Grand Illusion – We Have Greens!

Posted on December 17, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Greetings!

For those of you following along with Bonnie Hunter’s latest mystery quilt, Grand Illusion, we got to play with our green fabric this week for clue #3! The instructions are still available from now until spring on Bonnie’s blog if you want to join in at any time.

For my quilt, I am mostly using Moda Grunges. For the greens, however, I am adding interest by using 4 different bright greens which match to Bonnie’s color recommendation. For more on the recommendations, see my earlier post here.

These are my greens:

Green Google It from the Giggles fabric line by Me and My Sister Designs
Swirly Scroll Lime from Wilmington Prints
Just Color Lime from Studio E Fabrics
Celery from the Folklore line by Lily Ashbury for Moda

I mostly stitch on the weekends and in the evenings after work so I finished assembling these units for part 3 tonight.

As I turned around to grab my camera, my quilt inspector sneaked in behind me and decided to pose with the blocks.

Greens in part 3 of the Grand Illusion Mystery quilt!

I’m making half the total number of units for a smaller quilt. Since we’ve now finished three clues, here are my units together:

Tiger with the first 3 clues for Grand Illusion

This is going to be a very bright and cheerful quilt! Tonight, I had hoped to go to a local quilt guild meeting, but hubby and I are in the process of repainting some rooms. One of those rooms is my quilting room so everything is quite hectic and unorganized. I can’t wait to get the new color on the walls and reveal it here soon.

Happy stitching!

~Jennifer

Aurifil BOM December Block + SMS Giveaway Winner

Posted on December 13, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Saturday, quilty friends!

Today, I stitched together my last block for the 2014 Aurifil BOM program. This month’s block is called “Not Afraid of Flying” designed by Carrie Nelson.

I kept to my theme of Kona Shadow as my neutral with some blacks, reds, and whites. The flying geese in this unit did give me some trouble. I could say it’s because I’ve been battling some strange vertigo lately, but I think I may have just rushed it. I think that I will redo this block before assembling the quilt top.

Here’s the December block:

Aurifil BOM December Block

And here are all 12 of my 2014 Aurifil BOM blocks together in random order. I haven’t decided on a final layout yet.

2014 Aurifil BOM Blocks

If you missed the BOM this year, Aurifil just announced their designers for 2015 here. So exciting!

This past week, I participated in Sew Mama Sew’s giveaway event for the first time. Let me tell you that I was blown away by all the lovely comments. I received over 250 in total! I love all your comments and read each one. I really enjoy being part of such a warm, caring, and creative worldwide quilting community.

The random winner is . . .

Farmquilter!

Congratulations! I’ve sent you an email with all the details.

Wishing you all the best,
~Jennifer

Grand Illusion Double Diamonds

Posted on December 10, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone!

I’m participating in Bonnie Hunter’s newest mystery quilt, Grand Illusion. You can read about my broken dishes units for part one here.

For part two, we are making double diamond units using our pink, black, and neutral fabrics. I’m mostly using Moda Grunge fabrics for my project because I love the texture and dimension of the Grunges!

I’m making just 1/2 of the number of units for a smaller quilt. You can still join in and get the free instructions for a limited time on Bonnie’s blog. She will retire these instructions sometime next spring.

Here are my double diamond units, being inspected:

Grand Illusion Double Diamond Units

Since this quilt is a mystery, we don’t know how the individual units will be sewn together. So the layout in my photo is a complete guess.

Here are the double diamonds with the units from part one:

Grand Illusion, parts 1 and 2

I’m really loving the boldness of these units so far! On Friday, Bonnie will reveal the part three clue and we’ll be off stitching for another week. Hopefully, the greens will be used in the next clue.

Have you entered my giveaway as part of the larger Sew Mama Sew Giveaway? There are many fabulous prizes and fun blogs to check out as part of the giveaway so go check it out!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Toes in the Sand Completed + Giveaway Winners

Posted on November 24, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Monday, quilting friends!

I’m so happy that it is a short work week due to the Thanksgiving holiday! I hope to get some extra sewing time in over the long holiday weekend.

Recently, I finished a long BOM project called Toes in the Sand by Jaybird Quilts. I started this project back in April 2013! I’ve had the individual blocks assembled for a while, but finally finished the top and quilting recently.

My hubby and I decided to celebrate our 14th anniversary by going to the Oregon coast for a weekend. We stayed in Seaside and really lucked out with the weather. It was clear, sunny, and not too breezy with a high of about 48 degrees. I knew that my Toes in the Sand quilt had to come along for some beach photography!

Here’s a look at the finished project, front and back sides:

Toes in the Sand – Found some more triangle shapes in the swing set

Toes in the Sand Completed Quilt, Seaside, Oregon

Backing with My “sidekick” Brutus

I free-motion quilted Toes in the Sand using an Aurifil cream thread in 50 wt and an all-over “wonky triangles” pattern that I made up as I went along. I think it accents the blocks perfectly without overwhelming them. My backing is made from a few left-over scraps of PB&J fabric by Moda along with larger pieces of Kona cotton in Aqua.

After the photo shoot, my “sidekick” Brutus showed his love of the beach!

Brutus at Seaside, Oregon

What could be more fun than seeing a picture of a happy dog? Winning an issue of Quiltmaker’s 100 blocks magazine, volume 10!

In this post, I announced a giveaway for 2 copies of the magazine. I randomly selected winners and have emailed them.

Congratulations to the winners:
dezertsuz and Cathy Melancon

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Butterfly Block for Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Vol10 + Giveaway

Posted on November 17, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

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Hi everyone,

I’m so excited to share with you my first block published in Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks magazine. My block is #958 and it appears in volume 10 which arrives at retailers this month.

My block was inspired by my son and his love of butterflies. The block has a modern twist to it because I decided to use plenty of negative space and a block (pixel style) design.

While visiting the Victoria Butterfly Gardens earlier this year on vacation, we saw this beautiful Blue Morpho butterfly.

Blue Morpho Butterfly

Soon after, this other butterfly decided to crawl up my son’s arm much to our surprise!

Butterfly on hand

Butterfly on arm

I started drafting my butterfly block by sketching it out on paper and then did my fabric calculations.

Next, I cut some squares from various blue fabrics and some strips from white fabric:

Butterfly Block Components

I made a blue version and a pink/purple version. The blue version appears in Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, volume 10 and I kept the pink version.

Butterfly Block in Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Volume 10

Here are the two blocks together:

Blue and Pink Butterfly Blocks

This block is very versatile and you could use it to make quilts, table runners, or pillows. I decided that I needed a cute butterfly pillow for my office so I used my pink block, some extra Kona Snow fabric, and some silver metallic thread by Superior to make an adorable pillow.

Yes, I did use metallic thread on the free-motion quilting using my domestic machine, and it turned out wonderfully.

Butterfly Pillow

Butterfly Pillow Back

Butterfly Pillow Close-Up

Butterfly Pillow with Assistants

Ready for a giveaway?
Quiltmaker is giving away 1 free copy of Volume 10 to one of my blog readers, and I’m giving away a second copy! To enter, just leave me a comment, and I will pick a winner using a random number generator at the end of the blog tour. Please leave me a way to contact you. Sometimes Blogger and WordPress do not communicate very well.

I hope that you are enjoying Quiltmaker’s 100 blocks blog tour and that you find inspiration in the many wonderful blocks!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Aurifil BOM – November

Posted on November 12, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Greetings from a very windy Pacific Northwest!

We’re having a bit of a wind storm here proceeding potential snow and ice tomorrow. Last night before bedtime, my hubby and I heard a loud crack and thud. As we dashed outside, we noticed a large tree branch had fallen across the street and landed on a neighbor’s vehicle. Scary! We decided to do an impromptu shoving aside of stuff in our garage to park the car inside overnight just in case another tree or limb decided to fall.

I’ve been following along with the Aurifil BOM starting in January this year. I finished November’s block called Tossed Salad and designed by Scott Hansen over at Blue Nickel Studios. This block came together really quickly, and I love the interesting design.

Tossed Salad Block designed by Scott Hansen

You can find the free pattern for this block on the Aurifil blog. This block is the 11th one in this year’s BOM so we only have one more block to go! I love this gray, white, black, and red palette. My gray is Kona Shadow.

Here are the 11 blocks together in random order:

Aurifil BOM – 11 Blocks

I’m getting excited to reveal my block for Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, volume 10 issue. I hope you’ll join the blog hop starting next week on November 17th. I will have a post on November 17th to show a test quilt that I made, and then another post on November 18th to show my block plus a giveway.

Happy quilting and stay safe in this crazy early winter weather!
~Jennifer

Forest Abstractions Bunny + Giveaway Winner

Posted on October 31, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Halloween, everyone!

My little guy is getting excited for trick-or-treating tonight, and I’m excited to get some more sewing time in this weekend. We carved some jack-o-lanterns last night:

Jack-o-Lanterns!

Recently, I had the great pleasure of meeting Violet Craft in person at an open house at a local quilt shop called the Pine Needle. I’ve been eyeing her paper pieced Forest Abstractions pattern for a while so I went ahead and purchased it. I love paper piecing, but haven’t done much of it during the past year. I’m going slow and easy, working in the blocks in between other quilt projects.

I decided to use a variety of low-volume prints for the backgrounds instead of using solids. I picked up a fat quarter stack of lovely fabric from a quilt shop in Spokane called Charming Lulu when I met my sister there for a little shop hop several weekends ago. They carry a wonderful selection of modern fabrics, and I hope to visit next time I’m in Spokane.

I haven’t found a website for Charming Lulu, but they are on Facebook.

Field Guide Fat Quarter Stack

Charming Lulu Quilt Store

For the bunny, I chose some wonderful purple and magenta fabrics that I picked up at a quilt show last year. I’m pretty sure that I’ll use different colors for each critter in the quilt, but we’ll see.

Forest Abstractions Pattern and Fabrics

Here’s a look at my completed bunny block:

Forest Abstractions Bunny

I hope to make another block from this pattern soon.

If you participated in the Black Cat Crossing blog hop, I offered a giveaway on my post here. I used a random number generator and the lucky winner is . . . .

Carole (her blog is From My Carolina Home).

Carole, I will be emailing you today to make the arrangements.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the blog hop. I do hope that you enjoyed all the wonderful Halloween creations.

Stay tuned because I’m participating in Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Blog Tour in November. I have a block published in the next issue, and I can’t wait to show it to you!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

A Supernova Finish for Blogger’s Quilt Festival

Posted on October 28, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy rainy Tuesday (at least here in the PNW)!

Yesterday, I blogged about entering my Celtic Solstice into the scrappy category of the Blogger’s Quilt Festival, hosted by Amy Ellis.

Today, I want to share my entry into the modern category with you. This quilt is very special to me because it is the first one that I have done with a swap partner. I joined the Supernova Friendship Block Swap earlier this year and partnered up with Cindy Wilson of What’s One More Project. Starting in June, we each made 2 Supernova blocks and kept one for ourselves and then mailed the other one to our partner.

We swapped our last blocks just this month. We used the Ansonia fabric line by Denyse Schmidt. Cindy took the pink colorway, and I took the green colorway.The background is Kona Snow.

Here’s a look at our October blocks:

Supernova October Blocks

Lee over at Freshly Pieced designed the Supernova quilt to have borders, but I wanted my finished quilt to fit a smaller space. So, I made a decision to leave the borders off on my finished quilt top.

I used a light cream Aurifil thread to quilt an all-over design so that the attention stayed on those exploding Supernova blocks! My family loves this quilt because it reminds them of fireworks.

The binding is a dark brown piece from the Ansonia line. The quilt measures 54-inches square versus the original design of 62-inches square.

I really wanted to take pictures of the completed quilt in natural light, but it looks like the rain just won’t let up this week. So, with my quilting assistant standing by, I took some pictures this afternoon (having just finished the binding last night).

Tiger on Supernova

Another View of the Completed Supernova

Completed Supernova Quilt

Since I had one extra Supernova block, I decided to make the quilt back scrappy by using the block, left over Ansonia fabric, and a label.

Here’s a look:

Supernova Back

This quilt was so much fun to make, and helped me to stretch my piecing skills! I made a new quilting friend along the way and now have a one-of-a-kind quilt to proudly display in my home.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

One Block Swoon Quilt

Posted on October 24, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

I’ve been wanting to make the large Swoon block by Camille of Thimble Blossoms for a while, but didn’t have a specific project in mind. I did use the mini-Swoon block for my project in the Black Cat Crossing swap recently.

I participated in a 5-month Supernova friendship block swap with my new friend, Cindy of What’s One More Project. We have been making and sending blocks to each other since July using the Ansonia fabric line from Denyse Schmidt. October is our last block!

So I decided to make a one block Swoon quilt for Cindy as a thank you. I used two fabrics from Sunnyside by Kate Spain along with Kona Snow for the background and a Kona blue for the binding.

I did some pretty heavy free-motion quilting on my Bernina Activa 145. I had so much fun! On the Sunnyside fabric, I used Stone Blue Denim Aurifil thread #3770 since it has a lovely variegated appearance. I used a cream Aurifil 50 wt thread on the Kona Snow portions.

I did some straight-line quilting around the block edges and in the border. Inside the orange and blue block shapes, I did some more straight-line quilting. I really wanted the background to stand out so I did some swirls and some bird-feather like shapes in the Kona Snow.

Here’s a look at the whole quilt:

One-Block Swoon Quilt

Here are some close-up views of the free-motion quilting:

Swoon Block Free-Motion Quilting Detail

Free-Motion Quilting on Swoon Block

For the backing, I used the same Kona blue as the binding except for two strips of leftover Sunnyside fabric and a label. I really like how the stitching shows up on the back!

Swoon Block Back

I’m definitely going to make this block again since it has so many possibilities from a one-block quilt to a pillow to a bed quilt.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Star Light Star Bright Quilt Finish!

Posted on October 16, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Thursday, quilty friends!

Back in January, I joined a quilt-along called Star Light Star Bright designed and hosted by Melissa over at Happy Quilting. For the most part, I kept up with the project and then set it aside once the quilt flimsy was completed. You can read about my fabric selections using some of the Charley Harper fabrics in this post.

Recently, I decided to finish this project by quilting it and binding it in time for a very special birthday surprise gift! The recipient is my sister, and I’ve kept it under wraps until now since she reads my blog. Now that I’ve given her the quilt, I will show the finish!

For the quilting, I did random free-motion swirls from edge-to-edge. The backing fabric is from Moda’s Forest Friends designed by Ingrid Slyder. I used some of the Fox Fun Pebble Grey (#23142-11) and alternated it with the Birch Trees Pebble (#23143-11).

Star Light Star Bright Quilt and the Fall Leaves

Star Light Star Bright Close Up

Star Light Star Bright Backing

Another View of the Star Light Star Bright Quilt

I think the fabric colors and patterns will look wonderful in my sister’s log cabin style home. I hope to take some pictures of it there soon to share.

I’m very happy to have another project crossed off the to-do list. Now, on to the next one!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer