Island Batik-Magnificent Minis

I'm so excited to show you my first complete challenge for Island Batik.  This month our challenge was to create a miniature quilt no larger than 24" square for the Magnificent Mini Challenge using fabrics provided to us by Island Batik.

Mini Wayward Transparency

I do believe this little mini quilt qualifies as a squirrel, if ever one did.  About a month ago, I seriously decided to drop everything and make this quilt...DrEAMi?  While standing in line for a steak hoagie (glamourous right?), I ran into a girl I graduated high school with.  She and her daughter had been to the quilt show and she was telling me that her daughter fell in love with the blue quilt I had entered.  They were walking around picking which quilts they were going to vote for in the people's choice category and her daughter stopped when she spied my version of Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl's Wayward Transparency Quilt and said that that was her quilt.  When she read the tag she realized it was my quilt.  I thanked her for sharing that story with me it truly made me smile.

Alexandrite and Pearls

I'm not sure where to start because I'm so in love with this little 16" mini quilt.  Let's start with technically, it is not my quilt...legally only half mine.  Sorry, bad joke.  This little quilt is the brain child of my husband, Dave the Quilt Engineer and will be his entry in our guild's Birthstone Challenge.

When the challenge was issued, he decided to go with one of the designs from his sketch book.  The birthstone(s) for the month of June is Pearls and the more modern Alexandrite in beautiful purples and turquoise.  When he showed me the fabrics he had picked out, I knew no matter what he created it was going to be beautiful!  Plus there was a bit of jealousy because all I had to work with was reddish brown on mine.

Garnet Star Crystal

I can finally cross this one off the list and call it finished.  Though it hasn't been hanging around for to long, as far as WIP's and UFO's go, I have set it down a few times to work on other things.  This is my version of Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl's Star Crystal Quilt.  How did this mini come to life?

I introduced a challenge to guild members to create something in their birth month colors to be revealed at our June meeting.  Being a January baby, meant my project would be full of rich dark brownish reds, representing the garnet.  I have to admit, this has never been my favorite color and I wasn't necessarily turning cartwheels at the idea of my color palette.  Then I found a pretty paisley fabric that would allow me to stay true to the concept but sneak in a few more colors...like blue.

 I decided to use an original design by myself and David.  I cut all my pieces and quickly went to work.  Standing back and admiring my work, I couldn't help but think, man this would make a great mystery quilt.  I talked the idea over with the mister who said, go for it!  So I did and Fireburst Mystery Quilt (going on now here) was born.  However this left me, the thrower down of the challenge, without a challenge project.  So back to the drawing board.

I needed something quick and easy.  I've been wanting to make the Star Crystal Quilt for quite some time and decided this would be the perfect opportunity.  Instead of the whole quilt, I went with just one block.  Lucky for me, I had just enough fabric left over from Fireburst to pull the one block wonder off.  Well I didn't of that deep red, but did of a more medium tone.

Once I was able to focus on the quilting, I was able to quilt it in just a few hours.  I wanted to keep my quilting threads matchy matchy with my fabrics.

My weapons of choice was Aurifil #2021 Natural White for the yummy Moda Grunge fabric and Aurifil #2460 Dark Carmine Red and, my personal favorite, #2260 Wine.  This is probably the only time it is acceptable to spill wine on a quilt...and spill Wine I did...all over that delicious dark red fabric.

I started in the background fabric first.  I knew I wanted straight lines and lots of them.  I just love the texture it gives. 

A little dot to dot ruler fun in the darker sections of the star.

Just for fun I added some continuous curves and pebbling in the other star points.  I have to admit the paisley fabric threw me for a loop...or swirl...or what ever paisleys actually are.  I didn't want to spend much time putting a filler in there because chances are the fabric is so busy you wouldn't see it.  So I went with straight lines like in the background.

I LOVE all the quilty texture I was able to cram into this little one.  After all that quilting and Aurifil Wine, I was drunk and in love.

I was able to finish this one in time for the local quilt show, but we will talk about that in another post soon.  Now I will bombard you with quilt pictures but I promise quilty goodness as well. 

I cannot wait to reveal my challenge project at the meeting next month and see what everyone else came up with.  Super Dave has his project pieced and if he doesn't quilt it soon, I may just have to steal it and quilt it for him.  Hopefully, the ladies will give me permission to share their projects with you as well.  Does your guild participate in challenges?  I'd love to hear about it.


Today I'm linking up with TGIFF, and Can I Get A Whoop! Whoop!

**As of Friday, blogger doesn't seem to be emailing of comment notifications and I am currently trying to figure out how to reply to comments by email without their help.  If you do not hear from me, know that I appreciate your comments and I'm tring to figure out how to fix this.  Hopefully, Blogger will fix it as well.**

Freefall 2

So let's get right to the point here (see what I did there??)  I am having a blast making all these little Freefall leaves.  The next six blocks went together easy peasy lemon squeezy over here.  Since I was a pro at making them from making the first eight, I was able to chain piece the crap out of these little buggers.

I separated everything into neat little piles and in no time at all have my completed blocks.  I LOVE a project like that.  I chose to paper piece the large shadow leaf points as well.  Sandra has the paper piecing units also available in her Craftsy Shop.

So now I will leave you with all my blocks to date floating around on my mobile design wall.

Only six more blocks to go!  So now there is nothing to do but set around and wait for the next set of instructions, or maybe I could quilt something :)

Today I'm linking up with Freefall Linky and Main Crush Monday.

Star Cross--A Finish

Star Cross Mini Quilt, oh how I love thee.  From the moment I first laid eyes on Geraldine at Living Waters Quilter's post on Instagram of her finished quilt, I knew I had to make it.  She must have read my mind because just a few days later she announced she would be hosting a QAL for this mini quilt.

This was not a typical QAL per say.  She directed us to the pattern for the block over at the Juki website (you can find it here) so that we could make our blocks.  Then each week she posted a different video and tutorial on quilting the quilt using straight edge rulers.

You can find links to Geraldine's tutorials below.

Week one: making the quilt and gathering supplies
Week two: Straight Line Designs
Week three: Quilting Channels
Week four: Simple Echo and Radiating Designs
Week five: Bordered Crosshatch

If you are new to ruler work, her breakdown videos are an excellent way to start learning.  Rulers are a tool I think every quilter should have in their tool box.  I want all of them!  For this quilt I used my Handi Quilter Straight Edge ruler and quilted on my Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen.  I could have very easily quilted it on my Husqvarna Sapphire using my Westalee ruler foot or marked lines and used a walking foot.

For my quilting threads, typically I go very matchy matchy so everything blends completely in.  This time I decided to liven things up at bit and use a thread that would slightly contrast.

I chose to use Aurfil #2310 Light Beige in the white and tan sections and Aurfil #2605 Grey in the blue sections.  The colors provided just enough contrast to make sure my quilting stood out, but didn't completely overshadow my fabrics.  I love that the 50 wt thread will allow me to travel stitch around my lines several times without looking bulky or thick, just nice clean lines.

This little mini will be headed to my daughter's school for a fundraiser for the arts, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to make another one for myself or at least incorporate these designs into future quilts.

Star Cross is my second QAL finish this year.  You can read about my Quilter's Laundry Day mini here.  So for now it's back to work piecing on the other QAL projects and I'm happy to report I've starting quilting on one of my Meadow Mystery Quilts.  Hopefully, I will have another finish to share with you very soon.

Today I'm linking up with Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social and Midweek Makers.

Mini Round Robin--Finished

This entire project has been a crazy train ride full of emotions and I would certainly buy a ticket to ride again anytime.  The journey for this little quilt started back in May when I constructed the center block, called The Attraction block (the free pattern can be found here).

My poor round robin mates, I think I'm the one that made it hardest on everyone.  If I had it to do over, I would have chosen a block that wasn't so simplistic.  I really kind of backed them into a corner color wise and well, it's not the most interesting block to build off of.  But I have to say the round robin team completely blew this out of the water and returned to me in September the most beautiful and creatively designed mini I could have ever imagined.  

You can read more about my mini's journey, if you would like me to pause my story for a minute or two...

The beginning...my post

Round one it traveled to Julie at Pink Doxies

Round two it traveled to Cindy at Stitchin At Home

Round three it traveled to Sandra at MmmQuilts

We had hoped to have our minis quilted by the beginning of October, but true to form, I am fashionably late to the party.  That's okay though, I was a bit intimidated by their creative work and had to wait for this little guy to speak to me.

This mini is about balance, change and movement.  Life is constantly changing.  In any given situation there is usually two sides pressing against each other and it just depends on how hard they are pressing as to whether balance is achieved.  My center square started out black and white, yin and yang.  I like to think of that red square in the middle as the pop of energy that forces things to change, for the better or the worse.  We need that pop; without it there is no chance to grow.

So until this epiphany hit me, this poor mini laid around my house, basted and ready to go.  My pop of red that made me realize, it was time to quilt or get off the machine, happened one evening while I was quilting at the Sweet Sixteen.  All of my fur kids were quietly playing in the living/dining room.  I had my glasses on top of my head so looking at a distance things were blurring.  When I glanced in their direction, I could see white stuff all over the floor and all three dogs were chewing at something...wtf?

  

For the first time ever, they had grabbed something off the quilting table.  Those three heathens, managed to paw the batting out from between the quilt layers.  Thankfully, the top was not ripped.  This picture is blurry because I may have been screaming like a raging sailor.

I have no idea what possessed them to do this, but lesson learned.  When I went to the store to pick up more batting, I ran into this fabric.

 For reasons not clearly revealed to me, I decided I wanted this for my backing fabric instead of the red print.  If I had to re-layer everything, I may as well re-layer everything.

Now on to the good part...the quilting.  

This mini called for three different colors of thread, Aurifil #2250 Red, #2692 Black and #2021 Natural White.  Three very classic colors.  Doesn't it make you want to dress up and go out on the town?

For my section, the center square, I decided on simple continuous curves for the red and feathers in the black and white.  Though the black and white fabrics are opposite each other, the feathers allow them to flow together.  

For Julie's round, I chose to do angled lines going opposite each other in the red and black sections.  Instead of adding the ribbon candy in the border, I left the small borders un-quilted.

For Cindy's round, those awesome chevron/arrows, I decided to echo the chevrons going in the opposite direction.  I LOVE when I can add ghost quilting to a project; those little designs you didn't know where lurking in a space.  In life, even when things are going smoothly in the direction you want them to go, there can be small little obstacle trying to take you a different direction.  Those little hiccups can lead to beauty, so we shouldn't fear them.  

This photograph shows how I marked the lines to quilt them to make sure I had the spacing correct.

In Sandra's last round of log cabin blocks, I knew I wanted to add some dot to dot quilting of angles and something similar in the corners.

Since this was a smaller project, I used a 1/4" tape to mark off the edge of my quilt, to help me easily see where I needed my lines to end and account for where the binding would hit the quilt.

Though, it's a bit  hard to see, those angles point down in the red and up in the black, with ribbon candy in the base of the red.  In the corners, I chose to add lines radiating from the corner out.

And of course for my binding, I went with a flange...gasp!  I seriously contemplated doing my binding in half red and black to blend into their sections.  I decided on the silver/gray and white flange to brighten things up a bit and show a distinct stopping point.  I think this quilt has achieved it's nirvana.  And so, I shall call my mini, "Nirvana."

And a quick peak at the back...

This quilt will always have a special place in my heart.  Being able to create with Julie, Cindy and Sandra was an honor.  All three of these ladies were able to translate exactly what this quilt was saying, even if at the time we couldn't completely understand what was being said.  I hope we all can fear change less and embrace the future with open arms.  Positive energy, thoughts and prays will bring about positive change.  I'm pretty sure nothing too great has come out of worry and fear except more fear.  With that I will leave you with Nirvana in the garden where her first pictures were taken.

Did I happen to mention this is the fourth finish from my 4th Quarter list?

Today I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social, Linky Tuesday, and  Main Crush Monday.

Tish and the Star Thistle

When Jayne at Twiggy and Opal put out a request for pattern testers for her block for the Cloud 9 New Block Blog Hop I was more than happy to lend a hand.  I chose to set out of the hop this time around and was kicking myself in the rump, so testing Jayne's awesome design still felt like getting to play too.

I fell in love with the paper pieced Star Thistle the second it landed in my inbox.  Since the blog hop used solids I decided to make my test block using prints.  I was super impressed with Jayne's tutorial.  She did a wonderful job walking you through the process of paper piecing, and in no time, I had myself a completed block.

This block would also help me complete my OMG for the month, a very simple and vague goal  to simply quilt something.  Anything.  So I added a 2" border of background fabric and played around with designs.

My first two thoughts about the quilting was to; 1. take full advantage of all those wonderful geometric lines and add some dot to dot quilting and 2. somehow soften up those angles with some curves.

Next up was picking my quilting cast of characters, so into my Aurifil thread collection I went.

I'm pretty sure it's not the first time these four friends have acted together in a quilt.  From left to right we have Aurifil #2610 Light Blue Grey, #2250 Red, #5006 Light Turquoise, and #2021 Natural White.

I can officially say I am in love with ruler work.  Since the HQ Sixteen has a perfect foot for ruler work, I thought let's give it a go.  I made small dots with a blue water soluble pen where I wanted my lines to meet and aimed for a 1/4" away.  I couldn't be happier with the results.

Then my quilting plan went astray.  I kind of got a bit messy when I pieced my block sections together and let myself end up with an out of control large seam where they all met.  You can't exactly tell in the picture below, but it was so large that it wouldn't fit under my quilting foot.  Now what??

The brown fur in the top right corner is Miss Caroline trying to squeeze into the shot at all costs.

I was so frustrated I couldn't think straight, so I took to the Instagram.  Thanks to a wonderful quilter named Jamie (quiltinglibrarian_fl) I was talked off the ledge.  A simple  tweak or two and I was back to quilting again.  Instead of having my quilting start from that center point I worked from the opposit ends of the reds and white sections.   You can see the dot to dot quilting in the white center section below (I just eye balled those sections, no ruler).

Then I used my blue pen and a handy dandy dinner plate to mark my ghost circle in the middle.  Then all that was left to do was fill in my background with pebbles to add more curves to the piece.

Also, a little shout out to Sandra at mmmquilts.  A while back she surprised me with a small basket (and something else I'll share later).  It has come in sew handy at my Sweet 16.

It is the perfect size to use as a thread catcher and to hold my utensils as I'm quilting.

The addition of the flange binding had me jumping for joy, because I knew a completion was near.

So how about a few more pictures of Star Thistle?

You can get your own copy of Star Thistle at Jayne's Craftsy Store (for free) and check out her tutorial over at Twiggy and Opal.  A big thanks to Jayne for letting me pattern test this great block, I have loved everything about it.

Before I close, if you haven't had a chance to check out my post from Monday, you can help me celebrate what I'm calling a "Cheryl Party" to help Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs celebrate the release of her latest two patterns, Check Plus and Vintage Star.  She graciously offered a copy of each to me for a giveaway for two lucky readers.  So hop over to my Cheryl Party to enter and read more about the patterns.  Also a little cricket (David's text tone on my phone) just told me that his post about making Cheryl's Check Plus is now up over at Dave the Quilting Engineer.  Rumor has it, there may be a give away over there too.

Today I'm linking up with Can I Get A Whoop! Whoop, TGIFF,  Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social,  Linky Tuesday and OMG Linkup.