Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2013

Welcome visitors, to my woodland kingdom in the forest, among the lakes and rivers of Canada! I am queen in my realm, and my subjects are a worthy brood of handsome princes, a cat, a dog and several fish. My king has carved out from these wilds a home and castle most suitable for the raising of princes and the traditional pastimes of the queen who plies the needle and thread, making quilts to brighten and warm the cold winters in the deep woods.

My entry to this Spring's Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side will count as just one quilt, since they are identical (think of it as a king size in two pieces!) and they simply go together. These were made last spring, and I call them Water and Woods. As these are for my two eldest princes, er, sons, who were 14 and 16 years of age at the time, I began with the most masculine fabric I could find. (Or maybe the fabric was first and said to me "make me into quilts!!")

Either way, I looked no further than the amazing Parson Gray. Totally hip, totally cool, totally masculine, and perfect for my very design conscious young men. (To see just how design-y THEY really are, check out their very trendy and popular You-Tube channel where they ply their artistic trade.)

The fabric line is Curious Nature, and the pattern is from the ultra talented Jeni at In Color Order. The binding is Kona Cotton Solid in Pepper. The backing is a charcoal and gray scrolly print from my LQS. The batting is Warm & Natural, and I used Aurifil 50 wt in a neutral 2325 to quilt straight lines 1/4 inch away on either side of each seam.

I am really very, very fond of these quilts and am eagerly anticipating Parson Gray's next line, World Tour, as I have several more princes to quilt for!  Here is also the link for my original post about these quilts!

Quilt Stats: 

Size: 67" by 90" 

Fabric: Curious Nature by Parson Gray for FreeSpirit fabrics 

Binding: Kona Pepper 

Backing: Charcoal 108" wide flannel from LQS 

Thread: Aurifil 50 wt in colour 2325

Previous Blogger's Quilt Festival Entries:     FALL 2012

Some Quilts of 2012

Some Quilts of 2012, a photo by CoraQuilts~Carla on Flickr.

1. Woodland Tumblers With Binding, 2. La Petite Ecole, 3. Hope Valley Log Cabin Quilt, 4. Rural Jardin Stars Quilt, 5. Fandango Charming Stars, 6. Fox Trails Quilt, 7. Ruby Pinwheels, 8. A La Maison Nine Patch - Now with texture!, 9. Owls and Trucks for Oliver, 10. Curious Nature Crosses, Woods, 11. Curious Nature Crosses: Water, 12. French General Hourglass Quilt, 13. On a Whim Quilt, 14. Triangles with Gayle AKA Anna Maria Horner Quilt, 15. Sparkle Punch Baby Quilt, 16. Scoot HST Baby Quilt, 17. Chrysalis Baby Quilt, 18. Minecraft Creeper Quilt, 19. Verna Granny Square Baby Quilt, 20. Shoo Fly Baby Quilts, 21. Coming Home to the Woods of Switzerland for Christmas Quilt!, 22. Wee Woodland Baby Quilt, 23. Ten Little Things Baby Quilt, 24. Blue Pool Quilt Finished!, 25. Ten Little Things Strip Quilt, 26. American Jane Quilt, 27. Hideaway Folk Family Quilt, 28. Spinning Friendship Stars Baby Girl Quilt, 29. Chicopee Trails Quilt, 30. Anna Maria Horner Triangles Baby Quilt, 31. Reunion Jelly Roll Rail Quilt, 32. Fox Trails Baby Quilt, 33. Granny Square Baby Quilt, 34. Central Park ZigZag Baby Quilt, 35. Little Apples ZigZag Quilt with Border

 I'm playing with Big Huge Lab's Mosaic Maker today. Last night I organized my Quilts I've Made boards on Pinterest and am just in general recording quilt making from my last two years. These are some, but not all from 2012. I've counted over 50 quilts I finished over the past year!!!

Blogger's Quilt Festival Part 2

Yay!  I was nominated in the Favorite Quilt Photographer category!!  Here is the blog post to vote for your favourites at Amy's Creative Side.  Scroll on down to Favorite Quilt Photographer and just click on my name!  Thanks so much to everyone who nominated me... meaning US!  Thanks again to my son who took the pictures.  Do you think he'll let me keep the Bella bundle if I win?  Hope so.

If you missed my entry to the Quilt Festival, look at this link!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I'm excited to be taking part in the Blogger's Quilt Festival for the first time!  Amy Ellis over at Amy's Creative Side has been organizing this for a few years now as a way for quilters on the internet to share their quilts and creativity with each other all in one place!  Head on over and scroll down to see all the lovely quilts and then click on through to see the maker's lovely blog and the story of the quilt.  Great fun, indeed.  Well, without further ado, here is my entry:

I call it Chicopee Trails. The pattern is from Pat and Nicky Lintott's book, Antique to Heirloom Jelly Roll Quilts, and the quilt in the book is called "North by Northwest" I made the quilt a different size and added two borders, but this is pretty much it.

 

The fabric I chose is from Denyse Schmidt's latest fabric line, Chicopee. (Learning the name of this line sent my husband into frequent renditions of the main character of a movie from back in the 90s) Anyways, many, many, many half square triangles later (who am I kidding? I was sick of making HSTs, and decided to add the borders to reduce the number I needed to get the size decent enough to cover a person!)

 

The background is fabric is Caroline Chambray. It has a lovely texture, a little bit like linen but not as much. The secret to the texture is different threads in the warp versus the weft, like shot cotton. I love linen in quilts but wanted to try something different. I'll probably use it again!

  

I used other Denyse Schmidt fabrics to finish off this quilt. I had a lovely stash of some Katy Jump Rope I geeked out about finding earlier this year on a trip to Hawaii. Yes, I bought all they had left on the bolt! It became the backing to this quilt, and some stripe-y Hope Valley was with orange, purple and fuchsia waiting in my stash became binding!

  

I used a piece of batting from a huge section my hubby bought me for my birthday. (Wasn't that a great idea?) He splurged and got Warm and Natural from our local quilt shop. I haven't used it for a long time, I've been buying online and trying to save pennies, but I must say I love that batting. It washes up so soft. Then I stippled it all over with Aurifil thread in 2325.

  

After washing and drying, it came out at 48" by 68". I am really in love with this quilt and sure hope you like it too! Thanks to all of those who are sharing their quilts with Amy and the rest of us. Can't wait to curl up with all of those lovely images and stories and look at them ALL!!

  

Special thanks to my 14 year old son Ethan, who took these photos of my quilt. We chose to take the pictures at Rocky Mountain National Historic Site. The name of the quilt pattern, "North by Northwest" reminded me of the trappers and traders who travelled deep into the Canadian Wilderness, looking for a Northwest Passage to the sea. Their efforts led to the establishment of fur-trading forts which later became towns and are an important part of our history.

 

We are fortunate to have archeaological remains of one of these forts nearby our home. Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site is the location of a succession of forts established by the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company starting in 1799. (And it's also kind of fun, because my husband works there and I got to go with him to work to take these pictures!)

Speaking of my husband, he sweetly came outside our house yesterday to try and help me take pictures of this quilt. Unfortunately, none of them I liked except for one:

  

Here he is resting is arms after holding them straight up with the quilt for like 15 minutes straight while I tried to get a shot! God bless him :)

ETA:  Oops, almost forgot the stats Amy asked for!

Blogger’s Quilt Festival Stats

Finished quilt measures : 48″x 68″

Special techniques used : half square triangles

Quilted by : Me!

Best Category : Favourite Throw Quilt, Favourite Home Machine Quilted Quilt, Favourite Quilt Photographer
Entry # 389

The Duelling Quilts

A continuation of this post, now they are finished! I love the bright colours. Both quilts make me so happy!

 

Minecrafting Crafting

Just wanted to share a few of the things my boys and I have been crafting lately for the love of the game Minecraft :) My Creeper Quilted Pillow:

 My eldest's first try using a wood burning kit. I'd say he has a bit of talent with that burning pen!

 

He has always been quite an artist with a pencil and paper. My second son is a gifted graphic artist. I am so proud of their work, and they have even developed their own successful online business using their gifts. It is incidentally also related to Minecraft!! You can check it out at Fin's Graphic Design.  My eldest is the pencil and paper guy, and the younger renders it all into Photoshop and is the online guy.  Since most of my readership is probably moms like me, this might be a link you'll want to pass on to your kids or grandkids!

Simple Table Runner

Just a simple table runner to share today! This I made from a charm pack of Antique Fair from Moda I picked up at my LQS. The pattern is not original (nor difficult) and I used a picture I found online of a table runner. I also made this one the same way. Easy, peasy and quick, yet satisfying. And oh so fun to free motion quilt without the usual weight of an entire bed quilt like I'm usually doing!

This was a birthday present for my mom. I picked up the charm pack since the country colours made me think of her!

Finally, a Kitty Approved Quilt

My sweet kitty cat has finally shown up in a picture of a quilt for me.  You see, she is mostly an outdoor kitty, as my hubby is allergic to her.  So she is often out having adventures when I am photographing my quilts.  But today she graced me with her elegant presence.

She is a remarkable little kitty. She actually came with our house. True story. You see, we moved a house to our acreage and renovated it. She was with it, all the way down the road, for a 5 hour drive!

 Oh, and the Blue Pool Quilt is finished!

 

 Here is the back:

 

A Christmas in July Post

Well, I sure would like to be posting more, but I'm not. Hmm, I really don't have anything to say about that. Maybe I'm doing other things. Anyways, here is a quilt I just finished. It is all washed, dried and crinkly goodness (pictures are pre-wash...couldn't wait, it was going to rain) and I love it. I began with this one last year at Christmas time, but didn't finish. I DID finish this quilt last Christmas though:

So now, I have one for each couch. Yippee!

And I must say, I didn't think I would come to the day, but I have, and I love free motion quilting a stipple. I didn't realize from pictures on the internet what a lovely texture a stippled cotton quilt has. And I have actually never touched one in real life until when I made my own.  Isn't that crazy?  What a strange world the internet makes.

 

Here are the stats for this quilt:

Size: 50" x 67"
Pattern: "Coming Home" from Camille Roskelley's book, Simplify (adapted, enlarged)
Fabric: charms from Moda's lines, Swiss Holiday and Woodland Holiday, Bella Snow
Binding: Lilac Hill by Moda
Backing: Flannel from LQS
Batting: Hobbs Cotton Wait!  I used an "upcycled" flannel sheet for this one!  I love doing this.   My mom finds them at the thrift store she works at for super cheap!  I love the texture and the thin, drapy-ness.

Shoo Fly Baby Quilts

I love traditional quilt blocks!  Here are the result of playing with Shoo Fly Blocks.   They are so easy and fun to make.

These baby quilts are for a set of twins whose gender is unknown to the parents as of yet.  I used a fat quarter bundle of So Sophie by Riley Blake and made 4 blocks with each print, 2 being the inverse of the other 2.  This way, one quilt has darks for the "background" and the other uses the lights.  A bit like twins maybe?  Different but alike?   The backing on each quilt is a soft white sheet.

Anyways, I loved being able to make a stripey binding, my favourite kind, on these little quilts, and the free motion stippling makes them so crinkly soft.  I would have loved to keep them and cuddle them, but they were happily passed on to the valiant and strong mama who is carrying these two little precious people so well.

Verna Granny Square Baby Quilt

Verna quilt is washed and crinkly and listed in my shop!

Minecraft Creeper Quilt Finished!

And listed for sale in my Etsy shop!
SOLD

The top is made from Kona cottons in 8 shades of green and grey plus black.  The backing is black poly fleece and it is quilted along the seams "in the ditch" with cotton thread, except for insides of the black sections.  This way, there is a creeper image on the back as well!

Sparkle Punch Baby Quilt

I finished a commissioned baby quilt today that I rather like! It is for a friend who wants a gift for a new baby girl. She asked the baby girl's parents what their "colour scheme" was for their daughter's room and they told her, and I quote, "deep reds and tans with an Indo-African influence and lots of white..." Oooookay! So here is what I came up with!

The pattern comes from Elizabeth Hartman on her blog, Oh Fransson! And it's called "Sparkle Punch"! I embroidered the baby girl's name in the bottom corner in red perle cotton on the white section, and the date she was born. The main prints come from Daisy Janie's line, Tilly, and are organic. I had some white in my stash - a cotton sheet - and a little matching brown print, Zen Garden by Patty Young (just one star). The backing is from Urban Chicks, and their Urban Cowgirl line. The binding is a linen I had in my stash, Essex from Robert Kaufman in Putty.

A Most Excellent Weekend

My most excellent weekend began when my hubby discovered on Facebook that his friend from his days in the airline industry about 15 years ago now worked at a quilt shop!  He gave her my blog address, she commented on my blog, I followed her in pinterest, we both liked a triangle quilt she pinned from Anna Maria Horner fabrics, so she said, "Why don't I come up for the weekend and we can whip one of those babies up?!"  and I replied, "Yes!  Let's!"

Anyways.  I had no idea what a truly delightful person she was, or how wonderful her family was.  Her hubby and their two children came along and did ATVs, bikes and guns with my hubby and boys while she and I sewed the days away!  Pure bliss, I tell you.

And here is one of the quilts produced, my version of an Anna Maria Horner Triangle quilt, with a few other fabrics, I affectionately and oh so creatively have called, "Triangles with Gayle".  Seriously, if you have a more memorable title, please tell me.  Gayle?

So glad I now have another real life quilty friend! Thanks Gayle for the fantastic time and taking a chance on spending a whole weekend with us :)

On a Whim Quilt

One of the most popular quilts, it seems, out there in the online quilting world is "Swoon" designed by Camille Roskelley.  In January, here was a flickr group set up for folks to "quilt along" this lovely, lovely quilt.  I wanted to join but I made my version last fall.  Here it is:

The groups continued on, quilting along with some of Camille's new patterns, "On a Whim" and "Hopscotch".  Many are still doing "Swoon" and that is okay, it is a very easy going and relaxed group.

I decided I wanted to try "On a Whim". I had grabbed a few Civil War Reproduction fat quarters last fall after viewing some beautiful quilts made entirely from reproductions at a quilt show. And my LQS carries a lot of them, so the repeated exposure was doing its magic on me. "On a Whim" has a real antique feel to it, so I thought it might look nice in these fabrics. I just needed some more fat quarters to round out my collection for the quilt. I made a trip (on my own, wheeee!) to a friend's place a few hours from here in the spring and stopped at quilt shops along the way (squee!). Got some more fat quarters. Then I went to another quilt show and a local shop there was having a humongous sale. They had several selections of reproductions in yardage for super cheap. AND at the show itself, a wonderful little shop, Prairie Quilt Mercantile, was offering little plastic bags we could stuff with reproduction scraps for $5!!. And it wasn't just scraps! There were half meters and fat quarters and strips.... I made that little bag stretch and probably managed to get almost 2 meters in there! So that is where my little collection of civil war prints came from if you cared at all! And here is what I turned them into:

 The top.

After quilting.  I took this picture in the afternoon in the shade, so the colours aren't very true.  The one above it is most accurate.

So I stippled it. I know, I am *so* creative! But it is a big quilt, biggest I've ever free motioned! I do have a few wee puckers on the back. But I used a white sheet, so no one will look at it anyways right? I AM happy with how the top turned out. And I LOVE the texture allover stippling gives!

 And yesterday I finished binding! Love a stripy binding. This fabric was from Prairie Quilt Mercantile.

And now it lives on one of my couches.

Curious Nature for Boys

Anyone who has ever tried to make a quilt for a teenage boy knows it isn't easy. I enlisted the help of my sons to design their own quilts. One of them, I finished. Minecraft Quilt. The other, I really should finish... but oh, my creative son. It involves a pieced sword, an appliquéd "creeper" (from Minecraft), trees, mountains.... it is really an art quilt, and I am a patchwork gal. I like chain piecing! What can I say. When I saw man designed Curious Nature by Parson Gray, I immediately decided to make these fabrics into patchwork quilts for my teens that would last for some years and look nice in their (currently shared) room.

I call the blue colorway quilt, Water, and the green one, Woods. Which is where my boys spend much of their time, as our home is surrounded by woods, creeks and rivers. The tutorial I used can be found here, at Jeni's blog called In Color Order. I made my quilts larger, using about 1/4 yard of 24 fabrics for each quilt. I bought a half yard bundle of the entire Curious Nature collection.

 

I used a solid binding, Kona Cotton in Pepper, for both quilts and a dark grey/black scrollwork patterned flannel from my LQS for the backing (it was 108" wide, yay, no seams!).

 

Quilt Stats:
Size: 67" by 90"
Fabric: Curious Nature by Parson Gray for FreeSpirit fabrics
Binding: Kona Pepper
Backing: Flannel from LQS