Blogger's Quilt Festival Love

Hello All!
I am excited to post in another finished piece in this fall's Blogger's Quilt Festival.

This is my first attempt at a mini quilt and I think I might have a new little addiction.

I am calling this mini: Junctions.

It's made with 21 different shot cotton colors, a neutral gray background and a simple black back/binding. I wanted the colors give the appearance of crossing over and under each other. I hoped it resembled the blended look that shot cottons provide up close when the different colors meet.

I also used 8 different color threads to highlight the rainbow of colors used to intersect each other. I used 6 colored bobbins for the main lines and a black bobbin for the grid work design that fills the negative space on the front. (Hip hip hooray for Aurifil!)

Here's how it was made:

I drew a design with a pencil, a ruler, and freezer paper. Then once I liked the way they crossed, I made it permanent with a marker. (I also made a copy, just in case I messed something up.)

I pulled out my shot cotton collection to decide which colors would be placed where and used markers to represent each color. Post it notes saved the day and kept me pretty organized.

Next comes part when you have to decide how to cut out the paper into strips that can be used to paper piece my design.

My new best quilting friend: the Add-A-Quarter ruler!

I really like the colors on this strip just by itself.

Putting the strips back together now.

Slowly getting there.

The struggle was real to make these line up.
(I made peace with my seam ripper.)

Now the part most paper piecers love: ripping the paper off of the back.
(Stress relief after a long day!)

Quilting Time!

Made good use of my washi tape.
(Thanks Stashbee Hive mate!)

Quilting Complete!

Put a black binding on it because I can!

Rainbow binder clips for binding.
And *gasp*...

I finished the binding by hand!

Those of you who know me well, know that binding my hand is not something I prefer to do. Since this one was so tiny and cute, I decided to make her pretty by finishing her the right way.

Here she is all dolled up and ready for her debut at the Blogger's Quilt Festival:

Junctions

(Close up of the woven shot cotton colors.)

The back is pretty fun, too.

This mini quilt measures 16.5 by 20.5. It was made with various shot cottons and quilted using various Aurifil colored threads.

I already have some ideas for my next project and am thrilled that I still have a lot of shot cotton colors to use! Stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dreaming Big

Yesterday, we found out our dear neighbor and friend passed away. He and his wife were together since college and had no children. Please keep her in your thoughts as she tries to deal with living without her soulmate after almost 50 years together. I cannot even begin to imagine her pain. He will be missed by many.

In the years we've lived next door to this amazing couple, he often talked about making the best of every day. He had great advice about planning for retirement early because he worked a few years longer than he should have. He helped us remodel our 1950's tiny house because we wanted to do the repairs ourselves. He helped with projects that needed many hands to make light work. He also reminded us to take time to rest so that you don't exhaust yourself.

So I intend to take his advice and years of wisdom moving forward. I want to spend each day being happy instead of wishing for the weekend or thinking I'll have more time later. We may not have that luxury.

Enjoy the company you have and cherish your loved ones every day. Our time together is ever so fleeting.

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Since my last post, I've been working on a few projects that will be moving me in the right direction towards being a maker. I've been sketching more, drafting more and worrying a lot less about perfection. That's a pretty tall order for this Capricorn!

I finally finished this Hexadaisy pattern I purchased last year. I colored it a while back and never decided on the fabric I wanted to use. After cleaning my sewing room recently, I pulled some of my shot cottons together and knew I already had the perfect colors to use.

Pulling from these two stacks I found the exact the shades I wanted.

Twelve colors were needed and I thought
about using this print text as my background.

Coloring each paper piece was the only way to keep this pattern organized.
There are a lot of small parts to this one.

The hardest part is done!

Once they were sewn together, I did a little happy dance!
This pattern stretched the brain a bit but the results are worth it.

I kept the quilting simple because the design speaks volumes.
I used Aurifil gray and 6 rainbow colors to stitch in the ditch.

The back reminds me of a snowflake. The star in the middle was a cool surprise.
It was hard to get a picture yesterday since it was raining so much!

A thin dark gray binding was added and I love the finished piece.

This was a labor of paper piecing love because it took a lot of planning to get the pattern to fit together just so. I plan to keep this gem for my collection. I haven't decided if it will be a wall hanging or a table centerpiece.

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The Stash Bee is also going well. I was the hive queen for July and here's my post:

 July Hive Pattern

Most of my blocks have already arrived and I'll soon be able to create a Rainbow Squared quilt I've always wanted to make for my own bed. Here's what I have so far:

I have some ideas for this layout but want all blocks to arrive
before I decide on a final plan.

Fun treats from England! It's hot chocolate I am saving
for a day when it's not 90 degrees in Florida.
I love the Royal Mail stamp with
the Queen's profile. So classy!

This fat quarter and washi tape is so cute. 

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I do plan to channel my current sadness into my craft of making things. I will continue to surround myself with people that are also interested in making their big dreams happen. Even if you don't know what your dream is, experimenting and learning new skills is the only way to discover what your bliss will be.

What makes you happy? What do you dream of doing?

Friday's Photo Finish

I am so excited that it's Friday. I FINALLY finished my Michael Miller Fabric Challenge quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild.

It took a while to get here but I am so glad I finished it in time to enter the competition.

Here's a quick summary of how it's made:

I cut the fabric into squares that I made into 9-patch blocks.

(Trying to make random patches was harder than I expected.)

I used muslin on the corner of 13 of them since they were going to be cut off anyway.

I then used EQ7 to create a custom template for my Drunkard's path pattern that would create my letters. I needed the curves to end with 1/4 exactly that would make smooth curves for each letter.

Each template took two pages that were taped together and
cut out on freezer paper for the blocks.

I practiced a few times on muslin to be sure it would work first.

After sewing all of the 9-patches together, I tried to keep similar colors from touching. It wasn't perfect but it started to become fun.

I slowly made my way through all 13 blocks that needed to be cut and added gray to form curves to create the letters. (Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of this part since I was doing this at night after grading papers. Le sigh!)

To ensure the letters weren't touching too much, I added 2 in strips of gray in between each letter to give them a little space to show off. The shorter letters needed an extra gray block to make them as long as the "L" then I added gray on the top and bottom to make the finished piece.

This is my first quilt made entirely with Aurifil thread and I think I am hooked for life now. White and steel gray were used for all of the piecing and for quilting the many, many, many lines it took to make this dream a reality.

This beast is 68 in by 68 in and was bound using my favorite fabric from this collection called "Pegs a Plenty". (It's the only purchased yardage from this collection used to make this quilt.)

I love this quilt and am thrilled that it's finally finished.