Pageant Highlight Reel / Beauties Pageant 266

I decided this week it was time to tally the WIPs, and friends, the numbers were sobering. I have 10 projects in process and another 4 cut and ready to sew. A total of 14 might not seem like a big number to you, but many more would overwhelm me. Until I can chisel away at them, any new projects need to be ones I’d sew start to finish right now, like a QuiltCon 2025 submission or a new pattern.

But that doesn’t stop me from daydreaming about what might come next, and recent Beauties Pageants have provided more than enough inspiration ...

Orinoco Flow

Sandra’s Orinoco Flow is a throw-size version of a baby quilt pattern of hers that was published in Love Patchwork and Quilting last year. I have a soft spot in my heart for whole-composition designs, and Orinoco Flow does not disappoint ... It looks exactly like the original baby size; Sandra achieves the throw size by enlarging the components, not by adding more blocks. And by the looks of it, Orinoco Flow will come together quickly!

Blue Pineapple Blocks

Gretchen’s collection of blue pineapple blocks is a showstopper, and think of all the scraps she busted through to make 64 blocks! I have never sewn a pineapple block quilt (the time commitment is daunting), but these blocks think I may need to tackle one.

Garden Party

Although neither my blog nor Instagram feed show any evidence of this, I have been playing with applique recently. It’s been fun to consider the possibilities of what I can accomplish outside of my usual piecing techniques. Gail’s Garden Party project uses a pattern by Laura Heine and an applique approach called “edge painting.” Once you open yourself up to applique, the possibilities of what you can create are limitless ...

I know many of you are like me and enjoy having multiple projects going at once. How may projects are too many for you? Which of these designs are tempting you, too?!

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Some Kitty Cats / Beauties Pageant 261

** I’m sick on the couch this week. Catch me next Friday, August 30, with the release of my latest Almost Free for Charity quilt pattern, Zip It Good! ** 

The summers here at From Bolt to Beauty world headquarters follow the same trajectory each year: Things start off slowly as we struggle to establish some semblance of a routine. Then things get cooking. We go from a minor simmer to full-on boil overnight, and then it’s go, go, go until school opens again. It’s fun but also a little exhausting.

Meanwhile, I’m plotting how to squeeze in some quilting time and developing unrealistic expectations for what I will be able to accomplish come fall because it’s virtually impossible to check something off my to-do list during the summer.

And yet, I just may finish something after all. Pictured here are is my Kitty Cats quilt (pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew), which I dropped off at the longarmer this week. This beauty will get the edge-to-edge panto treatment with chunky swirls that are reminiscent of cat tails.

I’ve also made great progress on my EPP project (read last week’s post here). The dozen blocks I wanted to make for my Rosemary Quilt are complete, I’ve decided on the final layout, and I started to machine-applique the EPP blocks to the background fabric.

I’ve had so much fun with these blocks—and summer commitments will create more opportunities for hand sewing this next week—that I’ve decided to make another. Rosemary #2 will feature Eden, a collection by Gabrielle Neil for Riley Black, which I used for Snapdragon Cove. There’s something nice about having an entire fabric line at the ready for those situations when you don’t have the bandwidth to curate a fabric pull yourself. This was one of those times.

Have you found time to be productive at your machine this summer? I know it’s a balancing act, especially if you’re like me, with kids out of school and at home. I’d love to see what you’re working on (a finished block is a finish in my book!). Upload your beauties to the linky below ...

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

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Why Do Quilts Take So Long to Make? / Beauties Pageant 257

I am still surprised, some 11 years after finishing my first quilt, by how much time a quilt requires to make.

Why don’t I hit my step goal on certain days? Because quilts take so long to make! (And I get zero steps while sitting at my sewing machine.)

Why don’t I have an immaculate house/cook amazing meals/complete my other to-do lists? Because quilts take so long to make! (And clearly, I have questionable priorities.)

Why don’t I have anything to show this week? Because quilts take so long to make! (And all I have are a few partially pieced Tall Tale blocks that I didn’t bother to photograph.)

But who did cross the quilty finish line with a project recently? These Beauties Pageant participants ...

First up, is Lisa’s Pretty Birds (pattern by Elizabeth Hartman) ...

Then there is Nancy’s version of Amalie Supersized (pattern by GE Designs) ...

And finally, check out Kathleen’s version of Luminous Layers (pattern by MMM Quilts) ...

Looking at these lovelies gives me a thrill, because the next-best thing to celebrating my own finish, of course, is celebrating others’. Do you have finished block, quilt top, or finish this week? We want to see it. Post it to this week’s Beauties Pageant!

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Pageant Highlight Reel / Beauties Pageant 219

The recent dreary skies over New England have not lent themselves to photo shoots, so my finishes will have to wait until the sun returns. Oh, well! It’s a great excuse to take a break and look at what everyone else has been up to ...

I am a sucker for white backgrounds, and multiple finishes from Anne-Marie (Stories from the Sewing Room) have caught my eye as a result. Most recently, she shared Loves Me, Loves Me Not. This was a new-to-me pattern, one designed by another blogger, Patty of Elm Street Quilts. I love Anne-Marie’s palette and her dense quilting on all that white space! Click through to read more about her process and the pattern (I’m crazy about the baby size option).

Another showstopper is Blue Medallion Surprise, a collaboration between Rebecca (Rebecca Grace Quilting) and Nanette ...

Blue Medallion Surprise is an original design by Nanette, and Rebecca’s quilting is the perfect complement to the piecing and palette. The thread she chose matches the lowest value in the project, which means it goes unnoticed in parts of the finished quilt but pops along the dark border. Beautiful!

I was also struck recently by all the nonquilting projects appearing in the Beauties Pageant lineups lately. Melva (Melva Loves Scraps) was busy back in April sewing up teddy bears, and Céline (Espritpatch) made her first I Am Hesat blouse in May ...

 

Have those cute stuffies and that beautiful blouse inspired me to sew something other than quilts this summer? I have Noodlehead’s Making Backpack pattern and canvas yardage on hand to answer that very question. : )

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Quilty Retreat Prep / Beauties Pageant 215

My guild’s annual spring retreat happens next week in Maine, and I’ve been getting ready for the event for the past few weeks. I approach retreats as more guild socials/sweat shops. I do a lot of catching up with friends and go out for all my meals. When I’m at my machine, I’m go-go-go—it’s more of a time to make progress on many projects and less about tapping into the collective creativity around me.

That being said, I pack several projects, knowing full well I won’t touch them all—the variety helps me make the most of my away-from-home sewing time. My retreat projects generally fall into one of three categories: fast finishes, marathons, and challenges.

Fast finishes are projects that I can bang out in less than a day (think baby quilt tops) or those that are far enough along that I can wrap them up quickly. Checking a fast finish off my list helps propel me into another project. For example, my Brightly blocks (pictured at the start of the post) are completely pieced; I just have to assemble the rows and then sew them into the top. Brightly will come together quickly at the retreat. And my Patchwork Sky (pictured below) is well on its way. I still have to do some piecing, but then it will be smooth run to the finish line.

Marathons are those that require a lot of mindless chain piecing. I won’t start and complete one at retreat, but I can make good progress on several. So, when I’m bored of snowballing a hundred pieces for one project, I can move on to sewing the nine-patches for another. I have three of these ready to go: Legendary (by Elizabeth Hartman), Pineberry (by Pen and Paper Patterns), and my own Irish Twist.

A challenge or two helps keep things interesting. I have prepared many blocks from the Bonnie and Camille Quilt Bee Sampler to that end. It’s not that these are hard blocks; they’re all different and will require some effort from me to sew. I cut everything and bagged the components for each block in a separate plastic bag. When I want to work on something interesting while on retreat, this is the project I’ll reach for.

All of that aside, I think the most important thing for me to do in preparation is to read through each pattern, make sure I will have everything I need on hand, and cut out all the fabric in advance. After a few days of socializing and staying up later than I should, it’s best—for me and for my projects—that I steer clear of my rotary blade!

Do you have any advice from your own retreat experiences? I welcome the wisdom!

 

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Pageant Highlight Reel / Beauties Pageant 211

There’s nothing like the promise of a new project to get me through my current one. And since returning from QuiltCon, I’ve been chipping away at my WIPs, making such good progress that I’m considering what may be next.

I’ve long wanted to make a Pen and Paper Patterns quilt. (Right now, I’m eyeing Sparrow, Pineberry, and Book Nook. A new one—Hello Spring—releases later this month!) But past Beauties Pageants are influencing my to-make list, too ...

Anne-Marie, at Stories from the Sewing Room, recently finished her Chalk quilt. The two-color design, created by Cheryl Brickey, is one I was already familiar with. Seeing Anne-Marie’s completed project, with its made-for-this-project backing fabric, however, has me eyeing the larger cuts in my stash that I need to use up. If you have 4.25 yards of a solid on hand, this pattern may be up your alley, too!

A storm at sea quilt doesn’t appear on my quilty bucket list, but when I saw Karen’s Court Jester, a project that combines this traditional motif with a scrappy approach, I had to reconsider my position. I’ve seen other quilters rely on color gradations to achieve movement with storm at sea projects. The variations of color and value in Karen’s scrappy version (including those borders!) up the ante, making her creation something special. Head to Karen’s Quilts Etc. to see more of this project.

What from previous Beauties Pageants has your creative juices flowing? Let us know in the comments below!

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Still Pretty Simple Jelly Roll Quilt / Beauties Pageant 187

When I was designing my latest PDF, the Still Pretty Simple Jelly Roll Quilt, I photographed the quilt I originally made from the design for the cover and was really pleased with how it turned out. The bright colors of that quilt make for an eye-catching cover. But this pattern includes five different layout options—four of which I had never sewn before!—so I couldn’t help but embark on a new project from the instructions.

And here is the final flimsy: a super-scrappy, two-color Still Pretty Simple Jelly Roll Quilt. This layout creates a huge star with what looks to me like four photo corners. (And if anyone is going to sew a 56-inch by 64-inch star, it’s going to be me!)

The nexus for the fabric pull was a set of black and white fat eighths that I won through my guild. There was everything from OG Cotton and Steel to Zen Chic to Sarah Jane fabric in it. One of our board members cut the pieces from her rather extensive personal stash. It was an awesome prize, and because I used only the prints that read as all white or all black, supplementing them with my own stash and scraps, I still have a good chunk of the bundle left over. 

It’s going to be a while before I have the bandwidth to quilt this flimsy, but I want to pick the binding and piece the backing before I fold everything up and put it aside for a few months. This black and white quilt needs a little something for the binding—specifically, something that’s not black or white. There are infrequent bits of aqua, orange, avocado, and pink in the scrappy low-volume background, so they’re logical candidates for the binding. My current plan of attack is to go with a bold pink binding and coordinate the backing appropriately.

This is only my second two-color quilt project. (See my first one, a QuiltCon challenge reject, here.) It was fun to sew with these fabrics, and even though I homed in on two colors, there were plenty of fabric decisions to make. Have you made a two-color quilt? I’d love to see the ones you have. Post one or two of them to this week’s linky, even if they are finishes from way back when. : )

The Still Pretty Simple Jelly Roll Quilt PDF is available exclusively through my pattern shop. It’s priced at just $3, with proceeds going to support a Down syndrome organization in my area.

Linking up to Oh, Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework ...

 

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

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Fast and Easy Gifts for Teachers / Beauties Pageant 176

The start of this year’s teacher gifts

I’m still trying to get my brain around the fact that school vacation is almost here. I guess it doesn’t matter whether I’m successful in this endeavor: One way or another, my kids are out of school in another week!

Last year, I was so on top of things, mainly because I had to be. My younger son was finishing up his last year in elementary school, and deciding to do something special to mark the occasion, I made eight quilts to give to his teaching team. (This is my kiddo with special needs. He has many, many teachers and therapists in the school system working with him.) I loved giving away these quilts. I took pictures of all of them and asked the recipients which ones they’d like before determining who would be given what. It made the process less stressful for me and increased the possibility that these educators would receive a quilt they liked. (Read more about these quilts here.)

The pile of quilts I gifted last spring

Fast-forward a year, and I’m flying by the seat of my pants! I saw an Instagram reel from Crosscut Sewing Co. about the shop’s key fob kits on Tuesday. On Wednesday I placed my order of kits and standalone supplies, and on Thursday I had received it. (Crosscut is an online retailer with in-person sewing classes; it’s about an hour from my house, so the shipping is super speedy.) Now it’s Friday, and I’m in go-go-go mode. I think 10 key fobs will suit my needs, but I’ll likely make a full dozen to be on the safe side.

Supplies for my next key fobs

New England schools always get out so late—the first holiday of our summer is the Fourth of July, not Memorial Day—so this gift idea likely doesn’t come in time to help out those of you who also have kiddos in school. But keep these gifts in mind for the future They are the simplest ones I’ve ever made. They’re also inexpensive. I’m making all of mine with jacquard ribbons, but you could just as easily use scraps that you have on hand. (The ribbon in the picture at the top of the post is designed by Kaffe Fassett for Renaissance Ribbons.)

If you’re making teacher gifts—or have recently gifted some—add them to this week’s linky. I’m always on the lookout for new ideas. : )

Check out other simple From Bolt to Beauty gift ideas here.

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Pageant Highlight Reel: Designer Edition / Beauties Pageant 171

As much as I enjoy making quilts from my own original designs, I sew plenty of projects from others’ patterns. I always appreciate a novel take on a well-known block or a clever construction. I think the highest compliment I can give a fellow quilt designer is exclaiming an honest “I wish I had designed that!”

In that regard, I thought I’d compile a Beauties Pageant Highlight Reel that features some of the designers that frequent this linky. Here are three beauties that popped up recently ...

Yvonne Fuchs’ Sequenced Quilt

Yvonne launched her Sesen quilt pattern just last week. It’s a beautiful, modern design, but the attraction for me is that it comes with a bonus pattern, called Sequence, constructed with large scraps from making the main pattern. Clever, right? There’s something about those secondary shapes in Sequence, combined with Yvonne’s meticulous quilting, that pulls me right into the quilt.

To learn more about Sequenced, click here. Read about the primary pattern design, Sesen, here.

Melanie Meyer’s All the Diagonals Quilt

Melanie’s All the Diagonals pattern received a makeover recently, and now I’m reconsidering the to-do list in my near future! The design has always been unique and modern and hexie-laden—all qualities that make it a good contender for a future project of mine. I could easily envision All the Diagonals in solids or more modern fabric collections, like those from Guicy Guice or Alison Glass. But the same pattern in a collection from Sherri and Chelsi or in Christmas fabric, as Melanie has mocked up here? That’s a game changer for me. I have plenty of stash that is up for that challenge.

Read more about Melanie’s rainbow gradient version here.

Susan Arnold’s Wildflower Table Runner

I appreciate Susan’s designs because they’re such a departure from what I usually sew. Her Wildflowers table runner is no exception. But there’s so much to like here—from Susan’s simple (but definitely not simplistic) quilting to that super skinny inner border to how the applique pieces lie on top of other elements in the design. That runner may not have a place in my more modern home but it’s on my list of small projects that would make great gifts.

Read more about Wildflowers here.

What do you think? Leave these ladies some love in the comments or, better yet, visit their blogs for more information about these beauties.

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter