A Paean to Plus Sign Quilts / Beauties Pageant 142

Lately, it’s plus signs all day, every day as I get feedback and see pictures of testers’ take on Pretty in Pluses, my latest pattern that’s slated to release in mid-September. Pretty in Pluses is not the first plus sign quilt I’ve designed, but it’s the first I’m releasing out into the world and I’m pretty excited about it.

With all this brainpower devoted to the subject, I decided to look back at the plus signs quilts of my past. I counted, and I’ve made eight of them! I think that’s enough to consider myself a devotee. : )

A bunch of those projects were designed by the queen of plus sign quilts herself, Cheryl Brickey, who teamed up with friend and fellow quilter Paige Alexander to write Modern Plus Sign Quilts a few years ago. (Cheryl’s most recent book, Just One Charm Pack Quilts, was published just recently.) I’ll look back at those projects next week (there are so many that they deserve their own post!). What you see here are some other quilts designed by others.

At the top of the post is my Ode to Art Gallery, a project I used to bust through a stash of Art Gallery charm squares. Click through to the original post for all the info on where to find this easy, easy block tutorial and my thoughts on why this combination of fabrics works.

Directly below is my Easy-Breezy Beach Quilt, inspired by Hyacinth Quilt Designs and created for my in-laws’ beach house.

Two other projects are much more recent. You may remember Hot Cross Buns, a pattern by Lella Boutique that I sewed up in mostly Zen Chic fabric.

And there’s No Negativity, for which I used some long-hoarded Bonnie Christine prints. Both Hot Cross Buns and No Negativity were gifted to members of my younger son’s elementary school team. I was a little sad to see them go, but I can’t keep all the quilts. (Sad, but true.)

I don’t know exactly what it is about plus signs that has captured by quilty heart. I know from looking at the past few Beauty Pageants, many of you have made your share of plus sign quilts, too. (A great spot to view some of these recent plus sign finishes, all from Sew Preeti’s Positivity QAL to benefit Mercy Hospital, is Bernie’s linkup post here.)

What have you been working on lately? Add your finishes in the linky below.

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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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Stash-Busting Economy Blocks / Beauties Pageant 141

Who knew the humble economy block could be so much fun?!

Earlier this year, my guild, the New Hampshire Modern Quilt Guild, announced an economy block challenge. The idea is that you could make any kind of throw-size quilt with the traditional block. At our October meeting, which we hope to hold in person outside somewhere, we’ll have a mini quilt show, displaying the finishes and awarding a few bundles of fabric to the makers. In the end, the quilts will be donated to charity.

My guild has made a great effort to provide fun and worthwhile activities like this since the pandemic hit, and although I’ve passed on other opportunities, like various block of the month programs, this economy block challenge was right up my alley. The beauty of the economy block, I think, is that it doesn’t use a background fabric. Read that as: Economy blocks can eat up both stash and scraps! And I was due for a stash-busting project or two right about now.

When I think of economy blocks, I tend to think of cute fussy-cut creations, which are lovely but not really my thing. So I’m not fussy-cutting anything or even making each block unique. I homed in on a palette of pink, gray-blue, mauve, and gray for my first quilt (see pic at the top of the post). Those fabrics are all from Art Gallery and its army of amazing designers. Off the top of my head, I see fabrics from Maureen Cracknell, Amy Sinibaldi, and Bonnie Christine. Between the quilt top, backing, and binding, this 56-inch by 64-inch quilt eats up over 7 yards of scraps and stash. Yahoo!

This process was so satisfying—and my Art Gallery collection so vast—that I cut a second quilt in a different palette. This quilt top is all teal and peach and aubergine (see below). Sewing this second project is proving to be just as satisfying as the first.

If you’re interested, I’m using a traditionally pieced tutorial from Amy Smart for both of my quilts. (You can find it here.) These blocks finish at 8 inches, which means I didn’t get to use some of my smaller Art Gallery scraps, but I blew through bigger scraps and fat quarters.

For those of you who came for the quilts but stayed for the puppies, sisters Rose and Gracie are doing well!

Gracie is huge already, weighing in well over 20 pounds, and the two of them are getting along very well. I have found teeth marks on the corners of some of my beautifully refinished kitchen cabinets (ARG!), and Gracie is proving to be rather difficult to house-train, but she’s a keeper nonetheless. We’ve had her for 7 weeks, and she’s truly a member of the family. She’s very attentive to the sound of her name and is comfortable exploring every inch of my house. Also, she feels entitled to share in every handout Rose gets. (Rose is not amenable to sharing her cheese with anyone, even her adorable little sister.)

I’ve posted a few funny Rose and Gracie videos to my Instagram stories recently. I’ll post them to a future blog post for those of you who missed them. : )

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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

Quilt Buzz Bingo / Beauties Pageant 140

I had the pleasure of participating in this summer’s Quilt Buzz Bingo event. If you’re not familiar with this quilt-along, the idea is that you sew 25 blocks following a free pattern and arrange them as you wish. Your subsequent bingo card is based on that layout—you quite literally play a game of bingo with it! The whole idea is fun, and the modified log cabin-like construction makes for nice and easy summer sewing.

As you can see, the pattern is super chunky. It’s well suited for solids, but I pulled prints for my version. I started with my stash and then ended up buying a bunch of fabric. (And so the stash grows!) Each print is from a different manufacturer. You fabric nerds probably spotted the pale green dot from Bonnie and Camille (Moda), the floral from Heather Ross (Windham), and the pink arches from Amy Friend (Benartex). There’s also a green with butterfly-like squiggles from Andover. The awesome bright pink is from Makower. Then there’s the sashing, which is from Cloud9.

That sashing was critical to the final quilt top. When I had just the green and pink blocks on my design wall, the palette emitted a modern Christmas vibe, which was lovely but not my intention. The dark blue sashing, a Cirrus Solid, made all the difference. It erased all evidence of Christmassy-ness and replaced it with preppy summer. This collection of colors makes me think of a woven button-down shirt and cutoffs.

This top is about 70 inches square, so it’s big but not so big that I wouldn’t consider quilting it myself. I’m at a loss about how to approach the quilting, though. The simple design seems to want an equally simple quilting plan. Maybe a grid on point would do? Or just diagonal lines across the top as I did here? Your advice is appreciated!

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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