Sweet Silhouette {Quilt}

This was the first time I have had complete artistic control from start to finish on a school auction quilt and I could not have been happier!

I saw Angela Pingel's Profile quilt tutorial on her blog, Cut to Pieces, and knew that I had to make it for Button's Kindergarten year!
 

Her instructions on taking the pictures were perfect.  The only thing I made the mistake of was focusing in on some of the kids, when you should, ideally, stand at the same spot and make sure your camera lens is the same distance each time.

 
I had this great stack of solids I had picked up at Quiltcon in Austin and had used some of it for a quilt I'm working on for Button....just enough to do a quilt for 13 students. I found larger scale Alphabet fabric that I've used before from Joann's for the backing.

  I struggled to figure out a layout and decided to just do some empty blocks to make it a nice lap size.

I liked the idea of printing on fusible, but I already had a bolt of Pellon Wonder Under in my studio.
 I also really wanted my profiles to face the original direction, so I used a sharpie around the printouts, then flipped them over on my light box and made a line on the back.  Then I laid my fusible (sticky side down) on top and traced.  I cut up close to the edge, then ironed on, and then cut the fabric with fusible out.

My longarm ruler base was cracked in the move, so I didn't feel confident I could get the crosshatch that Angela's quilt had.  So I fused and stitched my applique and then quilted with it with a piece of scrap batting on my domestic machine.

I then cut away just to the edge so that it would help the trapunto effect I was going for with this quilt.


Before I pieced the blocks, I added their embroidered names.  I went in to the classroom and had each child write their name in the same size space.  I scanned and digitized them in my embroidery software so that they could be stitched out their EXACT penmanship.

Here is my confession part.  I told myself that a neutral thread throughout would work.
 I didn't want to change threads constantly.

And it looked alright-ish until I got to the end of the first row in the dark fabrics.....

I have not been listening to my gut the past few weeks and have paid heavily for it.
I spent six hours unpicking and reminded myself that sometimes there is a reason we should do the extra work.

This was the second time I used double batting on a quilt and I LOVE IT!!!
I chose a wavy crosshatch quilting on the empty blocks to make sure the eye always returned to the profile blocks.  They were fun and will definitely do it again!

I decided to quilt the profile blocks with free motion "doodling" and making sure I did an outline around the profile to emphasize the trapunto effect I was going for. I think it worked well.

See all the fun colors on the back?!?!  I was too hesitant to tempt fate and use a neutral color.  I'm thankful the backing was busy enough to handle it.

Had to share Button's little profile!  Unfortunately, I did not have a matching thread color for his fabric choice.  I'm not totally in love.  But his little handwriting!!  I melt....

I tried to match the letter backing, but soon discovered the lines just weren't matching.  So I added three primary colored strips.  I like how it draws the eye to the label though.

A solid black binding seemed the best choice to frame out the all solid quilt.

And, of course, I had to embroider a label for the back!

The thing I love the most is all the texture!!!

Quilt Stats:
Measures: 56" x 60"
Pattern: Profile Tutorial by Angela Pingel
Fabrics: Moda Bella Solids, Kona Black, Joann Fabrics Alphabet
Batting: 2 layers of Warm & Natural Cotton
Quilting: Diagonal Crosshatch on Babylock Symphony
 and Freemotion and Wavy Crosshatch on HandiQuilter Avante

And off it went to Auction....
and was successfully sold for a VERY generous amount to my co-room mom!
 I couldn't think of a better Mom-Son duo to win it!!!

Peanut's Baby {Quilt}

My sister is having a baby very soon and his nickname is Peanut. Unlike me, she is not surprised by the gender of her babies, but keeps their names a closely guarded secret. 

I was very late in giving her other boys their quilts, Primarily Sean and Gabe in the Hat. This time I wanted to get a small quilt done before my new nephew actually arrived!

The Moda Love Quilt has popped up in my friends' Facebook feed and I also noticed quite a few being made on Instagram. It is a layer cake pattern, but includes charm and min charm patterns also.

I found my Moda Mod Century by Jenn Ski charm pack, in my stash, that I had picked up a few years ago which I paired with Kona Snow from my stash.
I love the orange, reds and blues for a boy.

The trickiest part was deciding what colors were going to be the full squares and HSTs. I grabbed my colored pencils and made quick work. After making the HSTs and playing with the layout on the design wall. 

I blinked and had a top. It pieced quickly, even when I added a small border to make it slightly bigger than the original pattern.

I loaded it up on Ole Betsy, and decided on a FMQ circle quilting based on a pantograph I saw online that I now intend to purchase for the future.

The coordinating blue flannel backing quilted and washed very nicely for a sweet new baby.

And the orange swirl by Moda gave the edges the pop and the draw to the center that I wanted.

A tiny printed label on the back and it was sent off posthaste to her. I beat the baby's arrival!

Quilt Stats

Size: 36" square

Pattern: Moda Love 

Fabrics: Mod Century Charm Pack by Moda, Orange Marble Swirl,
Kona Snow, Joann Fabrics Flannel

Quilting: Free motion circles on HQ Avante longarm

I definitely plan to use this pattern again, possibly in the Layer Cake size!

Twizzle {Quilt Pattern}

 A few months ago, I was contacted by the Fat Quarter Shop to see if I was interested in joining a blog hop at Jolly Jabber that included designing a pattern using Jolly Bars.  Jolly Bars are a Fat Quarter Shop exclusive precut, collections of 42- 5" x 10" cuts of fabric.

 I jumped at the chance to get my hands on Hello Darling by Bonnie & Camille by Moda Fabrics.  I have never had a giant need to get my hands on her lines.....until this one.  It has the perfect amount of my favorite colors. 

I had fun playing around with designs and settled on using Half Rectangle Triangles.   They can be tricky to design with and sometimes to sew with, but I've included an unique way to create them.  I love the movement of the colors.

 I really enjoyed quilting this one.  I love the flowers in the Hello Darling prints so much that I wanted the free motion quilting to capture the feeling of a bed of sweet flowers. 

As of late, simple backings have been very appealing to me. 

 The binding was a really tough debate for me, but each colorway seems to have a red pop throughout and the sweet small floral binding seemed to frame the entire quilt.

I have the Twizzle quilt pattern available at my Craftsy shop to make downloading it as simple and easy as possible. As always, I strive to make sure my tutorials and patterns are thorough and helpful.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me and ask questions.

********PATTERN CORRECTION********  

Each of my patterns is read, edited, reread, edited again, and reread and edited again.  Unfortunately, errors happen.  When called to my attention, I will immediately fix the error in any future files/printings and post the corrections.

For the Twizzle pattern: (Craftsy file updated 9/19/15)

Page 1> Cutting Instructions >Background fabric> Cut 6 2.5" x WOF strips, sew them end to end, then subcut them into 3" x 56" and 3" x 54" pieces.

Correction:  Cut 6 2.5" x WOF strips, sew them end to end, then subcut them into 2.5" x 56" and 2.5" x 54" pieces.

If you find any errors, please contact me.  

Thank you!

Layers of Charm {Free Pattern}

Kimberly and her fabulous staff from the Fat Quarter Shop have brought us another new shortcut pattern...for free!!

I had to conceal my eager excitement to be contacted by the Fat Quarter Shop when they asked me if I would make a quilt from their new pattern.  I love all the shortcut patterns and have made three quilts from their Simply Fat Quarters book!

Kiss Kiss by Abi Hall and Moda Black Bella Solid

Since Valentine's Day was around the corner and I have always wanted to make one, I chose to make my quilt using Kiss Kiss by Abi Hall layer cake and a Black Bella Solids Charm Pack from Moda Fabrics.

Measures approx 58" square

I LOVE this quilt.  Simple to make.  Quick to finish.  SO much impact.

Button loves it too!

He epitomizes layers of charm, doesn't he?

I machine quilted it with a pantograph on Ole Betsy with the Love Doodle pattern by Patricia Ritter of Urban Elementz

 Kiss Kiss Aqua Hearts Galore for the backing and Kiss Kiss Black Dots for the binding...a very rare thing for me to use an entire line for everything. But I love how the pink had more salmon tones and the teal just popped here and there!

I have been trying to contain my excitement for a while and gave teeny tiny peeks on Instagram.  I'm still so excited about this pattern that I would love for you to make one too!

Layers of Charm Free Pattern is available here.

Layers of Charm YouTube Video is available here.

 I think this Riley Blake Fox Trails by Doohikey Designs layer cake would make an adorable quilt with the Layers of Charm pattern.  All you need add is a charm pack and you have a great quilt!

Want it?
Just leave a comment telling me what charm pack color you would use to make this quilt
~OR~
 tell me which is your favorite Fat Quarter Shop shortcut quilt to enter the giveaway.

Giveaway Details

Winner will be chosen randomly

Open until Saturday, February 14th at 11:59pm CST

Winner will be notified via email (and here) no later than Sunday, February 15th.
 (psst...if you are no-reply commenter...please make sure you leave me your email)

 Item will be shipped no later than Friday, February 20th. (Yes! I can ship internationally!)

Winter's Lane {Quilt}

"In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy." 

 ~William Blake

Winter's Lane.  My favorite fabric.

I love a lot of fabrics, but this line just makes me sigh.

Thanks to Julie's pattern Spirograph, I have a Christmas quilt this year!

I hope that I did it well enough to be a "Winter" quilt too!
I used the pantograph Glacee to scatter snowflakes all about!

But honestly, I don't care if its a winter quilt or not...
it matches my family room and it is out all the time!!!

I confess, I did not pick up yardage from the Winter's Lane for the backing.  I regret it actually.

But I did incorporate a bit of the panel that came with my fat quarter bundle.

 

I am sure it could be used for something more unique, but I like it just the way it is.

I plan on embroidering a little something in one of the little "cards"

The text screamed "use me, use me" for the binding.

We all love it sooo much!

Even Button with his cinnamon roll covered face!

Quilt Stats

Measures: 60" x 60"

Pattern: Spirograph by Julie Pickles Design

Fabrics: Winter's Lane by Moda

Quilting: Glacee Pantograph by.  Quilted on my Avante 18" longarm machine.