Hello Darling Building Blocks

I love when I run across a pattern and go YESSS  I must make this!  That is exactly what happened at the beginning of January when Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs posted an update about things that were going on around her blog.  At the very end of the post she talked about her free pattern on the Moda Bake Shop called Building Blocks Baby Quilt (the #8 most viewed pattern at the Bake Shop).

Get your copy of the pattern here.

Seeing her version in Bonnie and Camille's Daysail spoke to me.  I just happened to have a charm pack of Bonnie and Camille's Hello Darling laying around and knew that it had found it's home.

The quilt went together very quickly and easily (which was just what I needed).  If you are finding yourself in need of a smaller quilt in a pinch, I would highly suggest this one.  The hardest part was deciding on what charms to put where...because I loved them all.

After everything was stitched together I could start planning the quilting portion of the show.  For the backing I chose to use one of the red fabrics in the line.

Miss Caroline claimed this quilt before it was finished.  I could not keep her off this red fabric.

I had a crazy idea to break up the center space into triangles and add feathers to the center.

However, I have never attempted to stitch feathers into a triangle space so I decided to do some practice runs.  Recently, I had purchased the class Ultimate Free-Motion Feathers with Patsy Thompson from Craftsy (side note, I have watched 25 or so classes, would anyone be interested in me doing reviews?  Would this be helpful info?).  After watching the first section of the class, I decided to give stem feathers and free form feathers a go.

I have been stitching feathers forever trying to get the movement embedded deep into my muscle memory.  In these samples I was trying to figure out if I should use stemmed feathers or free form feathers (implied spine).  I decided free form feathers felt more natural to stitch, so I measured out my triangle shape on practice fabric and gave it a go.  This is a shot from the back.

I was happy with the result so I bit the bullet and went with it.

As for the rest of the quilting, I chose to do ribbon candy in the small white borders, mimick the great orange peel pattern in the fabric on the pieced charm squares and simple straight lines in the turquoise borders.  I turned to my Aurifil thread collection to pick my quilting bling.

Aurifil 2250 Red for stitching in the ditch, Aurifil 2021 Natural White for the ribbon candy and binding, Aurifil 2886 Light Avocado for the orange peels, and Aurifil 1148 Light Jade for the straight line quilting.

After all the quilting yumminess was finished it was time to get this baby bound.  I chose Aunt Marti's (52 Quilts) Suszies Magic Binding once again for the final finishing touches.

With no babies in my future, I feel pretty safe to say that this quilt is all Miss Caroline's.  She watched over ever step of the process...tiny creeper that she is.

I have to say I loved every step of creating this small quilt.  My hat is off to Cheryl for another great pattern.  Don't forget to hop over to Moda Bake Shop and get your copy of Building Blocks Baby Quilt, and while your at it, show Cheryl some quilty love over at Meadow Mist Designs.  She has a great series on pattern writing going on right now, check it out.

How about a few more picture before we wrap this up?

And on a side note, I am super excited to be participating in the Craftsy Sweetens Up My Quilting Life Blog Hop going on right now.  It is being hosted by Julie (Pink Doxies) and Sandra (mmm!quilts) and they have put together a kick butt blog hop, if I do say so myself.  Below is a schedule for the hop.  Make sure you stop by and show all the ladies some love and take advantage of the super cool sales and give aways.  What a great way to treat yourself to something sweet!

Wednesday Feb 10th

Judy--Quilt Paradigm--Cindy Needham Design It Quilt It and Machine Quilting Wholecloth Quilts

Helen--Midget Gem Quilts--Jacquie Gering Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot

Thursday Feb 11th

Cindy--Stitching At Home--Amy Johnson Quilting With Rulers on a Home Machine

Vicki--Vicki's Crafts--fabric purchases, deals

Friday Feb 12th

Zenia--A Quilted Passion--Elizabeth Dackson Start FMQ, Christina Cameli Secrets of FMQ, and Angela Walters Help! How Do I Quilt It?

Jayne--Twiggy and Opal--Supplies: Pressing/cutting mat and Mini iron

Saturday Feb 13th

Tish--Tish's Adventures in Wonderland (Me)--Angela Walters Dot-To-Dot Quilting, Caro Sheridan Shoot It!, and Jessica Marquez Product Photography At Home

Anja--Anja Quilts--Patterns; Postcard from Sweeden, 1 hr Basket, Star Bright, and Reusable Handwarmers

Sunday Feb 14th

Beth--Cooking Up Quilts--Amanda Murphy 20 Fresh Applique Techniques

Preeti--Sew Preeti Quilts--fabric purchase, Kaffe Fassett Classics Design Strips

Monday Feb 15th

Julie--Pink Doxies--Joan Wolfrom Color Play for Quilters

Sandra--Musings of a Menopausal Melon-mmm! quilts--Angela Walters Machine Quilting:Small Changes, Big Variety and Free Motion Quilting With Feathers, and review fabric purchases and patterns Sea Glass and Snowflake

Today I'm linking up with Show Off Saturday, Whoomp There It Is, TGIFF, Finish It Up Friday, Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop!,  Let's Bee Social, Sew Cute Tuesday, Free Motion By the River, and  Main Crush Mondays.