A Quilt Trade / Beauties Pageant 329

There’s something special about owning projects made by other makers. You can find such projects throughout my house—I have mini-quilts, pouches, and other items I’ve either been gifted or have purchased from other sewists and quilters. 

A few months ago, I laid claim to a friend’s finished Folk Blooms quilt (pattern by Lindsay O’Neil of Pen and Paper Patterns). "Laid claim" is the appropriate phrase. My friend didn’t offer to gift it to me. I didn’t offer to purchase it. But I was immediately smitten with the throw-size project and asked whether she had a recipient in line. When she said didn’t, we agreed to a trade.

Now the only question was, what would I make for this friend in return? At some point in the months that followed, she saw my in-process scrappy Quilty Stars (pattern by Emily Dennis of Quilty Love) and decided it would be perfect for her.

Pictured here is Quilty Stars, all quilted and bound and in the hands of its new owner. This project had been a WIP for a few years, just waiting for some free time in my sewing schedule to become a priority.  

Quilty Stars was my opportunity to use up dark-blue and low-volume prints from my scraps and stash. Some prints appear once, maybe twice, in the quit top. Many others appear in many more blocks. That’s how I like my scrappy projects: Repetition creates much-needed cohesion for me.

To counter all the scrappiness on the quilt top, the backing is a solid pale green. A friend quilted a figure-eight edge-to-edge panto over the collection of blue and white fabrics, and I used my last remnants of Denyse Schmidt’s Hope Valley for the binding.  

For the first time, my guild has organized a more formal quilt swap this year, called Secret Buddies, and I’m excited to take part in that. It’s not a person-to-person trade, though: The person you’re making a quilt for isn’t the person sewing for you. In addition to making a throw-size quilt, participants surprise their partners with a few gifts throughout the year. The quilt and buddy reveal isn’t until November, though, so don’t expect to see anything around here for a while! : )

Have you ever swapped finished quilts with another quilt maker?

Linking up to Favorite Finish at Quilting Jetgirl ... 

Event Tomorrow!

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Camille Roskelley's Patchwork Sky Pattern / Beauties Pageant 267

Years ago, my mom got me a fat quarter bundle of Nova, by Basic Grey, for my birthday. I bought some yardage to go along with it and slowly started chipping away at the mountain of prints in teal, rose, and navy. The first project I completed with Nova was Irish Twist, my own take on a traditional Irish chain quilt ...

Then I cut two additional throw-size quilts: Basic Grey’s Stolen Kisses and Camille Roskelley’s Patchwork Sky. The first one is not pieced at all (like, not even a little bit). The second quilt, however, is this week’s finish ...

Patchwork Sky checks so many boxes for me. I love the big, bold stars that seem to fall off the edges of the quilt and the swaths of 2-inch (finished) squares. The pattern instructions call for a jelly roll and a strip-piecing technique to assemble the 16 patches that fall between the stars. Because I had fat quarters, yardage, and scraps, I cut my own 2.5-inch strips and squares. I am a sucker for quilty math, so I was happy to play with my calculator if it meant busting through all that fabric. 

My first Nova project went directly to the longarmer for a swirly pantograph treatment. I thought Patchwork Sky, on the other hand, would benefit from the straight-line quilting I could accomplish on my own. Those straight lines, I think, make the quilt that much more modern.

You know I love a good jelly roll pattern, and Patchwork Sky is one I may revisit in the future. : )

 

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The Return of Me and My WIPs / Beauties Pageant 250

Hello. Is anyone out there?

It’s weird for me to take time off from blogging, to be creating behind the scenes without sharing with those of you who’ve been walking alongside me these past 10 years. I’m very happy to be back and in the swing of things.

The truth of the matter is that I just submitted the manuscript for my first quilting book. It has proved to be both one of the most exciting and most anticlimactic events of my quilting life. On one hand, I wrote a book! It’s going to be beautifully photographed and designed, and I can’t wait to share it with you! That. Is. Exciting! On the other hand, it won’t be released for another year. Many amazing publishing professionals will leave their mark on my work before it’s ready for public consumption (the book-production cycle is more complicated than you'd think). Still, twelve months is a long time to wait.

One of the challenges of writing a book is that you have to commit to making a certain number of projects upfront. There’s little room for much else, and I am eager to chase a few quilty squirrels.

In the few days since I turned everything in, I have been planning all the things in all aspects of my life.  On the quilting front, I am preparing some projects that bust through scraps and stash. These include:

• Chamomile: I am going to sew this pattern by Allison Jensen (Woodberry Way) in fabrics from Fig Tree and from Bonnie and Camille. The instructions call for strip piecing, the thought of which makes me very happy.
  
• Quilty Stars: The background of this design from Emily Dennis (Quilty Love) is going to make a huge dent in my low volumes. Now to decide on a color for my stars ...
  
• Tall Tales Block: Kate Basti is once again organizing a summer sewalong for her super-popular Tall Tales Block. I know I’ve signed up in the past and sewn zero blocks, but this year is my year, friends. I’m pulling fabric, ordering some newsprint for foundation paper piecing, and getting started. If you want to join in, you can sign up for free at the Summer Book Club site.

And then there’s the sweet miniquilt at the top of the post, made with a pattern by Kid Giddy. I was hoping to have her quilted and in the mail already, but did I mention I had a manuscript due this week? Ha! I’m hoping this lovely mermaid will still be appreciated when it arrives a few days after Mother’s Day. 

I cannot wait to hear what you’ve been up to! Please, upload what you have finished—anything from blocks to full quilts to other fabric-y projects—since I went radio silent back in late March!

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How Not to Piece a Quilt Back / Beauties Pagent 249

A show of hands, please: Who among you loves a good pieced back?

Me, too! Sometimes you will find me using a wideback (remember these ladybugs?), but it’s a rare occurrence, because for me, a pieced back is an opportunity to use up some fabric—fat quarters or yardage—that might otherwise linger in my stash.

My tried-and-true approach to piecing a backing is this: I take a cut of fabric that is the length required by the project, I cut it lengthwise, and then I fill in that space with enough fabric to create the width required. Here’s an example, on the back of my Rain or Shine quilt (you can see additional pictures illustrating this technique here) ...

There are times, however, when I’ve mixed things up a bit with good results.

Take the back side of my Norway quilt as an example. I didn’t like this block enough to place it on the front, but set here on the back, it becomes something special ...

An unused panel became the focal point of my Square Deal quilt back, with equally great results ...

I wish I could say my pieced backs are always a success. This is not the case. In fact, I seem to create problems for myself when I try to do anything fancier or more fiddly. 

Take, for example, the back of my Lotus Blossom quilt. The quilt front featured fabrics that suited the recipients’ taste but not my own. I knew if I didn’t use them on the back, I wouldn’t use them at all. A few math mistakes created problems for me, and I ended up with a backing that is not my style ...

I found myself in a comparable situation recently, shown in the picture at the top of the post. (I have yet to reveal the top of this particular project.) My goal, as usual, was to use up as much fabric as I could. In this case, however, some of that fabric was 2.5-inch squares. The process was more fiddly than I had hoped, and the result is OK but not awesome. To me, the way the pieced swath cuts off at the edges of the quilt looks like a mistake. There is something to be said for big chunks of fabric on a back, I think.

The moral of my pieced-back story is this: The simpler the plan for a pieced backing, the better. I spend less time thinking and sewing a pieced back—and like the results more!—when I keep the approach straightforward.

Blog Break

Friends, I have some large quilty deadlines looming on the horizon. The smart (grown-up? sane?) thing to do is step back from this space for a bit. So I’m going to take off the rest of March and all of April. I expect to be back in early May, right in time to celebrate 10 years of blogging, with new posts and finishes for you. Until then, happy sewing!

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Overcoming Quilty Procrastination / Beauties Pageant 247

I am a pretty disciplined person. I start what I finish. I make messes, but I also clean them up. I like completing projects and crossing things off my to-do lists. It’s just the way I’m hard wired. Every so often, however, I procrastinate.

A case from the archives: my Gypsy Wife quilt. I think anyone who’s tackled that pattern will attest to the sheer number of decisions a Gypsy Wife requires and the challenge of following the instructions. Yet, I started out 2022 with the goal of finishing my quilt before the end of the year, and I had it pieced, quilted, and bound in March 2022—nine months ahead of schedule!

All of this is to say that deadlines work for me. I don’t assign one to every project—that would make quilting feel more like a job than a joy to me—but when it’s hard getting something over the finish line, it’s time to look at the calendar and come up with a reasonable timeline. 

Here are some truths that I’ve discovered in this journey from WIP to finish. Do any of them ring true for you?

You’re Likely Further Along Than You Think

When I pick up a long-procrastinated project, I am almost always further along than I remember. It’s a nice surprise and, I think, shows how once an item is relegated to the back burner, its challenges grow in my mind. 

When I picked up my Gypsy Wife in January 2022, I was surprised with how far along I was with block construction. Did I still have a bunch to do? Sure, but I gave myself an entire year to wrap it up, and I was bragging about the finish in a blog post here just 12 weeks later.

 

Starting and Stopping Requires Time

I will never be a one-project-at-a-time gal. I like the variety that having multiple projects going at one time offers, and I enjoy the process of creating (not just finishing) as a result. There’s nothing wrong with putting down a project with the intent of picking it up again in the future, but if that practice becomes a cycle that doesn’t result in a finish, it become a time suck for me.

Case in point: my Sandhill Sling, which is pictured above and below (and originally blogged about here). I started sewing my sling back in September 2023. I was very, very far along in the process when I realized a detail on the front was every-so-slightly off (I’m literally talking about adjusting something an eighth of an inch, friends). Multiple times in the months that followed, I picked up the project, read the pattern, determined what fixing this minor detail would entail, watched a video about finishing the bag, and decided I didn’t have the (emotional?) bandwidth to finish the bag.

That cost me! I wonder how much time I wasted processing the pattern information, putting the project aside, and then repeating the process a month or two later.

In the end, I assigned a deadline for the sling: I was going to finish it in time to take it to QuiltCon 2024. With that in mind, I reassessed the eighth-inch mistake and decided to live with it. Then I proceeded to watch that video yet again, hand-basted the lining, and attached that lining to the exterior with my machine. After that, I realized that the bag was too small for my QuiltCon needs and left it at home. But hey, I finished my bag!

 

Prepare for the Hit of Dopamine

Do you know what I think I can accomplish after tackling a long-procrastinated sewing project. Anything! Bring on the Y-seams, the curves, the free-motion quilting ... I just finished a WIP! Do not underestimate the power in that (and how much a brain enjoys the accompanying jolt of dopamine)!

So what’s lurking in your closet or under your sewing machine table that needs to be finished?!

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• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
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New Year's List Writing / Beauties Pagent 242

I am a big believer in making lists. It doesn’t matter whether I write a list out by hand or type it into a digital document, the activity is worthwhile. It gives me the opportunity to process my short-term tasks and establish some long-term goals, but perhaps more important, it frees up space in my brain. Sometimes it seems as if just writing something down and committing to tackling it is half the battle.

My quilting-related lists usually focus on WIPs, but since the new year is upon us, I like the idea of writing out some general goals and making a few detailed lists to set the stage for my 2024 quilting journey.

Stashing Goals

I have a lot of fabric. I suspect you do, too. And if you’re like me, you start each January by resolving to buy less. Yup, that’s a goal for 2024: I don’t want to buy pretty fabric just to buy pretty fabric. (Have you seen the posts about recently restocked Starry from Ruby Star Society? I’ve resisted them all!)

In addition to using up a good portion of my stash this year, I also plan to destash fabric I don’t love anymore or don’t think I’ll use anytime soon. I posted a dozen lots of fabric on Instagram and FeelGood Fibers in December, selling several of them. I plan on posting more to FGF in January. It feels great to see space in my drawers of fabric!

Related links:

• How to Destash on Instagram
• Fastest Way to Finish a WIP: Sell the Fabric!
  
• Learning How to Destash
  
• 10 Ways to Quilt on a Budget
  

Pattern Design

I released just two patterns in 2023: Set to Spin, which is an intermediate paper-piecing pattern, and the Still Pretty Simple Jelly Roll Quilt, which is one of my $3 Almost Free for Charity PDF patterns.

Most of my designing and quilting time for the next few months is already spoken for, so I don’t expect to release any new patterns until the second half of the year. Still, I am looking forward to adding to my collection of offerings. I’m hoping for two, perhaps three, new patterns. (Hold me accountable to that, friends!)

Related links:

• Set to Spin PDF pattern
• Still Pretty Simple Jelly Roll Quilt PDF pattern
• From Bolt to Beauty on Etsy

From Bolt to Beauty Blog

I am committed to writing Friday posts here on the From Bolt to Beauty blog and hosting the Beauties Pageant linky. I know that in general blogging has taken a backseat to social media, but this platform continues to be my preferred place to document projects, celebrate triumphs, and discuss the speed bumps along the way. Thank you for being here, for participating in the linky, and for making blogging regularly a worthwhile goal for me!

Social Media

I’ve lost a lot of love for Instagram in the past nine months or so. Algorithm changes over the past year have caused even fewer people to see my static pictures and rendered my involvement on the platform halfhearted at best. Will I post in 2024? Sure, but I expect it to be sporadic. (Darn you, Instagram!)

I’m considering playing around with YouTube in both the long and short formats, but that’s another idea to pursue the second half of the year.

WIPs

I took stock of my works in process, and I have just five of them! Sure, there are a few others that have been cut out, but these are the ones I’ve actually started sewing. (The pictures in this post are testament to that.) One way or another, I can bang these out in the next 12 months. Here is the rather short list, with links to blog posts that discuss them:

• Sandhill Sling (Anna Graham)
  
• Patchwork Sky (Camille Roskelley)
  
• Leaded Glass (Tracey Jacobson)
  
• Random Hearts (Make Things. Grow)
  
• Pineberry (Pen + Paper Patterns)

What is on your list for 2024? Your list doesn’t have to be anything fancy, and I wouldn’t approach it as a legalistic I-have-to-accomplish-these-things-in-the-next-12-months activity, just an opportunity to have a think and give your year of quilting some direction.

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One Quilt Four Ways / Beauties Pageant 231

I fell down the rabbit hole that is EQ7 last weekend. But can you blame me? It’s satisfying to see how different fabric collections would look in a quilt design without sewing a stitch.

What you see here is my Double-Sided Diamond Quilt, a layer cake-friendly pattern that I wrote about last week, in four different Moda collections. (Pssst ... Moda didn’t put me up to this post. I just like the company’s modern designers and consider it the OG precut manufacturer!)

Dawn on the Prairie

Designer Stephanie Sliwinski of Fancy That Design House caught my eye back in 2021 with her debut collection, Songbook. I’ve loved the floral designs and palettes in every collection of hers since then. There’s just something different about them. Check out her latest line, Dawn on the Prairie, at the top of the post. See what I mean? The color combination isn’t one I could have developed myself, and it’s so good. The earthy tones in rust, brown, and charcoal are surprisingly good companions for blush and mustard. Beautiful!

Fruit Loop

I am a big fan of Basic Grey—just check out the 40-some posts of mine that reference the design house (click here). I am especially drawn to its collections with gray undertones. (Some—like Nutmeg, Cider, and Persimmon—have more brown undertones, and they’re not my thing.)

Fruit Loop, pictured below, hasn’t been released but is circulating on social media. It’s a different kind of collection for Basic Grey, with all those bright fruit-themed prints, while remaining true to the design house’s aesthetic. And it has a black colorway, which pretty much seals the deal for me!

 

Sunflowers in My Heart

I credit some of my brightest quilt projects to Kate Spain, whose use of color often pushes me out of my comfort zone. I especially like her use of pinks and reds (check out my first Plaid-ish quilt and my first Warm and Cool Coin quilt). 

Her latest fabric line, Sunflowers in My Heart, is in my mind pretty different from her other collections, but maybe it’s just the way I mocked up this quilt design. I think of it as a blue fabric collection. Perhaps if I had used a different color on the mocked-up backing I would say otherwise? (You know I’m going to go straight to EQ7 and find out as soon as I finish this post!) Way way or another, it’s really lovely, and I’m especially smitten with the large-scale floral print.

 

Lighthearted

And then there’s Lighthearted, the collection by Camille Roskelley I included in last week’s post. Lighthearted is a throwback to when Camille designed collections with her mom and features the signature Bonnie and Camille color palette, with pink, a not-quite-red hue, aqua, and grassy green.

And that concludes my spate of precut-focused blog posts. You can click through to the previous four posts with the links below. And stop back next week, when I will unveil my two Postcard from Sweden quilts!

My latest precut posts:

• Double-Sided Diamond Quilt
• So Many 2.5-Inch Squares, So Little Time
• Two Patterns for National Sew a Jelly Roll Day
• A Finally Finished Jelly Roll Quilt

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The Double-Sided Diamond Quilt is one of my Almost Free for Charity PDF patterns. 

It’s just $3 in my pattern shop, $1 of which goes to an organization supporting the Down syndrome community.

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Double-Sided Diamond Quilt / Beauties Pageant 230

The Double-Sided Diamond Quilt is one of my Almost Free for Charity PDF patterns. 

It’s just $3 in my Etsy shop, $1 of which goes to an organization supporting the Down syndrome community.

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I’ve been on a roll these past few weeks with posts about precuts. First, I revealed a finished quilt of 2.5-inch strips. Then I followed up with some recommended jelly roll patterns and projects for 2.5-inch squares. So I thought I’d talk a bit about layer cakes today.

First of all, for any precut newbies out there: Layer cakes are collections of 10-inch squares. Each one usually contains 42 squares, but that number can vary from one manufacturer to another. 

I love layer cakes for their versatility—there are just so many smaller shapes I can cut from them! They’re also fabulous to use as 10-inch squares, however, and that was something I explored in this quilt ...

This is my Double-Sided Diamond Quilt, and it’s my love song to big blocks. The top uses 10-inch squares to supersize half-square triangles, creating a show-stopping project.

Because the top requires just 24 layer cake squares and the one I had contained 42, I designed a coordinating backing of small diamonds, making this project two quilts in one.

I’ve been meaning to make this pattern again but haven’t been successful fitting it into my to-sew schedule. The next-best option was to play with the design in Electric Quilt and explore the possibilities.

My original Double-Side Diamond Quilt was made with Little Ruby, a collection from Moda by Bonnie and Camille. Bonnie has since retired. Camille is still designing fabric, though, and most recent collection, Lighthearted, just shipped to stores this month. Lighthearted features the trademark B&C palette ...

I use so many solids as backgrounds, it was nice to see this design mocked up with those tiny hearts in the background.

And a backing that pulls out the pink (with just the slightest bit of orange) from the collection makes a beautiful companion for the front. Red and green is my favorite complementary pair. This mocked-up combination does not disappoint!

I’ll work on some additional mockups in the upcoming week. Do you have any requests? EQ and I are at your service!

The Double-Sided Diamond Quilt went out free to newsletter subscribers back in May. Now it is one of my Almost Free for Charity PDF patterns. It’s just $3 in my pattern shop, $1 of which goes to an organization supporting the Down syndrome community. (To subscribe to the newsletter and receive future free patterns in your inbox, click here.)

On that note, next month is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. To read about my story raising a son with Down syndrome, read this post.

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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