Pixelated Strategy - Finished Flimsy

This flimsy has been finished for awhile. . . I have been enduring harassment by #1 fan to post about it. I promised a post this week so I figured I better get crack-a-lackin' and get this baby posted to make good on that promise ;)

This quilt top is a diversion. I was supposed to be working on . . . hmmm, now I forget! LOL The diversion is ALL Alycia's fault. She has a thing for plaid. She makes gorgeous quilts out of them and I cannot get enough of them! She can't either. . . she is up to 20 something now? Every time I went to her blog and saw another, I got the urge to make one. . . and one day that urge was just too strong and the perfect storm hit, I had the fabric, I had the inspiration, I was between projects and I just started cutting :)

This quilt is made with Pepper Cory's Peppered Cottons and  Brushstrokes. I've had the Peppered Cottons fat quarter bundle for ages. The Brushstrokes bundle fell into my Massdrop cart quite by accident. . . as bundles often do! Now, what to do with them? And then I saw this. . . oh yeah! The minute I saw it I knew I had my inspiration! Now to figure out block size to maximize the use of those beautiful FQs :) My head hurt for awhile due to that pesky quilt math but I went with 3 inch finished squares for a 12" finished block.

A couple in process photos:

First blocks. The purple/mustard color blocks were my test blocks. But they turned out so well I left them in :)

I used the Brushstrokes fabric for the stars and the Peppered Cotton for the background of the stars.

Do you ever change your pictures to black and white to see if you are on the right track for distribution? I typically do this a couple of times during the process.

I strip pieced the 16 patches, very quick! And I chain pieced everything :)

Final layout.

Final layout and all sewn together. . . to border or not to border?

Border. . . more border? At this point I decided I would likely put this quilt on the guest room bed. More border required :)

Alycia does this really cool thing where she puts blocks in a portion of the border of some of her quilts. Love that look! So I decided to give a whirl. The border fabric is Essex Linen, Nautical.

All sewn together! This quilt is TOO BIG for my design wall. Between that and not wanting to take the chance of stretching this top much, I did not take it outside to attempt pictures.

Yes, the pictures suck but I promise, when this quilt is quilted - it will be overly photographed :)

The flimsy is still on the bed. I have been diverted from my diversion. . . I quilted two quilts for Kat's CIL charity, working on a project for the blog hop for Lara's book "Crafted Applique" (click the link for the hop schedule, my day is May 19th!) and I have another top to quilt for CIL that I am seriously excited about! Busy, busy over here!

Linking up to Finish it up Friday! Check out the fab finishes of the many who link up!

And More Quilting :)

Yes, folks, we have another finished quilt for Kat's Covered In Love charity. Second one this week! If you missed, click here to see the first one :) I quilted this one second because, quite honestly, it had me stumped. My initial thought was feathers, swirls and pebbles. I knew immediately what I was going to quilt on the first top so I put this one up on the design wall and let it simmer. . . sometimes quilts just need to simmer for awhile :) As I looked at the quilt it seemed that it could go masculine or feminine and masculine quilts are sometimes hard to come by. . . so I decided to keep the quilting 'gender neutral.' I have seen the quilting design I used on this quilt in many different places. It's common, it's easy, it's versatile, it's forgiving and depending how it is laid out - it can give vastly different looks. Most importantly, it gives quilts the best texture ever!

Enough talk, let's look at some pictures, shall we? :) I wish I had taken a before picture of the HST quilt. I just love to see the difference quilting makes on tops. I did take a before of this top - it's inside, it's not the best but you get the idea :)

Uh, this picture was taken pre-iron. . .

And After!!

Will definitely be using this design again!

I could run my hands over this quilt all.day.long!

Debated on binding. I had a couple of browns and then put that green up. Sent a picture to Kat and said, you chose! Green won :) BTW, Sandra also voted green. The only vote for brown was my husband's. . . he was out voted ;)

And the back!

Lots of lovely texture :)

One more, a little windy in the AZ desert today :)

What do you think? Pretty big difference yes/no? Did I mention this was quick? Two days. It took me two days to quilt this and that wasn't two eight hour days. LOL I did mark out squares in the blocks that are not 9 patches. I wanted it kind of uniform but not really. I was going for perfectly imperfect. I knew the quilting wasn't going to show much and what this top needed was a LOT of texture :) I used Superior King Tut Cedars 40 wt cotton thread for the top and Aurifil 50 wt in the bobbin. Love the basket weave effect of this quilting when just a simple alternate direction is taken.

These two tops are going to be winging their way to Kat today. Again, if you want to check out how you can help with Covered In Love, click the link. Kat does a block drive in which she posts a tutorial of a different block each month. Make one, make 100, make a top, chose what's comfortable for you. It's a wonderful program and I am very honored that Kat has agreed to let me help by quilting some of those tops!

Yes, I still have a flimsy to share with you - it will happen. . . soon! I am now off to start a new project. . . what? I'm not going to share exactly what it is but suffice to say that my friend Lara over at Buzzin' Bumble has a new book out!! How flippin' exciting is that??? You can buy yours right now over at Amazon ;) Crafted Applique - New Possibilities. People, I am so excited about this project I cannot even tell you!! Me? Applique? This is going to be epic!! Stay tuned, the hop is in May. That is not an affiliated link, BTW.

OK, now linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday! Check out the awesome finishes people are sharing!

Until next time, keep on quilting!!

Quilting, quilting, quilting!! :D

Where is my happy place? At my machine quilting! I've been spending a good amount of time doing just that over the past several weeks. I have a finished quilt to share with you today. I have been doing some quilting for Kat for her Covered In Love charity. I have been thinking about how I might be able to help Kat out with this charity for awhile. I had given her a rather large box of my pesky scraps and it has been so fun to see those fabrics being made into quilts that cover someone in their final days and then go home with the family when that someone passes. If you haven't visited Kat's blog or are not aware of her charity, please check out the link above. She has a block drive every month. Each month she gives instructions and color themes for blocks. You can send one, 100 or a finished top. The block drive has produced many quilts already and there are many in the works. As I was thinking about how I could help out, I had one of those slap your forehead duh moments. . . I can quilt some of those tops! I'll admit, this was a little bit selfish on my part - like I said in the beginning, quilting definitely puts me in my happy place! So I emailed Kat, told her I would be more than happy to help her out and she said yes! And I did a happy dance! A week later I received two tops in the mail. Let the fun begin!!

Here's my first finish:

I know, weird shadows this morning! Yes, I should have taken the time to move it over. . . but that would have meant moving chairs around, risking falling on my head and generally eat into time I need for quilting! ;)

I really did try to restrain myself and not quilt the crap out of this quilt. I think I found a happy medium place. I used wool batting (of course I did!! haha) so this quilt is very soft and snuggly!

I had the quilt folded and getting it to hang without a bend in the center was not happening. Love the texture and how  those little squares pop out of the triangles. I used a yellow gold thread for the feathers (Aurifil 40 Wt) and orange for the squares and loops (Aurifil 40 wt).

How cool is this picture from the back with the sun shining through???? LOVE!!

I used matching thread in the bobbin for all of the quilting. I have been finding that using the same weight thread (not necessarily the same color but in this case it is) reduces my thread breakage to nil. I think I had two thread breaks in this entire quilt. Not bad!

I thought about agonized over what to put in the corner squares for far too long . . . in the end I decided to do the same feather design as the one in the middle diamond in the quilt. The border had me stumped too.... In the end, I just sat down and started quilting. Sometimes that works for me, sometimes it doesn't - this time I think it worked out well :) The border and squares were quilted with Aurifil Poly for long arms. I absolutely LOVE this thread!! It is also 40 wt.

I bound this with fabric in my stash. . . check it out - it is the same exact Handspray fabric that is found in the quilt!! What are the chances? :)

I have the second top basted, ditched and I've started the quilting. That one should be finished in the next day or two. I told you, sitting at my machine quilting is definitely my happy place!! So I have found a way to help Kat out with her charity and I am having SO much fun doing it! If you want to get involved, make a block, make a top, make a quilt, go check out Kat's blog and see what fun blocks she is collecting this month! And here is the link directly to her Covered In Love page on her site.

I have also finished a flimsy. . . I'll blog about that this week as well - really! ;) In the mean time, I am going to get back to my machine!!

Linking up with Lorna for Let's Bee Social and Amanda Jean for Finish it up Friday. I can't wait to see what everyone else has been up to!





Until next time, keep on quilting!!

Blaze Pattern Test - Finished Quilt!!

When Joanne over at Canuck Quilter asked me if I wanted to test her pattern for Blaze (not an affiliate link), I said YUSSS!!! I showed the finished flimsy last month and promised some crazy quilting in that negative space ;) As I said in my previous post, Joanne's pattern is fabulously written and comes together pretty quickly. AND the resulting quilt is absolutely awesome!!

Pictures? Well, since you asked ;) And I'm not apologizing for the number of pictures. . . I couldn't decide which to put in so I put them all in!

Oh Yeah, I had a blast quilting this one!! :D

Flowers, butterflies and dragonflies curtesy of Judi Madsen's, "Quilting Wide Open Spaces" book. The templates were there, I resized them when I printed them out.

The bigger circles were done using Westalee's circle ruler. OMG! Seriously going to get more sizes of circle shaped quilting rulers! They took my circles to a whole new level!!

I wish you could run your hands (or face!!) over this yummy texture!!

And the back! I used matching threads on the back. And I took lots of pictures so you can see all the pretty colors I used :)

Sun is shining pretty bright. . . the yellow thread shows up pretty well on the back but what you are seeing here is more fabric color :)

Have I said how much I love the back? :D

OK, I'll stop now :D This quilt makes me SOOO happy!

I made the lap size quilt but added a couple of rows. . . more negative space ;) haha

Again, you can get your pattern for Blaze at Joanne's Craftsy store right now!! Jump over and check out this and all of her other great patterns!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday!!

I'll be back soon. . . a squirrel might have ran through my house . . . and left in its wake a quilt top!!! ;)

Until next time, keep on quilting!!

Beacon - A Quilting Jetgirl Pattern Release

I am so excited to share with you my version of Yvonne's (Quilting Jetgirl) newest pattern! When Yvonne sent a picture of the quilt and asked if I wanted to test, it took me about two seconds to say, YES!! All that negative space! Are you kidding me?? :)

As with Yvonne's other patterns, the instructions are clearly written and the graphics and pictures included provide the maker with the information needed to get those points pointy and to have those seams match up. When working with the high contrast between background and feature fabric, it is kind of important to have things line up properly. I think Yvonne has done a great job in giving you the instructions and tips you will need to make that happen. This is not one of those patterns in which you might decide to go rogue (raising hand as someone who does go rogue often!) and not follow the directions for making the beacon and angle blocks. . . Trust me (and more importantly, Yvonne!), you'll save yourself a lot of time. :)

In Yvonne's launch post, she wrote "My goal with the Beacon quilt pattern is to encourage you, the quilter, to incorporate a mindful story into the quilt." I'm not sure a pattern designer can anticipate exactly how their pattern will be interpreted and how a story might develop. . . And this quilt tester definitely did not anticipate the intense interest and story my husband weaved into this quilt! As soon as the flimsy was finished, he started sharing the 'story.' His story included ancient civilizations, ufology, and a fight that is very personal to us both, his fight against Lyme disease. Thank you, Yvonne for letting me test this pattern and for giving me the chance to 'work out' this story while quilting this quilt! Want to see Breakaway?

Ta Da! :) There is likely going to be some post wash quilting going on with this quilt. What is that green motif in the large triangle on the right? That would be a crop circle. I found a really cool picture of one and recreated it on the quilt. I think I need to add some more diagonal lines to provide a little more stability to that area. The dense green thread used for the actual crop circles is pulling in, more quilting will rectify that. . . I think ;)

Those are spaceships in the middle diamond. I think these need a little more definition as well.... The ship on the left is my quilted version of the UFO Kenneth Arnold saw in 1947. And the ship on the left is the Horten flying disc. The diamond on the right is a rendition of the Vitruvian Man drawing by Da Vinci but in my drawing, the man is an alien. . . :)

The motif in the upper right is a Sumerian Eagle. The symbols above the eagle are from the Roswell I-beam and from the Nazi Bell.

I am particularly proud of how this one turned out :) This is the Eye of Horus or the Eye of Ra.
The Eye of Horus was believed to have healing and protective power, and it was used as a protective amulet. It was also used as a notation of measurement, particularly for measuring the ingredients in medicines and pigments. The symbol was divided into six parts, representing the shattering of Horus´ eye into six pieces. Each piece was associated with one of the six senses and a specific fraction.

Sun and Moon Yin and Yang. This was the last space I needed to fill with a motif. I needed something cool looking and quick. I think it filled both requirements. :) I will likely be adding more quilting to this section as well. . . Seriously, someone should just stop me! haha

The top diamond (under the Eye of Horus) includes and outline of Plumb Island, the Lyme Spirochete and a paperclip. . . I could write a book about the significance of this section of the quilt but I won't. If you are interested in learning more, this book is well written and most well researched I've found on the subject (not an affiliated link). The man below is the Nazca Man. Loving how he turned out too!

I had the flimsy finished in January. That's when my husband shared his vision with me. Then we hit a bit of a rough spot with his health and life in general. The quilting was not started until Renee sent me an email and asked me if I realized the quilt needed to be finished in 11 days..... Whut??? How did that happen??? Crap, must get a move on!! So in the midst of a five day visit from family, I worked through the motifs he had chosen for the quilt. There were many times I thought there was no way I was going to get this quilt finished! It is mostly finished but as I indicated in some of the descriptions above, I will likely be adding a bit more. If you are interested in any of the symbols or motifs I've included, a quick search on the key words I have provided will provide you with days and days of reading or shoot me an email. :) Once I do more quilting, I will likely do another post. And since this post about the launch of Yvonne's pattern, I didn't want to write a book and bore you with a ton of details. :) I do want to mention that the fillers in the top left and bottom triangles (corners and middle) were some that I saw on Hillary Florence's blog when she first posted them. I never forgot that piece and knew at some point those designs would come in handy! I think they fit perfectly into this quilt.


Speaking of the pattern! Want to create a story of your own? Yvonne is offering this pattern for $7 through April 3, 2016 and you can get it at either her Craftsy or Etsy stores. And while you are there, check out her other fabulous patterns!

Also, make sure you check out the other awesome quilts made from this pattern at:

• Monday, March 21st – Introduction by Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl
• Tuesday, March 22nd – Audrey @Hot Pink Quilts
• Wednesday, March 23rd – Judy @Quilt Paradigm - You are here!!
• Thursday, March 24th – Renee @Quilts of a Feather
•  March 25: More Beacon Awesomeness at Quilting Jetgirl and Sew Mama Sew!

There is so much room for interpretation with this quilt! I highly recommend the pattern and if you are looking for that perfect quilt to practice your doodle quilting, graffiti quilting, crazy quilting. . . whatever you call it - this is the perfect pattern! The pattern gives instructions for three sizes, baby, lap and queen.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday!

Until next time, keep on quilting!!

A Friday Flimsy Finish

I cannot tell you how excited I am to share this finished flimsy with you!! When I saw this quilt top Joanne over at Canuck Quilter  showed on her design wall, I was smitten. Completely smitten! I may have gushed a little in my comments on Joanne's blog and she asked me if I was willing to test the pattern. . . it took me all of about two seconds to say "Heck yeah!" sign me up and a happy dance might have ensued! The pattern is called Blaze and it has not been released yet but Joanne is working on it and I will be sure to let you all know when that happens. Hopefully about the same time the quilting is finished because you know I cannot wait to get to that negative space!! ;)

The top came together quickly, easily and it has a huge impact, IMHO :) I'm not going to share a lot more, other than the pictures, I think they say it all! Joanne's patterns are fantastic! Check out all of her fabulousness over at her Craftsy Store. No, that is not an affiliated link. :) As I said, this pattern has not been released yet but you can be assured I will be letting you know when it is! BUT, she has other patterns that are just as wonderful for you to peruse, paper pieced snowflakes (I've made some of these and they are awesome!) and quilts and freebies!

Initial fabric pull. I decided against the yellow batik for the background of the leaves. . . I kind of regret that choice now, not major regret. I just think my first instincts might have been right...

The first leaf block. OH MY! At this point, I am seriously excited to get all of the pieces up on my design wall to see what it will look like!!! Does that ever happen to you? EEEEK!! Get your sew on girl cuz we can't wait to see what it is going to look like :D

At this point. . . I am obsessed - and I couldn't stop. . . I added a couple of columns, I made the leaves tumble. That might have been due to the fact that in my excitement of sewing on the sashing I made some 'errors' in terms of what side I initially sewed the sashing. . . Instead of ripping, I went with it :)

And here it is!! LOVE!!!

There might have been some happy dancing going on on my patio as I took these pictures ;)

I couldn't decide on which picture to show. . . so I'm showing them all! haha

I broke so many rules with this fabric pull. . . Are those batiks? Yes, they are. . . you combined them with what??? Yes, I combined them with Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in black for the background and the Purple for the sashing and the top and bottom zigzag is Moda Grunge. I wish I could tell you the color but unfortunately, I do not know :( What I can tell you is that ALL of this fabric was in the stash! YAY :) I will never understand why there is that 'rule' out there that batiks should not be combined with other fabrics. It is bunk in my quilting world! :)

The top is sandwiched and I have it marked and I'm almost finished with the ditching. This quilt spoke to me the entire time I was putting it together. I did not stare at it for hours wondering how I was going to quilt it - it told me and I'm going with it :) Provided life cooperates more than it has been in the past couple of weeks and allows me a little more time at my machine, you should be seeing this one all quilted up very soon!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday. If you are here from there, thanks for visiting! And if you haven't been over there yet this week, take a few moments and check out the drool worthy finishes people are sharing!

Until next time, keep on quilting!