Forest Abstractions | NW Quilted Cat

Happy Halloween, everyone!

My little guy is getting excited for trick-or-treating tonight, and I’m excited to get some more sewing time in this weekend. We carved some jack-o-lanterns last night:

Jack-o-Lanterns!

Recently, I had the great pleasure of meeting Violet Craft in person at an open house at a local quilt shop called the Pine Needle. I’ve been eyeing her paper pieced Forest Abstractions pattern for a while so I went ahead and purchased it. I love paper piecing, but haven’t done much of it during the past year. I’m going slow and easy, working in the blocks in between other quilt projects.

I decided to use a variety of low-volume prints for the backgrounds instead of using solids. I picked up a fat quarter stack of lovely fabric from a quilt shop in Spokane called Charming Lulu when I met my sister there for a little shop hop several weekends ago. They carry a wonderful selection of modern fabrics, and I hope to visit next time I’m in Spokane.

I haven’t found a website for Charming Lulu, but they are on Facebook.

Field Guide Fat Quarter Stack

Charming Lulu Quilt Store

For the bunny, I chose some wonderful purple and magenta fabrics that I picked up at a quilt show last year. I’m pretty sure that I’ll use different colors for each critter in the quilt, but we’ll see.

Forest Abstractions Pattern and Fabrics

Here’s a look at my completed bunny block:

Forest Abstractions Bunny

I hope to make another block from this pattern soon.

If you participated in the Black Cat Crossing blog hop, I offered a giveaway on my post here. I used a random number generator and the lucky winner is . . . .

Carole (her blog is From My Carolina Home).

Carole, I will be emailing you today to make the arrangements.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the blog hop. I do hope that you enjoyed all the wonderful Halloween creations.

Stay tuned because I’m participating in Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Blog Tour in November. I have a block published in the next issue, and I can’t wait to show it to you!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Happy Friday, everyone! It seems like it was a really long week at work for me, and I’m so looking forward to getting some sewing time in this weekend.

I am working on a couple of secret projects that I can’t reveal – yet!! One is for Quiltmaker magazine and the other is for the Black Cat Crossing Halloween blog hop (link in my side bar). And, just maybe, there is a birthday present in the works for a special someone.

Today and tomorrow, one of my favorite LQS, the Pine Needle, is hosting their fall open house. I stopped by today at lunch to check out all the great new projects and classes.

I’m particularly excited about meeting Violet Craft and purchasing her Forest Abstractions quilt pattern. I’ve been eyeing this pattern for sometime so I decided to go for it! I love paper piecing so I think this pattern will be up my alley.

I also chatted with Dawn of First Light Designs. She’ll be teaching a Dancing Churn Dash class at the Pine Needle this October with the Quick Curve Ruler. Of course, I did pick up that ruler and pattern! Oh my list of to-do projects keeps growing.

There is a wonderful display of quilts inspired by Charley Harper’s designs during the open house event. I neglected to write down the maker of these quilts so if anyone knows, please let me know!

I just love, love, love the cat quilts:

Fall Cat

Winter Cat

Spring and Summer Cats

Here are some more of the featured quilts:

Koala Quilt

Giraffe and Cheetah Quilts

There were several more quilts, but my photos didn’t turn out very well.

Of course, the fall cat is my favorite because it reminds me of my Tiger (aka the Quilted Cat). These quilts have encouraged me to make my own Charley Harper inspired cat quilt in the future.

Only 3 more weekends to go before the NW Quilting Expo!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer