Playground Quilt

As many of you know, we are in the process of making a big move. With a few glitches along the way, things are coming together and we will be heading south at the end of this month! All that's involved has cut into my sewing time a bit, but I have managed to sit down at the machine here and there since my last post. Sewing has been a nice distraction, although I've limited myself to some fun, easy projects.

I recently finished this quilt... The pattern is from Camille Roskelly's book "Simply Retro", called Playground.

I started with a nice bundle of "Hello Bear" by Bonnie Christine for Art Gallery. The dotted background in this collection is awesome and I quickly had to order more as I'd love to use it again.

The backing is one of my favorite prints from the collection and the binding is a navy with all kinds of different textures in it. A good print to stash!

I went with straight line quilting, mainly because I was looking for an easy finish. But, honestly, I am a huge fan of straight line quilting. It gives wonderful texture, without distracting from the patchwork in the quilt.

With the fabric and the simple design, this quilt feels very earthy and organic to me. Maybe the perfect throw for my family room in South Carolina?

I've been sorting through my fabric {actually hope to have a destash sale on IG next week!} and decided to start piecing a nice scrappy quilt. I've had this pattern on my to-do list for years. It's from "Sunday Morning Quilts" and was a great mindless project to sew. It's not my usual style, but I really love it. I started with Maureen Cracknell's line "Wild and Free", then added lots of coordinating stash fabric.

And finally my "Fireworks" quilt. The blocks are cut out, and I'm finding this a great project to work on when I have an hour or so to make a block...

The next 3 weeks will involve lots of packing! Luckily my STLMQG friend, Paula, helped me fold and pack all the quilts. I'm not going to admit how many boxes there are :)

I'm signing off the blog for the rest of July. I'll be back in August, blogging from South Carolina and hopefully back to sewing! Have a great month!!

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Goings on in the Sewing Room

Sorry - it's been over a week since I dropped in here! But it doesn't mean I haven't been busy stitching away!

I went to Quiltcon last week! It was my first and so inspiring! I took a class on Friday with Elizabeth Hartman and made 3 blocks from her newest book Patchwork City. Most of you know that I've been quilting for a long time, but I love this art because it seems there's always something to learn or a new perspective on this old craft. She talked a lot about fabric selection and showed her awesome method of using freezer paper templates. And to keep my pledge of not having any UFO's, I came home and finished the blocks into a mini quilt. I definitely want to think about some new fabric choices to make one of the larger quilts from the book!

Just before I left, I started cutting out a Glam Clam quilt using mostly Cotton+Steel. It's been on my list for this year and a couple of Instagrammers got me all fired up. It's a lot of curves and I sewed a few together before cutting out the whole quilt just to be sure I was ready for it. It really goes together easily. I'm doing the 8" size and the pattern is free on Craftsy.

I've got a backing ready for my latest quilt. I made 3 giant blocks (they're 19 1/2" x 18") to stretch out a piece of yardage that I wanted to use on the back. Hope to start quilting this week. And thank you for all the name ideas! You guys are so much better than me at coming up with names! I'm leaning toward "Fletching". It always has looked like a part of an arrow to me and I had to look up the term, but I think it may be perfect!

And finally, I've been getting prepared for a retreat next week. As always, I'm looking forward to it and hoping for a touch of Spring in the air! The blocks are from Fat Quarter Style and the fabric is Joel Dewberry's newest line Flora.

And that's what I've been up to! How about you?

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Peppermint Float Variation

I've had this variation of my Peppermint Float pattern {from Simply Modern Christmas} in the back of my mind for a while. I finally created it in EQ7, liked the idea and decided it was time to cut into my precious Cotton+Steel fabric!

The change starts by substituting an alternate 6" square or block for the center star...

A slight change in the sashing creates a background grid for the blocks. I think that has lots of possibilities! The sashing strips are cut 2 1/2" x 10 1/2" with a 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" framing fabric piece on each end.

It's actually a simpler version and went together in a snap!

I decided not to add a border to this one {except for a white background border to float the design}, so this one's ready for quilting! I'm thinking of a simple diagonal grid.

Here's the original quilt from the book...

What do you think of the variation?

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Vanilla and Blooms

It's been a busy month here so far. My husband had some minor surgery and we had two trips for some fun family get-togethers. One of them was to New York City. I'm actually from upstate New York and visited the city quite frequently as a kid. But it's been a long time and I took the short time we had to pop into some iconic creative shops - Purlsoho, the City Quilter and Mood. I came home very inspired and ready to sew!

Just before I left, I finished up my Vanilla and Blooms quilt.

I started with some fat quarters of Sweet as Honey by Bonnie Christine for Art Gallery. As usual, I added some stash fabrics for a nice unique mix. The backing uses the hive fabric and the hexagon fabric from the line.

This is quite a large quilt for me, so I sent it off to one of our local longarm quilters, Jane Coons. I hope you can see the lovely design she quilted in each of the blocks...

One of my favorite quilts! {Do I say that about all of them??}

Be back sooner this time!

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Flowering Snowball Quilt

I shared a glimpse of my Flowering Snowball Quilt and several of you asked for more info. I'm back today with more pictures and the scoop on just how to make it!

I started with several pieces of Emmy Grace by Bari J for Art Gallery fabrics. It became my color inspiration of greens, blues, pinks, gold and grays. Then as usual, for variety I added lots of coordinating prints from my stash {and because, really, I have to use some of this stash!}.

The pattern is from Mary at Molly Flanders Makerie. You can find the full schedule of posts here. I chose to buy templates and got them from Custom Plastic on etsy. If they're not listed, you can just send Rodney a message and he will list them for you.

The only change I made to Mary's instructions was the pressing of the seam allowances. For half the blocks I pressed the seams toward the print fabric and for the other half I pressed toward the white fabric. I alternated the two blocks in the quilt so the seams were easier to match up. And it seemed to work perfectly...

I'm so enamored with the circles that form when you put the blocks together!

Up next is quilting this one and I'm seriously considering hand quilting it - very simply - just echoing the pattern. 

You can see more Flowering Snowball quilts on flickr or Instagram using the hashtag #floweringsnowballalong

Linking up to Molly Flanders Flowering Snowball Along!

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Gathering Flowers Quilt

I've been quilting and quilting and quilting and finished up my Gathering Flowers Quilt. The pattern is from Anna Maria Horner and although there are 2 variations of the block, I chose to do the pieced one. The other is gathered and dimensional.

This is a completely pieced flower block and full of curves. The curves seem to be a theme for me this year! The background is 2-tone. I used a white solid and a very subtle gray print. If you look close you can see the pinwheels that form in the background. Love that!

I struggled in choosing a binding for the quilt and "settled" on a navy diagonal stripe from April Showers. I ended up loving it!

The background quilting is a loopy paisley fill and I marked a design with a circle template that created a big, round flower motif on the flower. I shared a Flipgram tutorial on Instagram, which you can view here. (Wait a few seconds for it to play)

The quilt sure is a mix of fabrics! Each wedge was cut from a different fabric and the outside petals are all a bold graphic print.

It was a fun quilt to make and I think I've finally made peace with curves!

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Sew, sew, sew...

Four days of sewing, sewing, sewing. It keeps us busy while we talk, laugh and eat. Quilt Retreat ~ sometimes productive, but always fun. I get to go with a bunch of ladies who never cease to amaze me with their talent and kindness. I'm very blessed.

Last week turned out to be one of those productive retreats. It seems I brought just the right mix of piecing projects. One small, one larger and one half-way done.

I had 16 of my 30 Flowering Snowball blocks completed and decided to tackle the remaining 14. Done and done! It was a breeze to set them together once I got home and I now have a top. More details to come on this one!

Our Modern Quilt Guild has a fund raising sale at the end of each year. Last year I won a jelly-roll of Kate Spain's Cuzco. It's so pretty! Since I had it all cut out before I left, I was able to piece the small Zipper quilt the first day. It's an older line, and I was wondering what I'd be able to find for a backing and binding. What do you know - the next day my friend, Gina noticed that Abby was destashing several yards on Instagram. Score! Meant to be :-)

And remember all those squares of Bonnie and Camille fabrics that I cut from scraps? Yup! Got most of those blocks done too! I finished the final few when I got home and quickly set them together. The pattern is Great Granny Squares by Lori Holt.

We had a fun little secret sister swap this time too.  I asked for something for my sewing room and one of my best buddies, Rene, made this beautiful sewing machine cover. I love it and it was desperately needed!

It felt good to finish up a few quilt tops last week. I've got some new fabric calling my name...

The cycle never ends!

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Red Letter Day

Red Letter Day ~ a new Thimbleblossoms pattern ~ super quick and fun one too! I'll let the pictures do the talking today :-)

I'm happy with the quilting too! I did a big "X" through the center of the quilt in both directions, then echoing straight lines, creating a "V" in each quadrant.

Backing and binding coordinate nicely with the front...

Making it a Red Letter Day!

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