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

Blogger’s Quilt Festival – Scrappy!!

Posted on October 27, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Monday, everyone!

For Blogger’s Quilt Festival, I just knew that I had to enter my Celtic Solstice into the scrappy category! The quilt festival is hosted by Amy over at Amy’s Creative Side.

Celtic Solstice is a mystery quilt designed by the queen of scrappy quilts, Bonnie Hunter. I participated in this mystery quilt last year. Although the free pattern is no longer available, Bonnie will include Celtic Solstice in a future book.

Quilt stats:

Started November 2013 and finished summer 2014.

Fabrics include: 7 oranges, 5 creams, 7 blues, and 9 yellows. Most pieces were from my stash, but I did pick up a few fat quarters here and there to add to the project.

I did a meandering quilt design using a domestic machine. Whew!

This was my first all scrappy quilt, and I think it turned out wonderfully!

Finished Celtic Solstice Quilt

Voting begins on November 1st so I can’t wait to check out all the beautiful quilts in the scrappy category and the other categories.

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

Black Cat Crossing Blog Hop + Giveaway

Posted on October 21, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

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Greeeeeetings, my dears! Today is my day to share with you the creations that I stitched up in my cauldron for the Black Cat Crossing blog hop. Many thanks go to Madame Samm of Sew We Quilt for encouraging people of all skill levels to brew up something to share with us. I also want to thank our fabulous cheerleader, Wendy of Why Knot Kwilt, for organizing this blog hop!

I picked up some of the Black Cat Crossing fabric by Maywood Studios at a local quilt shop that recently opened in town. I love supporting my local shops!

For my first project, I decided to do a wool felt project with just an accent of cotton fabric. One can never have too many pin cushions, right? Sew off I went to stitch up a little witch hat to keep me company in my sewing room. The hat band uses a strip of fabric from Black Cat Crossing. I used black Aurifil thread for the piecing and midnight glitter hologram thread by Superior to add some sparkle to the brim. The finished pin cushion is about 4.5 inches tall.

This pin cushion is designed by Jennifer Clemen of Cottonwood Creations.

My stitching assistants ensured the quality of this little pin cushion:

Tiger likes the witch hat

Cow is planning his revenge

Now that I had a pin cushion ready to go, I stoked up my cauldron and set to brewing up a special creation using only Black Cat Crossing fabric!

For this project, I stretched my skill levels by creating a mini quilt and by practicing some heavy free motion quilting. I used an Aurifil cream thread for all the piecing and quilting. The pattern is Mini Swoon by Thimble Blossoms.

I modified the pattern slightly so that I could add the Black Cat Crossing border fabric in between the swoon blocks. I’m calling my finished mini quilt, “Black Cat Swoon!”

For the backing, I used left over pieces plus my label:

I just love how this mini quilt looks, and I can easily display it in various locations around the house during the fall season.

For more inspiration, please visit my fellow Black Cat Crossing participants today:
Creatin’ in the Sticks
Living With Purpose
Moose Stash Quilting
The Quilted Cat (you are here)
Lines, Colors, and Art

For my giveaway, I’m offering up 2 fat quarters from Black Cat Crossing. Just leave me a comment on this post for an entry. You get a bonus entry if you tell me how you follow my blog, and I’ll draw a random winner from all comments on Halloween, October 31st. I’m willing to ship internationally. Sometimes WordPress and Blogger do not communicate well together so make sure that I have a way to contact you!

Black Cat Crossing Giveaway

I hope you enjoyed my Black Cat Crossing projects, and that they inspire you to make something beautiful!

Happy quilting,
~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

Aurifil BOM, October’s Block

Posted on October 15, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone!

On this first really raining evening of the season, I decided to work on my October block for the Aurifil BOM. I’ve been keeping up with this BOM since January and you can read about my last block here.

My constant color is Kona Shadow, and I’ve been picking different reds and blacks to make each block.

For October, the block is called “Circle of Love” designed by Jane Davidson. I used a little bit of Sweetwater’s new Elementary fabric for the black pieces and some Mama Said Sew fabric for the darker red. The red polka dot fabric is from a scrap bag that I picked up from a local quilt shop.

Here’s a look at my block for October:

Aurifil BOM, October Block, Circle of Love

I now have 10 total blocks with just 2 more to go:

Aurifil BOM Blocks, Months 1-10

You can still download all the free Aurifil BOM patterns from this year. Each month, one lucky winner wins a box of Aurifil thread!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

National Quilting Month – Color My Heart Quilt

Posted on September 24, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

We’re into the final stretch of September, which just happens to be National Sewing and Quilting Month! I heard about this over on the Jolly Jabber blog for the Fat Quarter Shop.

The Fat Quarter Shop has a quick and easy free pattern to celebrate the month called Color of My Heart. It is a 1-block quilt that uses a charm pack and a solid background to make a very cute quilt.

I decided to make my own heart quilt that I could hang up in my office at work. Instead of using a charm pack, I opted to scale the quilt down by using a mini charm pack! My quilt finishes at about 12-1/2 inches square and is so adorable!

Here are the materials that I used:
1 Moda Sphere Mini Charm pack (by Zen Chic)
Moda Cross Weave Woven in Grey for the background and binding
Moda Sphere Grey yardage for the backing
Aurifil #2784 (dark blue) for the free-motion quilting

I followed the piecing instructions exactly as written in the pattern, but I just used the smaller charms to turn the quilt into a mini. The Moda Cross Weave Woven fabric has a really nice texture with some color variety that really appealed to me. I made sure that all my HSTs used the horizontal orientation of the background fabric so that the mini quilt had a consistent look.

Once I pieced the top, I made my quilt sandwich using some left over batting and a piece of the Moda Sphere yardage. I did a quick spray and pin baste on the sandwich.

I decided to free-motion quilt an off-centered heart shape using my Bernina and a dark blue Aurifil thread (#2784). I echoed quilted the small center heart using the edge of my foot so about a 1/4-inch separation between the lines.

Here’s a look at my completed Color of My Heart mini quilt:

Color of My Heart Mini Quilt

For the bobbin, I used a gray Aurifil thread to blend in with the fabric. I didn’t use my usual quilt label on this mini, but got to use my new satin labels from Ikaprint.

Here’s the back:

Color My Heart back

Ikaprint Label Close-Up

I’m really tickled with how this mini quilt turned out, and I will enjoy looking at the bright pops of color as our weather turns from sunshine to rain.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Aurifil BOM, September’s Block

Posted on September 19, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

I’m so glad that it is finally Friday! I hope to have more time for sewing this weekend, although we may have to take a drive one day to enjoy some of this extended warm weather here in the PNW.

The Aurifil BOM continues this month with September’s block, Stars of My Life, designed by Pat Wys. You can read about Pat’s inspiration for this block and find the pattern here.

I’m continuing with my color scheme using Kona Shadow as my background with blacks and reds as accent colors.

Here is my September block:

Aurifil BOM, September’s Block

This BOM and the Supernova Friendship swap seem to be the only ones that I have kept up with month after month this year. I’m several months behind on the Vice Versa BOM and really far behind on the Reach for the Stars quilt. I really hope to catch up this fall and winter.

Here are my first 9 Aurifil BOM blocks:

Aurifil BOM Blocks, 1-9

This weekend, I hope you enjoy some sewing time!

Happy quilting,
~Jennifer

Chicken Challenge Quilt Completed

Posted on September 16, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to take classes in the week before the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. I blogged about taking the Chicken Challenge class with Ann Shaw several months ago. In that first post, you can see my chicken start to take shape as well as chickens from some of the other students in class.

I finished the free motion quilting over the summer using Aurifil #2000, and then I put the quilt aside for a while. This past weekend, I pulled it out and decided to add the binding to finish it. I used a black/tan chicken wire fabric for the binding, and I like how it frames my crazy chicken just right!

Here’s a look at my completed chicken in the afternoon sunshine:

Completed Gallus Gallus

In our kitchen, we have decorated with chickens so this wall-hanging definitely adds some wild color to this wall:

Gallus Gallus Indoors

Now, my husband spent part of his childhood on a chicken farm so I can’t wait to see his reaction to this new addition.

Ann does have some scheduled classes around the Vancouver/Portland area if you are interested in learning this technique. Go check out her website and click on the Class Schedule link.

Hope you enjoy my little chicken!
~Jennifer