Thursday, October 31, 2013

Applique Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry

I was reviewing the Blogger's Quilt Festival and noticed they had an applique category...so I decided to enter my Cascading Garden Quilt featuring the Nana's Pantry line from Connecting Threads.  I really like how well it turned out.   Here is the link to the festival: Amy's Creative Side Blogger's Quilt Festival.

While the photos don't do it justice, I really did needle turn all 128 of those leaves and all 128 of those berries!  It was a worthwhile effort!




Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Work In Progress Wednesday 10-29-13

Greetings to all your WiP Wednesday readers--especially those from freshlypieced.com.

Today I am sharing my progress on my Flying to Paradise Quilt A Long.  Scroll to the previous two posts to get directions to begin your projects.

Here is a close-up of the center panel.  I think it would be cute as a baby quilt as well.

I just love how those goldenrod batiks look next to my golden Quaking  Aspen trees.
Some close-ups of the batik blocks in the fall leaves.



And...here's how I pieced those blocks.  For complete rotary cutting and piecing directions, read the previous post.  Thanks!

My husband brought home this Architect's square ruler from work.  They were going to throw it away and he thought it would be great to cut quilt blocks with.  I agree!  Because it doesn't have registration lines, I put masking tape on the bottom to check my alignment.

You can see how each fat quarter pair yields a dark block and a light block.  Simply rotate the striped half-square triangle units so the bias edge is facing out and you get this great spinning block!

I love this batik pairing and had to show it too.


Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Quilt-A-Long Part Two



Welcome back to my quilt along!  Today's post features the cutting and piecing directions for the center panel.  To purchase the batiks used in this quilt, visit the Connecting Threads website: Light & Bright Batik Fat Quarter Sampler (24 pieces),  http://www.connectingthreads.com/Kits/Light__Bright_Batik_Fat_Quarter_Sampler__D5182.HTML

If you would like to purchase a completed draft of this pattern without the applique shapes, it is available on Craftsy for download on this link: http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/home-decor/flying-to-paradise-quilt-along-draft/65553 .


Note: All seam allowances are ¼ inch unless otherwise indicated.

SORT FABRICS:
·         For the center Twin Sisters blocks, choose 8 of your favorite prints. 
·         Separate the piles into light and dark fabrics.
·         Pair one light fat quarter with one dark fat quarter.  To check for contrast, squint at your fabric choices to ensure fabrics do not bleed into one another.  You will need four pairs.

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS:
·         Fat quarter cutting directions are listed in the areas of the blocks they will be cut into.
·         From the 2 1/8 yards fabric for the inner border, cut four 6 ½ inch wide strips along the length of grain.
·         From the 2 ¼ yards fabric for the outer border, cut four 6 ½ inch wide strips along the length of grain.

FOR THE TWIN SISTERS BLOCKS:

·         From the 8 fat quarters previously set aside, divide them into 4 contrasting pairs.  Each pair should yield 4 blocks, totaling 16 blocks.To ensure there is enough contrast between the prints, squint at them to ensure enough difference.   Rotary cut four inch wide strips along the width of the fabric.

·         Pair four-inch strips with the previously sorted coordinating fat quarter and sew these strips into pairs.  Press seams towards the darker fabric.
·  
            Cut these strips into triangles using a 45 degree ruler or 45 degree line on the rotary cutting mat.
·         Sort the triangles into dark sets (darker color is the larger parallelogram) and light sets (lighter color is the parallelogram).  Coordinate four matching colored sets.  (See diagram.)

 

·          Rotate the triangles so the bias cut edge is on the outside of the block with the center points facing in.  Pin match the center of the block.  The seams will go in the opposite direction and allow the block to nest.  Tip!  To ensure all the blocks spin in the same direction, always piece with the same block on top.


·        

 Sew the four matching colored sets into 16 quilt blocks for the center panel.  Use caution when sewing the blocks together as the outer edge may stretch due to the bias edge being there.



Monday, October 28, 2013

Flying To Paradise Quilt A-Long: Part One

OKAY, LETS START THIS OVER!!!  I started this quilt a long and then broke my thumb--and many of you saw the picture of me in a cast.  I'm sorry for the delay....but now I'm back to 100% and can host this QAL project.  Thanks for your patience.  As a result, I am re-posting the first posts in the series to keep them all together.  I hope you enjoy your quilt.
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Welcome to the Flying to Paradise Quilt a-long.  This is the first post in this series.  Please feel free to take this blog icon and set up a link to this quilt a long.  As this is my first time hosting a quilt a-long, I would love to share photos of your progress.  We can do this by flicker or by my email.  If you'd like to share, email me at gsmower{at}netzero[dot]com or leave me a comment below.  Thanks!


This fabrics for this quilt a-long were from my blog sponsor, Connecting Threads.  To purchase the exact batiks shown--their Light & Bright Batik Fat Quarter Sampler (24 pieces), visit this link: http://www.connectingthreads.com/Kits/Light__Bright_Batik_Fat_Quarter_Sampler__D5182.HTML

Fabric Requirements:
  •  25 Fat Quarters.
  •  3 1/2 Yards white batik for the inner applique border and the outer border.
  • 1 Yard fabric for binding.
  • 5 Yards for backing.
  • 1 Package fusible webbing for the appliques.
  • 2 Packages double-fold 1/4 inch wide bias tape for the applique vine.

 Here is the quilt pattern diagram:



If you would like to purchase a completed draft of this pattern without the applique shapes, it is available on Craftsy for download on this link: http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/home-decor/flying-to-paradise-quilt-along-draft/65553 .  So...go get your fabrics ready, as we get this quilt along party started.  A special thanks goes out to Connecting Threads for being my fabric sponsor for this quilt.

Coming up next week, cutting your fat quarters to create the center patchwork.