Lella Boutique's Hot Cross Buns Quilt / Beauties Pageant 122

What I am about to say will surprise those of you who are longtime readers, so prepare yourselves ... I’m starting to enjoy free-motion quilting.

Let me begin this story by introducing to you to Lella Boutique’s Hot Cross Buns quilt. I really like the pattern—it’s smart and simple, and I wish I had designed it! I sewed it here mostly in blues and grays from Zen Chic’s True Blue collection, supplemented with some coordinating half-yards and fat quarters from stash. The bolder orange, by Rae Ritchie for Dear Stella, gives this finish a nice dose of personality.

I had planned on straight-line quilting Hot Cross Buns. Multiple attempts to do so failed rather miserably, though. I blame my not-so-effective basting job (I spray-basted, which is typical for me) and the fact that I pressed my seams to the side (I almost always press open). In any event, I ripped out a lot of quilting—like enough to occupy me for a feature-length movie and an old episode or two of Grey’s Anatomy. It was a mess.

In fact, it was such a mess that I was giddy with delight when I decided to stipple my way to this project’s merciful end. The free-motion quilting really worked well. I tend to think of stippling as working best with busy prints. (Remember my Scrappy Granny Square Quilt? It was the perfect venue for stippling.) The thick solid border on this quilt, however, looks just fine with an all-over stipple. 

I’d say my FMQ job was a solid B. A picture of the back (see below), however, is more forgiving, making my work look more like an A. Hey, I’ll take that!

I was so pleased with this outcome that I am plotting a FMQ treatment for another quilt top that’s ready to be basted. I want to graduate from stippling, though. Do you have any suggestions? I’m looking for something with curves, nothing too angular. (Yvonne, Anja, Roseanne ... You’re my FMQ heroes! I want to hear from you!)

Before I sign off, I wanted to give everyone the heads-up that the Love Boldly Quilt-Along is on! The free registration is open now. You can read the full details 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

The Love Boldly Quilt-Along

 

Registration for the Love Boldly Quilt-Along is now closed. To stay up-to-date all things From Bolt to Beauty, including future quilt-alongs, sign up for the FBTB newsletter here.

Pattern Details

Love Boldly is an intermediate quilt pattern with instructions for three sizes (baby, small throw, and large throw), so participants can follow one of three tracks. The baby size will be the least demanding, requiring just one block per week, and the large throw will be the most rigorous, requiring up to three blocks per week.

For more on the pattern, including the bonus American flag heart block, and what makes it appropriate for intermediate-level quilters, read this post. 

 

Registration and Newsletter

Each week of the quilt-along will feature an email newsletter with inspiration and tips on how to get great results with this pattern. Registration for the quilt-along and accompanying newsletter is free, but you need to have a copy of the Love Boldly PDF pattern, available in my Etsy shop, to sew along.

If you sign up for the newsletter today, you’ll receive a free Love Boldly coloring page as well as a discount code to purchase your pattern for just $8 (both of which will arrive in a welcome email after registering).

Giveaways on Instagram

There will be giveaways on Instagram throughout the quilt-along from these sponsors. I’ll post a prompt each week to my Instagram feed with a specific hashtag. To be eligible for that week’s prize, post an in-progress shot to your Instagram feed using the same hashtag. 

Please note: You don’t need to keep up with the schedule to win—this is supposed to be fun, so sew at a pace that works for you. However, your account has to be public during the quilt-along to be eligible for prizes.

Questions?

At any point in the quilt-along, you can get in touch with me by posing questions on my quilt-along posts on Instagram or by emailing me at frombolttobeauty [at] gmail [dot] com. And if you have a question right now, add it to the comments, below. : )

Inspiration Gallery

 

 

Photo credits: The above three baby-size quilts were sewn and photographed by @simplyjesiquilts, @joandesan, and @chrysalisknits.

Registration for the Love Boldly Quilt-Along is now closed. To stay up-to-date all things From Bolt to Beauty, including future quilt-alongs, sign up for the FBTB newsletter here.

 

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Quilting with a Golden Retriever / Beauties Pageant 121

This post is for all you Rose fans. (You know who you are!)

For any newcomers, this is Rose, also known as Rosie, Nosey, Nosey Miss Rosie, Rosiecakes, The Cakes, The Dope, The Dope on a Rope (when she’s on leash), Naughty.

She’s a regular quilt user and my number-one fan.

I love that Rose gets excited when she hears the word “sew” because she knows she can lie under the dining room table while I sew. She also knows “nap,” which means she and I snuggle on the couch in the living room with a quilt for our afternoon snooze.

She is a quilt lover, but she is also a butt biter, a mess maker, a snack stealer, and the creator of the sock parade (during which she strews our socks all over the house, in quiet protest for not getting enough attention).

Rosie ranks a close second to quilt making for keeping me sane during the pandemic. : )

I’m binding a project now ... I can’t wait to share it with you next Friday! Have a great weekend, everyone. I look forward to seeing your finishes this week!

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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

What Makes a Good Quilt-Along? / Beauties Pageant 120

I had the best of intentions to compile a highlight reel for today’s post and feature pictures from the past few Beauties Pageants. I started by selecting Anja’s finish from last week—her 2020 Summer Sampler—and didn’t get any further!

Anja’s project is beautiful. The modern palette she uses tends toward the cool end of the spectrum, with lots of Kona cotton in a range of colors and values. And as usual, her quilting is top notch. The stipple is everything I strive for—nice, evenly spaced, round curves. It’s lovely. (This is where Anja will qualify that she quilts on a midarm, not a domestic, but it doesn’t matter to me: Her quilting looks like a flippin’ pantograph!)

What struck me, however, was her comment in the post about weekly quilt-alongs being difficult to keep up with. Several readers agreed. I’m in the middle of planning a quilt-along myself, for my Love Boldly pattern, geared toward intermediate quilters. I hosted a Cargo Duffle sew-along back in March 2019, so I know an event like this is a ton of work and I’d like to try to get as much right as I can. Would you help me on that front?

This is my current plan of attack: I’ve scheduled in a lot of prep time—like, three weeks—to help participants select fabric and give them adequate time to order (and receive) fabric, if necessary, by mail. There are three sizes to the Love Boldly pattern, so participants can then follow one of three tracks. The baby will be the least demanding (requiring just one block a week), and the large throw will be the most rigorous (requiring up to three blocks in a week). There’s a week built into the schedule to allow people to catch up. I am gathering sponsors for weekly giveaways and expect participants to post in-progress shots on their public Instagram accounts to be eligible for the prizes. People will be updated on quilt-along happenings via Instagram, but my more detailed tricks and tips will be sent via email.

What are your thoughts on this? I can see why a project like Anja’s, which has 16 different blocks, would be conducive to a longer timeline, but what about something like Love Boldly, which features just one block design? Is one catch-up week sufficient? I know that some of these questions are hard to answer until you’re knee-deep in the details, but any feedback is appreciated. 

And of course, once sign-ups are live, you will be the first to know! : )

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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

What Makes the Perfect Quilt Binding? / Beauties Pageant 119

I have been involved in a local quilt guild—the New Hampshire Modern Quilt Guild—for several years now. (I’m a resident of Massachusetts, but these meetings, when they happen in person, are a quick drive for me.) At times I’ve served on the board, as the events coordinator or president. Even as a rank-and-file member, though, I like to contribute on occasion and head up a make-and-take craft or lead a short tutorial.

A few years ago, I gave a little spiel on how I machine-bind my quilts. In my mind, I was simply presenting what I had been doing for years. For some of my guild mates, however, this technique was novel—some of them had always finished their bindings by hand! I kind of love that about quilting—how there are multiple ways to accomplish the same thing, and everyone has a technique that works best for her.

So it’s in that spirit that I thought we could have a little conversation about bindings and have included some of my favorite past bindings here in this post.

I can summarize my binding philosophy as follows:

* Full machine binding (my wrists thank me for it)

* No stripes, but plaids and polka dots are great (I know this might break your heart!)

* Width-of-fabric strips, not bias strips (because they’re faster and require less yardage than bias strips)

* Elmer’s glue for every binding (for real)

For more details, including specifics on my secret weapon for neat and tidy corners, check out my newly refreshed How I Bind My Quilts technique post (click the image below). Then share your binding dos and don’ts in the comments!

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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