MQG Riley Blake Fabric Challenge for 2015

Posted on June 17, 2015 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone!

I made an original design for my entry into the “Modern Quilt Guild 2015 Fabric Challenge with Riley Blake Designs” contest.

The rules for the challenge are:

Make something fantastic that is quilted.
Make something you have never done before.
Challenge yourself to learn something new.
Use only Riley Blake “the Cottage Garden” fabrics and coordinating Riley Blake basics and solids.

I used the fabric sampler pack that MQG members could sign up for and receive in the mail. I added just 2 fabrics – a Riley Blake shade (granite) and a Riley Blake solid (off-white).

I’m calling my entry “Sisters in Bloom” because the quilt features the Three Sisters mountains with a nod to all the beautiful, blooming flowers that you can see while strolling through the town of Sisters (particularly during the upcoming Outdoor Quilt Show in July!!). There is a fussy cut bird from the fabric perched on one of the flowers. Look on the right-hand side!

The flying geese are a paper-pieced, spontaneous creation that I made up as I went along!

I used red floss for a punch of color in the flowers, on the bird, and in the quilt name. The quilting is all free-motion on my domestic machine. If you look closely, the sun is radiating out from just behind the mountain on the far left-hand side of the quilt. I used a variegated thread in the bottom portion of the quilt to add color and movement to imitate a flowering alpine meadow.

Sisters in Bloom Quilt Entry for the MQG Challenge

Close-up of embroidery

Little bird close-up!

Spontaneous, paper-pieced flying geese!

If you are an MQG member, you can view other entries into this challenge via the online forums. Anyone can view entries in Instagram using the #mqgfabricchallenge hashtag.

I hope you enjoy my entry!

~Jennifer

Forest QAL, Weeks 7 and 8 plus Giveaway Winner!

Posted on April 27, 2015 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

I hope that you had a great weekend! I had a little time in my sewing room to catch up on week 8 of the Forest QAL by Janeen of Quilt Art Designs. I call this an epic paper-piecing journey because it is a 12-week QAL with lots of pieces! If you are an intermediate paper-piecer, you can do this pattern! Plus, Janeen just announced on her blog that she will be adding a lake portion that is an optional add-on to attach under the forest portion. The lake portion will start this July!

Here’s my progress so far. I set a 24.5-inch by 6.5-inch ruler next to the flimsy for scale.

Forest QAL, weeks 1-8

I just love all those cute bird and forest critters. Did you notice the little mouse?

And, now for the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks, Volume 11 Giveaway! I used a random number generator to pick . . .

Pauline!

Congrats! I will send you an email with the details.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Forest QAL, Weeks 5 and 6

Posted on April 15, 2015 by nwquiltedcat

Hello, everyone!

I caught up on the Forest QAL this weekend by completing weeks 5 and 6. This QAL pattern is by Quilt Art Designs and you can buy the pattern from her and do the project at your own pace.

This project is entirely paper-pieced and there are some really tiny pieces. In week 6, we made a little frog with pieces almost too small to measure. I had fun challenging myself to make the frog, and I’m pleased with how he turned out, nestled in the lower portion of a tree.

Here’s a look at my project so far. I haven’t stitched weeks 5 and 6 to the weeks 1-4 piece yet.

Forest QAL, Weeks 1-6

The finished quilt will be 38-inches by 52-inches so a pretty good sized, landscape-oriented art quilt! Just look at all of those cute birds and animals!!

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts for Let’s Bee Social. Check out her cute pigs and corn cobs!

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Forest QAL, Weeks 1 & 2

Posted on March 15, 2015 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone!

Hope you’re having a good weekend, and working in a little bit of sewing time. We’re having a windy and rainy Sunday afternoon in Oregon so it’s the perfect weather to sit in and sew.

I’ve joined a new quilt-along by Quilt Art Designs called the Forest QAL. This is a 12-week QAL, and I worked on weeks 1 and 2 this weekend. It costs $1 per week for the pattern, and there is still time to catch up if you want to join. This is a paper-pieced pattern, and I’d recommend that you have some paper-piecing experience since some of the pieces are small.

For week 1, we pieced together some trees and sky:

Week 1, Forest QAL

I’m using a combination of modern print fabrics and solids for my quilt. My goal is to work entirely from my stash for this project.

For week 2, we pieced together more trees plus a little red bird and a chameleon, both hiding in the trees. Look how tiny some of the pieces are in the chameleon’s face!!

Week 2, Forest QAL

Tiny pieces!!

Here are the first 2 weeks, sewn together:

Weeks 1 and 2, Forest QAL with Tiger

For week three, we get to work on the flying geese in the sky section!

I’ve also been working quite a bit on mini quilts for some Instagram swaps. I’ll be able to blog about these soon and show you some pictures.

Linking up with Paper Piecing Part #10!

Enjoy!
~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

Another Mystery BOM Completed!

Posted on November 11, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Veteran’s Day, everyone! For those who have served or who have loved ones currently serving, a big thank you from my family to yours!

I wanted to show you a quilt that my mom recently completed – the 2012/2013 Carol Doak Mystery BOM! I made this quilt also using a blue/tan colorway. You can read about my finished quilt here.

My mom went with a different colorway using white, gray, black, and burgundy. The white print features cute little butterflies. I just love her completed quilt! In fact, I like her colorway much more than the one I used! Too bad it’s already hanging up in her house or I’d be tempted to borrow it!

Here’s a look at the completed quilt:

Carol Doak Completed Mystery BOM

The patterns for this BOM are still available for a limited time on Carol’s Yahoo Group site (see the link in my right side bar). Carol has also started a new mystery BOM in September called the Scrap Scramble so come join us!

If you are new to paper piecing, Carol has some wonderful instructional books, videos, and a great Craftsy class called Carol Doak’s Mastering Foundation Paper Piecing to help you learn her easy techniques. I learned paper piecing from Carol in a class and have been piecing madly since!!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

New Mystery Block Plus a Free Class

Posted on November 7, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone!

***Spoiler Alert*** In this post, I’m going to share my solution to a paper pieced mystery block. If you are working on this quilt block by Paper Panache and do not wish to see my solution, then click away now! I will post pictures and more about the mystery below.

I wanted to let everyone know about a free quilting class being offered at Craftsy this week. The class is called “Piece, Patch, Quilt: Basic Quiltmaking Skills” presented by Gail Kessler. This class has 11 lessons centered around basic quilting skills from cutting your fabric to finishing your quilt by adding the binding and label.

This month, I am participating in a paper pieced mystery block by Linda of Paper Panache. Linda has some wonderful and intricate paper pieced patterns on her site so go check it out! I’ve got my eye on her snow globe pattern as it would make such an adorable addition to my holiday decor.

I just finished mystery block #70 and will be posting my solution below. I followed the fabric color recommendations pretty closely, but did stick to fabrics already in my stash.

Here’s a close-up of the delicious treat:

Pumpkin Pie Closeup

The mystery block finishes at 8-inches by 8-inches. I decided to add a 1-1/2 inch border from dark blue fabric to the sides and the top of the block. For the bottom, I added a 3-inch border and hand-embroidered the name of the object presented in this mystery block.

Finally, I made a little quilt sandwich and did some free-motion quilting on my domestic machine.

Pumpkin Pie Block

Doesn’t that pumpkin pie look delicious? I can’t wait for Thanksgiving to arrive so I can enjoy some homemade pie.

I’m linking this paper pieced block up at Quiet Play’s Paper Piecing Party today.

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Doxies Running Up, Doxies Running Down!

Posted on October 19, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Woof! Woof! Congratulations to my good friend, Angie, who is getting married today! Since she loves dachshunds, I decided to make her a little wedding gift that represents the cute little dogs!

I used the “Chasing the Ball” quilt from Janet Kime’s book, It’s Raining Cats & Dogs. This adorable small quilt features 8 little weiner dogs running up and down to chase balls. I selected bright and cheerful fabrics to pop against the “doggie paw” white background. The finished size is approximately 26 inches by 24 inches. It can work as a wall-hanging or a table topper.

You can read about my start on this project back in July here.

Here is a look at the front of the finished quilt:

Doxie Dog Quilt Front

For the backing, I decided to mix it up by adding a strip of doxie fabric to the main polka-dot fabric:

Doxie Dog Quilt Back

The little dog noses are hand-embroidered with brown floss and the eyes are little black buttons.

I’m really happy with how this project turned out! I had fun paper-piecing all those little dogs and look forward to piecing my next animal quilt for my son (hint: it may be an African safari animal themed quilt).

P.S. Don’t forget! The Wicked Blog Hop starts next week. I’m so excited to reveal the project that I created especially for this hop!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Tiger, a Fabric Portrait of the Quilted Cat

Posted on October 2, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

The name of my blog, the Quilted Cat, comes from my love of quilting and from my chief fabric and quilt inspector, Tiger. He is my orange and white cat buddy who always gives the final paws up or paws down on projects. I thought it was time that I made a fabric portrait of Tiger by using one of my pictures of him and making my own appliqued pattern from it.

I started with a close-up photo of Tiger that really captures his focus and intensity during the quilt inspection process. I then created the appliqued portion of the quilt using Sue Olsen’s technique called “design to free-motion line.” This is a fun technique where you build your fabric image on a muslin foundation and then free-motion quilt using your regular domestic sewing machine.

Once I completed the applique portion, I decided to add an inner border of black to frame the design. Then, I added the batik dark blue as the outside border. To punch up the border and to draw the eye in towards the cat figure, I paper-pieced some corners using the same fabrics that I used in the cat. I used the 3-inch fan block from Carol Doak’s book, 50 Little Paper-Pieced Blocks.

Here is a look at the completed quilt:

Tiger, the Quilted Cat

Here are some close-ups of the free-motion quilting and the paper-pieced corner blocks:

Tiger, quilting close-up

Fan block

Here’s my favorite picture of this quilt with Tiger inspecting it. I think he approves!

Tiger inspects his quilt

I’m really happy with how this project turned out. The technique allows you to be very creative with fabric choices and stitching so give it a try!

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Red, White, and Blue Swapped Blocks

Posted on August 22, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

This summer, I hosted a red, white, and blue paper-pieced block swap on the Carol Doak Yahoo group. Each participant could swap 4, 8, or 12 blocks and the blocks could be any 12-inch pattern created by Carol. We had about 15 participants and around 92 blocks in the swap!

The packages started arriving in the mail, and I opened each one as they arrived to inspect for any mailing damage. Thankfully, all the blocks made it to me in great condition!

RWB Packages

Once I received all the blocks, I then swapped them and made sure that each quilter did not receive one of her own blocks back! It was quite a challenge, but I kept track block-by-block.

Here’s what some of the blocks looked like getting ready to be swapped:

RWB Blocks

More RWB Blocks

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a picture of the entire group of blocks just due to space. I didn’t want to get the blocks out of order.

I made 4 blocks for the swap and received 4 in return. I got 1 each from Nancy, Mary, Dorian, and Eunice.

4 RWB Blocks

I also received an extra block from Ginny, one of the swappers – how sweet! I plan to take these 5 RWB blocks and make another 4 of my own to create a little patriotic quilt.

I really enjoyed hosting a block exchange and hope to be able to host another one in the future.

Happy block swapping!
~Jennifer