Project Quilting Week 4 - Brighter the Better

The theme for Week Four of Project quilting is "Brighter the Better".  So far all my entries have fit this theme.  I have been using my brightest batiks for all my entries, so I wasn't sure what to work on that could be brighter than what I had already been doing. 

I wanted to keep with my lonestar theme and finally decided to piggy back off the pattern that I didn't finish for week three due to sashing issues.  It was definitely a learning curve using sashing on 45 degree angles and trying to get all of them to line up.  I think I took the top apart at least 8 times.  Needless to say I didn't finish.  But I loved the pattern enough to try again this week.  It definitely fits the theme for Brighter the Better.

 I didn't want to create the exact same quilt though, so I opted for a dark gray background, hoping it would make my batiks pop.

There are 128 individual diamonds in this top.

To help get pretty points I paper pieced each one.

Chain paper piecing was the way to go

My stack of pretties.
I took all the papers off while riding in the car this week.

Laying out my diamonds for my wedges.  Again I used chain piecing for these sections.

When making sure I had the right size triangles in the right spots I laid one of my gray sections against the top from last week.  It looked pretty cool seeing the difference in background.

 This time I sewed the top together in quadrants.  Last time I tried doing it on the diagonal which didn't work so well and I ended up takeing it apart twice before I realized quarters was the way to go.

I even had time to do some free motion quilting in the back ground this week.

I am loving this pattern.  It is a variation of one of Karen Stone's lonestar quilts.  I just added sashing to it and omitted the borders.  It measures approximately 40 inches square.

Make sure you visit Persimmon Dreams to see all the entries this week and vote for your favorites!

(Voting starts at 1pm CST)

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BC Mini Barn Christmas Swap

My last swap of 2016 was the Bonnie and Camille Mini Barn Quilt Swap.  Another 6 inch block quilted up sent to my partner using only Bonnie and Camille fabrics.

 I didn't get many process photos for this one,  Just a photo of before and after with binding.

This super cute mini landed in Missouri.

This is the mini I received.  It is very similar to the one I sent out.  It is perfect!

At the end of 2016 I said I was going to quit signing up for mini swaps,  but as of today I have seven more swaps in the works.  They are just too fun!

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Project Quilting Week 2: Carolina Lily

This is my entry for week two of Project Quilting.

It measures 30 x 30 inches.

The theme this week was Carolina Lily.

Inspiration didn't come as quick as last week, I was stumped as to what to do.  I couldn't decide between an artsy abstract version or a traditional version.

After looking around on Pinterest I found this cute paper pieced block and put it on file for a back up mini quilt option if it came down to the wire. The only problem was I couldn't find the where this block came from.  The Pinterest link took me to blank page with just the image.  I copied and saved the image and dragged it into the google image search hoping it would take me to the original poster, but all I got were bad Pinterest links. So I put it on the back burner.

Come Friday I was still undecided.  That little block was going to be my best option, but I'd have to redraw it on my own to make it work.  Finally inspiration struck.

This image popped up in my Pinterest feed. It comes from Judy Martin's Book Shining Stars and I decided to recreate something similar using the Lily Block above.  I knew the Lonestar part would sew up lickety split using strips and chain piecing. It would be the 8 lily blocks that would take up most of my time.

The First thing I did was redraw the lily block so I could paper piece it. It didn't take as long as I thought it would in EQ7.  All I had to do was load the image and trace it. Piece of cake. Then I played around with some layouts.  I liked the one on the right with big lilies in the corners, but I knew I was already short on time so I went with the one in the middle.

By Friday evening I had my layout, my paper piecing pattern printed, cut, and fabric pulled, and was starting on my 8 lily blocks.

Luckily I had my most of my Saturday free to work on this quilt.  I finished up the lily blocks and got to work on the Lonestar pieces.  I went with rainbow colors again.  I can't help it, they are so pretty!
Since this quilt is only 30 x 30 inches, these Lonestar diamonds started out with 1.5 inch strips.

Working on the Lonestar sections.  I don't actually plan on making a Lonestar each week of project quilting, but it may end up being a fun side theme trying to see how I can incorporate a Lonestar pattern into each theme. We shall see what week three brings.

Saturday night I had all my pieces sewn and early Sunday morning I got up and put everything together.  I didn't have time for any fancy quilting on this one.  I barely had time to stitch in the ditch around some of the major areas. I finished the last binding stitch at 8:50am and went outside to take its picture.  It was pouring rain, so the front porch swing was my only option.  I put a very quick blog post up so I could link my entry and by then it was 9am and time to get ready for church.

It was a weekend full of sewing, but was so worth it!

Check out all the other entries HERE and vote for your 10 favorite!



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Winter Mini Quilt

This next swap was mailed out in November last year in plenty of time for winter.  My partner had several snowflakes in her mosaic so I broke out the snowflake pattern I used at the beginning of the year during project quilting.

This time though I opted for one snowflake.

I got real good at chain paper piecing last January so this top went together in no time. 

The fun part was deciding on the layout.  Even though it is suppose to be scrappy, I don't like to have too many of the same fabrics touching. 

For the quilting, I stitched in the ditch around the snowflake and meandered the rest.

Since I liked the look of the hexagon, I decided to omit the final triangles in the corner.  This is the perfect size for a table topper for my circle end table. I will have to make another one for myself.  As for this one, it is now living in Australia.

The mini I received is wintry and Christmasy.
And has my favorite touch of red!

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Fall Mini Quilt Swap

Another Swap that went out last fall was the Fall Mini Quilt Swap.

For this swap I knew who my partner was and she had me as well.

Most of these swaps I haven't sent to the same person who has sent to me, so this was a change.

My partner posted a mosaic with leaves and traditional fall colors so I pulled my best fall colored fabrics.

I had the perfect light brown polk-a-dot background in my stash.  Once the leaf was finished I decided to add some flying geese on two sides.

 All the fabric in this mini quilt came from my scrap bins.  Maybe if I make a few hundred more of these I might see a slight dent in my scraps... just maybe...

This mini is now happily residing in California.

I told my partner that I love pumpkins and she sent me this lovely mini!

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Crayon Challenge Swap

I really enjoyed this next swap.  The swap host mailed out postcard to everyone with three different colors on it.  You were only allowed to use those three colors to make a quilt.

I had plenty of Caribbean gran and lots of oranges that matched Bittersweet in my stash, but it was tough finding anything that went with Mango Tango. I finally found some quilters candy fabric I had brought from Connecting Threads that matched perfect. 

After perusing my partners Instagram feed I decided to go with a non  tradition block that matched her style more.  I found the perfect kitty block from Sugarido.

Kitty and fish bones.  Matched up with my color card.  I love this cute little block!

He shipped out around the end of October 2016 and is now happily resting in Virginia.

My partner choose a geometric pattern for me and nailed her color card as well.

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Quiet Play Swap - Circle of Love

I'm still catching up on posting last years mini quilts.  This next one was done for a swap called Quiet Play.  This swap used patterns exclusively by Kristi of Quiet Play.  There were two versions of this swap.  You could be in the group that choose any of her patterns, or you could be in the group that specifically used her Circle of Love Pattern. I joined the Circle of Love group.

My partner said pretty much anything goes, so I went with my favorite color combo: Rainbow. 

The first quarter went together pretty smooth....

Followed by the other three... 

The longest part was trying to decide how to quilt it.  It sat on the sewing machine for a couple days while I brain stormed.

I ended up quilting wavy lines branching out from the center.

I finished it off with a black binding to tie all the colors together.

This mini is now happily residing in Texas.

And this is the quilt I received from my partner.

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Project Quilting Season 8 - Week 1

This is the eighth year for project quilting and the challenge theme for this week, "8 is Great", was perfect.

I was inspired to make an 8 pointed Lonestar. I designed the layout in EQ7 and added 8 New York Beauty blocks and 8 distorted New York Beauty blocks.  

The Lonestar was the fastest part to put together.  I used strip piecing and it went together in a couple hours.  

I used all my brightest rainbow batiks! The next row of New York Beauties was also pretty quick, had them done in one night.  The last row of distorted New York Beauties took the longest with all those pieces in the outer ring.  The end of my week had me up late every night in order to finish by the deadline, but it was definitely worth it.

No time for fancy quilting on this one.  Just stitch in the ditch for now around the major sections. Maybe later I will go back and put in some free motion in the stars.  But this week didn't allow for any fancy free work.

This one measures approximately 38.5 inches square. Started and finished in one week in Lake City, SC.  It's my first finish for the year and my new favorite quilt!

Check out all the entries Here and vote for your 10 favorite!

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Bonnie and Camille Barn Quilt Mini Swap

This next swap was a quick one.  I only had to make one block using either Bonnie and Camille fabrics or Fig Tree Quilt fabrics and then quilt it and bind it. You could choose from 12 inch or 6 inch block.

I choose the Bonnie and Camille 6 inch block.  I used one of the star patterns from my partner's mosaic and recreated the design in EQ7 to the right size and turned it into a paper piecing pattern.

I used my mini charm pack to create a scrappy version of the block.

Quilting such a small quilt was fun and quick and good practice for my curves.

I didn't have any Bonnie and Camille yardage that matched for a binding, so I had to use some quilters candy yellow from Connecting Threads.  It matched perfectly.

This little mini flew all the way to Indiana.

The person who had me also took a pattern from my mosaic and sent me this wonderful mini mini.

Stay tuned for more minis!

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Over the Rainbow Mini Quilt Swap

For my Over the Rainbow Mini Quilt swap I decided to make a rainbow of butterflies.

I can't get enough of these cute little butterflies.  They are a free pattern from LillyElla

They finish at 5 inches so they only need small pieces of fabric to complete.

I used my left over Blue Berry Park fabric.  I had just enough to get all the colors of the rainbow.

I added some sashing and corner stones and viola...

A lovely array of rainbow butterflies that flew all the way to Washington State.

This one measures about 20 x 20 inches.

The partner who sent to me noticed my love for paper pieced butterflies and sent  me this fabulous mini all the way from New Zealand. I have it hanging on my cubical at work. I love it!

I have a few more mini's to show so stay tuned!

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