Time to Pivot / Beauties Pageant 199

There are many things I do not like about Instagram. (Don’t even get me started about Reels!) But when I encountered a creative roadblock with a recent project, Instagram was the perfect place to work through the issue and consider possible solutions.

Exhibit A: An in-process baby quilt that was giving off an I’m-too-busy vibe. I knew when I started the project that there were going to be too many prints for my taste, but goaded on by an early January deadline, I jumped in anyway, quickly cutting and piecing the nine simple blocks. Unsure of how to fix the issue, I posted a poll to my Instagram Stories to see whether people thought I should continue on this course or give the viewer’s eye a break with skinny sashing.

A lot of people chimed in! After mulling over the results of the poll and my conversations with people about the quilt, though, I went a different way. I “unsewed” those blocks with a low-volume fabric on their edges and replaced it with a solid cream. Then I alternated the blocks with light edges and those with darker ones ...

I like it! The result is much more “me” than the original. I’m going to quilt the project with an allover crosshatch and finish it off with a matching yellow binding. 

I occasionally reach out to the Instagram audience about stuff like this, but this time was especially fun. I know the work of so many of the respondents, and for a good number of them, I could predict those who would vote to keep the original quilt as is (that is, because I know they are more adventurous with fabric and color than I am) and those who, like me, suggested changes. I kind of love that about quilting: Our projects tell others about what we like and what we don’t. You don’t need to design fabric/create patterns/submit to shows to have a signature way with the quilts you create. : )

For those of you who celebrate Christmas, I wish you a happy one this Sunday!

For those of you who are also on Instagram, I’m giving away a copy of Cheryl Brickey’s Just One Charm Pack Quilts. Look for this post for full details (entries close on midnight [GMT-5:00] on December 25) ...

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Holiday Quilts I Love / Beauties Pageant 198

As a kid, I loved seeing all the Christmas trinkets my grandmother would unearth every December, from her vintage reindeer candles to her manger scene. Those items were as much a part of the celebration as the tree or the desserts she contributed to the holiday spread.

Although I appreciated the familiarity of my grandmother’s holiday decor and enjoyed revisiting those objects year after year, it took me decades to realize that I’m not much of a seasonal decorator. And I have tried! I have bought some beautiful and meaningful objects over the years, most of which are still (even on December 16) in boxes in my attic. A few years ago, though, I started making quilts with Christmas and winter themes. Finally, I found my way of celebrating the season.

What you see here are the wintry quilts that live at From Bolt to Beauty world headquarters. It’s worth noting that I enjoyed making them so much that I sewed three of these four patterns twice (the twins were gifted years ago).

All of these patterns have their strengths. From top to bottom, the Christmas trees are a great stash buster, Kate Spain’s Chalet pattern makes the most of fat quarters, Camille Roskelley’s Norway design features big, bold blocks, and Gingiber’s Merrily quilt is an interesting way to use panels of a certain size. To read more about these projects—and to see some of their backs—click on the links below.

• Christmas trees (Amy Smart)
  
• Chalet (Kate Spain)
• Merrily (Gingiber)
• Norway (Camille Roskelley)

If you’ve encountered a winter-themed quilt pattern that you’ve loved enough to make twice, I’d love to hear about it!

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Quilty Christmas Postcard / Beauties Pageant 197

Have you ever made a quilted fabric postcard? My guild—the New Hampshire Modern Quilt Guild—recently participated in a postcard swap with the Capital District MQG. Having never quilted a postcard before, I decided to take part, and the beauty you see pictured here is what I sent to my partner in New York.

I referred to Sara Ruiz’s Quilted Fabric Postcard tutorial to determine my game plan. She suggested using postcards to explore new techniques, so I took that as a sign to give tiny paper piecing a try and purchased Berene Campbell’s HSL Tinies Christmas Pack.

For materials, I used what I had on hand and fell within the recommendations from Sara’s tutorial and Berene’s pattern: Art Gallery Pure Solids, Michael Miller Cotton Couture, 80 weight thread, and Peltex 71F.

The tiny paper piecing was super fun and satisfying. The pattern came with some helpful hints on how to get great results, which I really appreciated. The fireplace and wreath weren’t substantial enough to fill up the whole postcard, so I included a little lavender border and decorated with simple embroidery stitches. The edge stitching didn’t come out as nicely as I would have liked, but I’m sure to improve my technique with future postcards.

Swap participants were encouraged to send their creations as true postcards—that is, without envelopes. My partner sent the card she made for me as is, and it arrived in perfect shape. I chose to play it safe,  however, and sent mine in an envelope. 

If you’re considering trying your hand at a quilted fabric postcard, I recommend Sara’s tutorial. (She did a 100-day project making these mini masterpieces!) Some other suggested resources, from the swap organizers, include these:

Fabric Postcards: Easy Sewing Tutorials with Rob Appell of Man Sewing

Fabric Postcard Tutorial by Quilted Cat

I also recommend the HSL Tinies Christmas Pack. This wasn’t the first time I followed a Happy Sew Lucky pattern. You might remember my version of Berene’s Hello, Friend pillow which I translated into doggo lingo, pictured here:

Pattern Giveaway

As I mentioned last week, I’m providing content to Melanie Meyer’s Advent calendar. My first door, on day 7, includes a coupon code and chance to win a digital copy of Irish Twist. Click here to visit the Advent calendar, and comment on this post to add your name to the pattern giveaway. : )

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Irish Twist Pattern Giveaway

 

Update: Congratulations to Emily, the winner of this giveaway!

Hello everyone! And a special welcome to those quilters joining from Melanie Meyer’s Advent calendar!

I’m Michelle, and you’ve landed at From Bolt to Beauty, my little corner of the internet. Here you’ll find stories of my triumphs—and tribulations—at my sewing machine.

I have been sewing for 19 years and quilting for 9. In addition to being a quilt maker and blogger, I am also a pattern designer. In fact, a PDF copy of my latest pattern—Irish Twist—is going to one lucky winner. If you’re looking for a stash-busting, quick-to-sew pattern, Irish Twist is for you! Just leave a comment below to be entered to win.

This giveaway is open worldwide through December 31 at 11:59 p.m. (GMT -5:00). The winner will be notified via email. If you’re commenting anonymously or a no-reply blogger (or aren’t sure whether you’re a no-reply blogger), please leave your email address in the comment or send it to me directly at frombolttobeauty [at] gmail [dot] com.

Good luck!

From Bolt to Beauty links:

FBTB newsletter
FBTB on Instagram
FBTB on Etsy

Free Quilty Advent Calendar / Beauties Pageant 196

 

As a quilter, this is my favorite month. I’m not much of a seasonal decorator, but I love bringing my Christmas quilts out of hibernation in anticipation of December 25. 

If you celebrate Christmas, one quilty way to count down to the big day is Melanie Meyer’s digital Advent calendar.

Following along is easy: Just visit Melanie’s blog every day this Advent season to open a door on the calendar. You might find a coupon code, a giveaway, or a fun activity. I’ve contributed a PDF pattern to this event, so be on the lookout!

If you could use a reminder to check out each day’s surprise, sign up for Melanie’s newsletter here. And if you miss a day or join the party late, no worries—you’ll have access to all the doors that are already opened, so catching up is easy. : )

Other contributors to this year’s Advent calendar include @capaquilts, @fromblankpages, @makemodernmagazine, @meadowmistdesigns, and @sewpreetiquilts.

 Enjoy!

 

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Quilt Pattern Mart Sale / Beauties Pageant 195

 

Hello quilty friends! I am popping in today to share the happy news that all my PDF patterns at Quilt Pattern Mart are 25% off through the end of the month!

Are you familiar with Quilt Pattern Mart? QPM exclusively sells PDF patterns from a large collection of designers. So even if you’re not in the market for a From Bolt to Beauty pattern, chances are you’ll find what you are looking for among the selection of patterns. 

Various designers are offering sales right now. To view all the specially priced patterns, click here.

Happy project planning!

Quilt Pattern Mart has closed operations. All of my patterns are available on Etsy.

 

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Irish Twist Pattern Release / Beauties Pageant 194

 **Get your copy of Irish Twist here**

I’m happy to present a new addition to the From Bolt to Beauty pattern collection ... Meet Irish Twist!

Irish Twist is a new chapter in quilting’s Irish chain story. Here the chains fall to the background, and the in-between spaces take the spotlight. Add in thoughtful fabric placement, and you’ve got a quilt fit for modern tastes.

Irish Twist comes in four sizes:

• Baby: 38" x 47"
• Small throw: 50½" x 62½"
• Large throw: 63" x 78"
• Twin: 75½" x 93½"

This pattern is a whole-composition design. The different sizes are created by enlarging the individual pieces, not by adding more blocks. To help you plot your fabric placement, there is a coloring page in the pattern as well as an accompanying blog post that talks about value and an alternative way to mock up your quilt top. 

My original Irish Twist was sewn in all solids. The pattern, however, caters to print lovers and even accommodates directional prints so you know how to get great results from the start.

Irish Twist is available as a PDF download in my Etsy shop. You can also find it at Quilt Pattern Mart, where it—and my other PDF patterns—are specially priced at $9 through November 30.

For some Irish Twist inspiration, check out the testers’ projects at #IrishTwistQuilt on Instagram!

The cover quilt was sewn with Nova by Basic Grey for Moda Fabrics and quilted by Tammie Earnest.

 

**Get your copy of Irish Twist here**

 

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Planning Fabric Placement for Irish Twist

My latest pattern—Irish Twist—just released into the world! It’s a quick-to-sew pattern that’s great for beginners and more seasoned quilters alike. (Get your copy here!)

Irish Twist is a whole-composition design—that is, the different sizes are created by enlarging the pieces, not by adding more blocks. In other words, you won’t make a bunch of identical blocks and have the luxury of settling on a layout for them once they’re all sewn. Irish Twist requires a plan from the get-go.

The pattern includes a coloring page to help you design your quilt top. Before you take your colored pencils to paper, however, there are a few things to think about ...

Playing with Value in the Quilt Top

It may be helpful to consider the value of the fabrics you’ll be working with. The three examples below all use the same fabrics (Nova by Basic Grey for Moda Fabrics) but distribute value differently in the quilt.

The high-volume fabrics in these examples include the cranberry fabric and two deep blue fabrics. The low-volume fabric is the small floral with a white background. Everything else can be described as a mid-tone. The black and white versions of each design help in observing these discrepancies in value.

Example 1, which is the pattern’s cover quilt, concentrates the high volumes in the corners and in a large diamond in the center of the quilt. (I hope that description makes sense! It’s what I see when I look at it!) The low-volume fabric is sprinkled along each edge. (In the pattern’s terms, fabrics C, E, and G are high volume; F is low volume.)

 

Example 2 uses high volumes around the entire perimeter and a creates a small X of them in the center. The low-volume fabric appears in four blocks just beyond that X. (In the pattern’s terms, fabrics B, F, and G are high volume; C is low volume.)

 

Example 3 concentrates the high volumes in a small diamond in the center of the quilt and sprinkles them along each edge. Chunks of the low-volume fabric are adjacent to each of the four corners. (In the pattern’s terms, fabrics A, B, and F are high volume; D is low volume.)

You may not think about a fabric pull and the subsequent placement in such terms, but you might decide that you like the look of one of these examples over the others and want to recreate the value distribution similarly in your own project. 

Another place to go to for ideas on palettes and fabric placement is Instagram. My testing crew has already used #IrishTwistQuilt to post pictures of their projects, and wow, there are color and fabric combinations I would never have thought of myself. Check their pictures out here!

An Alternative to the Coloring Page

As mentioned earlier, the Irish Twist pattern comes with a coloring page. If you find that plotting a quilt top with a coloring page is effective, go for it! I rarely use coloring pages, and for this particular pattern, there’s a more effective way to evaluate potential fabrics.

Irish Twist’s cutting instructions include a large square and a small square. Using the small square dimensions for the quilt size you want to make (the small square size is different for each), cut a square for each of the shapes in the pattern top, including the half-shapes along the edge. In other words, for example 3, above, cut 4 of the cranberry floral, 4 of the teal geometric, 8 of the low-volume floral, 8 of the navy floral along the edges, etc. You will cut 49 squares in all.

Use the pattern to lay them out on point to get an idea of how they play together. I’ll be using a white background fabric, so I placed mine on a piece of white batting and then took a picture. (That way, I can view it in grayscale if I want.)

Example 1 in 2-inch squares looks like this ...

 

Pretty cool, right? This exercise can help you get a better idea of what your final quilt top will look like without wasting any fabric. Because I am making a baby-size quilt, I cut 2-inch squares and will use them in my actual project.

Questions? Comments?

This post is just food for thought. There’s no right or wrong way to plot your Irish Twist. And I suspect you already evaluate fabrics placement in an intuitive way, without thinking, Hey, I’m using a low volume here!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on selecting and placing fabrics for this pattern. Leave a comment, whether I’ve confused you (!) or got you thinking. 

Heads-up! If you comment anonymously, I will not be able to respond to you via email. Likewise, if you’re a no-reply blogger, I won’t have access to your email address. You can always include your email in the comment or send your email address to frombolttobeauty [at] gmail [dot] com.

Thanks!

**Get your copy of Irish Twist here**

Modern Maisons / Beauties Pageant 193

I find the humble house shape an intriguing element in quilts. Even in its most basic form, stripped of color or embellishment, the five-sided shape conveys meaning of shelter or home. But add a palette or a little design interest, and it transforms into a symbol of belonging, family, community, and more.

What you see here is Modern Maisons, my submission to the Ruby + Bee Fabric Challenge for QuiltCon 2023. I used the challenge as an opportunity to play with the house shape. (“Maison” is the French word for “house” and the origin of “mansion.”) After making (and scrapping) a few blocks with more intricate piecing, I homed in on bolder, more basic patchwork and watched how the house outline changed those blocks. Foundation paper-piecing was the way to go here, giving me the precision I wanted both with the internal designs and with the thin black outlines.

Originally, I set out to make 16 blocks. Then I decided 9 would do. With the deadline looming, I settled for 6 and made them something special by sewing them in off-set columns and extenuating a few of the motifs into the quilting. 

Will Modern Maisons be juried into QuiltCon? I’ll know in another month. (Edit: It was not! Maybe I will have better luck next year!) One way or another, I’m proud of this finished project and happy to have invested the time in creating it. : )

 

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Sneaky Little Peeks / Beauties Pageant 192

All pictures by Tammie Earnest

I can summarize 90 percent of my sewing this fall in two words: QuiltCon submissions. Sewing up to the submission deadline is not something I recommend, but considering I’ll be attending the conference next February, I was especially interested in finishing a few QuiltCon-worthy projects, in hopes I would see at least one hanging in person in Atlanta. 

I’ve vacillated on whether to reveal these projects before the show—there’s something to be said for keeping them under wraps until the event (presuming they are accepted).

One project I am happy to show you sneaky little peeks of today is my Irish Twist quilt, which has nothing to do with QuiltCon. This is my latest pattern, and it’s slated for release in mid-November.

Unlike my QuiltCon submissions—which I painstakingly quilted myself!—I splurged on this Irish Twist and had it longarmed by Tammie Earnest. I won’t receive the quilted project for a few more days, but Tammie sent me a bunch of pics of her beautiful work ...

 

Whenever I have something longarmed, I always go for the curvy, swirly pantos. After all, I can produce more-linear designs on my own with my walking foot. The panto I chose—Ginger Flower by Urban Elementz—was especially suited to the prints I used in the quilt top. All of the fabrics come from Nova, an older collection by Basic Grey, and the loopy flowers of the panto match the floral cranberry fabric.

I’ll reveal more of this Irish Twist in Nova, and my testers’ projects, in the weeks ahead!

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Patchwork Ghosts / Beauties Pageant 191

I’m not a fan of celebrating Halloween, but The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt is a seasonal story I can get behind. Are you familiar with this picture book? Written by Riel Nason and illustrated by Bryon Eggenschwiler, The Little Ghost is the charming story of a ghoul whose patchwork sets him apart from his friends. The happy ending and it’s relatable message make it an enjoyable read for kids and adults alike. Take a peek at one of the book’s illustrations, below. Super sweet, right?

Another quilter transformed the book’s hero into stuffies last Halloween, and with this year’s holiday on the horizon, I knew I needed to follow suit! 

Construction was super easy: I sewed 3-inch squares into 4-by-6 panels, quilted them, added the mouths and eyes, and squared the bottoms. I then stuffed the bodies with a little polyfill and whip-stitched the bottoms ... Voila! Two cuties!

Rooting through my scraps and selecting fabric for the patchwork was fun, as was making the felt faces. A circle die on my AccuQuilt Go made cutting the eyes easy, and a little embroidery added some life to them. I will be shipping both stuffies, with a copy of The Little Ghost, to my nieces.

Are you sewing anything for Halloween? If so, I’d love to hear about your project in the comments.

My Halloween sewing is over. I’m in the mad rush to finish up QuiltCon submissions (which happens some years despite my best intentions to avoid it) and working on a new pattern release. If you enjoy testing patterns, this one is easy. More details are in my latest Instagram post here.

 

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