A Colorful Stara Flimsy / Beauties Pageant 348

A friend recently asked to see the latest and greatest From Bolt to Beauty patterns, and I had to laugh. Although I released three new patterns this year (Had to Be You, Twin-Star Cabins, and Festive Flurries), a recent perusal of my fabric stash was sobering. I uncovered so many WIPs that had been out of sight and out of mind. So. Very. Many! Instead of working on new quilt patterns, I am focusing on wrapping up some of those in-process projects in the upcoming months. 

I have two flimsies in particular that I want to get going on. They are completely assembled and just need to be quilted and bound. Both of them, I think, would benefit from straight-line quilting, which means my walking foot and I need to get reacquainted.

First up is Stara, a pattern by Taralee Quiltery. You might remember this project from the spring when I had to abandon my original background fabric to avoid potential shadowing (read the post here). Ultimately, I settled on Bella Solids Gray for my background. It doesn’t create the super-high contrast that my initial white-on-white print did, but it successfully blends with the top’s rainbow of Ruby Star fabrics. 

I am really pleased with how this top came out. I especially love how the color gradient bleeds from one nine-patch to the next. I am thinking of quilting a giant X on the quilt top and then echoing the quilting in each of the four quadrants, something like this:

It’s a quilting plan I have used before, in Love Boldly ...

What do you think? If you have any thoughts on what my walking foot and I should tackle with this top, please let me know in the comments.

Also, if you, like that friend I mentioned earlier, are drawn to new patterns, fear not! There are some coming in 2027. Think cats and penguins and—gasp!—y-seams. (Trust me, machine-sewn y-seams are easier than you think and well worth the effort.) As always, you will be the first to hear about any new additions to the From Bolt to Beauty lineup!

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Five Little Ghosts and Friends / Beauties Pageant 347

* Download the free Five Little Ghosts and Friends expansion pack here *

Last year I sewed up a supersize version of Five Little Ghosts, the runner project from my book, Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts, and then never posted the finish here or on social media. Now, with Halloween right around the corner, these cuties are finally getting their time in the spotlight!

The inspiration for the throw-size project was a fat quarter bundle of Lella Boutique’s Hey Boo line. I am a sucker for unexpected palettes, and the pinks and purples in Hey Boo were right up my alley. The original project calls for five jelly roll strips, a background fabric, and scraps for the ghosts’ eyes and mouths. Because I wanted to put my Hey Boo fat quarters to good use, however, I redesigned the blocks for the throw—I’m calling it a pattern "expansion pack"—to feature different fabrics. 

In usual From Bolt to Beauty fashion, the background pieces are cut to maintain the directionality of prints. In not-so-usual From Bolt to Beauty fashion, I included a thick black border to frame the colorful background fabrics and ground the quilt in general.

This beauty then got an edge-to-edge spiderweb panto (minus the spiders—for heaven’s sake, I’m not cuddling under a quilt with spiders on it!). The texture is best viewed on the back ...

I have said this before: I’m not a fan of scary Halloween. Cute Halloween, however, is something I can get behind! If you own a copy of Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts, be sure to download your copy of the free expansion pack so you, too, can sew up a posse of 20 not-so-scary ghosts.

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• 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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Ornament Collection in Rifle Paper Company / Beauties Pageant 346

A few years ago, I felt the need to make a fabric purchase. Perhaps it had been a while since I welcomed new fabric into my house. Perhaps I needed the dopamine high of spending a little money. In any event, I found myself adding half-yard after half-yard of Rifle Paper Company’s holiday collections to my online shopping cart. 

Once my newly acquired fabric was in hand, I needed to rationalize having purchased it! Lucky for me, I have two sisters-in-law who love a good Rifle Paper print. So I began my first Ornament Collection with these holiday fabrics.

I let the Rifle Paper prints and my stash make the palette decisions for me, purchasing only the solid dark green and striped binding fabric ...

A year or so later, I started a second Ornament Collection with the same feature fabrics and recently gifted it to my other sister-in-law. Again, I followed Rifle Paper’s lead and chose coordinating solids from my stash, buying just the binding fabric.

I love a good contrasting binding, but the more subtle stripe here works well. It’s the perfect sophisticated complement to the Christmassy-without-being-too-Christmassy palette.

And I think you’ll agree that this pattern is the perfect stage to showcase Rifle Paper’s holiday prints. Not one gets cut into tiny pieces; they all shine as the centers to these balls and baubles.

Christmas is just 70 days away, and this girl is ready! In addition to my most recent Ornament Collection, I finished a holiday-themed Five Star Experience and released Festive Flurries. What do you think? Maybe it’s time for me to tackle Valentine’s Day next!

Ornament Collection is a From Bolt to Beauty pattern. You can learn more about it 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