A Cute Little Basket

Posted on March 28, 2014 by thequiltedcat

I picked up a cute pattern recently for a fabric basket called Banded Baskets by Indygo Junction. The pattern actually contains 3 sizes of nesting baskets.

I decided to make the small basket and fill it with little fabric treasures for a special someone! It’s the perfect size for carrying a small project or storing fat quarters.

Small Banded Basket

For the outside, I used a pretty little fabric on the bottom portion called Chickadee (# A-7029-LC) by Andover Fabrics.

The dark brown leaf print on the top portion is from P&B Textiles line called Bear Essentials 2 (#ESS2 569S).

For the piping, I used Essex Yarn Dyed in Flax for sturdiness. The lining and handles are made from a solid blue from my stash. I used Aurifil Light Sand #2000 for the stitching.

Once I finished the basket, I added a little bird charm keychain and some fat quarters. I plan to make a nesting set of 3 baskets for my sewing room as a pretty way to store my quilty projects in-process.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Andover Fabrics Downton Abbey Tea Party + Giveaway!

Posted on February 19, 2014 by thequiltedcat

Good morning, everyone!

I had a little panic moment when my pictures from this event would not download from my camera card to my computer! Fortunately, I found a workaround and I was able to retrieve the pictures – yea!

Last weekend, I was so excited to be able to attend a Downton Abbey themed tea and trunk show by Andover Fabrics and hosted by Fabric Depot. This was a ticketed event that had been scheduled for the weekend before but got postponed due to a snow and ice storm in Portland.

Each place setting was beautifully decorated and we could choose between a Creme de la Earl Grey tea or a Forest Park tea. I went with the Earl Grey and it was delicious! We also enjoyed delicate little bite-sized treats to go with our tea!

Tea Party Setting

Tea Party Treats

During the tea, attendees were invited to show a panel of judges any sewn creations that they had made using the Downton Abbey fabric line by Andover. I saw many beautiful and elegant dresses, hats, and bags that definitely fit the period of the show. Since I don’t really sew garments, I decided to create a little table topper using the Rock Candy pattern by Jaybird Quilts. You can read about it in my earlier post here. I believe that I had the only quilty type project to show the judges.

Towards the end of the tea, the prizes were announced and I won second place (most creative) for my little table topper! The prize was a $50 gift certificate to Fabric Depot that I, of course, spent when the tea concluded.

Here’s a picture of my prize and my entry:

Most Creative Prize

Rocky Candy Table Topper

I had so much fun at this event and found myself purchasing more Downton Abbey fabric! I want to make a bag and possibly a small quilt wall-hanging.

The trunk show included some completed quilts and bags using the fabric line. I took a few pictures so you could enjoy all of the wonderful creations.

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Fabric Depot has posted a summary of this event with more photos on their blog here. There is a picture of my hands and the judges’ hands holding my little table topper about half-way through the blog post.

And now for the giveaway! To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post. Be sure that I can contact you if you win! The giveaway will be open until Monday, February 24th at 8:00 a.m., Pacific Time. I’ll use a random number generator to choose a winner. If you are a follower, you can earn an extra entry by letting me know how you follow my blog. I will mail internationally so everyone can enter.

The prize is a pack of Gutermann thread designed to go with the Dowager Countess fabrics from the Downton Abbey collection. This set includes a plum thread (#942), a light grey thread (#100), and a dark grey thread (#112).

Dowager Countess Thread Pack Giveaway

Good luck!
-Jennifer

Star Light Star Bright QAL, Half Square Triangles

Posted on February 17, 2014 by thequiltedcat

Happy Monday!

This weekend, I found time to work on my project for the Star Light Star Bright QAL hosted and designed by Melissa. There is still time to join the fun so pop on over to her blog to check out all the details!

Our assignment this week was to create our half square triangles. I’m making the 9-block baby size quilt so I had quite a few HST’s to sew and trim!

The sewing part went pretty fast as I chain-stitched each grouping. The important part of this step was to keep our groupings separate so we don’t confuse the half square triangles between groups. I labeled each group with a sticky note and only sewed one group at a time.

Next, we trimmed our little HST’s! This part makes me happy to sew all those perfectly square little blocks, but I definitely get a sore left forearm. I cut with my right hand, but seem to hold onto my squaring ruler pretty tightly with my left hand so that the fabric doesn’t wiggle. This seems to lead to soreness the next day when I do lots of trimming.

Here’s a look at my little mountain of trimmed edges:

HST Trimmings

I’ll use these trimmings to make more cat nip presents for my quilt inspectors.

Here’s a look at all my half square triangles, neatly trimmed. I have group 1 spread out on my cutting table next to groups 2 through 9.

Half Square Triangles for Star Light Star Bright QAL

And here’s a look at all my HST’s and flying geese bundled up together in a little tray:

Organizing Tray for Star Light Star Bright QAL

Stay tuned for next week’s post where I will show you my block centers for this QAL.

I also had the opportunity to attend a Downton Abbey tea party hosted by Andover Fabrics on Saturday. I even won a prize – eek! I’ll upload my photos from this wonderful event to an upcoming post so stay tuned!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Star Light Star Bright QAL Fabrics

Posted on January 31, 2014 by thequiltedcat

Happy Friday, everyone!

Melissa over at Happy Quilting has once again designed a great quilt-along for everyone called Star Light Star Bright. This is a weekly QAL with the cutting instructions posted this week.

For this project, I’m going to make the 3 block by 3 block baby quilt size. I found some wonderful Charley Harper fabrics that I’m going to use along with some other bird/fall themed prints that I think will work well together.

Here’s a look at my fabrics before cutting. They looked so pretty that I almost hated to cut them!