Renewal, A QuiltCon Entry

Posted on January 16, 2018 by thequiltedcat

Happy 2018 everyone!

My goal this year is to blog at least once each week. Although I post on Instagram regularly (@nwquiltedcat), my blog posts let me go into greater details on my quilts!

For this post, I want to show you a foundation paper-pieced quilt that I designed for the small quilt category for QuiltCon 2018 in Pasadena. Unfortunately, the QuiltCon selection committee did not choose my quilt for display. I do hope to enter it into a local show later this year.

This quilt is called Renewal, and I designed as a personal reflection of my feelings for the Eagle Creek Fire in the Columbia River Gorge in the summer of 2017. This fire was human-caused and devastated the area. My family has been hiking, camping, and fishing in the area for 4 generations so this fire really hit home.

However, wildfires also promote renewal and healing in the forest. It is a natural process and cycle that keeps forests in balance. Hence, my quilt is Renewal!

Look for the quilted shadow animals. These shadows represent the animals that lost their lives in the fire, but also represent animals returning to the forest as it regrows.

Renewal

Renewal Close-Up

I really wish that I could attend QuiltCon this year, but vacation time and funds are in short supply. Hoping to go in 2020!

Happy quilting!

~Jen

Sew Many Colors Mini Quilt Finish

Posted on March 17, 2017 by thequiltedcat

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

This past weekend, I had the great fortune to go on a mini 3-day vacation with my sister. We rented a condo at the Oregon coast and had a great time sewing all day on different projects.

I brought one project in particular to finish during our retreat called “Sew Many Colors” to celebrate Aurifil USA’s 10th anniversary and designed by Whole Circle Studio! I love Aurifil thread and use it for all my piecing so naturally I just had to make this quilt.

I decided to feature ocean/sea glass colors in this mini so I could have a virtual tropical vacation whenever I look at the quilt. I used Kona White as both my background and the backing for the quilt. I wanted the thread spool colors to really stand out.

For the thread spools, I used these Kona Cotton colors: Jamaica, Niagara, Astral, Malibu, Mediterranean, Ultra Marine, Grasshopper, Cabbage, Parrot, and Cyan. I used a Kona Cotton charm pack for all these colors except 1 that I pulled from my stash.

The binding is a scrappy mix using the leftovers from paper-piecing the spools. I had just enough to complete the binding – whew! I really love the dimensional effect that scrappy binding gives to this mini quilt.

Since I was at the beach, I decided to be adventurous with my free-motion quilting by stitching a sand dollar shape using Aurifil #4654. This is a lovely green and blue variegated thread in 50 weight. For the background quilting, I did all over free-motion swirls using Aurifil 2024 in 50 weight, and it blended perfectly with the Kona White.

Sew Many Colors Mini Quilt

Close-Up of Sand Dollar Free-Motion Quilting

Sew Many Colors Mini Quilt Thumbnail

I am entering this mini quilt into a contest where you can vote! Voting runs from April 1st – 15th, 2017 on the Aurifil blog. Hope you’ll stop by and check out all the beautiful quilts!

Happy quilting,

~Jennifer

Brutus Quilt, First Finish of 2016

Posted on January 8, 2016 by thequiltedcat

Happy New Year, everyone!

My quilty goal this year is to finish more projects before starting new ones! Sound familiar?

In a bittersweet first finish for the year, I completed the quilting and binding on my Brutus memory quilt this week.

I posted earlier that Janeen of Quilt Art Designs drafted this wonderful foundation paper-pieced pattern for me of my dog, Brutus, who passed away in September 2015 after fighting cancer.

The pattern is based off a photo that I took of Brutus with us on the Broken Top hike in central Oregon in August 2015.

Brutus hikes the Broken Top trail with the Three Sisters in the background

I pieced the quilt using Aurifil 50 weight threads in light tan and black. The blue background is Moda Grunge, the solids are all Kona cotton, and the blacks and grays are from various fabric manufacturers pulled from my stash.

I did a free-motion swirly quilting all over his fur, switching from black thread to a variegated brown thread when needed. For the blue background, I did straight-line quilting using Rainbow thread by Superior. It has a subtle shimmer that you can see in person, but the pictures do not show it well.

For the binding, I went with a black and white print from Cotton & Steel. I like how it vaguely resembles an old film strip yet brings the focus to Brutus.

Brutus Memory Quilt 1

Brutus Memory Quilt 2

I love how this quilt turned out! I think it is my favorite quilt that I have made, and I plan to hang it in our house this weekend. I miss Brutus fiercely and still feel his sweet doggie presence.

Sincere thanks to Janeen for the pattern. Please check out her Craftsy store and her wonderful selection of foundation paper-piecing patterns!

Happy quilting,

~Jennifer

We Support You blog hop!

Posted on February 9, 2015 by thequiltedcat

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my blog where I’m happy to be participating in the We Support You blog hop to encourage, support, and inspire all those who have been touched by cancer, particularly breast cancer. My mother-in-law passed away several years ago from complications due to breast cancer so I definitely know this cancer touches so many lives.

Thanks to Madame Samm of Sew We Quilt for encouraging us to make something cheerful and beautiful in this hop using her pattern and to Pat, our wonderful cheerleader for this hop. You can purchase the “We Support You” friendship pattern for $12 from Madame Samm directly by emailing her at madamesamm@me.com.

I’ve been participating in quite a few Instagram mini swaps lately, and all the beautiful rainbow colored quilts inspired me in my project for this hop.

I started by selecting a text print for the block backgrounds. This text print has encouraging phrases such as “No regret” and “Dream big.” Next, I made 3 little bras in colorful print fabrics to applique to the text backgrounds. The bra straps and hangers are hand embroidered using DMC black embroidery floss.

Next, I pulled some Kona cotton solids in various rainbow hues to create the borders and bound the whole mini using black weave print. I used a Superior variegated thread to do the quilting, alternating wavy horizontal and vertical lines.

I had this really cute little wire heart hanger so I added a sleeve to the back for a perfectly finished little project!