Spring Blogger’s Quilt Festival: Art Quilt Entry

Posted on May 16, 2015 by thequiltedcat

Hi everyone!

I hope you’re having a great weekend and have a little time for sewing.

My regular readers will recognize my entry into the Art Quilt category for the Blogger’s Quilt Festival.

It is a penguin mini-quilt based on Charley Harper’s original artwork! I made this mini quilt for an Instagram-based, Charley Harper themed swap. I made the design up as I went along so there really isn’t a pattern for it.

I started by gathering up blue, aqua, and low-volume neutral fabrics. Some of the fabrics are from the Charley Harper fabric lines by Birch Organic. I created a background by stitching together 2.5-inch squares, with the darker blues in the upper left-hand corner fading towards the low-volume neutrals. The bottom piece represents the ground.

For the penguins, I was inspired by the Charley Harper Nurture penguin fabric. I made my own applique pattern and used individual pieces of fabric to represent the parent penguin and the chic. I then carefully stitched around each fabric piece. The yellow accent lines are straight-stitched using Aurifil thread.

For quilting, I used my Bernina and my walking foot and did some simple, straight-line quilting using white Aurifil thread. I really love the results!

Here’s a look:

Charley Harper Penguin Mini Quilt

Penguin close-up

The backing piece uses all Charley Harper fabrics plus a label:

Hop on over to Amy’s Creative Side and check out all of the wonderful entries in the festival. I’d love your vote in the Art Quilt category!

Happy stitching!
~Jennifer

Spring Blogger’s Quilt Festival: Mini Quilt Entry

Posted on May 15, 2015 by thequiltedcat

Happy Friday, everyone!

Today, I want to reveal this beautiful butterfly mini quilt that I made for an Instagram-based quilt swap.

I used Cotton & Steel prints and Kona solids to create this stunning, paper-pieced butterfly. The pattern is called Take Wing by Lillyella Stitchery. It finishes at 24-inches wide by 15-inches high, but you could increase the size by adding borders.

I did free-motion quilting using my HQ16 and white Aurifil 50 weight thread. I think the wavy quilting adds to the fluid, fluttering nature of this pretty butterfly. For the antennae, I hand-quilted using purple Razzle Dazzle thread by Superior.

Here’s my completed butterfly:

Beautiful Butterfly!!

Beautiful Butterfly, Side Angle

Butterfly on a Lavender Bush

Beautiful Butterfly!

Here’s a look at the wings prior to assembling with the body. The Cotton & Steel fabrics work so wonderfully with the Kona solids!

Beautiful Butterfly wings with pins before attaching to body!!

I loaded it onto my HQ16 for the quilting (late at night, but a gal has got quilt when she can!!):

Quilting the Beautiful Butterfly!

I really enjoy paper-piecing and the process of making this beautiful mini quilt. In June, it will be winging its way to a new owner, and I hope she enjoys it as much as I do!

Please hop on over to Amy’s Creative Side and the 2015 Spring Blogger’s Quilt Festival and check out all the entries. I’d love your vote in the mini quilt category!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Blogger’s Quilt Festival – Scrappy!!

Posted on October 27, 2014 by thequiltedcat

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

Blogger’s Quilt Festival 2014, Art Quilt Entry

Posted on May 23, 2014 by thequiltedcat

Happy Friday!

Many talented quilters are linking up some fabulous quilt projects this week over at Amy’s Blogger’s Quilt Festival for 2014.

At first, I was uncertain whether to add a project that I worked on this past year that has special meaning for me. I did blog about this art quilt earlier so long-time readers may recognize it. The art quilt is a fabric portrait of my very special cat and quilt inspector, Tiger. This is my first time entering the Blogger’s Quilt Festival, and I’m loving all the entries!

This quilt is my own design based on a photograph that I took of Tiger. I used different orange fabrics to imitate the orange stripes in his fur. I also accented the piece with free-motion quilting on my domestic machine. This quilting really accents his fur, the clouds in the sky, and the illusion of grass in the lower background.

I did some paper-piecing on the corner border blocks to draw the eye into the center of the quilt and to accent the colors in the cat’s fur.

I really love how this project turned out, and I now use a cropped image of the cat face as an avatar for various social media sites.

Here’s a view of the whole quilt: