day; however, sunset is a truly beautiful experience to sit and watch the light.

Here’s a picture that I took around 1:30 in the afternoon. Notice the beautiful red colors really grab your attention.

Painted Hills during mid-afternoon

We returned later that same day to catch the changing light during sunset. It seemed like every minute brought out different hues and tones in the hills. The sun bathed the hills in gold and the reds turned more orange-y. I think the clouds added an extra layer of depth to this photograph!

I took this picture about 8:30 in the evening.

Painted Hills at Sunset, May 2016

On the way home, I naturally had to stop at the Stitchin Post in Sisters to browse the fabric. I picked up some National Park Centennial fabric by Hoffman and some fun birch tree and fox fabric from Moda. Since we love visiting and hiking in the National Parks each summer, I may make us some camping pillow cases with this fabric.

Fun Fabric from the Stitchin Post

Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend! Thanks to our veterans who make it possible for us to enjoy the freedom we have to travel and visit amazing places!

Enjoy!

~Jennifer

Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Volume 11 Giveaway!

Posted on April 20, 2015 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Monday everyone!

I have some exciting news to share with you. My block, Snow Cat, is featured in volume 11 of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks magazine! This magazine will be on newsstands soon so you can pickup a copy!

My Snow Cat block is appliqued using white wool felt for the cat body and red Kona fabric for the scarf. I made the round, white snowflakes from Fairy Frost. I did a machine button-hole stitch using silver thread by Superior around the cat body, the scarf, and each round snowflake.

The cat’s facial features are hand-embroidered using black floss. The buttons are attached with the black floss as well.

Here’s a look at the whole block:

Snow Cat, Block 1001

Close-Up of Snow Cat’s face

For my blog readers, I’m giving away a free copy. To enter, just leave a comment on this post. I’ll pick a random winner on Thursday morning. You can have a second chance to win a copy over on Instagram (@nwquiltedcat).