Broken Dishes for the Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt!

Posted on December 2, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Greeting quilty friends!

For those of you who follow Bonnie Hunter, you may know that she released the first clue in her latest mystery quilt, Grand Illusion. These clues will only be available for a short while, and Bonnie will retire them from her blog next spring for inclusion in a future book.

This quilt is named for the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan and draws its color inspiration from the hotel’s interior and grounds. I hope to visit it one day!

In October, Bonnie posted color recommendations in the form of paint chips. Although you can choose your own color scheme, I decided to stick with Bonnie’s choices as she has fabulous color sense, and I really wanted to see how these rich hues will play together in the quilt.

Here are my paint chips and fabric pulls. I’m using mostly Moda Grunge fabrics for the neutrals, black, turquoise, and pink. The yellow is Moda Marble Dot. I couldn’t find one grassy green that I really liked in a single fabric so I pulled a few fat quarter pieces into my pile.

Grand Illusion Mystery fabrics

We sewed broken dishes for part 1 this week. I’m making one-half of the normal amount of blocks so I can make a smaller sized quilt. I did buy enough fabric to make the full quantity of blocks so if I later decide to expand the quilt once the mystery is revealed, I can do so.

Here are my broken dishes units:

Grand Illusion Mystery, part 1

The colors really do pop, although my camera faded the intensity of the fabrics, particularly the turquoise. I really like how the turquoise Grunge fabric has yellow accents in it to play well with the Marble Dots.

The next clue will be released this Friday, December 5th on Bonnie’s blog so go check it out!

Happy stitching!
~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

Quiltmaker’s Blog Hop Starts Today!

Posted on November 16, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Monday, everyone!

Quiltmaker’s blog hop tour for volume 10 of the fabulous 100 Blocks issue starts today! My blog date is tomorrow where I will feature my block and have a giveaway.

For today, I want to show you what I made for this issue as a block tester. In all, I tested a dozen blocks over the course of a few months. I then had the opportunity to make a sample quilt using 3 different blocks. I called my quilt “Bali Posies” and it appears in the Block Tester’s Gallery section on page 95 in the magazine.

If you happen to be in the Golden, Colorado area between December 2014 and February 2015, all the block tester quilts are on display at Quiltmaker’s office. Wish I could go see them in person! If you do go, I’d love to see a picture.

I used 3 different blocks in the layout:
#947, Nine-Patch Posies by Kay Mackenzie
#989, French Twist by Celine Perkins
#999, Diamonds are Forever by Susan Work

The fabrics are Bali Paradise and Bali Batiks from Hoffman California Fabrics.

Here’s a look at Bali Posies:

Bali Posies Quilt Front

Bali Posies Quilt Back

I added some interest to the center block (#947) by applying some crystals to the center of each flower and along each leaf.

Here’s a close-up of the center block:

Bali Posies Center Block

I did free-motion quilting using Aurifil 50 wt. cream thread with an all-over pattern over most of the quilt. I did some echo-quilting in the posies petals, circles in the posie centers, and some other detailed stitching in the leaves and flower pot.

I was also excited to see that Sandy George, another block tester, made a quilt using my Butterfly block (#958). Her quilt is called “Butterfly Kisses” and you can see it in the Block Tester’s Gallery on page 94 in the magazine.

Come back tomorrow and see the inspiration behind my Butterfly block and for your chance to win a copy of the magazine!

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

More Little Critters Plus Birdseye Mercantile

Posted on November 10, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

A few weeks ago, I posted about creating a little forest critter out of flannel. Later in October, I had a chance to visit with my sister and we set out to make more critters using wool in place of the flannel.

These little critters are from the book Countryside Softies by Amy Adams. They are really quick and easy to make!

We made 2 foxes, a robin, a swan, and a dragonfly. We stayed up late each night having fun stitching these little guys together, and then we did some quilt shop hopping during the days.

Here’s a look at our critter collection:

Critters on a Bench

Critters in the Ponderosa Pines

Here’a close-up of my fox wearing his cool heart-shaped shades. He’s going to be my little sewing room buddy!

Fox Critter with Cool Shades

One afternoon, we took a little drive to visit Birdseye Mercantile in the little town of Avon, Montana located between Missoula and Helena. This adorable quilt shop has low overhead so they price all their quilting cottons at $7.50 per yard. Batiks are a little more. What a bargain! I took the opportunity to add a few pieces to my stash.

Birdseye Mercantile

If you are in the area, be sure to stop by and take a peek at this store. They are only open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays so it is always a good idea to call first.

From Avon, we headed towards Seeley Lake to visit another favorite quilt shop, Deer Country Quilts. They have a beautiful log cabin building with over 6000 bolts of fabric!

On the way to Deer Country Quilts, I took this picture of a lake reflecting the tamarack trees and their yellow autumn splendor. I didn’t have my good camera so this picture does not do them justice. They were just beautiful!

Tamarack Trees

I wish that I had brought a quilt to photograph at the end of that dock! What a spectacular back drop for a quilt.

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

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

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!