Happy Worldwide Quilting Day!

Posted on March 15, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Did you know that today, March 15th, is Worldwide Quilting Day? Yippee – a special day devoted to our love of all things quilty.

I celebrated the event by purchasing some gorgeous fabric from a local quilt shop having a 20% off sale this week. I was drooling over the new Sunnyside line by Kate Spain for Moda. You can purchase this fabric online from Fat Quarter Shop if your local shop does not have it.

I didn’t have a specific project in mind until I saw the Reach for the Stars quilt on Dawn’s blog, First Light Designs. This quilt pattern features a medallion in the quilt center, something that I haven’t yet tried in a quilt. The design is by Terry Krysan and can be found in the Quilter’s Newsletter magazine as a 7-part series. Look for the October/November 2013 issue for the fabric requirements and the medallion instructions.

For my quilt, I’m using the Sunnyside line plus 2 Bella Solids (Night Sky and Porcelain) and 1 color weave in turquoise. I’m using Aurifil in Light Sand (#2000) for all the piecing. I really need to get an Aurifil thread color chart so I can pick out the best thread color for the quilting.

Here’s a quick iPhone picture of my medallion before I had it sewn together.

Tiger on Medallion

I finished sewing the borders onto the medallion this evening and tried to catch the last of the light. These pictures are a little grainy due to the low-light conditions, but I hope you see the beautiful Sunnyside fabrics!

Reach for the Stars Medallion

Some of my points do not quite match up, but I can see definite improvement in my piecing skills over the last year.

Of course, one of my cat inspectors could not resist sitting on the medallion during my photo session. I could hardly keep him off the fabric so I guess he approves!

Cow the Cat on the medallion

Once I finish piecing the top for my Star Light Star Bright QAL project, then I hope to be able to work on the next blocks on this Reach for the Stars quilt.

I hope you had a little time to do some sewing today!

Enjoy,
~Jennifer

Toes in the Sand BOM Update + Upcoming Blog Hop!

Posted on December 26, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Thursday, everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday and had time to work on some quilty projects this week.

I finally got caught up on the last 3 months of the Toes in the Sand BOM!! There are just 3 blocks left before assembling the quilt top. This is a project designed by Julie of Jaybird Quilts, and I signed up for the BOM via the Fat Quarter Shop.

First up is block #7 from October and the one with the most pieces. Hmm, maybe that’s why I fell behind!! It is called Pebble Beach.

Pebble Beach Block

The next one is block #8 from November and is called Santa Monica.

Santa Monica Block

And finally the last block is #9 from December and is called Long Beach.

Long Beach Block

The fabrics are all from Basic Grey by Moda.

In January, I have a fun surprise for you using 13 different Kona cotton solids! I’ve finished piecing the top and now need to wrangle it into my domestic sewing machine for quilting. It’s about a twin-size which is pushing the limit for how much I can quilt on my machine. We’ll see how it goes! I’m participating in the Wake up to Kona blog hop, beginning on January 7th. My day to blog is January 20th so I do hope to see you then!

Here’s a little Christmas picture greeting from my quilty helper:

Meowy Christmas!

Tiger’s picture reminds me that I need to finish cat block #25 in Elizabeth’s Catvent Quilt-Along!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Modern Trees QAL Table Runner Finish

Posted on November 25, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Monday everyone!

This weekend, I decided to finish up my Modern Tree QAL project from Christa Quilts!

Instead of making a quilt or a wall-hanging, I opted to make a small table runner and sewed together 5 improv tree blocks with sashing. I used the Snowman Gatherings fabric line by Primitive Gatherings along with some light blue and dark blue fabrics that I had in my stash. The dark blue worked really well in the sashing, but I didn’t have enough to do the binding!!! I had to use another dark blue that is close, but is not an exact match.

For the quilting, I did different types of free-motion quilting on my Bernina from pebbles to little spirals to little rainbow shapes. I echo quilted around each tree and stitched in presents under each tree! Next, I decided to add some handwork using a metallic silver thread and stitched little snowflakes in the blue border as well as an echo quilt on the inside of each tree.

The hand stitching took quite a while so I happily snuggled up with my little guy and we watched a movie together while I stitched. After the stitching was completed, I added some hot fix crystals in clear, light blue, and dark blue for extra sparkle!

Modern Trees Table Runner

Modern Trees Close-Up

This table runner was a perfect project to continue practicing free motion quilting. Unfortunately, my Bernina model is not built to accept the stitch regulator so it makes the FMQ a little more challenging. But, I can see improvements with each project as I become more confident!

I do have more of this cute fabric on hand and plan to make some coordinating snowman placements that I can use throughout the winter.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer