Best of 2017

It's always fun to reflect on the past year by perusing through posts to find favorites or the ones with the most page views.  I'm participating in Cheryl's (Meadow Mist Designs) Best of 2017 Linky Party by sharing the posts with the most page views.

Click on the title to be taken to the original post.

#5 Handprint Machine Applique Pillow

This tutorial was posted when I participated in the 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop hosted by Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  I made a machine appliqued pillow with the handprints of the great nephews in the family.

See Cheryl's (Teapots2Quilting) quilt here she made as a gift to her father-in-law using the handprint idea.

#4 Positively Transparent Quilt

Positively Transparent was made the for the Modern Quilt Guild's Quilt of the Month for August 2017.

#3 Big Ole Schlep Bag

The So Sew Easy Schlep Bag, a free pattern by Sentimental Stitches, was made from Cotton and Steel fabrics.

#2 Handwritten Quilt Labels Tutorial

This tutorial walks you through reversing text in Word and making handwritten quilt labels.

#1 Prewashing Fabric, the Whys and Hows

And my No. 1 post of 2017 (and all time), with double the page views of any post, was the post and tutorial on prewashing fabric.

Now check out the Best of 2017 Linky Party at Meadow Mist Designs.

Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century

The best modern quilts from around the world, over 200 of them, have been selected by the Modern Quilt Guild to be included in Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century.

I am thrilled to have two quilts chosen to be in the book which will include large, color photographs of each quilt.

For those of you new to Quilted Blooms, WELCOME!  You can read a little more about me here and see some of my finished quilts here.  But, back in August 2013, I joined the MQG as an individual member.  And then, in December 2014, I was instrumental in the formation of the Greenville MQG where I serve as treasurer.

The Greenville MQG issued a challenge to its members in 2016 to create a modern quilt using only black and white fabrics (some gray was permissible) and one pop of color.  Cursive is the result of the challenge and received 1st place.  Cursive also won 2nd place at QuiltCon 2017 in the small quilts category in Savannah, GA and went on to travel the world in the Best of QuiltCon Traveling Exhibit.

Cursive is made from all text or text related fabrics except for two solids.  The words were made from bias tape and hand appliqued. It was even quilted in cursive letters with D'Nealian Handwriting using Aurifil thread.  You can read more about the making of Cursive here.

Positively Transparent displayed at QuiltCon West (2016) in Pasadena, CA, also in the small quilts category (36" or smaller on each side).  Positively Transparent was started in a class with Lizzy House focusing on the elements and principle of design.  It is a transparency design and includes the ever-popular plus sign of which I am quite fond.

Though Positively Transparent is small, measuring just 16" x 18", it involved many hours of walking foot quilting until I decided it or I had had enough.  You can read all about the making of Positively Transparent here.

I enlarged Positively Transparent to a lap size and it became the MQG's Quilt of the Month for August 2017.  Receiving a free modern quilt pattern each month is just one of the many benefits of joining the Modern Quilt Guild.  You can search for a local MQG in your area here.

The 208 page book was curated by Riane Menardi, Alissa Haight Carlton and Heater Grant, all leaders of the Modern Quilt Guild and published by Stash Books/C&T Publishing. 100% of royalties earned from this book go the Modern Quilt Guild, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization.

Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century is expected to ship any day now and can be purchased on Amazon here or directly from the MQG here.

Be sure to visit all the bloggers on the tour to see more beautiful quilts included in Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century.

12/13/17	Amber Corcoran	Fancy Tiger Crafts
12/14/17	Heidi Parkes	Heidi Parkes Art
12/15/17	Melissa Cory	Happy Quilting
12/16/17	Penny Gold	Studio Notes
12/18/17	Shruti Dandekar	13 Wood House Road
12/19/17	Amy Friend	During Quiet Time
12/20/17	Paige Alexander	Quilted Blooms   ⬅ You are here!
12/21/17	Angela Bowman	Angela Bowman Design
12/22/17	Lysa Flower	Lysa Flower
12/27/17	Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill	Whole Circle Studio
12/28/17	Jacquie Gering	Tall Grass Prairie Studio
12/29/17	Christa Watson	Christa Quilts
12/30/17	Heather Black	Quilt-achusetts
1/2/18	Kristin Shields	Kristin Shield Art
1/3/18	Krista Hennebury	Poppy Print Creates
1/4/18	Cinzia Allocca	Deux Petites Souris
1/5/18	Suzanne Paquette	Atelier Six Design
1/6/18	Yvonne Fuchs	Quilting Jetgirl
1/9/18	Ben Darby	Hunts Patch Quilts
1/10/18	Nicole Daksiewicz	Modern Handcraft
1/11/18	Kristi Schroeder	Initial K Studio
1/12/18	Kathy York	Art Quilts by Kathy York
1/13/18	Marla Varner	Penny Lane Quilts
1/15/18	Brigette Heitland	Zen Chic
1/16/18	Stacey Sharman	Hello Stitch Studio
1/17/18	Stacey O'Malley	SLO Studio
1/18/18	Kim Soper	Leland Ave Studios
1/19/18	Steph Skardal	Steph Skardal Quilts
1/20/18	Cheryl Brickey	Meadow Mist Designs
1/22/18	Shea Henderson	Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio
1/23/18	Katie Larson	Katie Larson Studio
1/24/18	Katie Pedersen	Sew Katie Did

I hope to see you at QuiltCon in Feburary 2018 in Pasadena, CA!  I'm pretty excited as I will have 4 quilts hanging at QuiltCon and will be promoting my my new book, Modern Plus Sign Quilts, co-authored with Cheryl Brickey, also published by Stash Books.

Some links included in this post are affiliate links meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you purchase through my link. Thank you!

My Spiel for Teal ~ Mosaic Contest

While shopping at Bobbie Lou's Fabric Factory for the perfect nine fabric swatches to enter into Rachel's (Stitched In Color) Toasty Teal mosaic contest, I came across a print, C'est La Vie in Winter, and and knew I must include it in my mosaic.

Maybe I'm drawn to the chartreuse/aqua/teal combination.  It's part of the beautiful collection, Joie de Vivre by Bari J for Art Gallery. 

Instead of a long-drawn-out story about how I crafted my Toasty Teal mosaic, I'll let the fabrics speak for themselves.

Thank you Rachel for hosting another fabric mosaic contest and Bobbie Lou's for sponsoring.  Now head on over see all of the Toasty Teal mosaics and be sure return when Rachel opens up voting on Monday, December 11th, so you can vote on your favorite Toasty Teal mosaic.

My Friend Mickey ~ Birthday Quilt

This quilt was finished back in August just in time for the 1st birthday of a special great nephew who has already undergone several surgeries for a bilateral cleft lip and palate.  And when nothing else can comfort him, Mickey Mouse can.  He loves Mickey Mouse!

I had the idea of a simple Mickey Mouse quilt, but finding licensed Mickey Mouse fabric was not so simple.  With a quick online search, I found a cute print and set out for my local Walmart which was supposed to have the fabric. They did and when I found it, the fabric was 100% polyester, not what I had in mind or would use.  The only cotton print they has was the red silhouette fabric which became the inspiration for the quilt.

While researching, I saw sunglasses on a Mickey and thought that would be cute on the yellow silhouette.  I machine appliqued the Mickey Mouse silhouettes using matching 100% cotton Aurifil 50 wt.

The gray and black dot fabrics are by Waverly and were purchased at the same time I found the Mickey fabric.  The yellow Kona I had in my stash.  I cut the squares 10 1/2"  thinking I would have a nice sized quilt, 40" x 50", and be able to use a width of fabric for the backing.  I would be WRONG.  The backing shrank to way less than 40" and was printed very crooked.

The top came together quickly and here it is pin basted and ready to quilt.  

I first secured the blocks by stitching in the ditch around each block and quilting very close around each Mickey head.  Which each block I changed thread colors to match the block.  I quilted meandering loops in all the blocks.  I tried to plan it where I could travel diagonally between the blocks as I quilted.

Fortunately , I had all the colors of Aurifil in 50 wt., I needed for quilting.

Matching the red, white, black and gray threads were no problem.  It was interesting when it came to the yellow thread though.  The perfect match was not found with the other yellows on the Aurifil thread chart.

The best match, Aurifil 5015 in gold yellow was found over in the greens/ browns on the Aurifil thread chart.

When quilted, it matched perfectly with Kona Cotton Solid in Canary.

I debated whether or not to quilt in the the Mickey heads and if I did what would I quilt?  The quilt show judge did mention that the Mickey heads would benefit from additional quilting and she's probably right.

There was plenty of the black dot left so I decided on that for the machine sewn binding.  I attached it on the back of the quilt and finished the topstitching from the front.

The black binding made a nice frame for the quilt.

Mickey was the hit of the birthday party.  There were even Mickey Mouse red velvet cupcakes.  I wish I had taken a picture before I took a big bite out it.

Quilt Stats

• Finished size: 40" x 50" 
• Pattern: Original layout inspired by a modified Mickey Mouse silhouette
• Fabrics: Mickey Mouse licensed fabrics, gray and black dots by Waverly, Kona in Canary, and bleached white Bella solid by Moda
• Thread: Aurifil 50 wt. in Natural White 2021; Black 2692, and Arctic Ice 2625; Red 2250; and Gold Yellow 5015 
• Quilting design: meandering loops
• Batting: 100% Cotton Warm & White by the Warm Company
• Completed: August 2017

Linking to Finish It Up Friday with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts, TGIFF at Devoted Quilter this week with Leanne, Whoop Whoop Friday with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Show Off Saturday with Caroline at Sew She Can.

Quilted Memory Fabric Bucket

When I saw Christina Cameli's tutorial for a little quilted fabric bucket I had to drop everything and make one.  (I made myself finish binding a queen size, yes queen, charity quilt first.)

And why memory bucket, you ask?  You see, immediately I knew what fabrics I would use for this cute fabric bucket.

Three years ago, about this very same time, I was finishing up the Michael Miller Spring Cotton Couture Fabric Challenge.  I remember quilting a test sample, which I still had, of the various cotton couture fabrics to audition the color of Aurifil thread I would use.

I wrote the Aurifil thread number along the selvage so I could remember the thread color.  And the funny thing is, the free motion design I used was Christina's Leafy Lines.

I must have borrowed two colors from a friend because I don't remember finishing the spools.  I placed the Clover clip beside the other two colors I auditioned.

My quilted sample was smaller than the Christina's measurements, but I wanted to give it a try anyway.  I trimmed it down to  7 1/2" x 13 1/2" I decided to use left over bias binding for the cuff.

I sewed the seam with a 1/4" seam allowance and then trimmed it down a bit so I could cover the raw edge with some bias I had just used in making the current Michael Miller Our Yard Challenge.

It would have been awkward sewing the bias with by machine at that angle, so I just hand stitched it down in no time.  Christina's tutorial uses a lining but I decided to skip that part let the machine quilting show a much as possible.  That's the reason I covered up the raw edge.

 The bias strip ends were sewn together and repressed which was 7 1/2" x 13 1/2".

I sewed the cuff to the to top edge and finished the edge with the serger.  To box the corners, I measured  width of the bucket which was 6 1/2" and divided the number by 4 and that's the size (1 5/8") I used for the square.  I had to redraw because I forgot to allow for the seam allowance along the bottom.

If you look closely, I didn't sew all the way across the bottom since that would be cut away.

I cut out for the boxing.

I stitched and overlocked across the boxing.  Now all that's left it to turn right side out and turn down the cuff.

This is what the bottom looks like after turning right side out.

And from the side.

And a close up of the rim.

My memory bucket is perfect for storing thread.  Without the lining you can see the raw edges of the seam in bottom but if quickly fill it up, the seams will not be seen much at all.

So I made the quilted bucket entirely from scraps.  And here's the reason I have fond memories of that fabric.  The quilt I made for the Michael Miller fabric challenge was After Dinner Mints and it placed 2nd at QuiltCon in 2015 at Austin, TX.  It was my first QuiltCon to attend and I was thrilled.

I'll have to write about the making of After Dinner Mints one day.  I will tell you this...in addition to the fat eighths provided by Michael Miller, I used a couple of charm packs and a jelly roll which were all prewashed using my my salad spinner method explained here.

Linking my little quilted memory fabric bucket to Main Crush Monday with Beth at Cooking up Quilts, Finish it Up Friday with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts, Show Off Saturday with Caroline at Sew Can She and Sandra's next Dreami (drop everything and make it) link up at MMM! Quilts.  I am also linking to Bag It with Patty at Elm Street Quilts and Tips and Tutorials Tuesday #26 with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl.