Blogger Quilt Festival - Twirling Trellis

I've designed a lot of my own quilts over the past few years, so picking one for the Original Design category was a tough one. In the end, I decide to pick one that felt most spring like and was very happy - my Twirling Trellis quilt.

I designed this quilt at the beginning of 2013, but I didn't get a chance to show anyone this completed quilt until a couple of months ago because it was off getting the royal treatment by Modern Quilts Unlimited. 

I think one of the things that I love about this quilt is that I didn't extend the pink pinwheels into the outer white sections. I think it gives the quilt a nice balance and centers it. Like so many of my quilts, it's paper pieced. 

This was the very first quilt I tried to do ruler work on my longarm. It was a bit tricky at first, but I got the hang of it. 

I used Michael Miller Cotton Couture solids for this quilt and quilted it using So Fine #50 thread. I pieced the quilt using Aurifil #50 in white. The batting is Quilters Dream Cotton. 

If you want a copy of the pattern, you can purchase a copy of the magazine online, as I don't think it's on newsstands anymore. And look, there's my quilt on the cover! How exciting!!!

Blogger Quilt Festival - Confetti

Wow, it was hard to pick just two quilts to showcase in the Blogger Quilt Festival. To start, I decide to showcase my Confetti quilt.

This quilt was actually made as part of a Bee - the Simply Solids Bee to be exact. I set out a bunch of neutral fabrics with a couple of brights - a navy, lime and dark pink.

I absolutely fell in love with the top when I finished it, but I think the quilting is one of the main reasons I decided to use this quilt in the festival. It took a TON of ruler work on my longarm, and I'm pretty sure my hand was deformed for over a week after the fact, but it was so worth it. I randomly drew a section using my ruler, outlined it a 1/4" and then filled it in with 1/4" lines parallel to one of the lines in the shape.

The hardest part of this quilt was assembling the top. When blocks came in, they were all improv blocks, but some had more white space than others. Some had a bunch of smaller pieces while others had some large ones. I couldn't figure out how to make them work, until several people suggested that I cut up some of the bee blocks to make it work. Gasp! How could I cut up something someone had worked so hard on?

But then Victoria Findlay Wolfe came to visit the Boston MQG and she said that she cut up bee blocks to make one of her quilts. If Victoria could do it, so could I.

This quilt finishes at 51" x 50" and was made with a bunch of assorted solids. I quilted it using So Fine #50 - Pearl. I used two layers of Quilters Dream Orient.

WIP: A Baby Quilt

Wow, it's been a long time since I've sewing. This has been our busy season with work. Throw on a couple of grad school finals and sewing has been practically non-existant. Fortunately, I managed to squeeze in a little sewing time here and there over the past month to throw together this simple baby quilt for my cousin who's expecting her first baby late this summer.

This was the second tumbler quilt that I made. Both went together very easy. I used my Accuquilt Go! to cut the fabric. I used four charm packs for this quilt that I had lying around for a while now. I'm determined to use some of the fabric I have in my stash, so I'm hoping to use fabric I have on hand for the backing and the binding.

My goal is to have this quilted and bound within the next month. I think it's do-able, but you never know. 

American Made Blog Tour - Preview

You may have heard about the American Made Brand Blog Tour kicking off next week. The folks at Clothworks invited me to represent the fine state of Massachusetts, the state where I was born and currently reside (I admit, New Hampshire has a soft spot in my heart, having lived there for 15 years).

As part of the tour, one lucky blog winner will receive a fat quarter bundle of some beautiful american made solids.

So come back next Wednesday, May 21st and check out the license plate block that I designed for Massachusetts and a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of 100% American Made fabric. 

Shootin' The Breeze Pattern

After receiving a couple of requests, I have created a pattern for my 'Shootin' The Breeze' quilt. This was the quilt I designed for the Riley Blake Challenge put on by the MQG. It's a fairly easy paper pieced quilt that goes together rather quick.

Source: Shootin' The Breeze via AQuiltingJewel on Craftsy

For a limited time only, I'm offering the Shootin' The Breeze pattern at 25% off, so hop on over to Craftsy now to get your pattern.