Sunny Savannah Mini Quilt

Posted on April 30, 2014 by thequiltedcat

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

Peek at my Madrona Road Quilt

Posted on January 5, 2013 by thequiltedcat

In my earlier post here, I talked about joining the Portland Modern Quilt Guild and picking up the Madrona Road fabrics for a challenge project.

I’ve started working on this project and, I must say, it is definitely cat approved! My orange and white cat keeps sitting on it while I re-arrange the blocks! I’ve got some of the blocks created and will start assembling the quilt top soon.

Part of the challenge is to use a word that inspired the quilt. My word is both found within the Madrona Road fabric, but it also holds a special meaning to me and my sister (aka my quilting cruise companion and fellow quilt store junkie!). I will reveal the finished project in the next several weeks.

Here’s a quick peek to tease you just a bit!

Peek at Madrona Road Project

Are you working on any fun projects during this first week of the new year? I’d love to hear about them.

Happy sewing,
~Jennifer~

Madrona Road Modern Quilt Challenge

Posted on January 2, 2013 by thequiltedcat

With the new year, I decided to stretch my sewing/quilting skills and join a guild. I signed up for the Portland Modern Quilt Guild since I have been intrigued by some of the modern quilt blocks lately. I have a link to the PMQG on the right sidebar of my blog.

I’ve been focusing quite a bit on applique and paper piecing so I’ll return to some traditional piecing techniques for my first modern quilt project.

The project will be for the Madrona Road Challenge – a fun challenge that uses the Madrona Road (Michael Miller) line of fabric by Violet Craft.

I visited a local quilt shop to pick up some fabric from this line, but they only had a few pieces to choose from. I did pick up 4 different prints and then a few solids for accents.

Here are the solids:

Madrona Road Patterned Fabrics

I could order more Madrona Road pieces from an on-line retailer, but decided to challenge myself using just the prints that I found locally. The other stipulation is that it must be a wall or art quilt no larger than 36 inches on any side and must include a word that inspires the quilt.

I’ve worked up some ideas for my challenge quilt and am using a word inspired by an image in the actual fabric itself.

Stay tuned . . . I’ll post a progress photo soon!

Happy quilting!
~Jennifer~