Tag Archives: quilt a long

Starburst QAL -Week One Finished

Posted in Quilt-A-Longs, Starburst QAL by

Just a quick update =)

I finished week one of the Happy Quilting Starburst QAL. Week one was cutting out all the fabrics. Once I finally decided which prints out of my bundle to use. I decided that i didn’t want to make a full size quilt. I figured out the cutting for making a wall hanging instead. my blocks will be 16″ finished instead of 24″. I almost went smaller, to 8″ but then you would lose the overall feel from the larger prints. So 16″ it is. It will be 38″x38″ when I am done.

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This is the first quilt I am doing in all Art Gallery Fabrics. I found a great sale at The Quilted Castle. I love the fact they have an Owl on their logo. They had 6 yards of Art Gallery Pure Elements in Caviar for $6.99/yard. So of course I bought it all. I really wanted the weights to be similar, because the AGF are so light and have a very specific feel to them. The Pure Elements are beautiful and the color is very saturated and glossy, not flat, so I really like it. The black background will really make the fabrics pop.

I ended up with 2 stars in each colorway of Rock N Romance, HeartBreaker and DreamMaker. I have a hard time choosing a favorite, but I think the most striking is the bottom left grouping.

I did my grouping like Melissa did, organized by light, medium and dark tone. The dark will be the inner star, the medium the star surround, and the lights will be the burst points. Simple. Fun.

All my fabrics are cut out, in a bag, and waiting for step two. I thought about moving ahead, but I am going to try and take it easy and keep pace with the QAL posts, which are up every Monday.

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Also, there are some exciting happenings coming soon, so keep your eyes peeled! There is definitely some fabric in it for you *wink*

Until then,

Happy Quilting!

Modern Mystery-The Big Reveal

Posted in Finished Quilts by

Wow, the last 6 weeks sure have flown by! Keeping up with the Modern Mystery Quilt A Long sure kept me on my toes. It was so much fun watching it all come together. Lat week all the pieces were finished and assembled into strips, but I couldn’t picture how it was all going to go together for the life of me! Turns out three of the strips I made were for the binding, so that would explain it =)

Without Further ado, here is my Modern Mystery Quilt!

Taa-daa!

I can’t wait to see how each quilt turned out. It is amazing how different they can look with the same pattern. Remember, send me a picture of your finished quilt and we will have a small giveaway! The deadline is November 15th. The top must be pieced but does not need to be quilted. I  will upload the quilts into a Flickr Group and post the link here on the blog. The quilt with the most votes will win =)

Until next time, Happy Quilting!

Phew, what a week! Lots to share!

Posted in Cathedral Window QAL, Other, Quilt-A-Longs, Tutorials and Patterns, Works In Progress by

Hello everyone! It has been a very busy week here, so I haven’t had time to do much blogging. I say week but in reality the last 15 days have been go go go!Between play-dates and appointments and pick ups and drop off I have had time to finish up all my 3×6 bee blocks and get them in the mail, catch up on my Modern Mystery Quilt, keep up with the Cathedral Window QAL, and make/hunt down some props for my little man’s 6 month photo session today. Throw in some grocery shopping and a sudden change in the weather read: from Indian Summer to torrential rain overnight  and voila! Lots of excuses not to vacuum….. =)

I realize that this is the west coast, and normally by the start of October the rain has moved in, but it was so beautiful for so long. Thanksgiving weekend was so warm people were still out in shorts. We were going to go to the Pumpkin Patch and have ourselves a grand old time yesterday, but record rainfall coupled with a rainfall warning quashed that faster than you can say “eh?” I did get to try Harry’s snowsuit. I don’t think it fits quite right yet……but it sure is warm!

Do I look impressed?

Can you tell I don’t like the rain? I’m from Northern Alberta. It may be -40, but at least the sun is shining and your not soaked! Anywho….onwards!

It seems lately that everything I make heads out the door. I feel like I have been sewing like a madwoman but have nothing to show at the guild meeting tonight.

Here, this is my stack of finished blocks that need more to complete whatever I was going to do with them, 1/2 of the checkerboard for a show quilt,  and all the pieces to a mystery quilt that I can’t for the life of me figure out how the end result will look….*chirp chirp*

However, I do have a cute little project that I whipped up last night as a photo prop that I can take with me. If Harry is going to be a dragon for Halloween, he needs a Princess to kidnap (and probably try to eat).

She looks so happy, just wait until the dragon starts gumming her head =)

The dress fabric is my favorite colorway from Treasures of the East by Hoffman. The teal/aqua colorway was the challenge fabric in 2010. I also picked some up in the fuchsia and sunset colorways. I can’t seem to find them anymore, so If anyone comes across either colorway, please let me know! Poppins Quilt Parlour in Penticton, BC still has the challenge fabric for anyone looking to nab some. They do phone orders!

I drew her face on with Sharpie markers. I think she looks suitably princessy!

You can find the pattern here as well as the tutorial. I just winged it with mine.

I was also doing some pinning while watching TV the other night. This is why you don’t leave your pin box where the cat can get to it!

Luckily I found them all (magnets are wonderful wonderful wonderful!) and I have yet to be stuck with a pin! It did inspire a pincushion design however, but more on that to come!

Tomorrow I will be posting my Scrappy Star block pattern, no tutorial yet though, so please be patient with me! I start a temporary job as a nanny for my friend who just welcomes their little boy yesterday morning. I have all the fabrics for her new baby quilt, I just need to get to it!
Happy Quilting!

Cathedral Window QAL- Blocks 2/3

Posted in Cathedral Window QAL, Quilt-A-Longs by

Here are block 2 and block 3 of the Cathedral Window Quilt A Long. This is turning out to be a very fun project, and so far the construction has not been overly taxing. Cathedral Windows are by nature time and fabric consuming because of the pressing and folding involved. You can follow along or join, there are still 6 tutorials left. All you have to do is join the Flickr Group.

Block 2 from My Crafty Crap

Block 3 from Made With Moxie

As I was taking these pictures my husband came over and mentioned how my block reminds him of the Pittsburgh Steelers logo. *sigh* Now that is all I can see when I look at it. I still really like the technique though, and I will be utilizing it in a few different projects . I am still on the lookout for more of that spring green print as well. It is Robert Kaufman Fusions 10 (5574). The only place that has any stock is Fortunes and Fairies in Richmond, NSW, Australia. I ordered 5 meters of Fusions 10 in various colors from them two years ago. It was a real eye opener to fabric costs. In Canada we pay about 30% more for fabric than our neighbors south of the border. In Australia they pay DOUBLE what we do. It was $23.00/meter, plus the international shipping. I still have most of it, but this particular color is no where to be found now! I wrote to Robert Kaufman, so hopefully they will put this blender back in production.

Until next time, Happy Quilting!

Cathedral Window QAL

Posted in Cathedral Window QAL, Quilt-A-Longs, Works In Progress by

Yesterday marked day one of the Cathedral Window Quilt A Long Blog Hop! Sara of Sew Sweetness gave us our first tutorial, the Layered Cathedral Window,  and I love how her block turned out! I have decided to use a consistent color scheme throughout the QAL. I am going to be using Limes, Aquas, Teals and Yellows. There are 9 blocks in this QAL, so I hope I have enough fabric! Ha ha ha, like that’s really a problem for me…

Here is my finished block! I ended up ripping 2 portions apart and placing the fabrics in a different order, but I am so happy with the result. There is some definite movement in this block! I love the lime green! It is an almost impossible to find Robert Kaufman Blender. I ordered it from Australia 2 years ago (the only place I could find it) for $20/meter! But I love it so much! I will use it in all my blocks, though maybe I should have picked a different color, Cathedral Windows do use up a lot of fabrics! There are 5 layers to sew through on each side of this block. I pressed my seams open using my heaviest iron, lowering my board, applying a TON of pressure, and STEAM. The result is a nice flat block with no seam bubbles! Hurray!

A huge thank you goes out to Bree at My Crafty Crap for hosting this QAL, and to all the sponsors for the wonderful prizes! You can find the QAL rules, blog roll, and prizes there.

I can’t wait for the next block!

Happy Sewing!

Modern Mystery Quilt Challenge

Posted in Challenges and Giveaways by

The American Quilters Society is hosting a modern Mystery Quilt. The quilt was designed by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr, authors of Quilts Made Modern. The best part? Its free! It is a 6 part/week Mystery Quilt, and part 1 is up now. Part 2 will be up next week.

Because this is a free quilt-a-long, I would love for everyone to participate and send me pictures of your progress week to week! I will post pictures as we go, and then after the last installment we will have a final reveal of everyone’s finished quilt tops! You will get to vote for your favorite, and the top with the most votes will win a fat quarter pack! That’s right! I will put together a packet of 5 fresh modern fat quarters for one of my lucky readers to win! So please, share this with all your friends and lets have some fun! The deadline for submissions will be November 14th, 2012. Voting will run from November 15th to November 25th, and the Winner(s) will be announced November 26th. Voting Closed. 

To Participate:

1. Comment below so I know how many people interested. For every 10 entrants I will add a Fat Quarter Packet.  If there are more than 10 entries we will have a first, second and third place!

2. Encourage your friends to follow the blog and vote for your quilt! The more followers, the more votes!

3. Send a photo of your finished quilt top ( it does not have to be quilted) by November 14th, 2012

Here is the link! I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!

This challenge will be open to international participants as well! Quilting is its own language, one that is spoken with color and thread and heard with the eyes, and understood by all!

As Always,

Happy Quilting!