Star Surround QAL Finish, Wicked Blog Hop, and More

Posted on September 16, 2013 by thequiltedcat

The last two weeks have been very bittersweet. My grandfather passed away on September 8th at the age of 92. Although the whole family knew this day was coming, it was still quite a sad shock!

My grandfather absolutely loved the outdoors. He was an avid hunter and fisherman throughout his life. We decided to celebrate his spirit by going camping this weekend at Scott Lake.

Here are two of my favorite photographs:

Scott Lake at Sunset

Scott Lake in Evening

For the sweet part of the past two weeks, I finished the Star Surround QAL. Thanks to Melissa at Happy Quilting for designing and hosting this fun project!

I decided to straight-line quilt to echo the star shapes in each block using my domestic sewing machine while my cat helpers sunbathed just out of view:

Quilting the Star Shapes

Here is what my final Star Surround quilt looks like all quilted and bound:

Star Surround Completed Front

Star Surround Front with Three Sisters in Background

Star Surround Closeup

Star Surround Completed Back

The back also uses fabric from the Mama Said Sew line plus a label and some more Essex Yarn Dyed in black. I hope that enjoyed looking at my completed project with central Oregon as a background!

Finally, a bit of fun and wicked news! I have joined the Wicked Blog Hop, hosted by Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt. This blog hop runs from October 22nd – 31st so I do hope you’ll come check out all the great blogs featuring wicked Halloween projects.

Have a great week and happy quilting!
~Jennifer

Glacier National Park and Star Surround QAL

Posted on September 1, 2013 by thequiltedcat

With summer winding down here in the Pacific Northwest and the kids almost ready to go back to school, I went with my family on a last summer trip to visit Glacier National Park. We did some hiking and saw wildlife from bears to goats to cute little rodents!

Although the mountains in Glacier were a bit obscured from local wildfires, we still managed to get a few good pictures.

Here’s Swiftcurrent Lake:

Swiftcurrent Lake, Glacier National Park

We hiked up to Grinnell Lake:

Grinnell Lake, Glacier National Park

I missed a week on the Star Surround QAL project so I had to catch up on the last 2 weeks once I returned home from Glacier.

Here’s a pic of the block surrounds pieced and ready:

Star Surround Pieces

Once I completed all these building block pieces, I could then begin assembling my 9 star blocks:

9 Star Surround Blocks

The last step to get all caught up with the quilt-a-long was to assemble the stars into 3 blocks by 3 blocks to create the finished quilt top. I decided to take a picture of the complete top outside in the afternoon light when, to my surprise, my Cow cat decided to check out the quilt and give his approval:

Star Surround QAL Top

Star Surround QAL Top Indoors

I had so much fun on vacation, but I’m happy to be back home!

Here’s a last look at one of our mountain goat friends at Glacier:

Goat at Glacier National Park

Hope everyone had a great summer and here’s to a great September!
~Jennifer

Star Surround QAL Centers

Posted on August 16, 2013 by thequiltedcat

Hi everyone!

Wow, is the summer going by fast! We’re down to the last 2 weeks before school starts up again. I have all the school supplies purchased for my soon-to-be 3rd grader, and he’s getting excited to see his friends again. I’m having a hard time fitting in my quilty projects, but squeezed in a few evening sewing sessions this week to complete my star centers for the Star Surround QAL. Look for the QAL button on the right-hand side of my blog to join the fun!

I’m using the Mama Said Sew fabric by Sweetwater for this project along with Essex Yarn Dyed in Black for the background by Robert Kaufman. I really like the look of these fabrics together.

Here are my blocks in a “shooting” star formation and then grouped in a 3×3 format:

Shooting Center Stars

Star Centers

Next week, the QAL schedule calls for building onto these center star blocks.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Star Surround Quilt-A-Long

Posted on August 4, 2013 by thequiltedcat

Happy August everyone! I recently joined an online quilt-a-long designed and hosted by Melissa at Happy Quilting. There is a button link to the quilt-a-long on the right-hand side of my blog so come join us!

For this project, I had to catch up this week with both cutting my fabric and creating this week’s assignment: half square triangles!

Since I just made a quick circle of flying geese project using the Mama Said Sew line from Sweetwater, I decided to use this same line of fabric to create a scrappy version of the Star Surround quilt. For my solid, I’m using Essex Yarn Dyed in Black by Robert Kaufman. This fabric blends in really well with the Mama Said Sew fabric and adds a bit of dramatic interest to my project!

Here’s a look at my 9 groupings of half square triangles, with 1 group laid out in the star shape:

Star Surround Half Square Triangles

I tried to get a photo of one of my quilting cats while I was cutting the squares for my project this week. The photo is a bit blurry, but I think my cat approves of my fabric selection!

Cat Approves Fabric

Our next assignment for this quilt-a-long will be Monday and will feature flying geese.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Moosin’ Around with a Circle of Geese

Posted on July 31, 2013 by thequiltedcat

Have you ever wanted to sew flying geese in a circle? This is a fun project that I’ve wanted to do for a while using a free paper pieced pattern by Piece by Number. I’ve seen various quilters use this pattern with stunning results using all different types of color schemes.

I feel in love with the Mama Said Sew line by Sweetwater for Moda last year and picked up a few 1/2 yard pieces. I decided to use this grouping to make my test circle of geese.

The quilt square finishes at 12 x 12-inches, and I added a 1-inch black border all around:

Circle of Geese Block

This block came together pretty quickly, and I think I may make two more using the same fabrics to make a table runner.

Just for fun, I took a little moose figurine that I purchased last summer at Grand Teton National Park and added it to the center of the unfinished block. I think he looks cute!