Tag Archives: finish it up friday

Community, english paper piecing, Hand Stitching, Quilting

Aura Blog Party: Pollen Pillow Fight!

March 8, 2019 kittywilkin 7 Comments

I’m excited to be joining in the fun with Mathew aka Mister Domestic’s Aura Blog Party celebrating his Aura fabric line for Art Gallery Fabrics (AGF). Fridays are always reason to party, but when you add Mathew’s energy and enthusiasm for life, the party is impossible to resist! I figured I’d throw a pillow into the ring since a pillow fight seems like a great addition to any party, right?

When I first saw Mathew’s Aura fabrics, of course I immediately dreamed of meticulously cutting them for days. I decided that a Pollen Pillow would be the perfect project to showcase these gorgeous fabrics while maintaining a tropical vibe that does the Hawaii-inspired fabric line justice. The Pollen Pillow is the EPP pattern that is included in the 2019 Quilter’s Planner magazine, and is a baby version of my Pollinate Quilt, distributed by Karen the DIY Addict.

I’m so thrilled with how it turned out!! AND pillows are hard to photograph! I just solved that issue by taking lots, and hope my single monstera potted plant can help bring a bit of tropical vibe to the mid-winter Maine photos.

With fussy cutting on my mind, my initial plan was to meticulously choose individual flowers from the Laki Island Daylight fabric, using 5 individual flowers in the center and then a radiating spiral of each individual flower in the outer piehex shapes. However, the scale of the flowers on the fabric were a *bit* too big to make that happen (or maybe my templates/pattern is too small?), so I had to come up with Plan B.

Looking at the varied and gorgeous flower bundles on Laki Island Daylight, I really didn’t want to chop them up tooo much, so I decided to go wild and fussy cut the fabrics so that the piehex looked like it was an uninterrupted flower bouquet, but with a blue section radiating from the center. I taped 3 templates together for the top half, and fussy cut the bottom 3 so that the fabric pattern was continuous when stitched.

They aren’t all perfect, but I’m mighty happy with the result! I also love how the blue section emphasizes the center star, while also helping blend into the Endless Paradise AGF denim background. One of my favorite aspects of the Pollen Pillow & Pollinate quilt patterns are how incredibly versatile they are.

Here’s a look at the pillow top after it was pieced and quilted, but before it was stuffed as a pillow, so that you can see the fabric placement details a bit better. Here are the Aura fabrics I used: Laki Island Daylight for the center star and outer piehexies, Hawaiian Honu Dusk (turtles!) and Hula Dolphins Ocean (tiny dolphins circle around this one) for the star, Loulu Fans Sand for the outermost triangles, Hawaiian Honu Dusk for the turtle diamonds around the outside edge, and AGF Denim in Endless Paradise for the accent pieces in the outer piehexies and the background. I LOVE the fabric names, too!

I used coordinating 50wt thread to hand stitch the full Pollen Pillow design, stitching during travel to QuiltCon, in cafes, or in the car while waiting for preschool pickup. I adore the portability of English Paper Piecing (EPP)! When the Pollen Pillow design was fully stitched, pressed, papers removed, etc., I then stitched it to the backing using 50wt thread in 2000-Light Sand and 1320-Bright Teal. I quilted the pillow with some minimal quilting to secure the pieces while still letting the fabrics shine. I quilted a fun geometric echoey pattern in the background using the walking foot on my Bernina 560, and making it up as I went along. I love using the wide width of my walking foot as a gauge when quilting, since I avoid marking fabrics whenever possible!

Even having made multiple pillows, the insertion of a zipper still gives me the willies a bit before diving in. This time I used this fabulous tutorial by Suzy Quilts and am incredibly happy with my zipper! Mental note for next time, though: when creating a side zipper pillow, you need a zipper that is at least 2″ shorter than your pillow panels. I bought a bunch of 18″ zippers, one of which is shown in the progress photo, and none of which were used for this pillow because they were too long. I settled for a 14″ turquoise zipper, which coordinates enough to seem intentional (shhh).

Those of you familiar with my Pollen Pillow pattern may have noticed that I included some extra diamonds on this pillow. The sea turtles just begged to be included more, so I borrowed the center diamonds after stitching the pillow center down, and made a few more sea turtles to swim outward around the edges. I love the effect!

Here are just a couple more photos to round out this post. The first is of my daughter Maddie, who really wanted to be a pillow holding model (so helpful!). You can see the most pattern details in this photo, I think, so I’m glad she wanted to help!

Finally, here is a photo of my original Pollen Pillow duking it out with this newbie for the prime spot. It’s so fun to see both of these pillows next to each other, since it’s a perfect example of how different fabric choices and color placement can result in very unique aesthetics with the Pollen Pillow pattern.

Thank you for swinging by to help celebrate this Friday finish, and be sure to check out the other stops on Mister Domestic’s Aura Blog Party. The projects are all stunning!

MISTER DOMESTIC’S AURA BLOG PARTY

Monday February 11: Amanda Woodruff of A Crafty Fox
Tuesday February 12: Kylie Gersekowski of Little Moo Designs
Wednesday February 13: Sharon Holland of Sharon Holland Designs
Thursday February 14: Kim Niedzwiecki of Go Go Kim
Saturday February 16: Sarah Maxwell of Fearless with Fabric
Sunday February 17: Natalie Santini of Hungry Hippi e Sews
Monday February 18: Carolina Moore of Always Expect Moore
Tuesday February 19: Isabelle Selak of South Bay Bella Studio
Wednesday February 20: Elizabeth Chappell of Quilters’ Candy
February 21-24: Intermission
Monday February 25: Tara Curtis of Wefty Needle
Tuesday February 26: Monica Tetteh of That’s Sew Monica
Wednesday February 27: Nicholas Ball of Quilts from the Attic
Thursday February 28: Lucy Brennan of Charm About You
Friday March 1: Robbin Flockhart of Sew Farm Quilter
Saturday March 2: Evie Jespersen of EV Quilts
Sunday March 3: Kelly Liddle of Jeliquilts
Monday March 4: Maureen Cracknell of Maureen Cracknell Handmade
Tuesday March 5: HollyAnne Knight of String and Story
Wednesday March 6: Mimi Goodwin of Mimi G Style
Thursday March 7: Angela Wolf of Fashion Sewing with Angela Wolf
Friday March 8: Kitty Wilkin of Night Quilter <— YOU’RE HERE
Saturday March 9: Sharon Burgess of Lilabelle Lane Creations
Sunday March 10: Emily Dennis of Quilty Love
Monday March 11: Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill of Whole Circle Studio
Tuesday March 12: Elina Temmes of Elina Temmes
Wednesday March 13: Jennifer Strauser of Dizzy Quilter
Thursday March 14: Saija Kiiskinen of Saija Kiiskinen
Friday March 15: Brittany Jones of Brittany J Jones
Saturday March 16: Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth
Sunday March 17: Kim Niedzwiecki of Go Go Kim
Monday March 18: Sharon McConnell of Color Girl Quilts

Sewing

AG Challenge Finish: Noodlehead Diaper Pouch

January 27, 2017 kittywilkin 11 Comments

Sometimes you just need a quick finish. Something small and beautiful that you made with your own hands, but that takes only hours (instead of days) to create. When Yvonne announced her Quilting Jetgirl Alison Glass Challenge as an incentive for the rest of us to get one of our Alison Glass fabric makes into the finished pile, I had a few different ideas of which of my many Alison Glass-influenced projects I should finish first. At first I thought I’d focus on the table runner I started late last year using the Insignia and Seventy-Six fabric lines, but then thought it might be the perfect boost to finally finish Max’s Eye Spy quilt that has a dominance of bright Alison Glass prints from across the years. Then I gave myself a reality check and decided to select something small. I have two big deadline projects to finish within the next month, so to be real I decided to pull a diaper pouch project off of my WIPs shelves and finish it up. I’m so glad I did!!

I made this Diaper Pouch using a free tutorial by Anna Graham of Noodlehead, found here. It took me about two (2) hours to make, start to finish, which is pretty awesome as far as projects go.

I used my all time favorite Alison Glass Print, the Art Theory Panel from her Ex Libris line as the outer panel, and lined it with Artifact in Charcoal from her Abacus line (Andover Fabrics). I was lucky enough to buy all of these fabrics, AND the cotton webbing strap from my local quilt shop Fiddlehead Artisan Supply.

I used my go-to 50wt Aurifil thread 2600-Dove for all the piecing and 50wt 2692-Black for sewing on the velcro so that the stitches would not stand out. I love that Fiddlehead also carries a good selection of Aurifil threads! One stop shopping for the win!

Of course I had to plan it so that the rainbow star from Artifact was visible right on the top. I should have given myself a tiny bit more space in that seam, but I’m not losing sleep over it. It’s gorgeous anyway!

Now instead of having a purse filled with diapers and wipes floating every which way, I can have a beautiful and function space to store them compactly, not only making the inside of my purse a bit more organized, but also making it easy for me to visually check that I have a diaper for my little one before I head out!

Since pens are another item I’m often digging for in the chaos within my gorgeous bag, I decided to store two of my favorite micron pens tucked in the corner of the diaper pouch, so that they are easily found when I think of something to add to my Quilter’s Planner Mini–my traveling to-do list, grocery list, and inspiration keeper. Pst… you can now order the Quilter’s Planner Minis individually, here. Just a PSA for the day!

This pouch also perfectly coordinates with the amazing Alison Glass fabric bag my husband bought me for my birthday last year, made by the ever talented Kristy at Rock Baby Scissors. There’s no such thing as too much Alison Glass fabric, right?! No way!! What next?…. I’m thinking a few zip pouches to help organize the other contents of my purse. What’s your favorite simple zip pouch pattern? (Noodlehead’s Open-Wide Zippered Pouch is a fab one, but should I know about others?)

I’m linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, and of course Yvonne’s Alison Glass Challenge. Yippee for gorgeous and functional finishes!

Hand Stitching

Stitched Embroidery Hoop Finish

December 16, 2016 kittywilkin 30 Comments

The finish I’m sharing today measures only 4″ across, but probably took more hours of work and provided more peaceful moments than most of my other projects. I’m relatively new to embroidery, with really only my Dropcloth Color Wheel sampler and the embroidery stitching I did on a mini quilt a while back as projects under my belt, but when Alison Glass sent me some of her Stitched fabric, part of her new Seventy Six fabric line for Andover Fabrics, it begged to be… well, stitched.

I’m so happy I obliged, because I just love this little hoop!

nightquilter instagram embroidery beginning — Here’s my Instagram post from the wee beginnings of this hoop, about 12 weeks ago.

When the Stitched fabric arrived, I had just completed my Ocean Path quilt for our big Quilt Theory debut, and I was in the final push stage of finishing a quilt that will be in the February issue of Love, Patchwork and Quilting magazine, so picking up a small, no pressure, no purpose, no pattern hoop of Stitched and my 12wt Aurifil thread stash was the perfect brain palate cleanser.

embroidery back — Here’s the back of my finished hoop—see! I am totes a novice! I think this looks fun, though, crazy as ever!

This was back in September, according to my good ole’ Instagram feed, and since that time, ending just a couple of days ago, I’ve picked this little hoop up for 1-20 minute intervals (and 20 minutes might be leaning on the long end) every here and there: a quiet moment when the kids were all playing nicely together, a few seconds here while having a minute lax time while cooking dinner, or just because I needed to MAKE and had not yet had a chance that particular day.

I stitched whatever I wanted, wherever I wanted, and tried many different stitches.

I used Aurifil 12wt thread from my stash, in colors (left to right from photo above): 2530-Blossom Pink, 2435-Peachy Pink, mystery orange–the only Aurifil tag that has ever fallen off a spool!, 2120-Canary, 1147-Light Leaf Green, 2884-Green Yellow, 5005-Medium Turquoise, 2540-Medium Lavender, and 2515-Light Orchid. I used a single strand for all except the turquoise x’s, for which I use two strands. If I were to do it again, I would probably stick with a single strand since I love the crisp aesthetic that results.

Toward the end, I went a little crazy with french knots, but I do love them so and they make a great “filler” around the edges.

Since the pattern is printed on the fabric, there was no actual end, so it was up to me to decide how close to the edges to stitch. At first I thought I’d leave a bit open, but I just couldn’t stop stitching. As it is, most stitches extend to the absolute edge of the hoop. I kind of love it.

I finished it using the methods (minus the plan-ahead phase, since I didn’t plan ahead lol) shared in this tutorial on Sew Mama Sew. I stitched the running stitch around the excess fabric, pulled it tight, knotted and tied it, then trimmed off the extra fabric. Next I cut a 4″ wool felt circle using my Sizzix machine and stitched it onto the back with coordinating 12wt Aurifil thread and a blanket stitch. I’m quite happy with the finish, and definitely plan to make more. In fact, I very well might aim to always have a free-form brain palate cleanser embroidery hoop laying around, since it really worked wonders for helping me get back into a better mental place during especially hectic, crazy kid, too many (mostly self-imposed) expectations-filled days. Making works magic, doesn’t it?

I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, and then sending this hoop off to a friend!

Giveaway, Quilting, Sponsored Post

Friday Finishes & Tula Giveaway

June 3, 2016 kittywilkin 341 Comments

Ahh, Friday! We love Fridays in this house, since not only is it the last day before the weekend, but it also means family movie night. I make homemade pizzas, we set out picnic quilts in the living room, and we have a pizza picnic while watching a movie. After pizza, there’s a short intermission for popcorn making and we enjoy the rest of the movie with huge bowls of popcorn and buttery fingers. My husband has a bit of a thing for popcorn, so he makes enough to feed a small army, which I suppose we are becoming as the kids get older! While this week had its share of frustration, I also finally finished and shared two projects. A week with one finish is great; a week with two finishes is worth celebrating!!

I love linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts’ Finish it Up Friday to share in the celebration of finished projects in the quilting community, so I figured I’d write a summary post this week so that I could link up with just one post instead of two. I also have a great giveaway sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop to share to help kick off the weekend!

So here we go–my finishes for the week!

I finished three cute Amy Butler-inspired rainbow zipper bags as end of the year teacher gifts for my son’s preschool teachers and communication facilitator. There is a great video tutorial posted by the Fat Quarter Shop so that you can make your own. You can see and read more about my zipper bags HERE.

I also finished a volcano-inspired quilt with Oakshott’s new Lipari fabric line. This was a much longer term project, taking about 18 hours of work to make, start from finish. I share a tutorial so that you can make your very own Vesuvius quilt if you want! Check it out HERE.

Giveaway!

And now, for the giveaway! Thanks to the Fat Quarter Shop, one of my lucky readers can enter to win a Tula Pink Throwback fat quarter bundle of 20 fat quarters! The bundle includes some of the most popular prints from Tula’s collections over the past four (4) years, and would be a great stash builder for any modern fabric lover, whether you’re a Tula troops die hard who would pay a premium for these prints on ebay or not. There are also many fabulous opportunities for meticulous cutting with these beauties!

To enter the giveaway today, tell me–are you a fabric designer fanatic, willing to pay top dollar for rare out of print fabrics? or are you happy using whatever gorgeous fabric is available now, regardless of designer? I’m curious, since while I consider myself to be in the latter category, I could definitely see myself paying more than market value for *some* rare and beloved out of print fabrics. Leave a comment and make sure I’m able to get ahold of you if you win. If you’re a follower of Night Quilter, leave a second comment telling me how you follow for a second entry. Tell me how you follow Fat Quarter Shop (facebook,twitter, Instagram, their blog Jolly Jabber, etc.) for a third entry.

~~This giveaway is open to US and international participants. The giveaway will be open until Thursday June 9th at 8pm EST when I’ll select the winner randomly with random.org. Good luck!~~ This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations, Tessa!

Thanks again to the Fat Quarter Shop! Blog sponsors help me to keep this blog going by helping cover the costs of hosting, photography equipment, supplies, and of course time. Sweet, precious time. Many many thanks to all who support me!

Hand Stitching

Dropcloth Color Wheel Embroidery Finish… but only the Beginning!

July 3, 2015 kittywilkin 21 Comments

I’ve officially completed my first ever embroidery sampler, and I must say I’m hooked! It has been the perfect project to just pick up here and there while snuggling a sleeping baby and playing with two big kids.

I stitched this Color Wheel sampler by Rebecca Ringquist of Dropcloth using Aurifil 12wt cotton in the following colors (for when you want to get your own sampler to embroider, since I’ve had a few people ask about details!):

2884 Green Yellow
1147 Light Leaf Green

1148 Light Jade

4140 Wedgewood

2525 Dusty Blue Violet
2784 Dark Navy
2515 Light Orchid

2540 Medium Lavender

5002 Medium Red

1154 Orange
2145 Yellow Orange
2120 Canary

I love the shine of the stitches created by the Aurifil 12wt, and I’ve already mentioned how nice it was to work with a thread that wasn’t strandy or prone to unravel.

Initially I thought I might finish the sampler in a hoop and hang it in my craft loft as is, but the colors are just so gorgeous that I feel a strong need to draw them out into an even larger creation. I scanned the sampler and played with it in Inkscape a bit to determine a course of action, and I think I’m going to aim to make a larger color wheel using coordinating fabric–mostly Alison Glass Sun Prints, although I’m sure none of you are surprised at that!

Once I visited my fabric stash and did a trial fabric pull, I was completely convinced that a larger quilted color wheel is the way to go.

Really, can you blame me for wanting to use these fabrics in every.single.project!?

I will most likely include my favorite neutral, Robert Kaufman Essex yarn dyed linen in charcoal as the background, although I’m liking the bright colors’ contrast on a lighter background, too.

So, once again, I’ve finished a project only to turn it into a larger, more complex project. But as usual, I am very excited about this project extension! I will be trying my first inset circle as well as practicing curved sewing, in which I have only dabbled early in my quilting foray. I’m also I’m eager to hand quilt the next phase of the project with the Aurifil 12wt to help tie the entire color wheel together.

I’m linking up my Dropcloth Color Wheel Embroidery Sampler finish with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Up Friday & TGIFF, even though it’s only the beginning of the next phase of the project. Let the rainbow wheel stitching begin!

Free Motion Quilting (FMQ), Patterns, Quilting

Twirling Star Mini Quilt Finish {Pattern Testing for Devoted Quilter}

April 24, 2015 kittywilkin 14 Comments

Visitors entering our home will now be greeted by a bright and colorful quilt (of course we will also greet any visitors in person… but, you know what I mean!). I’ve finished the Twirling Star mini quilt I was testing for Leanne at Devoted Quilter, and I’m loving it in its new home.

It was really fun to make Leanne’s pattern with a modern aesthetic. Here’s Leanne’s version:

I love how different choices of fabric and colors can completely change the look of a quilt. The mini quilt finishes at 19 1/2″ x 19 1/2″ and features both traditional piecing (the hourglass blocks) and paper piecing (the pinwheel blocks). The pattern also includes a coloring page, where you can test out different color arrangements before starting. I tried out a lot of different color possibilities before deciding on this one, and the coloring page is KEY (and so much fun). Leanne’s pattern is now available in her Etsy and Payhip shops, so if this looks like a mini you’d like hanging in your home, too, head on over and buy the pattern!

I decided to quilt this mini with one big radiating spiral, and I’m quite happy with how it turned out. I followed the tutorial on Crazy Mom Quilts and began the spiral with free motion quilting (FMQ) in the center and then switched to my walking foot for the outer spirals. Since I have yet to find an actual pen/chalk/pencil that I trust for writing ON my quilts, so I decided to just wing it and do it by eye. I’m quite happy with how it turned out, and it was a lot easier than I anticipated.

Once I quilted past the center, I switched to my walking foot, which proved to be a lot more difficult than I anticipated. Keeping a steady curve with the walking foot was tough, although I can see that I did improve as I moved outward, either the result of more practice or the less severe angle. As with any quilting, I found that I was more consistent with spacing and more accurate with the curve when I went slowly.

quilting "jump" — A little quilting “jump” as a result of less-than-smooth maneuvering with the walking foot.

There were quite a few “jumps” where I had stopped sewing to reposition the quilt under my machine and must have restarted sewing with too much torque on the quilt. Either that, or perhaps I tried to turn the curve while my machine was stopped. (You can see one of the “jumps” in the bottom of the blue triangle. Just a little wiggle.) If I were planning to submit this quilt to shows or give it to someone who would noticed the imperfections (are there such gift-quilt recipients?), I might have ripped out the quilting and tried again. But for this, a quilt meant to hang in our own entryway, I opted to just let them be. When you step back and view the quilt as a whole, the imperfections are lost.

I didn’t keep track of the time I spent making this quilt, but here are the other quilt finish stats:

Twirling Star Mini Quilt

Completed April 2015
Pattern: Twirling Star Mini Quilt pattern by Leanne at Devoted Quilter
Size: 19.5″x19.5″
Fabric: Pinwheels are pieced using rainbow fabric from Alison Glass’s 2015 Sun Prints, Mercury and Grove (Andover Fabrics), with a background of Modern Floral in Charcoal from the Botanics fabric line by Carolyn Friedlander (Robert Kaufman Fabrics).
Hourglass blocks are pieced using Scribble Notes in Black from the Architextures fabric line by Carolyn Friedlander (Robert Kaufman Fabrics) and Make and Pin fabric from the Makers fabric line (Art Gallery Fabrics).
Border is Ink in Charcoal from Alison Glass’s 2015 Sun Prints (Andover Fabrics).
Binding is Black Kona cotton (Robert Kaufman Fabrics).
Quilting: Spiral quilting using free motion quilting in the center and a walking foot for the outer spirals
Thread: Aurifil 50wt 2600 – Dove for piecing and quilting
Related blog posts: Embrace the Rainbow, Twirling Star Flimsy Finish

I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday.

Quilting, Sewing

A Tea Cozy for Every Season: Valentine’s and Spring

February 6, 2015 kittywilkin 7 Comments

“A tea cozy for every season,” requested my mom when we were talking about making quilts for family members. My mom loves tea and drinks a pot of tea every afternoon–no, she’s not even English!–so it really is a perfect gift. For Christmas, I gave her the first seasonal tea cozy for the winter holidays, which you can see in my post Finishes New and Old. Today I sewed on the bottom binding, finishing the next seasonal tea cozy, which should take her into summer. I used Yvonne’s (Quilting Jetgirl) tea cozy tutorial, so the tea cozy is completely reversible and is suitable for two seasons in one!

One side is perfect for Valentine’s Day, since I used my Key to my Heart pattern:

The reverse side features a bicycle inside the heart, which I think will be perfect for spring. My mom also loves bicycling, and she and my dad are known to plan vacations that include cycling from bed and breakfast to bed and breakfast in awesome European countries, where they surely enjoy actual tea time.

I thought about putting both hearts on one side of the tea cozy, but decided make one the “inside” and one the “outside”, with a coordinating solid backing. This way, one side of the tea cozy can be perfect for Valentine’s Day…

Then after February passes, you can just flip the tea cozy inside out and the other side is perfect for spring.

I technically made the Valentine’s Day side on the “inside” since I figure the bicycle will probably be shown more often. When turned to the Valentine’s Day side, the tea cozy is a little bit snug on my teapot (as you can see in the photo above), but I’m not too worried. I know my mom has a few different tea pots and I’m sure it will fit on one of them!

Now all I have to do is encourage my kids to finish their cards for Grandma (my mom) & PopPop (my dad) and get this all in the mail so it arrives in New Jersey before the 14th. I’m excited that I finished it in time, and hope my mom loves it as much as I do. This “tea cozy for every season” project is making me want a tea cozy of my own!

I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Up Friday.

Life, Quilting

A Perfect Pair: Wine and Fabric {Tremolo}

November 14, 2014 kittywilkin 6 Comments

It’s been a while since my last wine and fabric pairing post, and there’s a good reason for it: I’m expecting baby #3 and therefore haven’t been drinking any wine! Now that the cat’s out of the bag, you will understand my relative blogging silence the past few months. The first trimester is exhausting, meaning my late night quilting was replaced by sleeping!

This past week, though, my parents came to visit, and when I saw one of the bottles of wine my dad brought along, I immediately was inspired to make a quilt. Or, in this case, a small pincushion for starters.

My first thought when I saw the 2013 Tremolo Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina (other than “Man, I wish I could have some wine”) was how the sound waves would make a cool quilt.

I did a bit of googling to see if I could find any existing sound wave quilts, and then decided to make my own practice version in the form of a pincushion. At first I was going to make it longer with gradating colors from dark to light, but due to time and resulting size I limited myself to just one sound wave.

I used almost entirely scraps, but needed to cut one more 3/4″ strip of Carolyn Friedlander’s beloved botanics fabric for background. I’m mostly happy with how this turned out, but I feel like the strips ~~should~~ could be skinnier. Perhaps on a larger scale (think: pillow or quilt), the strips could be wider and still have the right sound wave generating effect. As it was, 3/4″ strips (finishing at 1/4″) were pretty tiny, and still look too wide for my taste.

I do love the quilting, though!! I jumped right into free motion quilting a sound wave zig-zag right on top. I intentionally bumped out into the background a bit, mimicking the fluctuations of an actual sound wave. I used Aurifil 2810 – Turquoise 50 wt thread, which coordinated with the sound wave, but contrasted enough so that the stitches are very visible (and audible?)

My dad reported that the Tremolo wine is very good, and nice and smooth. The label description says: French-born winemaker Didier DeBono crafted this 100% Malbec from grapes grown on two special, high-elevation vineyard sites in Mendoza. A Tremolo is an aurally pleasing musical effect we were reminded of upon tasting this harmonious, balanced wine. It sounds like my dad agrees, and that the inspiration can be extended visually, to music-inspired quilting!

There you have it: another perfect wine and fabric pairing. Drink Tremolo while you work on your musically-inspired quilt, whether it be a tiny pincushion or a king sized quilt!

The perfect pair:

Fabric
Any music or sound wave-inspired sewing
My mini tremolo pincushion included:

Front (Collection/Designer/Manufacturer):
Scraps of:
* Botanics/Carolyn Friedlander/Robert Kaufman Fabrics – background
* Plum Rose/Blank Quilting – sound wave

Back (Collection/Designer/Manufacturer):
* Tree of Life/Chong-a Hwang/Timeless Treasures Fabrics

Wine
Varietal: Malebec
Producer: Tremolo
Vintage: 2013
Location: Mendoza, Argentina

Tasting notes from website: Rustic, earthy and even a bit restrained at first, after some air this wine will reveal excellent fruit concentration with notes of dark cherry and blackberry, plus a hint of vanilla and a meaty, earthy finish. It finishes dry and will leave you thirsting for more – especially if you’re having it with grilled meat.

Or if you’re in the middle of an aurally and visually pleasing quilting project. A perfect pair, indeed.

Here are two of my favorite sound wave-esque quilts I found during my google search:

Piano Keys quilt by Avis Collins Robinson — Piano Keys by Avis Collins Robinson

This beauty was found on the November 1, 2009 tumblr post on http://allfortheloveofgooddesign.tumblr.com/. It’s a photo taken at the African American Quilts exhibit at the Nelson Gallery, of a quilt called Piano Keys by Avis Collins Robinson.

tuning forks quilt by heather preggers — Tuning Forks #11 by Heather Preggers

I absolutely love this quilt by Heather Preggers. Visit her blog to read more about her thought process and creation of this quilt. She also has many other variations of this tuning forks quilt, since she’s admitted she is somewhat obsessed with them! They are all gorgeous and resonate with sound and movement.

I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, since I finished my pincushion and paired a nice wine!

Design, Free Motion Quilting (FMQ), Life, Quilting

Secret Garden Quilt: Attalie’s June Garden

November 7, 2014 kittywilkin 12 Comments

Finally, here is the reveal of my secret garden quilt: Attalie’s June Garden.

garden quilt finish butterfly flower — Attalie’s June Garden: A finished quilt, without all of the butterfly pins.

Last weekend, I was doing some hurried slow stitching, trying to get the binding sewn down on this quilt before the baby shower at which it was to be gifted. I finished sewing the binding just in time for the shower to be postponed due to the swiftly blowing and accumulating snow, and shortly thereafter we lost power. For over three days. But I finished the quilt!

free motion quilted words garden quilt — “Attalie’s June Garden”, free motion quilted into the bottom of the quilt’s border.

This quilt has a definite story behind it. First, to decipher the name for you. Attalie is the in utero baby for whom I made the quilt. June is the name of my husband’s Grammy, the quilter of the family, and the collector of all of the butterfly pins that live in this garden quilt. Grammy June died less than a year ago. When she died, all of the family had the emotional task of going through her things before the estate sale. In looking at her jewelry, I discovered a large number of butterfly pins. “I didn’t know Grammy collected butterflies!” I said. As it turns out, neither did any one else in the family. Either way, I immediately envisioned them living forever in a quilted garden wall-hanging, so I asked if I could take them. Everyone, of course, said yes.

paper pieced star butterfly quilt garden — One of Grammy June’s butterfly pins, flitting peacefully by the glittering sunburst I paper pieced especially for this quilt.

Flash forward a few months. Our cousin Molly, who was the one who took care of Grammy June during her last days, and who now lives in Grammy June’s old house, announced that she was pregnant. Flash forward a few more months: Molly shared that they were having a girl, naming her Attalie, and that the nursery theme would be “Garden”. The butterfly garden quilt was asking to be created, finally. With a little over two weeks before the baby shower, I got started. I designed, pieced, and free motion quilted the entire quilt, which finishes at 27″ x 20″, and stitched on the binding just in the nick of time. The quilt is mostly comprised of fussy-cut 1- and 2-inch squares (1 1/2″ and 2 1/2″ before sewn together).The process was a lot tougher than I imagined, and there were definitely some face-palm, seam ripping moments (which I will go into in a later post), but I am very happy with how this quilt turned out. Here are some detail photos:

flower free motion quilting — I used a wild, make it up as I go free motion quilting pattern, sometimes mirroring the flowers, and sometimes adding features. I love how this particular FMQ turned out!

butterfly garden quilt — The finished quilt, complete with flitting butterflies. The butterfly pins were all collected by Grammy June, who would have been (and always will be, in heaven) baby Attalie’s Great Grammy.

Here are some detail shots of the beautiful butterfly pins on different parts of the quilt. I tried to balance the overall color flow by putting the blue/green pins on the pink flowers, and the other pins in and around the blue and purple flowers. I think the butterflies look quite happy on this quilt!

butterfly pins on garden quilt — I think this little copper butterfly is my favorite.

flower garden quilt — Even after a blizzard, there were still a few flowers in the garden. This one came out to play with Attalie’s June Garden quilt.

quilt corner label — My first corner label. I will fill in Attalie’s middle & last names once her middle name has been chosen!

Finished quilt stats:

Name: Attalie’s June Garden
Size: 27″ x 20″
Fabric: Assorted flowers from RJR Fabrics, Andover, and Studio E
Quilting: Free motion quilted with mostly Aurifil and some other hand-me-down threads
Finished: November 2014
Related blog posts: A Garden {Quilt} Full of Florals

I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday.

Quilting

Friday Finish: Pink & Grey Baby Plus Quilt

September 5, 2014 kittywilkin 11 Comments

It’s been a productive sewing week, and with another chunk of uninterrupted sewing time today, I was able to complete the Pink & Grey Baby Plus Quilt I’ve been wanting to finish! I definitely will incorporate more solids into the mix the next time I make a plus quilt, but I am very happy with how this quilt turned out.

My adventures photographing the quilt top were a reminder as to why I really need to buy some washi tape! Blue painters tape does the trick, but doesn’t really add to the aesthetic. Blue bits aside, here are some photographs of my finished flimsy:

I was inspired by Michelle Bartholomew’s quilt photography, especially for her Barn Door Quilt, for this photo shoot locale. My quilt is hanging on the side of our shed, which is not exactly a barn, but the “X” door complements the plus quilt so well, the math geek in me just couldn’t resist. I think the grey in the shed also brings out the grey in the quilt. It was a match that was just waiting to happen.

pink and grey baby plus quilt top finish — I love when seams match perfectly!

Now that the quilt top is complete, it’s all set to go to Stephanie & Michelle in Austin for some longarm quilting. Once Stephanie is finished working her magic, this quilt will be posted for sale in our Late Night Baby Etsy shop. It will be my first contribution, so I’m excited to finally get it finished.