Tag: rainbow

Love Story {Pattern Testing}

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LoveStoryTitleI love Lilly Ella Stitchery‘s paper-pieced patterns ever since I tried her Butterfly Charm Blocks.  When Nicole sent out the request for testers of her new patterns, I seriously could not say no.  I didn’t even know what I was going to sew….all that I knew was that it was gonna be good!

PoetryCloseUpThen these beautiful hearts from Love Story appeared in my email….Oh my mercy!  How gorgeous, right?  The pack includes two patterns – Poetry (as shown above and below) and Prose (as shown in the title pic.)  Both square patterns come in 5″, 10″ and 16″ (finished) sizes.  You can find them over here.

NameTagLanyardMy first attempt was to make this 5″ version of the Poetry pattern.  The piecing in the heart was just screaming for a rainbow color palette.  The pattern and size were perfect for the Name Tag Lanyard Swap for my Central Ohio Modern Quilt Guild.  I used the Swapaholics tutorial and just raised the vinyl window up so the heart would not be obstructed.

ProseCloseUpNext, I tried out the 5″ Prose version.  Now this was a bit more difficult given the number and size of the paper-piecing.  There are more corners to match up and some bulk to contend with, but it’s all worth it!

LoveStoryPillowLastly, I used the 16″ Poetry pattern to make a special pillow for Valentine’s Day.  My house is lacking in the home decor department so I’ve been trying to add more handcrafted items in between all the ones I sell or giveaway.  I practiced my free-motion quilting by using some variegated red Aurifil 4668 in a simple loopy pattern.

LoveStoryPillowBackA border all around the pattern was added to fit the 18″ pillow form I had on-hand. For the back, I used Arrow Flight from Michael Miller to complement the V-day heart.  Having this in my stash paid off 😉  Since this is intended as seasonal decor, I made the pillow back in two pieces with a 2″ overlap and added KAM snaps to keep the pillow in place.  I’m set for Valentine’s Day now!

What would you make with these patterns?

 

Hugs and Stitches,

Cristy

 

Pattern was provided by Lillyella Stitchery for testing but you know projects, thoughts and opinions are my very own.

 

 

Kaleidoscope Quilt and Schnitzel & Boo (R4) Mini Quilt Swap Re-Cap

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KaleidoscopeTitle

The Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap was the first swap I followed on Instagram.  I was pouring over the hashtag #schnitzelandboominiquiltswap and trying to figure out what the heck was going on!  This swap has the claim of being the original swap where you are blind partnered (the recipient doesn’t know who is the maker) to make sweet mini quilts and thus, it had over 1000 participants…wow!

FabricandColoringSheet

I had the pleasure of making a quilt for someone that liked V & Co fabrics and happened to have charm packs of the newest Simply Colorful and Simply Colorful II lines.  With the popularity of this swap, I felt some pressure to make something pretty nice….so I thought a Kaleidoscope design would be perfect.  It’s very striking and is perfect for some rainbow action 😉

The Kaleidoscope is a traditional paper-pieced pattern I got from Quilter’s Cache.  This is an amazing website with tons of FREE patterns!  The original pattern finishes at a 6″ block.  In order to fit the parameters of a mini, I shrank the pattern to 47% of the original to create a 3″ block. (I don’t know why 50% reduction didn’t work, but a little playing around helped me get to the size I wanted.) To plan out the colors and layout, I used this coloring sheet I found by Debbie Kratovil.  I think every quilt designer should have coloring sheets with their patterns.  They make life SO much easier!

SpiralNestingSeams

 

TIP: When piecing together the blocks, there is quite a bit of fabric that ends up at the center.  It is quite thick and can be a nuisance to quilt over later.  Initially, I tried to grade the seams and by luck, saw that I could make a little rosette by opening my seams  back a 1/4″ and tuck the seams under as shown above.

GoldThreadDetail

To finish, I used gold thread to quilt (insert heart eyes emoji!!!)  I just love using metallic thread whenever I can.  It just adds that extra “something” special and matched with the gold dot backing.  For the binding, what else would be better than MORE V & Co…and in Teal Ombre?!?  The ombre was fun to use and made this design really pop.

Complete

Kaleidoscope Quilt – Completed

 

MiniReceived

In return for sending off the Kaleidoscope,  I received this beautiful mini with extras from  @amandafech. Isn’t it so fun with the primary palette and appliqué work?  I am 3 for 3 with great swap experiences….all delivered on time with amazing work!  Hopefully, all of you have had positive swap experiences or will decide to join your first one 🙂  They are lots of fun!!!

I’m going to be a swap mama soon so I hope these good vibes carry over 😉

 

#MakeAQuiltMakeAFriend

Cristy

 

A Spectrum of Gingham Quilt

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Spectrum Quilt

Spectrum Quilt using RBD Small Gingham

I know it’s summer already, but I gotta catch up on all of my quilt posts 😉

It was the dead of winter here in Columbus and I was in desperate need of a pick-me-up. The Spectrum Quilt pattern popped up on Riley Blake Designs (RBD) blog and I knew it was going to be my next project….especially since I had a FQ stack of Rainbow RDB Gingham sitting on my shelf!  (*Make sure you scroll down through the comments on the blog post. There is an edit to the instructions there!)

This is a perfect project for a beginning quilter…Lots of plain squares and enough Half-Square Triangles (HSTs) to challenge you. But the quarter turn of the squares make it so visually interesting and sets it apart from “another” block quilt. You eventually have to cut off a bunch of triangles to square the quilt off, but I’m sure the more ambitious can bind around all the angles…not me yet!

Laid out and Ready to Piece

Laid out and Ready to Piece

An Aqua Medium Chevron Wideback (not pictured) from RBD was used as the backing. It was so perfect because the Aqua gave the Rainbow a “Sky.” The binding was made of Architextures Grid in Shadow by Carolyn Friedlander for Robert Kaufman. The binding reminded me of the clouds and was a great neutral for all the colors in the quilt.

Spectrum Quilt Close-Up

Spectrum Quilt Close-Up

The hardest part of this project was the quilting for me….it’s always the quilting! I’m not very good at Free Motion Quilting (but I’m working on it!) and thus why you see lots of straight-lines in most of my other projects. In this case, I used a template to draw out all of my “Rainbow” curves. It was long and tedious. Using my waking foot to quilt this all was even longer…I’m talking the entire winter season. No joke.

In the end, I love this quilt. It’s a bright and cheery rainbow….and who doesn’t love a rainbow?!? However, my most important lesson learned: I need to find a long-arm quilting friend ASAP…or work on my FMQ skills 😉

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Spectrum Quilt Side-view

This quilt has been donated to my dear childhood friend, Capri, who is raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society‘ Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter and is a finalist for their Man/Woman of the Year Campaign. It will be on silent AND online auction at the Grand Finale Gala on June 13, 2015. If you are interested in donating to the cause, please visit Capri’s donation page here….

This is truly the best part of sewing.  I love being able to use my craft to give back.  How have you used your sewing to give back???

 

Hugs and Stitches,

Cristy

Love You Sew