Aviatrix Medallion Quilt-Along Fabrics and Center Block

Posted on May 7, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone!

I’m participating along in the Aviatrix Medallion quilt-along and wanted to share my fabric selections and completed center block. This fabulous quilt is designed by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson and you can purchase it directly from her store. This is a relaxed quilt-along, where you can follow along at your own pace but Elizabeth does post helpful hints each Monday for a particular portion of the quilt.

Here are the colorful fabrics that I selected for my project. I’m using a combination of solids and patterns and you can see each fabric in the photos below. I’m using Aurifil #2000 for the piecing.

Violets
Kona Cotton Thistle
Girly Girl Swirl Purple, Henry Glass
Seasons Best Spring Random Squares Purple, Andover
Paisly Please Connect the Dots Purple, Jacki E Studios
More This n That Aurora Royal Purple, Bernatex

Oranges
Kona Cotton Peach
Hot House Flowers Floral Small Orange, Andover
Medium Dots Orange, Riley Blake
Scenic Route Dot Orange, Riley Blake
Tiny Tiles Clementine, Michael Miller

Greens
Kona Cotton Wasabi
Always Blooming Flower Green, P&B Textiles
Let’s Play Dolls Daisy Flower Dot Green, Andover
Peppered Cotton Emerald, Studio E
Mission Space Craters Green, Quilting Treasures

Blues
Small Dots Aqua, Riley Blake
Rocket Age Rocket Blast Light Blue, Riley Blake
Zebra Print Turquoise, Wilmington Prints
On the Rocks Blue
Dark Teal, Palette Solids

For the remaining fabrics (the neutrals, white background, and gray background), I’m using the fabrics listed in the pattern.

Last week, we cut out our fabrics for those following the quilt-along. This process did take quite some time, so I spread it out over the whole week so my hand wouldn’t get tired and so that I wouldn’t mix up the fabrics! I did keep them labeled as I went along.

All the cut pieces are in individual bags, just waiting to be stitched up! I have the center points of each color along with my helpful cheat sheet in the photo.

Aviatrix Medallion Fabrics

Aren’t these colors just so pretty??!! I love looking at these early stages of quilt projects and envisioning what the end result will look like.

For this week, our assignment is to create the center block (aka the most complex piece of this quilt!).

Here are my pieces placed on my cutting table:

Aviatrix Medallion Center Block Pieces

The center block is a challenge, and I enjoyed stretching my skills with this one. Not all of my points are perfect, but I did get better with each section. I’m pretty happy with my center block and look forward to making it again in the larger, pillow size to coordinate with my quilt.

Aviatrix Medallion Finished Center Block

Although the background fabric looks tan in my photo, it is Essex Yarn Dyed in Steel. The gray color is a great choice to contrast against the white and colorful fabrics.

Next week, we’ll start on border 1 so there is definitely time for you to join in on this quilt-along! Yes, I have many projects going at once but it makes life exciting and provides me with a creative counterpoint to my corporate desk job!

I’m linking up with the Wednesday WIP hosted by Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Celtic Solstice, Part 5

Posted on May 5, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Monday, quilty friends!

I finished up all the individual block units for my Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt this past weekend by completing part 5, the split triangle units! This mystery quilt is designed by Bonnie Hunter and all the instructions for this quilt are available on her website until June 1, 2014. After that date, the instructions will be included in one of Bonnie’s future books.

Here are my completed split triangle units (100 of them) for the small quilt. I also stitched together 1 sample of each block that will form the body of the quilt: the Birthday Girl block (originally from Quiltmaker Magazine’s 100 Blocks, volume 2) and the 54-40 or Fight block.

Celtic Solstice, Part 5, Split Triangle Units

For this quilt, I’ve used scraps and pieces from my stash. I’m hoping that I have enough of the same fabrics left for the borders. The only fabric that I will probably need to purchase for this quilt is the backing, although maybe I can hobble something together using scraps. We’ll see!

I have about 1 month until I get to take 2 workshops with Bonnie! I really want to have the quilt top finished, at a minimum, so that I can take it to the workshop. This is my first large-size, all-scrappy quilt!!

In between sewing these split triangle units, I’ve been working on cutting out my fabrics for the Aviatrix Medallion quilt-along, designed and hosted by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson. I will post my fabric selections for this project soon.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Triangle QAL Finish!

Posted on May 1, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

I’ve been following along with Paula’s Triangle QAL over on her blog, The Sassy Quilter, for the past few weeks.

Our last assignment was to finish up those quilts! We had 2 weeks to finish up the quilting and binding for the final photo link-up.

My beer themed Triangle quilt is for my husband. Here in Oregon, we are surrounded by many great brew pubs, and I thought this quilt was the perfect choice for a “manly” quilt! You can read about the fabrics in this quilt here.

I decided to use straight-line quilting on my domestic machine by using my 1/4-inch foot and echoing the outside and inside edges of the triangles to create a large lattice effect. I used Aurifil 50 wt thread in a beautiful gold brown color (#2372) that perfectly complements the fabric.

In this photo, you can see the lattice/diamond quilting:

Up-Close Look at the Quilting

Here’s my hubby holding up his completed quilt. He picked the name, “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” after our 8-year-old suggested it.

Triangle QAL Completed!

Triangle Quilt, Blowing in the Wind

For the backing, I used up most of my left-over Brewsky fabric:

Back of Triangle Quilt

I’m really happy with how this quilt turned out, and really enjoyed following along with Paula and many other talented quilters during this quilt-along.

Cheers!
~Jennifer

Sunny Savannah Mini Quilt

Posted on April 30, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Dear Stella and Timeless Treasures are hosting a mini quilt challenge called Modern Traditional. The entry quilts must be 20-inches by 20-inches and have to include at least 2 prints from each company and no solids allowed! Entries are due today, April 30th and will be judged by two guest judges, Julie Herman and Katy Jones.

I decided to jump into this challenge with my entry called Sunny Savannah!

The fabrics that I used are:
Wee Gallery, Wild, Safari Animals in White (Dear Stella)
Wee Gallery, Wild, Safari Animals in Black (Dear Stella)
Zig Zag in Black for the binding only (Dear Stella)
Alice Kennedy, Matilda, Chevron in Citron (Timeless Treasures)
Woodstock, Stitched Swirl in Gold (Timeless Treasures)
Crosshatch Sketch in Grey (Timeless Treasures)

Since all the pieces in the quilt are very angular, I wanted the quilting to pop out a bit but still enhance the overall design. I decided to do an off-center swirl pattern in 1/4-inch increments on the entire quilt. I used a yellow Aurifil 40 wt thread for the quilting and Aurifil 50 wt Light Sand for the piecing. The swirl pattern reminds me of the sun shining down on the safari animals and so I decided to call this little quilt, Sunny Savannah. I really love the overall effect!

Here are some photos of the completed mini quilt:

Sunny Savannah, Completed Quilt

The back of the quilt is the Chevron in Citron fabric from Dear Stella with a label. I love the spiral quilting!

Sunny Savannah, Quilt Back

Just for fun, I took some pictures of the quilt flimsy. I thought it might be interesting to show you the backside of the quilt top because of all the neatly pressed rectangle shapes!

Sunny Savannah Quilt Flimsy

Quilt Top Backside

Some close-ups of the spiral quilting! I spray basted and then went slow and careful on my Bernina.

Spiral quilting in process

Spiral quilting close-up

I want to give a shout out to Charlie and Lindsay at Hawthorne Threads. Since I wasn’t able to pick up the fabrics from my LQS, I ordered my fabrics from Hawthorne Threads on a Tuesday evening after work and had them in my mailbox on that Friday! Thank you so much for the quick shipping!

I hope you enjoyed looking at my mini quilt for the challenge. If you’re on Instagram, search for #DSTTchallenge to view other entries.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Wedding Quilt Triangles

Posted on April 18, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Triangles seem are pretty popular among quilters lately so when Julie of Jaybird Quilts posted about creating triangle blocks to send to her for a wedding quilt, I decided to hop aboard!

Having just finished my Triangle QAL flimsy, I kept my triangle theme going and ordered the Kona cotton color bundle from Pink Chalk Fabrics. These are colors that Julie has specifically chosen to keep a uniform look to the wedding quilt.

I started off by piecing together some rows of colors in graduated sizes so I could cut out 1 6.5-inch, 60 degree triangle.

Wedding Triangle with Graduated Color Bands

I still had a portion of the pieced row left, so I decided to make a second triangle by adding a solid color to one side of the block and flipping the orientation of the banded rows.

Wedding Triangle with Solid on 1 side

Now I had some really strange-shaped pieces of that pieced row left. Hmm, what to do? I decided to sew them together in a rough square shape. Then, I took the triangle ruler and cut out a third triangle block. This is my crazy triangle!

Crazy Triangle!

Here are all 3 triangles together:

3 Triangles for the Wedding Quilt

I have packaged up these colorful little triangles and sent them to Julie. She is still taking blocks until April 30th, if you want to send some. Check out her blog post to view the list of Kona solids.

This is such a fun idea, and I can’t wait to see the finished quilt!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Triangle QAL, Rows Joined!

Posted on April 13, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

I stitched my rows together this morning for the Triangle QAL, hosted by Paula over on her blog, Sassy Quilter!

The rows on my manly, beer-themed quilt went together fairly quickly. As I was trimming off the zig-zag edges along the side, my hubby walked in and saw the quilt top. Ooops! I just told him to act surprised when I give it to him once the quilting and binding are completed.

So off my hubby went to Home Depot while my son and I decided to take the quilt flimsy to a local park and get some pictures of it. The sun is shining and the leaves and flowers are bursting open in early spring.

One problem – the wind didn’t want to play along! (Or maybe it was playing along and just being frisky).

Here are some poses we tried to catch while the wind played with us:

Triangle QAL Flimsy on Rocks – Too Windy!

Triangle QAL Near Giant Bear Statue? Still Too Windy!

Triangle QAL Quilt Top on Play Structure? Almost!

Finally, I decided to place the quilt flimsy on the sidewalk and take a picture of it while standing on a bench, in between wind gusts.

Triangle QAL Quilt Top!

I want to think up a clever, beer-themed name for this quilt, but I haven’t thought of anything good. Do you have ideas?

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Scott Lake Quilted Postcard, Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

Posted on April 11, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

Each year, the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show has a special fundraiser called Wish Upon a Card. Participants make fabric postcards to be auctioned during the quilt show week.

This year, I decided to make a fabric postcard featuring Scott Lake with the Three Sisters in the background. For inspiration, I used a photograph that I took at Scott Lake last fall during a camping trip.

Here’s my original picture:

Scott Lake at Sunset

It’s such a beautiful place and worth the short drive from Sisters if you are visiting the area.

I printed out my photo and then started to look in my scrap bin for fabrics to use. I’m entering the Michael Miller fabric challenge with this postcard so I needed to incorporate a piece of the Beadwork fabric into my design.

I decided to use the Beadwork fabric to represent the green meadow on the far side of the lake.

I built my postcard by layering the sky and water to form a solid foundation piece. Next, I carefully cut out and appliqued the mountain, lake, and tree shapes to this foundation using various colors of Aurifil thread. I added rocks to the water, a cloud to the sky, and a stick along the grass in the foreground.

Once all the shapes were appliqued, I used embroidery floss to add extra details such as the hint of tree trunks and late summer snow on the mountains. Finally, I layered the completed fabric postcard top with interfacing and cardstock and bound the edges using a black color weave fabric by P&B Textiles.

Here’s a look at the finished fabric postcard side-by-side with my printed photo:

Scott Lake Fabric Postcard and Picture

Here’s a close-up look of the fabric postcard:

Scott Lake Fabric Postcard for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

I really love how this fabric postcard turned out, and I’d be so thrilled to be one of the finalists!

I plan to attend the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this year, and I always stop by the wonderful postcard exhibit and auction.

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Triangle QAL Rows

Posted on April 9, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

I made progress this week on my Triangle QAL by stitching together the triangles to form rows!

You can still join in on the Triangle QAL by checking out Paula’s blog, The Sassy Quilter.

I’m using the Brewsky line by Clothworks along with 3 Kona cotton solids. You can read about my fabric selections here.

The 12 rows of this quilt took up my entire design wall. It will shrink down a bit when I sew the rows together during next week’s assignment, and I think the finished size will be the perfect beer-themed quilt for my wonderful hubby.

I’m trying to make this as a surprise, but I’m pretty sure that he knows something is up when I told him don’t go into the playroom! My sewing room (a spare bedroom) is too small for a design wall and cutting table so I’ve taken over a corner of the all-purpose playroom.

Here’s a look at the rows on the design wall:

Triangle QAL – Completed Rows

Some of the prints are directional so I had to be careful to keep those triangles pointing in the correct direction!

Directional Triangles

Oddly enough, this quilt continues to be a project that holds very little interest to my feline quilt inspectors. My dog has been my quilting buddy on this project instead!

At first, I wasn’t too sure about the bold red, but I did match it to the reds in the print fabric using my Kona color chart. The red is growing on me, and I think it adds interest while still keeping in line with a “manly” themed quilt.

Enjoy the triangles!
~Jennifer

Reach for the Stars Quilt, Blocks 1-3

Posted on April 8, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

This year, I made myself a goal to improve my piecing skills. To achieve that goal, I’m participating in various online BOMs as well as working on the Reach for the Stars quilt. You can read about my start on this quilt as well as all my fabric selections here.

I’m using the delicious Sunnyside line by Kate Spain for Moda, along with several solids thrown into the mix.

I finished up part 2 of 7 this weekend, which included blocks 1-3. I really wanted to get an outdoors photo to show off the fabrics better, but couldn’t squeeze it in before work on Monday.

Here are close-up photos of blocks 1-3. You can click each picture to zoom in on the block.

Reach for the Stars, Block 1

Reach for the Stars, Block 2

Reach for the Stars, Block 3

These blocks will be placed on the top of the quilt, above the center medallion:

Reach for the Stars, Blocks 1-3 with Center Medallion

It was challenging to find a floor space big enough for a photo. I stood on a little chair to get high enough, and I’m really surprised that one of my quilt inspectors didn’t come to “rearrange” the blocks, lol!

Since this project stretches over a year or so, I decided to create a little fabric swatch card/cheat sheet.

Fabric Swatch Cheat Sheet

This cheat sheet really helped me keep all my fabric placements correct for each block. In the past, I just had my chicken scratches on a piece of paper. I could just see myself confusing dark 2 with dark 3 or light tan with medium 1 if I didn’t have the little fabric swatches.

I cut out all the pieces for blocks 1-3 at the same time and kept them in individual groups with labels:

Cut Fabric Groups

Now, if only I could be this organized with all my quilty projects!

I hope you enjoyed seeing photos of this evolving quilt. I still need to “catch up” on parts 3 and 4, which are already published in the magazine.

Happy quilting,
Jen

A Cute Little Basket

Posted on March 28, 2014 by nwquiltedcat

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