Ahoy, Sailor! / Beauties Pageant 46

A completed quilt top!

Finishing a quilt top always feels good, but finishing a top and knowing you’ll be passing it on to others for quilting and binding is even better. Such is the case with my current project, a version of Suzy Quilts’ Ahoy Sailor pattern.

I noticed after the top was finished that the fish on the left are upside down. I was contemplating fixing the problem until I remembered my recent visit to the New England Aquarium. Guess what my older son and I saw there in the giant central tank. Fish swimming upside down!

This quilt is a gift from my guild to someone who helps make our fall retreats such a success. (See an in-process post about this quilt here.) I chose this design both because it was a free pattern and because there were only 14 boats to sew. I had the best of intentions to rally my guild mates to piece the blocks, but we were under a time crunch (less than two months to deliver the quilt!) and I realized I would spend more time organizing the group effort than I would if I just banged the blocks out myself.

This low-volume print filled with nautical terms was a huge score. It’s been out of print for years and was perfect for this project.

In the end, it may have been for the best. This pattern involves cutting many of the pieces to an eighth of an inch, which I found odd, and the instructions for trimming the half right rectangles to size lack the precision I like to see in a pattern. By the 14th boat, though, I achieved a level of proficiency that a collection of quilters all making a block or two wouldn’t have realized.

What are your pet peeves about quilting patterns? I have a love-hate relationship with patterns. I approach most with a sense of distrust (maybe I’ve been burned by too many in the past?), and because I aim to use stash instead of buying new fabric, I’m always trying to make my fabric work with the requirements of the pattern at hand.

* * *

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

Sewing the Seven Seas / Beauties Pageant 45

I had a legit reason to buy some new fabric recently. : )

I volunteered to organize a thank-you quilt for the woman who oversees my guild’s fall retreat. She works at the inn where my guildmates and I stay and sew, and really works hard to make it a pleasant event for all of us. After some snooping around, I learned that she likes blues and greens of the ocean and would enjoy a quilt with a nautical theme.

With Suzy Quilts’ Ahoy Sailor pattern in hand, I ordered some Bonnie and Camille fabrics, including some out-of-print Daysail prints and a few basics. (See the picture, above. Longtime readers might remember that I sewed with Daysail when I was designing my Bring on the Dancing Horses project.) The text print is all marine terminology. It’s the perfect ocean-themed low-volume print. I adore it!

From there, I added a bundle of Art Gallery fabrics and started making sailboats.

The Art Gallery fabrics come from two collections: Loved to Pieces by Mister Domestic and Sirena by Jessica Swift.

This striped print adorns two of the sailboats and will provide a border around the entire quilt.

I’m pretty pleased with how the blocks are coming together so far and think the recipient will like it!

If you have an interest in making a nautical-themed quilt yourself, here are other pattern possibilities I discovered during my research:

* Storm at Sea using AccuQuilt dies
* Elizabeth Hartman’s Sea Urchins
* Barbara H. Cline’s Under the Sea
* Camille Roskelley’s Cheerio

* Jocelyn Lai’s Row, Row, Row Your Boat

* * *

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

Little Farmer Quilt / Beauties Pageant 44

My philosophy these days is I can sew anything I want as long as I already own the fabric to make it. I do make an occasional exception—like, if I need background fabric or if a few print additions would flesh out a fabric pull—but for the most part, this strategy is helping me prune my stash, fat quarter by fat quarter.

Most baby quilt patterns work within these parameters, and as a friend’s due date approached earlier this summer, I started cutting for another Little Man Quilt. This pattern, from Camille Roskelley’s Simplify, is one I’ve made before (here and here). I knew that with some scraps of Stacy Iest Hsu’s Farm Fun in hand, I could transform this pattern into a quilt for a little farmer.

First, I added the Kona Parchment solid and the sweet green sprouts to the fabric pull. Then I wasn’t sure where to take the palette. Because of my stash-busting philosophy, my supply of prints that read as one color is dwindling, and I had limited options for supporting prints. The yellows and blues I had on hand didn’t work, so I decided to incorporate red and green, resorting to using some 10-inch squares I had set aside for my in-process Bonnie and Camille Gypsy Wife Quilt. (Let’s hope stealing from Peter to sew for Paul doesn’t get me in trouble later on!)

Honestly, I was somewhat nervous with my selections as I pieced the blocks—after all, there are many more pretty strawberries and wildflowers on this quilt top than there are manly tractors!—but I’m hoping my friend and her baby will like it. And I’m proud that there are only splashes of white in the finished piece. My inclination with quilt tops in general is to go with tons of white, and that’s just not practical for a baby.

My Little Farmer Quilts is the first one I’m checking off my Q3 Finish-A-Long list!

* * *

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

Tula Giveaway / Beauties Pageant 43

Do you know what this summer needs? A giveaway. So I’m sharing the Tula love today. I have two five-piece fat quarter bundles of Pinkerville fabrics to give away on Instagram to a lucky winner and friend. For an unlimited number of chances to win, go to my Instagram feed and look for the image above. It will give you all the details you need to enter.

I’ll be picking a winning duo randomly on August 14. This giveaway is open to U.S. mailing addresses only, but I pinky-promise to have an international event this fall.

For news on other giveaways that are open now or to promote your own, head on over to Slice of Pi Quilts, where Laura has launched a new linky!

* * *

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