Modern Trees Quilt Along

Posted on October 4, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

I have a new-to-me dining room table that is just begging for a table runner. Since the holidays are coming up, I thought a Christmas themed one would be perfect, and I should have enough time to complete one before early December.

Then, I saw that Christa is hosting a Modern Tree Quilt Along (QAL) on her blog, Christa Quilts! She has instructions for a 30″ x 40″ finished quilt, but I decided to pare it down into a 5 block table runner.

I looked through my stash and found a Snowman Gatherings by Moda charm pack. You can find it online at the Fat Quarter Shop. This is such an adorable line of fabric that I decided to use it to make my improv trees. I found a nice solid light blue in my stash to use as a background.

Here’s a look at my 5 improv tree blocks:

Improv Modern Tree Blocks

I think this fabric combination will make a nice wintery table runner that I can display all season long. Next week, we’ll assemble the blocks as the second step in this QAL. There is still time to join this QAL and you can size the project to fit your space! You can make improv trees out of small scraps like I did or make solid trees from a 7-inch strip of fabric.

Happy quilting,
~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

2013 NW Quilt Expo, Update 2

Posted on September 27, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Friday everyone!

The NW Quilt Expo last weekend had so many great quilts! I tried to take a bunch of pictures with my little point-and-shoot camera, but it was very crowded and the light wasn’t ideal. However, I did get a few pictures for you to enjoy! If you made any of these quilts, please comment so I can attach your name to the photo.

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I hope these pictures give you some quilty inspiration!

Enjoy,
~Jennifer

2013 NW Quilting Expo

Posted on September 22, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone!

I’m so excited to shared that I had a quilt accepted into this year’s NW Quilting Expo, held during the past 3 days in Portland. It is the Hummer Storm quilt that I also displayed at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show over the summer.

Here it is at the Expo show:

Hummer Storm at 2013 NW Quilt Expo

There were so many beautiful quilts in the show! I hope to finish cropping and uploading some of the photos that I took to display in a future post soon.

Here is the first place winner from the Pictorial Quilts category, made by Claudia Pfeil. It is stunning and the photos do not do it justice! Since I love turtles, I think it may have been my favorite quilt at the show.

First Place, Pictorial Quilts, Made by Claudia Pfeil

Another quilt closeup, Made by Claudia Pfeil

Quilt Closeup, Made by Claudia Pfeil

I had a great time at this year’s event! I purchased some fun fabric and seriously looked at buying a hobby level 18″ long-arm and frame. Unfortunately, I came home without the long-arm, but hope to get one sometime in the future.

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Star Surround QAL Finish, Wicked Blog Hop, and More

Posted on September 16, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

The last two weeks have been very bittersweet. My grandfather passed away on September 8th at the age of 92. Although the whole family knew this day was coming, it was still quite a sad shock!

My grandfather absolutely loved the outdoors. He was an avid hunter and fisherman throughout his life. We decided to celebrate his spirit by going camping this weekend at Scott Lake.

Here are two of my favorite photographs:

Scott Lake at Sunset

Scott Lake in Evening

For the sweet part of the past two weeks, I finished the Star Surround QAL. Thanks to Melissa at Happy Quilting for designing and hosting this fun project!

I decided to straight-line quilt to echo the star shapes in each block using my domestic sewing machine while my cat helpers sunbathed just out of view:

Quilting the Star Shapes

Here is what my final Star Surround quilt looks like all quilted and bound:

Star Surround Completed Front

Star Surround Front with Three Sisters in Background

Star Surround Closeup

Star Surround Completed Back

The back also uses fabric from the Mama Said Sew line plus a label and some more Essex Yarn Dyed in black. I hope that enjoyed looking at my completed project with central Oregon as a background!

Finally, a bit of fun and wicked news! I have joined the Wicked Blog Hop, hosted by Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt. This blog hop runs from October 22nd – 31st so I do hope you’ll come check out all the great blogs featuring wicked Halloween projects.

Have a great week and happy quilting!
~Jennifer

A Sunflower Glass Tile

Posted on September 6, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

In early August, some co-workers and I went to a local glass studio for a team building event. Each attendee got to create their own 6-inch fused glass tile masterpiece!

At first, I wanted to make a quilt pattern, but it quickly became too difficult since I couldn’t cut the glass pieces to exact sizes like I can with fabric pieces. Instead, I decided to create one of my favorite flowers – the sunflower.

I got to pick up my finished piece this week. The finished project is completely smooth with a “sushi” dish like shape (meaning it curves up slightly on all sides). I plan to use it to hold notions in my sewing room.

The first picture shows me holding it up to catch the afternoon light shining through the glass. The second picture shows the dish inside on a kitchen counter. I think it’s really interesting how the yellow and orange “petal” glass pieces seem to change positions, depending on the lighting.

Glass Sunflower Dish Outside

Glass Sunflower Dish on Counter

Here’s a look at the tile before it was fused. The colored glass pieces are positioned on top of a clear glass tile.

Pre-Fused Glass Tile

I think I’ll return to the glass studio in the future. I have some ideas for unique Christmas gifts!

Have you ever made a fused glass or blown glass piece?

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Glacier National Park and Star Surround QAL

Posted on September 1, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

With summer winding down here in the Pacific Northwest and the kids almost ready to go back to school, I went with my family on a last summer trip to visit Glacier National Park. We did some hiking and saw wildlife from bears to goats to cute little rodents!

Although the mountains in Glacier were a bit obscured from local wildfires, we still managed to get a few good pictures.

Here’s Swiftcurrent Lake:

Swiftcurrent Lake, Glacier National Park

We hiked up to Grinnell Lake:

Grinnell Lake, Glacier National Park

I missed a week on the Star Surround QAL project so I had to catch up on the last 2 weeks once I returned home from Glacier.

Here’s a pic of the block surrounds pieced and ready:

Star Surround Pieces

Once I completed all these building block pieces, I could then begin assembling my 9 star blocks:

9 Star Surround Blocks

The last step to get all caught up with the quilt-a-long was to assemble the stars into 3 blocks by 3 blocks to create the finished quilt top. I decided to take a picture of the complete top outside in the afternoon light when, to my surprise, my Cow cat decided to check out the quilt and give his approval:

Star Surround QAL Top

Star Surround QAL Top Indoors

I had so much fun on vacation, but I’m happy to be back home!

Here’s a last look at one of our mountain goat friends at Glacier:

Goat at Glacier National Park

Hope everyone had a great summer and here’s to a great September!
~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

Toes in the Sand BOM, months 3 and 4

Posted on August 19, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Oh my, I haven’t blogged about the Toes in the Sand BOM since May! I got distracted by the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and some another must-do quilty projects that popped up in the last few weeks. I did get caught up with months 3 and 4 when, wouldn’t you know it, month 5 arrived in the mail! Hopefully, I’ll get month 5 finished in the next several weeks. Check out my earlier post on this BOM by Jaybird Quilts here.

For month three, we made 2 Venice Beach blocks. This block has quite a bit of movement since each triangle is cut from 4 strips of fabric sewn together. During month four, we made 2 Sonoma Coast blocks. I really like the half hexies combined with the little triangles in this block.

In the photo, the Venice Beach blocks are the top two while the Sonoma Coast blocks are the lower two.

Toes in the Sand, 3 and 4

I have to share these two pictures of my cat quilting helpers. They just can’t resist examining quilt projects when I try to take photos!

Romeo Inspects Toes in the Sand

Star Surround QAL Centers

Posted on August 16, 2013 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone!

Wow, is the summer going by fast! We’re down to the last 2 weeks before school starts up again. I have all the school supplies purchased for my soon-to-be 3rd grader, and he’s getting excited to see his friends again. I’m having a hard time fitting in my quilty projects, but squeezed in a few evening sewing sessions this week to complete my star centers for the Star Surround QAL. Look for the QAL button on the right-hand side of my blog to join the fun!

I’m using the Mama Said Sew fabric by Sweetwater for this project along with Essex Yarn Dyed in Black for the background by Robert Kaufman. I really like the look of these fabrics together.

Here are my blocks in a “shooting” star formation and then grouped in a 3×3 format: