Amanda Murphy | NW Quilted Cat

Hi everyone,

For the past 6 months or so, I’ve been a test block maker for Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks magazine, volume 9. This issue will be available at retailers soon and contains some really fun blocks!

I can now show you the blocks that I tested and hope they inspire you to try something new! I had fun making these blocks while improving my piecing skills at the same time.

In total, I made 12 test blocks using traditional piecing, paper piecing, and applique (depending on the block). The blocks are all 12.5 x 12.5 inches unfinished.

Block #807, Spring Tulips by Nancy Mahoney

Spring Tulips designed by Nancy Mahoney

Block #808, Greetings Earthling by Sue Marsh

Greetings Earthling designed by Sue Marsh

Block #810, Felicity by Ellen Murphy

Felicity designed by Ellen Murphy

Block #827, Flying Dutchman by Doris Rice

Flying Dutchman designed by Doris Rice

Block #844, Plant Perfect by Amanda Murphy

Plant Perfect designed by Amanda Murphy

Block #845, Tweet-ness by Heidi Pridemore

Tweet-ness designed by Heidi Pridemore

Block #849, Tribal Crossing by Anita Grossman Solomon

Tribal Crossing designed by Anita Grossman Solomon

Block #865, Spin Cycle by Gudrun Erla

Spin Cycle by Gudrun Erla

Block #873, Hovering Stars by Bonnie Hunter

Hovering Stars designed by Bonnie Hunter

Block #875, Robo-Bop by Kimberly Jolly

Robo-Bop designed by Kimberly Jolly

Block #892, Love Letters by Amy Rullkoetter

Love Letters designed by Amy Rullkoetter

Block #898, Two Tulips by Margie Ullery

Two Tulips designed by Margie Ullery

I’m continuing to be a test block maker for volume 10, which will be published later this year.

Quiltmaker is sponsoring a blog hop to celebrate the publication of volume 9 so check it out!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Happy Monday, everyone!

Today is my day to share the project that I made for the Wake Up to Kona blog hop, and I’m so excited! I’d like to give a big thanks to Madame Samm, our wonderful hostess and supporter of all things quilty and our great cheerleader, Carol, who inspires us all.

We have great sponsors for this blog hop – Amanda Murphy (author of Quilt Essentials), Robert Kaufman (all those delicious Kona solids), and Aurifil threads that keep us in stitches!

For my project, I started with Kona black as my background color and added this delicious grouping of colors:

Beautiful Kona solids!

The colors are: #110 Peony, #141 Carnation, #1062 Candy Pink, #1066 Cerise, #24 Petunia, #1484 Lupine, #1383 Violet, #188 Hibiscus, #1005 Aqua, #1009 Azure, #442 Capri, and #1064 Caribbean.

Next, I selected the Night Sky pattern by Jaybird Quilts for its striking beauty! This quilt uses her sidekick ruler to create the triangle and diamond shapes that are used in the construction of the quilt. Each starbust (or starfish?) has 4 different shades of a color group.

I pieced the entire quilt top using Aurifil threads, 50 wt (#2000 light sand color and #2692 black color).

I used Superior Threads So Fine #50 in Genoa Gray because I really wanted the quilting to stand out against the black background.

We took the finished quilt to the beautiful Oregon Coast this weekend to take some photographs. I had my hubby and son be my scouting location/photography assistants, and I think they did a wonderful job.

Since my cats aren’t too keen on traveling, my dog (and best hiking buddy) became my cat quilt inspector stunt-double. (Yes, he earned extra dog cookies for his hard work!).

Here are some pictures of my finished Night Sky quilt using Kona cotton solids:

Me and Hubby Holding Night Sky (dog legs too)

Night Sky with My Dog (cat quilt inspector stunt-double)

Me holding the quilt in the wind!

Night Sky Quilt – starbursts resemble starfish!

Night Sky Quilt – backside

These last two pictures show the free-motion quilting that I did using the Genoa Gray thread. The quilting alone took me 12 hours! I did a swirly pattern in the black background and did some straight-edge echo quilting in the colored starbursts.

While I was doing the quilting, I ran out of thread – yikes! I called local quilt stores within an hour of my house, but no one had the same thread in stock. Fortunately, I was able to order the thread from Superior Threads directly via 2-day shipping and completed it in time.

I really love how the free-motion swirls accent the Night Sky stars:

Night Sky Quilting Detail

Closeup of the quilting

I hope you enjoyed my project and please check out the other bloggers on the last 2 days of the hop!
January 20th
More Stars in Comanche
Buzzing and Bumbling
Quilting Quietly
Grammie Q’s
The Quilted Cat (you are here!)
The Quilting Queen Online
Lauraluvsloons
Sew Incredibly Crazy

January 21st
Just Sew Sue
Pigtales and Quilts
Miss Priss Quilts
Charlottes Creation
Childlike Fascination
Renee Luvs Quilting
Cherry Blossoms
Sew We Quilt

I am giving away 4 Kona cotton solid fat quarters! Just leave me a comment to enter. If you follow my blog, let me know how you follow for a second entry. I will ship internationally.