Aviatrix Medallion Quilt

Posted on January 20, 2016 by thequiltedcat

Happy Wednesday!

I hope to blog more often in 2016 than I did in 2015. I tend to post regularly to Instagram so check out my feed when you get the chance. I’m @nwquiltedcat.

I started working on the Aviatrix Medallion quilt by Elizabeth Hartmann quite some time ago. I last blogged about it back in June 2014!! My fabric selections are described here.

I finished maybe 2/3 of the quilt before I set it aside, distracted by all the things!! Last fall, I decided to finish the piecing and the quilting.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I had the chance to visit my sister’s lovely home, nestled in beautiful pine trees. The binding wasn’t finished so I brought it with me and stitched it to the quilt over the course of several evenings.

Here’s a look at the finished quilt, in all her rainbowy goodness:

Aviatrix Medallion finished

Aviatrix Medallion Close-Up

I definitely need to get a better, in-focus picture showing the quilt up close. Not all the points match perfectly, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. I love the color explosion!

Here’s a pic from that same weekend. It was around 7 degrees or so and we went looking for some wildlife to photograph. So cold!! We came across this suspension bridge so our mom snapped a pic of us! I’m in the gray coat and my sister is in the longer, black coat.

Standing on a frozen bridge with my sister!

Happy quilting!

~Jennifer

Aviatrix Medallion, Border 4

Posted on June 16, 2014 by thequiltedcat

I finished adding border 4 to my Aviatrix Medallion quilt. I love how it keeps growing and growing! We have just 2 more (larger) sized border to add to it over the next month or so.

You can follow along and make your own Aviatrix Medallion quilt. Just hop on over to Elizabeth’s blog and pattern shop, Oh Fransson.

I love the bright, cheerful solids and prints in my quilt. I can envision making the quilt again up until border 4 in a different color scheme and perhaps as a picnic quilt.

The difficult part now is that I can no longer attach the quilt top to my design wall for photographs. I’m using the floor and, curiously enough, no cat happened to wonder by during this picture!!

Here’s Aviatrix Medallion with border 4 added:

Aviatrix Medallion with Border 4 Added

I have my fingers in quite a few quilt pies at the moment so I’ll be blogging updates on a few of my projects later on this week.

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Aviatrix Medallion Border 3 + Celtic Solstice (Almost Finished!)

Posted on June 4, 2014 by thequiltedcat

This week, I’ve been catching up on a few quilty projects in the evenings.

First up is border 3 on this amazing Aviatrix Medallion quilt by Elizabeth Hartman. Each border keeps adding to the awesomeness of this quilt! I have a few errors and piecing mishaps in this border, but overall I’m pretty happy with it and using it as a great skill builder.

Here’s the quilt top with border 3:

Aviatrix Medallion with Border 3

Next, I finished quilting my Celtic Solstice top. I used an all over meandering stitch using a domestic machine and Aurifil thread #2000. After quilting, I placed it on the floor to measure for my binding. My cat had to come inspect!

Romeo inspects my Celtic Solstice quilt (before binding)

Celtic Solstice is designed by Bonnie Hunter and was a free pattern until June 1st this year. Since we’re past that date, the quilt instructions will be included in one of her future publications. If you missed out on this one, she will offer the next free mystery on her blog this fall.

I’m now feverishly working on hand stitching the backside of the binding before getting to see Bonnie in person next week in Portland for a class! Woo hoo!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Aviatrix Medallion Border 2 + Oregon Coast

Posted on May 26, 2014 by thequiltedcat

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

My Aviatrix Medallion quilt now has colorful border 2 added, and I’m working on stitching the units together for border 3 today. You can purchase the pattern and follow the quilt-along on Elizabeth’s blog, Oh Fransson.

Border 2 went together fairly quickly as the piecing was simple.

Aviatrix Medallion, Border 2 Added

Before I had the chance to add the sashing border to border 2, my cat inspectors arrived. I think my little grey kitty likes it!

Cats Inspect Aviatrix Medallion

My family and I took a nice day trip this holiday weekend to visit the Oregon Coast, specifically the Newport area to tour several tall ships, the Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain. The weather was gorgeous!

Tall Ship – the Lady Washington

Later that afternoon, the tall ships were scheduled to take ticketed passengers on special tours. We drove over to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse Natural Area to see if we could see the ships. Although we didn’t have binoculars, we did spot them out in the ocean.

Yaquina Head Natural Area with Tall Ships in the Distance

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse is a great place to visit with walking paths, tidepools, a visitor’s center, and the light itself. The fee is $7 per car. Near the lighthouse, we spotted 2 bald eagles on a tree. We saw them in flight carrying meals back to the tree. I wish I had a better camera lens for close-up photos!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

We walked down to the tide pool area. Our 8-year-old loved this part of our trip! We saw quite a few critters in the tide pools.

Tide Pool Area and Agate Beach in the Distance

Tide pool critters

We ended our day trip by walking along Agate Beach, searching for treasures. We didn’t find any agates, but we had a fun time walking the tall ships sail out for a second excursion. The dog loved it too!

Dog on Agate Beach

Hope you had a safe and happy holiday weekend! Thanks to all who have served our country.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Aviatrix Medallion, Border 1 + More

Posted on May 16, 2014 by thequiltedcat

Happy Friday, everyone!

It’s been a busy quilty week for me, in between work and the kiddo’s school schedule. I’ve made great progress on my Celtic Solstice top and should have all the borders added this weekend!

I also made a great antique sewing machine find at a local thrift store. I’ll take some pictures of my find and blog about it this weekend. So excited!

For the Aviatrix Quilt-along, our assignment this week is to add border 1. This border went together so nicely and took much less time than the gorgeous center block. Go check out all the details on Elizabeth’s blog, Oh Fransson.

This border has 32 HST units in 5 different neutral colors. Although my medallion colors are different, I did stick with the original neutrals as listed in the pattern. I’m using Aurifil Light Sand (#2000) for all the piecing.

Here’s a bit of blurry phone picture of the neatly trimmed HST blocks:

Trimmed HST Units in Neutrals

Here’s my center block now framed with border 1:

Aviatrix Medallion with Border 1

I just love how this quilt is coming together! We’ll work on border 2 next week.

Finally, have you heard about the Supernova Friendship Block Swap? You can find all the details on Stephanie’s blog, Late Night Quilter. I posted in the comments about needing a partner and found one within hours. I’m happy to say that I’m partnering up with Cindy of What’s One More Project. We’ve selected Denyse Schmidt’s Ansonia fabric line for our quilt.

Here are the 2 colorways. I’ll be working with the greens and Cindy will be working with the pinks.

Ansonia Fat Quarters in Green

Ansonia Fat Quarters in Pink

There is still time to hop aboard this fun swap. You’ll meet a new friend and have fun making quilt tops together. The first blocks are due June 15th.

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Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Aviatrix Medallion Quilt-Along Fabrics and Center Block

Posted on May 7, 2014 by thequiltedcat

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 thequiltedcat

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

Vice Versa BOM, April Blocks + A New Quilt Along!

Posted on April 23, 2014 by thequiltedcat

Over the last several evenings, I’ve cut out the fabric and stitched my April blocks for the Vice Versa BOM, hosted and designed by AnneMarie over at Gen X Quilters.

My fabric selections are inspired by Radiant Orchid, Pantone’s color of the year. You can read about the fabrics in my project here.

This month, we made star-within-a-star blocks. Here are my completed blocks:

Vice Versa BOM, April Block

Vice Versa BOM, April Block Inverse

I did take a photo of my January through April blocks together on a white design wall. I wanted to take a picture of the blocks with a higher contrast background so you can really see the richness of color. But, it is so rainy and windy here in the Pacific NW that I couldn’t get an outdoor shot.

Vice Versa BOM, 4 months of blocks

There is definitely still time to participate in the Vice Versa BOM so come join in on the fun!

I also wanted to mention a new quilt along that I’m so excited to start next week. It is the Aviatrix Medallion quilt along, designed and hosted by fellow Portland Modern Quilt Guild member Elizabeth Hartman on her blog, Oh Fransson! This week is fabric selection. Next Monday, we start in on the fabric cutting. You can do all solids, go scrappy, or do whatever fabric combination you want in this fun quilt along. Hope to see you join us!

Happy quilting,
~Jennifer