Star Light Star Bright QAL Block Centers

Posted on February 22, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

There was some sunshine streaming in through my sewing room this morning while I finished up my last three block centers for the Star Light Star Bright QAL hosted by Melissa.

My quilt inspector decided this bit of streaming sunshine was the perfect spot to nap, and he happily agreed to pose with one of the block centers:

Tiger with SLSB Block Center

Once I had stitched together the last of my blocks, I placed all nine blocks randomly on a design wall.

Here’s what my QAL looks like so far:

SLSB QAL Block Centers

There is still time to join this QAL so hop on over to Melissa’s blog and check it out!

If you want to know about my fabric selections for this QAL, I posted each fabric and line on my post here.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Star Light Star Bright QAL, Half Square Triangles

Posted on February 17, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Monday!

This weekend, I found time to work on my project for the Star Light Star Bright QAL hosted and designed by Melissa. There is still time to join the fun so pop on over to her blog to check out all the details!

Our assignment this week was to create our half square triangles. I’m making the 9-block baby size quilt so I had quite a few HST’s to sew and trim!

The sewing part went pretty fast as I chain-stitched each grouping. The important part of this step was to keep our groupings separate so we don’t confuse the half square triangles between groups. I labeled each group with a sticky note and only sewed one group at a time.

Next, we trimmed our little HST’s! This part makes me happy to sew all those perfectly square little blocks, but I definitely get a sore left forearm. I cut with my right hand, but seem to hold onto my squaring ruler pretty tightly with my left hand so that the fabric doesn’t wiggle. This seems to lead to soreness the next day when I do lots of trimming.

Here’s a look at my little mountain of trimmed edges:

HST Trimmings

I’ll use these trimmings to make more cat nip presents for my quilt inspectors.

Here’s a look at all my half square triangles, neatly trimmed. I have group 1 spread out on my cutting table next to groups 2 through 9.

Half Square Triangles for Star Light Star Bright QAL

And here’s a look at all my HST’s and flying geese bundled up together in a little tray:

Organizing Tray for Star Light Star Bright QAL

Stay tuned for next week’s post where I will show you my block centers for this QAL.

I also had the opportunity to attend a Downton Abbey tea party hosted by Andover Fabrics on Saturday. I even won a prize – eek! I’ll upload my photos from this wonderful event to an upcoming post so stay tuned!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Aurifil February BOM

Posted on February 11, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Tuesday, quilty friends!

During the snow and ice storm that we had in Oregon this past weekend, I got in some extra sewing time. In addition to finishing up my flying geese for the Star Light Star Bright QAL, I also finished my February block for the Aurifil BOM!

February’s Aurifil block is designed by Amy Gibson of Stitchery Dickory Dock and is called “Mother’s Day.” It is such fun block to make featuring half-square triangles.

Here’s a look at my block in the snow using red and black fabrics from my stash. My background fabric is Kona cotton in Shadow.

Aurifil February BOM

Here are my January and February blocks side-by-side:

Aurifil BOM: January and February blocks

I’ve recently been experiencing with a new smartphone app called Waterlogue. It takes your pictures and turns them into watercolor paintings – very cool! I used this app with my February Aurifil block when two of my cat inspectors decided to check out the block. I’ll post the before-and-after pics together. What do you think?

Romeo with February block

Romeo and February Block in Waterlogue

Tiger with February Block

Tiger and Feb Block in Waterlogue

The great snowstorm has now melted and we are back into our regular winter pattern of rain and wind!

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

72 Flying Geese and Snow!

Posted on February 8, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy wintery Saturday!

We haven’t had much snow for the past several winters in Oregon, but we are making up for it now! Over the past 2 days, the snow has been pretty constant and we are nearing the 1-foot accumulation mark. The snow looks so pretty falling down from the sky, but I am glad that we only experience this much snow every 4 or 5 years.

While I was sewing some flying geese today, my 8-year-old noticed a flock of beautiful fluffed up robins trying to take shelter in a tree in our background. I took these pictures through the window of an upstairs bedroom. So beautiful!

Robins in the Snow

Fluffed Up Robins

For the Star Light Star Bright QAL hosted by Melissa, our assignment this week was to sew flying geese. I am making the 9 block baby sized quilt so I needed to stitch together 72 pairs of flying geese! These geese went together so quickly using Melissa’s no-waste method.

Here are my flying geese all lined up!

Star Light Star Bright Flying Geese

If you want to know what fabrics I’m using for the QAL, you can read about my selections here.

Since we’re snowed in today, I’m going to keep sewing on my chevron units for Bonnie Hunter’s Celtic Solstice quilt. I hope to get these units finished up this weekend.

Enjoy the snow!
~Jennifer

Toes in the Sand BOM, Month 10

Posted on February 5, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

I’m caught up again on my Toes in the Sand BOM project! I recently finished stitching up the blocks for month 10 – Hermosa Beach!

This BOM is designed by Julie of Jaybird Quilts and uses her fabulous Hex n’ More ruler. You can read about some of my earlier blocks here.

I really love the versatility of this BOM and the happy quilty feeling I get each month when I finish the blocks. I’m looking forward to summer more and more each time I work on this project!

Here’s a look at my Hermosa Beach (month 10) blocks:

Toes in the Sand BOM, Block 10

Here in the Pacific NW, we’ve had several years of mild winters. We’re predicted to get our first snow/ice storm this coming weekend. My quilting inspector is soaking up all the sunshine he can before the storm arrives. This block is cat approved!

Hermosa Beach block is cat approved!

Here’s wishing you a quilty week!
~Jennifer

Star Light Star Bright QAL Fabrics

Posted on January 31, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Friday, everyone!

Melissa over at Happy Quilting has once again designed a great quilt-along for everyone called Star Light Star Bright. This is a weekly QAL with the cutting instructions posted this week.

For this project, I’m going to make the 3 block by 3 block baby quilt size. I found some wonderful Charley Harper fabrics that I’m going to use along with some other bird/fall themed prints that I think will work well together.

Here’s a look at my fabrics before cutting. They looked so pretty that I almost hated to cut them!

Star Light Star Bright Fabrics

See the beautiful red cardinals peeking out in the back? I’m saving that piece for something special!

You know that you need to take a break from cutting fabric when your quilt inspector jumps onto your cutting table and gives you this look:

Time to Stop Cutting Fabric!

I finished cutting all my pieces this afternoon. Here they are all lined up nice and pretty:

Star Light Star Bright Pieces

These are the fabrics in the photo:

Background is Essex Yarn Dyed in Flax by Robert Kaufman.

Brown twiggy fabric is Bark from Birds of a Feather Nest by Michael Miller.

Yellow/gold fabric is Meadow of Gold from Reminisce by Bonnie Christine for Art Gallery Fabrics

Bird and colored dots fabric is Bank Swallow Fall from Charley Harper for Birch Fabrics.

Red arrows fabric is Feathers Sun Print A-7244-0 from Andover.

Brown with white swirls fabric is Brown Rings from Honeycrisp by Dear Stella.

Multi-floral fabric is Flea Market Fancy Posie in Grey for Freespirit.

White with brown swirls fabric is Cream Rings from Honeycrisp by Dear Stella.

Grey floating floral is Twig Fall Shroom by Charley Harper for Birch Fabrics.

Colored leaves fabric is Octoberama Fall by Charley Harper for Birch Fabrics.

I really hope that these fabrics work well together!

There is still time to join the QAL and follow along. We’ll start sewing beginning next week so come join in on the fun.

Happy rotary cutting!
~Jennifer

Giveaway Winner and Aurifil January BOM Block

Posted on January 24, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

I drew a random number from all the comments on my Wake Up to Kona blog post . . . drum roll please . . .

The winner is Diane from my studioQ. Congratulations! I have sent you an email and will be mailing your 4 Kona fat quarters soon.

I hope everyone enjoyed the blog hop and a big thank you to Madame Samm and Carol, our cheerleader!

I’m participating in several BOMs this year, one of which is the Aurifil BOM starting this month! I use Aurifil cotton 50 wt thread exclusively for all of my piecing because of the high quality and consistency of the thread. It sews like a dream in my Bernina!

January’s block is designed by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic.

I had a nice piece of Kona Cotton Shadow in my stash that I originally had planned to use on another project. I’ve moved onto a different background piece (which I’ll post about soon), so decided to use this lovely light gray for this BOM. The red and black fabrics are pulled from my stash and come from different fabric lines. I really love how the black and red pop against the gray background.

Aurifil January BOM

To get the pattern and to learn more about the Aurifil BOM, please visit their blog here.

Happy quilting and hope you get a chance to sew this weekend!
~Jennifer

Wake Up to Kona on the Beach + Giveaway!

Posted on January 19, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

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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

A Downton Abbey Table Topper

Posted on January 15, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Hello everyone!

Today, I’d like to share with you a charm friendly table topper that you can make quickly but with stunning results!

For me, it all started with this delicious fat quarter stack of fabrics from Andover’s Downton Abbey line:

The Downton Abbey – Dowager Countess Fat Quarter Bundle

Yummy! I just love these colors. In my pattern stash, I had a great pattern by Jaybird quilts called Rock Candy. This is a fun table topper pattern that you make using her side kick ruler and a charm pack plus background fabric. I used my Downton Abbey fat quarter stack and a white-on-white print for the background that I had in my stash.

Here’s the completed top taken outside on my porch (the only place without rain!!):

Rocky Candy Table Topper

I took another picture indoors on my coffee table so you can get a feel for the size of the table topper. On the top of the quilt sits a handmade wooden bowl that my grandfather made for me. He was a master craftsman who passed away last fall so I really treasure this bowl.

Rock Candy with Handmade Wooden Bowl

I did all the quilting on my domestic Bernina. For the colored diamond shapes, I echoed quilted a slightly curved diamond shape with purple Aurifil thread.

I did more involved stitching on the white background sections using Superior Threads So Fine #50 in pearl. I straight-line echo quilted around each of the patterned fabric points. I then filled in each white triangle shape with a curvy, snake-like pattern and each white diamond shape with swirls. Next, I did 2 rows of straight-line stitching in the white border, followed by a 3/4-inch section of swirls, and followed by 2 more rows of straight-line stitching.

In person, the stitching really adds some nice dimension and texture!

Rock Candy Quilting Detail

Don’t forget to visit the Wake Up to Kona blog hop going on now! My day to display my project is Monday, January 20th.

See you then and happy quilting,
~Jennifer

Vice Versa BOM: January Blocks

Posted on January 8, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

AnneMarie over at Gen X Quilters has designed a very creative BOM using traditional blocks juxtaposed with inverse blocks! Come check out her blog and join the fun!

For my colors, I really wanted to incorporate Pantone’s color of the year – radiant orchid.

I took this pic using my camera phone so the quality is not great, but gives you an idea of the colors I’m using. I’ve listed the fabrics below the photo.

Vice Versa BOM – Fabrics

A: Kona solid in Snow
B: Kona solid in Lupine
C: Mesh Texture Taupe (03437-70) from Cachet by Benartex
D: Suede Violet by P&B Textiles
E: Studio Stash in Pistachio (AJS-13573-52) by Jennifer Sampou for Robert Kaufman
F: Small Flower Pink Taupe (03435-70) from Cachet by Benartex

The small flower print is a larger scale print that I hope will work with this project. I’m fussy-cutting pieces from my yardage (which I got on sale for 1/2 price at a LQS!!).

The January blocks came together pretty quickly and AnneMarie’s instructions are a perfect balance between text descriptions and photo diagrams.

I’ve decided to make the 9″ blocks to make a lap sized quilt.

Here are my two January blocks: the traditional block and its inverse.