Sew Brimfield - A Finished Quilt

I know, I know, long time, no blog!  I had been working on my projects very regularly then all of a sudden, not so much.  Sometimes it is like that, I lose the quilting mojo, but it always comes back.  It is back and I am back.

I'm naming this quilt Sew Brimfield, after the retreat where I made most of the blocks.  I highly recommend the retreat, they are holding it again, and you can find the information for it here.  My blog post about my experience at the retreat is here.

The finished quilt is 61" by 72".  It was inspired by a quilt I saw on Instagram made by The Pattern Basket.  I had previously made a similar design, Great Granny Squared by Lori Holt, so I used that pattern but reduced the size of the squares and added another round to each block.  I made the quilt entirely from stash, including the border, binding, and backing.  Yea!

I sent the top to Teresa Silva of Quilting Is My Bliss; you can see more of her great work on her Instagram account.

I understand this "swirl pose" is the thing to do for quilt photos now, lol.

In the meantime, I've been working on another UFO (2023 is my year to tackle UFOs) and have a couple more unfinished projects queued up to go.  However, quilting was interrupted for a vacation trip to Naples and the Amalfi Coast of Italy.  Totally fabulous!  I went with Girls Guide to the World and highly recommend them for women who want to travel but not alone.  I've enjoyed my trips with them even more than solo travel.  They are offering the same Amalfi trip again in May 2024.  Here are some highlights:

Sailing around Capri

Inside the Blue Grotto at Capri

Lemons growing in Sorrento

View of Positano (the one day it rained)

The view from my hotel room balcony in Sorrento

Pompeii

Pastries in Naples

Until next time!

Pirouette or Dance Party, A Finished Quilt

About 10 months ago, I began the process of making about a gajillion half square triangles out of my collection of 30's reproduction prints to use in the making of a design called Pirouette by Carrie Nelson.  The pattern in featured in the book A Scrapbook of Quilts by Joanne Figueroa and Carrie Nelson (well worth having in your quilting library if you don't own it already).  I finished the top by mid-summer then had it quilted by a long-arm quilter.  I got it bound in time to give it to my sister and brother-in-law for Christmas.  I named my version Dance Party.

I was really happy with the way it came out and they seemed to like it too.  

It is a fairly easy design to make, though the number of blocks needed for a queen bed size quilt means the process can become a bit tedious.  

The quilting design is a panto (edge to edge), a loose feather that softens the linear piecing.  I used a wide back by Lori Holt for Riley Blake fabrics that I bought for this purpose but all the other fabric, including the binding, came from my stash and is from older fabric lines.

I hope you had a merry Christmas or other holiday celebration and are settling in for the new year.  I'll be back soon with my plans for 2023.

Jingle All The Way - A Finished Quilt

I've got a finished quilt to show off.  I'm calling it Jingle All The Way, after the fabric line I used to make it.

I started this quilt back in late 2020, knowing I would not finish it in time for Christmas.  Well, I put the last stitch in the binding yesterday so it's done plenty early for Christmas 2022!

I used a pattern that was in an issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.  It was designed by Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life and she sells the pattern as Coastal on her Etsy site.  The fabric is a collection called Jingle All The Way by Nancy Halvorsen.  I've had it in my stash for ages, though you can still find some online.

Having the right fabric for the plain alternating blocks is crucial for this pattern in my opinion.  It requires something that works with the prints used for the stars but still lets the stars take center stage.  I chose an open, swirly pantograph pattern for the quilting, done by Olde City Quilts.

The quilt is 69" square, great for a throw quilt to use on the couch while watching TV.  It will be especially cozy because I backed it with flannel.  I happened upon this flannel sheet while leafing through a catalog sent by Garnet Hill; the red and green polka dots coordinate so well with the colors on the front of the quilt.  I ordered a flat sheet (I think it was queen bed size).  I washed it and dried in on "high" to get any shrinkage out of the way before I took it be quilted as I was concerned that the flannel might shrink quite a bit more than quilting cotton.  I'm really pleased with how it came out and the back is so soft!  This is also a fairly cost effective way to back a quilt as the queen size sheet is only $49.

I'm tempted to make this quilt again and am sure I will once I came across the right fabric collection.

In the meantime, I'm putting the leftover fabric to use in my first project of 2022, but that's a story for another day.

APQ Quiltalong Square Dance Quilt Finished

Last March, I joined a quilt along led by American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, making the quilt Square Dance, designed by Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life.  The blocks didn't take long to make but I dawdled over finishing.  Finally, the quilt is finished.

Dillie, one of our corgis, saw the camera and immediately began posing.  My fabric choices were inspired by the print on the left, from Laundry Basket Quilts for Andover Fabrics.  I pulled the fabrics for the blocks from a fat eighth bundle of assorted Laundry Basket Quilts fabrics and intended to use the floral print for the borders.  

But once I had the blocks finished and sewn together, in rainbow-ish order, I found the large floral too busy for the borders.  I ended up using a simple tone-on-tone print in light navy (from another Laundry Basket line called Olive Branch) and though you can't really see it, I used a kiwi green tone-on-tone for the binding.  The background is Kona Cream, with a simple beige floral for the sashing posts.

The quilting is a large, curvy floral pantograph.  

This quilt is easy enough for a beginner and the blocks go together quickly.  The blocks are 9" square so it is easy to make the quilt larger or smaller to suit your needs.

This is my last post before Christmas.  We're having a small family celebration at home and I am looking forward to a few days of relaxation.  I hope your celebration is a merry one!

Rainbow Connection #LittleBlocks365 Quilt

The quilt I made with my Little Blocks 365 is back from the quilter and I bound it - not a big job given if is only 43" square.  

I'm calling it Rainbow Connection.  I started with a fat quarter bundle of solids and made the blocks gradually, selecting from the blocks released each week in the Little Blocks 365 program.  Because my setting used only 56 blocks, I did not need all 365 blocks in the program and could finish before the end of the year.  Note, I adapted my setting from a quilt made by Brigette Heitland of Zen Chic.

I had it longarm quilted by the folks at Olde City Quilts in Burlington, NJ.   The quilting pattern is a panto or edge-to-edge design of large paisley-like feathers in white thread.

The quilting pattern is not too much on the blocks and shows up really well in the white borders.  

The back is solid white because I was afraid any print or darker color might show through to the front in the white borders.  Did you know that Kona comes in wide widths (60" and 108") in a variety of colors?  The 60" wide version was perfect for the back of this wall hanging size quilt.

I really enjoyed making these blocks and am tempted to start another set using a different color combination.  But that will probably wait until late this year as there are some other projects I need to finish.  And first I need to clean and declutter my sewing room - it looks like a cyclone blew through!

A Finished Quilt - Snowflake Pattern by Modern Handcraft

Pieced, quilted, and bound...it's Snow Day!

I pieced this quilt at the beginning of the year (you can read more about that here) then had it quilted at Olde City Quilts in Burlington, NJ, a shop that is local-ish to me.  I chose the design from among the many they offer (it's a pantograph).  The thread is Wedgewood blue and shows up against the dark blue background and the white snowflake without having excessive contrast.  I'm very happy with it.  

The design is off-season for now but come January, this quilt will be showcased in the quilt hanging spot in my kitchen.  The design is by Modern Handcraft, a pattern called Snowflake.  The original design creates a quilt that is 60" by 72" but I wanted a smaller quilt for my kitchen spot which is best for a quilt that is 35-40" wide.  No problem; the pattern is essentially a mosaic and I just reduced the size of the basic square unit to be two-thirds of the original size.  So my quilt is 40" by 48" with all the detail of original, just reduced in size.

It is an extremely well-written pattern, very easy to follow.  In fact, I think a beginner could do it though accuracy is key to get the graphic look of the snowflake as angles must come together perfectly.  

Now, back to my quilt alongs!

Trip Around the World - A Finished Quilt

Pieced, quilted, and bound... I finished the Trip Around the World quilt that I pieced last summer.  The weather has been so good lately so I took this photo outside in our back yard.

It is a generous throw size, 64" by 72" and I bound it using the same fabric that is in the outer most "ring" of squares, the teal green tone-on-tone fabric.  You can read more about how I pieced this quilt in my earlier post on it, here.

This is the last quilt that Karen Thompson quilted for me, before she retired from longarm quilting for clients.  She quilted it with a curvy swirl panto design.  

I like swirling designs like this one for their softening effect on the angular patches.

I made the quilt top last summer when I was in use-the-stash mode so almost all of the fabric came from my stash, even the backing.  I did a fabric pull to coordinate with the colors in our family room, using the floral throw pillow as the key inspiration (the curtains in the room are made of the same floral fabric).  I wanted this particular quilt to be used in our family room and to complement the decor there but even when I'm not trying to coordinate with a room's decorating scheme, I find this method of selecting fabrics for a quilt to be quite effective.  

If you have a fabric you like, select your quilting fabrics based on the colors/shades in the inspiration fabric, in the ratios they are used in the print, and you pretty much can't go wrong.  You don't even have to use the inspiration fabric in the quilt itself, but just as a guide to selecting the fabrics you will use.  

Mr. Main Street is trying to hold the quilt up to get a picture.  The corgis saw the camera and thought they were supposed to be the models; you can see the paws of one of them (along with the mister's sock feet) under the bottom edge.  

Well, I have even more binding to do.

Like Sunshine On A Cloudy Day - A Finished Quilt

I have a quilt finish to share; I'm calling this one Like Sunshine On A Cloudy Day.

This quilt was inspired by a string quilt I made several years ago.  It is my most used quilt and I thought something similar to use in rotation could be a good idea.  Inspiration also came from my stash, as it holds a lot of floral prints in light colors, mainly from the 3 Sisters collections for Moda.  I was really wanting to make a quilt from my stash, something I would really like and not just for the sake of using the stash (I put too much time into my quilts to spend it making something I'm not enthusiastic about).

I sent the top and backing to Karen Thompson, my longtime quilt collaborator.  Karen used an edge-to-edge design that is similar to Baptist fan, a quilting pattern I'd wanted to use for a long time.  

I bound the quilt with a darker pink tone-on-tone print.  It makes a nice finish and complements the darker pinks in some of the floral prints. The blocks are just 6" square and each strip of fabric in the block finishes at 1" wide so this is a good block for those leftover bits and pieces of fabric we all have.

I even used fabric from my stash for the back.  This is big quilt, 96" square for a queen size bed, and I didn't have enough of any one print but I had two coordinating prints.  I must have bought these with some use in mind but I can't remember what.

I'm happy with the way this quilt turned out and have it on my bed now.  It's like a ray of sunshine on these dreary January days.