We Support You blog hop!

Posted on February 9, 2015 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my blog where I’m happy to be participating in the We Support You blog hop to encourage, support, and inspire all those who have been touched by cancer, particularly breast cancer. My mother-in-law passed away several years ago from complications due to breast cancer so I definitely know this cancer touches so many lives.

Thanks to Madame Samm of Sew We Quilt for encouraging us to make something cheerful and beautiful in this hop using her pattern and to Pat, our wonderful cheerleader for this hop. You can purchase the “We Support You” friendship pattern for $12 from Madame Samm directly by emailing her at madamesamm@me.com.

I’ve been participating in quite a few Instagram mini swaps lately, and all the beautiful rainbow colored quilts inspired me in my project for this hop.

I started by selecting a text print for the block backgrounds. This text print has encouraging phrases such as “No regret” and “Dream big.” Next, I made 3 little bras in colorful print fabrics to applique to the text backgrounds. The bra straps and hangers are hand embroidered using DMC black embroidery floss.

Next, I pulled some Kona cotton solids in various rainbow hues to create the borders and bound the whole mini using black weave print. I used a Superior variegated thread to do the quilting, alternating wavy horizontal and vertical lines.

I had this really cute little wire heart hanger so I added a sleeve to the back for a perfectly finished little project!

We Support You Rainbow Mini Quilt (Outdoors)

I now have this little mini hanging in my sewing room, above a project table for inspiration.

We Support You Rainbow Mini Quilt (Indoors)

Here’s a close-up photo of a block so you can see the text print background:

We Support You Close-Up

Please hop on over and visit the other ladies with projects today:

I hope my little mini quilt inspires you today! As a Gen-X’er, I encourage all my 30 and 40 something quilting buddies to get mammograms too!

Take care,
~Jennifer

Schnitzel & Boo Round 3 Mini Quilt Swap!

Posted on January 19, 2015 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone and Happy Monday to you!

I recently participated in my first Instagram (IG) mini quilt swap ! This swap was organized by Kristi (IG is schnitzelandboo) and you had to be an IG user to participate. My IG name is nwquiltedcat if you want to follow me.

My partner has received the mini quilt and extras that I made for her so I’m going to share them here. I haven’t yet received my mini in exchange but the mailing deadline isn’t until this Friday, the 23rd so I need to have patience!!

I used a pattern called “Candy Dish” by This & That Patterns and used April Showers fabric by Bonnie and Camille with a little white dot solid for the background by Michael Miller. I didn’t take a final measurement, but this mini quilt finishes at about 18 x 18 inches. The binding is also from the April Showers line. I did straight-line quilting using white Aurifil 50 weight thread.

Here’s the mini:

Schnitzel and Boo, Round 3 Mini Quilt

For extras, I used the free pattern “no guts” boxy pouch by So Chick. For this pouch, I used fabric from Violet Craft’s Brambleberry Ridge line and paired it with some pink polka-dot fabric for a contrasting zipper pull.

I also made a little pin cushion using Sweetwater fabric scraps and no pattern. I just winged it by starting with a 2.5 x 2.5 inch piece in the middle, and then adding little strips of fabric to the sides and tops.

Here are the extras:

Swap Extras: No Guts Boxie Pouch and a Pin Cushion!

I really had fun with my first IG swap! I’ve signed up for 3 more with 2 being due at the end of March and one in mid-April. I like using these mini quilts to help hone my skills and work from my stash!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt + More

Posted on January 11, 2015 by nwquiltedcat

Hi quilty friends!

I hope that your 2015 is off to a great start! I have a few quilty goals in mind for this year so I hope to add those to a blog post soon.

One goal is to participate in some mini quilt swaps on Instagram. I’m now signed up for 4 this year, and I’ll send the first one out later this week. There is a vibrant quilt community on Instagram, and you can find me there as nwquiltedcat.

The other day as I was driving home from work, some late afternoon sun beams hit Mt. Hood with a striking intensity. The volcano seemed to glow, and I pulled over to take a picture (along with several other people!). Unfortunately, I just had a little point-and-shoot, and the pictures don’t do the scene justice.

Mt. Hood at Evening

I’ve been participating in Bonnie Hunter’s latest mystery called Grand Illusion. She released the final clue last week so I have been working on putting my top together. I went with a smaller quilt center and just a solid aqua border rather than a thin inner yellow border and pieced outer border. I used some of my leftover pieces on the back.

Here’s the quilt flimsy:

Grand Illusion Flimsy

For the backing, I used units that would have gone into the pieced border along with some darker turquoise fabric that I had on hand. While trying to lay it out on the floor, someone jumped on the fabric!

Tiger on Grand Illusion back

After piecing the back, I framed it up on my HQ16 and just quilted an all-over meandering pattern with white Aurifil thread:

Grand Illusion on the HQ16

My Grand Illusion quilt (small version) is now quilted. I need to square it up and bind it. What do you think for binding – aqua or black or something else?

Grand Illusion quilted

You can view other finished Grand Illusion quilts at Bonnie’s link up party here.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

A Free Table Runner

Posted on December 29, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Monday, quilty friends!

I hope that you are having a great week and enjoyed the holidays however you celebrate.

I finished up a Christmas themed table runner in time for the festivities last week by using some 2-1/2 inch precuts and a free pattern by Bonnie Olaveson of Bonnie and Camille. The pattern is called “Strippy and Bright” and you could really use any color combination to make a quick and easy table runner for any time of the year. You can find the pattern free at All People Quilt.

I used Aurifil 50 wt in white and free-motion quilted some swirls on the main blocks. For the white border, I free-motion quilted loopy lazy 8 shapes. The binding is completely scrappy from leftover pieces of my 2-1/2 inch strips.

Here’s a look at the finished table runner:

Strippy and Bright Table Runner

Strippy and Bright Closeup

I found this fun ceramic red cardinal to place on the table runner. I just love him! We don’t have red cardinals here in Oregon so it is fun to bring in a decorative one this time of year.

Ceramic cardinal

Since the new year is almost here, it is time to pack away the holiday decorations. I plan to make 2015 the year of finishing up some UFOs!! How about you?

Enjoy,
~Jennifer

Merry Christmas and Grand Illusion, part 4

Posted on December 25, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I hope that you are enjoying the holiday and making happy memories with friends and family.

Here’s a picture of our Christmas tree this year, a noble fir:

Christmas 2014

Our son had fun opening presents this morning, and then we took the dog out for a nice Christmas day walk. The rain stopped and the cool temperatures felt good against our bright and merry cheeks.

My husband and I have repainted several rooms in our house and switched the guest room/play room and my sewing room. I’m slowly moving things into the new sewing room and organizing it.

I finished up part 4 of the Grand Illusion mystery quilt, hosted and designed by Bonnie Hunter. For part 4, we made 2 different Broken Dishes units.

Broken Dishes, part 4

We did make Broken Dishes units during part 1, but these units have the colors rotated a bit differently.

Here are all my clues together:

Grand Illusion, parts 1-4

The next clue will be released tomorrow morning so I’m hoping that we’ll get instructions on how some of these units will be sewn together.

Merry Christmas!
~Jennifer

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

Chair Re-upholstery Project Reveal!

Posted on December 16, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Greetings!

Several months ago, my husband and I purchased two well-worn chairs from a thrift shop. The upholstery was old, tired, and stained and needed to be refreshed. The chair legs also had some condition issues but the overall bones of the chair looked good.

We removed all the old upholstery to use as a pattern and replaced the foam cushions. For the legs, we removed years worth of dirt and stripped off the old stain. This process was pretty time consuming and took about a month, just working on it in our spare time on the weekends.

Thrift Store Chairs (Before)

Close-up of worn and dated upholstery

I looked through many, many fabric swatches before we settled on a neutral brown home decor fabric with a darker brown swirling pattern called Rooftop Pecan by Jaclyn Smith. This color and pattern worked well with the colors in our house.

We re-stained the legs a rich mahogany color to match existing wood furniture and to pair with a small little antique bistro table that we purchased several weeks ago.

We also added some rubbed bronze upholstery tacks to the backs of the chair for a little extra charm. I really love how they look in person.

Here’s a look at the refreshed chairs (in bright sunshine so the colors are a little different in person):

Re-upholstered chairs, front and back

Re-upholstered Chairs!

Close-Up of Rubbed Bronze Tack Accents

My next step is to make some little lumbar cushions for those of us who are vertically challenged! I always like to be able to touch the floor with my feet. I’m going to use the reverse side of leftover scraps from re-upholstering the chairs.

One more look with the before and after pictures side-by-side:

Chair Transformation

For my next upholstery project, I’m going to redo the sewing chair that I got from my mom. It’s the chair that came with her original New Home sewing machine from the early 1970s, and the fabric is starting to tear in places. I hope to do that project sometime this winter.

Enjoy,

~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

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Week!

Posted on December 8, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

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Hi everyone!

It’s that fabulous time of year again – Giveaway Week at Sew Mama Sew.

For the giveaway, I’m offering 2 Moda mini charm packs of “Holiday In the Pines” plus a spool of 50 weight Essential cotton thread by Connecting Threads in Caramel.

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway

I will ship internationally!

You can enter twice by:
1. Leave a comment on this post telling me how you would use the mini charm packs. I love hearing about your projects!

2. Follow me either here on my blog or on Instagram (nwquiltedcat) and then leave a second comment on this blog post letting me know that you follow me.

The contest ends this Friday, December 12th at midnight Pacific Standard Time. I’ll draw a name over the weekend and contact the winner and post here on my blog.

That’s it! Hop on over to Sew Mama Sew to view all the other fabulous entries!

Good luck!

~Jennifer