navy blue | Night Quilter

I’ve wanted to make the feathers from Shape Moth’s Forest Quilt Along since I first began paper piecing. After recently selecting a fabric bundle for Fiddlehead Artisan Supply, I was trying to decide what project to make with the bundle. I asked my friend Stephanie and she immediately replied, “Feathers!”. Done deal.

It’s no secret that I love high contrast and bright colors. Dark midnight blues paired with bright oranges and yellow compose this month’s blogger bundle for Fiddlehead Artisan Supply. It’s called “Summer Nights“, reminiscent of fireflies and popsicles. Scroll down to enter for a chance to win a Summer Nights bundle for yourself.

There’s just something about this bundle that was begging to be stitched into feathers, or maybe fireflies. I might have to work on a firefly pattern, now that we mention it. Inspiration is everywhere!

I love how bright and bold the yellow and orange look against the dark blue. The fact that the fabrics include some of my favorites (Doe, Prisma Elements, Plume, and a fun new find by Lecien) surely adds to the appeal.

I used wash-away stabilizer sheets provided to me by Alyssa at Pile O’Fabric, and I’m both excited and nervous to soak this block in water so that the sheets dissolve. Imagine that–foundation paper piecing without having to remove the paper at the end! I’ll be sure to write a post about how it all goes once I build up the bravery to let the feather take the plunge.

Growth of a Feather — The growth of a feather, via Instagram #sewtake20 posts.

I’m not quite sure what I will create out of this bright feather block; I think for sure I will make its little buddy (the second feather in the pattern) before fully finishing. I’m on the fence about whether to make it into a pillow or a mini wall hanging. I’m leaning toward a pillow, with the Plume fabric as the back. What would you make?

Fiddlehead Artisan Supply is generously offering a Summer Nights fat quarter bundle to one of my readers. The bundle includes fat quarters of the following six fabrics (clockwise from the feathers):

Plume in Onyx from Nomad by Urban Chiks for Moda
Lecien Chatter Tailors #40507
Doe Trellis in Blue by Carolyn Friedlander for Robert Kaufman Fabrics
Prisma Elements in Solar Quartz for Art Gallery Fabrics
Moda Half Moon Modern Scissors in Orange
Prisma Elements in Apricot Sunstone for Art Gallery Fabrics

To enter the giveaway today, share what you think of when you hear “summer nights”. Feel free to share word associations or stories; just fill the comments with summer night favorites! 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. Like Fiddlehead Artisan Supply on Facebook or subscribe to their newsletter and tell me how you followed them for a third entry.

~~This giveaway is open to US and international participants. The giveaway will be open until 8pm Wednesday 8/5 when I’ll select the winner randomly with random.org. Good luck!~~Note: This giveaway is now closed!

I also completed my July Goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes, but I can’t show you yet! The goal was to complete the quilt and pattern that will be published in the September issue of Make Modern Magazine. Rather than post a boring, photoless post to document that I’ve met my goal, I’ll use this post as a multi-finish! I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, and ALYoF as my July Finish post.

Forget orange! Navy is the new black. I’ve heard it whispered among quilters here and there, but never being a navy person myself, I was reluctant to buy it. After stretching out of my comfort zone and choosing navy blue as my background/negative space for my recent project, I’m a navy convert.

I traditionally tend toward black and grey as my dark contrasting colors, both in quilting and in my own attire. Navy is just so…. eh, navy. Bleh. Boring. BUT, when you take navy and pair it with bright jewel tones like magenta, turquoise, gold, and that perfect shade of grass green, it really shines. It’s not as completely dark as black, so it adds a little bit of color, and I would almost say bright color, although I know that’s going against all color description “rules”. Navy blue as a “bright” color? No way! But just look!

It shines. Am I right?

I’m registered for Lee Heinrich‘s Off the Grid: Creating Alternate Layouts workshop at QuiltCon next week, and we are required to make a number of quilt blocks in advance so that when we get to the workshop, we can really focus on layout. I wanted to stretch my comfort zone a little, and rather than go with brown and orange (blech), I opted to try navy paired with my favorite colors–bright jewel tones. I am LOVING the outcome and have a feeling this will not be my last time using navy in a star role in a quilt.

navy is the new black quilt blocks — Block ID: center: Wombat Quilts’ Swirling Star; top from left: Inverted Star by Common Threads, Circle of Geese by Piece by Number; bottom: two blocks I found photos of on Pinterest but couldn’t track down the origin or block names.

So far I have four 12 1/2″ blocks and one 8 1/2″ blocks complete (I forgot to allow for seam allowance on one side of the paper piecing template for the small one, so it should have been 9 1/2″ but oh well), and I am going to try to make a few more blocks before heading to Austin next week. The supplies list calls for 5-20 blocks but I know there’s no way I’ll finish 20 blocks on top of the rest of my QuiltCon to-do list! I don’t really like the first block I made (bottom right), so while I will take it with me, I might have to do some serious surgery before including it in whatever finished layout I choose.

I would love to hear your favorite star-style block pattern, since I think I want to make all of the blocks unique, but with the same color theme. What block do you think would go well with the ones I have so far?

I’m linking up with WiP Wednesday with Lee at Freshly Pieced, where she is making her demo blocks for the class I’m taking!!