Slow Dance

This is my "Slow Dance" quilt, and is featured in this May 2015 American Quilter magazine. 

This quilt was inspired by the traditional Tennessee Waltz pattern, with a few modifications.

You might recognize the design from another quilty friend of mine, Lee of Freshly Pieced, because she has an almost identical pattern. She and I made the quilts completely separately of one another -- just both liked the way the clever piecing creates the illusion of curves! (And Lee uses paper piecing for part of hers, while I use templates and rotary cutting). My quilt was slated to be published in an upcoming magazine, and she used hers for the DS solids competition -- no bad feelings or scandal here... we assure you! :)

For quilting, I did swirls in the white negative space, and an orange peel type design in the colored diamonds. This is absolutely one of my favorite quilts! 

This is the palette inspiration for my color choices (from design seeds.com), along with the backing fabric (my favorite!) 

This quilt has happily lived on our couch for months! We love it! 

I have a few extra copies of the magazine (I'm also posting on IG), but you can email me here if you'd like one! $6 + $2.50 shipping

Nine-patch curves from Quilter's Mixology

I am lucky enough to be friends with the lovely Angela at Cut to Pieces, and knew instantly I wanted to make the Nine Patch Curves quilt from her A Quilter's Mixology: Shaking Up Curved Piecing

Another dear friend of mine got married this past September, but harvest and a new job and a family tragedy impeded my actually getting there. The next best thing I could do was make a quilt. 

I got to give it to her and her new hubby over Thanksgiving break. 

I think they loved it. :)

And it was good to give my dear friend something so special.

My color palette was inspired by her bedding set, and I quilted it in a basic all over stipple. 

I added a row to make the quilt a little bigger from the pattern in the book, and had some acrylic templates made to make the cutting more enjoyable for me (I really like having templates for cutting).

Here it is before I finished (with my people helping to hold it up).

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As far as Angela's book.

I highly recommend it. Her patterns are unique, fun, graphic, pretty, and totally doable. 

Leaded Glass - BQF entry

Welcome to the Bloggers' Quilt Festival! 

This is my entry for the year -- my "Leaded Glass" quilt



The design was about 3 years in the making, inspired by its namesake of a cool window I wanted to re-create in fabric, and is featured in this month's issue of American Quilter Magazine (on newsstands now!)



The quilt measures 72" square, and is machine quilted by Natalia Bonner from Piece and Quilt. She did amazing feathers, and pebbles, and cool cathedral shaped petals in the centers. And swirls... I just love it.

You can see more of the quilting in this angle.



This quilt uses a combination of basic piecing and paper piecing, in order to ensure those "grout" lines line up just perfectly, and other than carefully planning your color placement (if you don't want to go scrappy), is actually not a hard quilt to make.

Julie from Intrepid Thread has the kit for sale using the True Colors fabrics featured here! (and she had a coupon code for 10% off the kit + whatever else you buy with code TJLG10 --> only works with the kit too though!)

Thank you for visiting! (You can find me in the ROYGBIV quilts!)

Midwest Family Life giveaway

Giveaway now closed!
Winner -- Mary on Lake Pulaski. :)

 As a mama who tries to work from home, I like to support others who do as well!

Meet Midwest Family Life!

I met Erika through blogland, and a few months ago (yes, it's been that long!) She asked if I would host a giveaway for her. She sent Scarlet this adorable hat and purse as a thank you, and is offering a $20 shop credit to a winner here!

Scarlet really likes her little purse, and often fills it with her babies, or princesses or jewelry.

Initially she wouldn't let me take a picture of her with her bonnet, but she finally did! :) 

To enter:

- Go to Midwest Family Life etsy shop and pick what you'd like if you win! There are GREAT baby shower gifts in there if you don't have littles at home. Leave a comment.

- For a second entry, Like Midwest Family life on Facebook. Leave a comment and let me know.

Winner picked Saturday. :)

So Pretty Christmas Star

I'm back with my Christmas in July tutorial with Sew Lux Fabric!

Chrissy has set up a series of tutorials this week, including a link up, coupon code, and prizes at the end! :)

I was working with the 25th and Pine line from Basic Grey. I plan to turn this block in to a table topper, but for now, here is my So Pretty Christmas block!



The pattern will be available for free on Craftsy for a limited time, and then I'll turn it in to a full-fledged block pattern with multiple sizes.

...when I finish this one in progress.

The pattern is compatible with a charm pack, a little background, and some larger scraps (5" x 6 1/2" is the largest size needed -- info is in the pattern).

The pattern includes the paper piecing templates, directions, and a coloring page!

(it does not include a full paper piecing tutorial...)



Enjoy! ♥

Source: So Pretty Star via traceyjay on Craftsy

wip Wednesday - Pretty star

I need a name for this block pattern I'm working on for the SewLux Christmas tutorials with SewLuxFabric.

It will be up tomorrow morning... right now, the top contender is "Pretty Star." :)

I had a different plan, but this felt more inspired. 

I do not love paper piecing, so I needed to test the pattern to write it up, and figure out the cutting sizes, etc. 

I had this pretty stack I was really anxious to use...

Gah! See??? Pretty star. :)

It took me 3 quadrants to get measurements I was happy with, so I would only need to cut once. :)

Now to stitch it up in this pile! See you tomorrow morning! :)

Christmas in July

I'm happy to announce I'll be participating in a little Christmas in July sew along with Sew Lux Fabric.

I will be working with this beautiful bundle of 25th and Pine

And here is my inspiration for my tutorial! Won't this make the cutest Christmas pillow?

Here's a little more info!

___________________________

While the holidays arrive at the same time each and every year, it never fails that they seem to sneak up on so many of us.  Our goal with this series is to help you get a jump on your holiday sewing by sharing tutorials as well as providing an opportunity to link up your projects and win some great prizes !  Like last year, we've enlisted the help of some friends who will be working with one of six different Christmas in July bundles and preparing a fun holiday tutorial for the series.

With bundles from designers like Kate Spain, Basic Grey, Gina Martin and more there's something for everyone!   And this week you can save 10% on all of our featured Christmas in July Bundles with coupon code NICELIST.  Offer ends 7/13/14.

Here's our Schedule of Events for the Series:

• July 7th - Series Announcement & Bundle Sale
• July 14th - Solstice Wreath Mini Tutorial (See that cute wreath in our series button image? We'll show you how to make it here on the Sew Lux Blog!)
• July 21st - Sewing with Winter Wonderland - Lee of May Chappell
• July 22nd - Sewing with Be Jolly - Chrissy of Sew Lux
• July 23rd - Sewing the Folk Art Holiday - Sarah of Stitching & Bacon AND Megan of Quilt Story
• July 24th - Sewing with 25th & Pine - Tessa of The Sewing Chick AND Tracey of traceyjay quilts
• July 25th - Sewing with Solstice - Christen of Love by Hand AND Stephanie of Quarter Incher
• July 21-August 4th - Linky open to link up your projects
• August 5th - Winner Announced

Sew with Us!

To encourage you all to also get a start on your holiday sewing, we're offering up some prizes!  All you have to do is make a project using one of the tutorials from the series and link it up by August 4th!  You can use a bundle or fabric from your stash - it only has to use one of our 9 tutorials from this series!

Prizes

There will be two winners chosen at random and announced on August 5th. International friends are welcome to participate - your prize will be included with your shipment upon redeeming your gift certificate.

• Grand Prize: $50 gift certificate to Sew Lux Fabric, a set of 6 You're Sew Nice cards, and an assortment of three patterns by May Chappell
• 1st Prize: $25 gift certificate to Sew Lux Fabric, a set of 6 You're Sew Nice cards, and a pattern by May Chappell

Who's excited?!

Happy Sewing! :-)