Baskets + Kaffe Gathered

I debated on what to call this one and ended up going with Kaffe Gathered at the suggestion of a friend.  The baskets are obvious, it's the name of the quilt in Cheryl's new book, Just one Charm Pack Quilts.  Today is Day 3 of the the blog hop to showcase a couple projects from the book and will be running through July 29th.

For the background, I had this Hoffman modern batik and thought it looked nice against the cool blues and greens of the charm pack.  I hesitated to mix the batik with regular prints but decided to go with it and glad I did.  

Now, I must confess, I don't often use precuts because I like to prewash all my fabrics.  And, yes, I did prewash the Kaffe Fasset charm pack.  I wrote a blog post about prewashing fabrics and included solutions for precuts.   

The other fabric pictured is the the basket fabric, a Kona cotton called Noble Purple.  

The baskets are made from half square triangles and cleverly arranged in a circle.  With swirling baskets and the half square oriented in different directions, I have a tip for keeping everything in order.  Snap a quick photo after you layout each block so you can refer back to it when sewing the basket together.  Trust me, I know from experience.  

The Baskets pattern is made from just one charm pack and paired with a background fabric and a little for the baskets themselves. 

Baskets is one of 18 projects from Cheryl's book.  Just think, 18 different quilts using "Just One Charm Pack" paired with a background fabric.  I didn't have to purchase any fabric, it all came from my stash.  Just one Charm Pack Quilts and be purchased on Amazon (affiliate link) or an autographed copy can be purchased from the Meadow Mist Designs Shop. 

No photo shoot seams to go as planned.  Just before heading outside to get some photos, it started pouring down rain.  After the rain stopped, I headed out and it was so humid, the quilt top was instantly damp feeling.  And you would know, a breeze came and there it landed on the wet ground.  

Now to get baskets quilted, but that's for another day...

Sunday Stash (QuiltCon Edition)

I can't believe a month has passed since I returned home from QuiltCon East which you all know took place in Savannah, GA.  Since then I've been sick twice, first with a bad cold and then a nasty stomach virus.  And I made a trip to Mississippi to attend the funeral of an uncle.  I'm anticipating April to be a more healthy and happy month.

While at QuiltCon, of course I shopped the vendors, but I was relatively good.  I thought I would show you what I brought home.  Most are purchases, but I scored an awesome souvenir!

Now, just look at this pincushion.  Do you see those initials AJN?  You know whose they are, right?  I was looking at the quilts late Thursday afternoon and ran into none other than Amanda Jean Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts.

Pincushion made by Amanda Jean Nyberg

Before QuiltCon she mentioned in a blog post she would be giving out 75 pincushions at QuiltCon.  You just had to show her a picture of a quilt you had made from one of her patterns.  I've made a mini from her Trees pattern (blogged here).  I've also made a mini Bright Birch Trees which haven't blogged about yet.

Ok, on to the rest.  I was excited to receive a fat quarter of Flourish from Seventy Six by Alison Glass in the QuiltCon swag bag.

Flourish in Marigold

I splurged on a 2-year subscription to Simply Moderne and received this charm pack of Folk Art Revolution by Kathy Doughty and a tote bag and yearly calendar.

Folk Art Revolution by Kathy Doughty

I also purchased a two small fat quarter bundles of Doe by Carolyn Friedlander at the Beyond the Reef booth.

Doe by Carolyn Friedlander

I don't remember from which booth, but I purchased four half-yard cuts of Cotton and Steel's Basic, Add It Up in Lip Gloss, Bananas, Sea Glass and Indigo.  These have already been prewashed, cut into and added to the stash.  The substrate of the three on the top are an unbleached quilting cotton which feels wonderful and keeps the colors from being too saturated if that makes sense.

Cotton and Steel's Basic, Add It Up

And lastly, I found these enamel and sterling silver earrings at the SCAD gift shop by Kathryn Riechert and thought they were the perfect souvenir since I took an indigo fabric dyeing class with Maura Ambrose of Folk Fibers.  I'll share about my dyeing adventure in another post.

I hope your brought home lots of goodies from QuiltCon!

Linking the Sunday Stash #217 with Molli Sparkles.

Alison Glass Charm Swap

When Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl announced she was hosting an Alison Glass charm swap I knew I wanted to participate.  What I didn't realize is how fast it would fill up!  I was pretty close to bottom of the list and glad to be included.

I found Historical fiction (7868) in Green from Ex Libris collection by Andover Fabrics at my local quilt shop.

5" charm squares of Historical Fiction from Ex Libris by Alison Glass

All 72 of the 5" charm squares were cut from 1 1/2 yards and will be on their way to Yvonne tomorrow.

Historical Fiction from Ex Libris 5" charm squares

The original print I was planning to use for the swap was Bike Path in blue from her Luck Penny collection.  I was about to cut into it and discovered I had already prewashed it...and that would be breaking swap rule #4. (The perils of a prewasher.)  I think this will make a great binding with the dotted stripes.

Bike Path from Lucky Penny by Alison Glass

Now to wait on my charm squares to arrive.  In the mean time, have your peeked at Alison's new line Seventy-Six?  It's beautiful!

Linking to Let's Bee Social and Fabric Frenzy Friday.

Friendship Star Wreath Mini Quilt and WIN!

When you mention CHALLENGE I get distracted from my current project, much like a dog chasing a squirrel. Just like Izzy at Dizzy Quilts and Cindy at Hyacinth Quilt Designs have mentioned before.

Earlier this month, I shared with you my Five Times Five mini quilt made in celebration of the Electric Quilt Company turning 25 in 2016.  All year long there will be challenges and giveaways, so be sure to follow along on their anniversary page here.

The Fat Quarter Shop helped them celebrate this month by issuing a challenge to make a big block mini quilt and sharing it on Instagram using the hashtags FQSbigblockchallenge and EQ25.  Here is my friendship star wreath mini quilt made using this tutorial. I was fond of Camille Roskelley's pattern Round and Round when it was published a couple of years ago.

Wreath of True Colors by Paige Alexander

I had a charm pack of True Colors by Tula Pink and wanted to use the beautiful colors in my big block.

True Colors by Tula Pink charm pack

I used the Alternative Method for making half square triangles by Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts.  I was nervous with all the edges finishing on the bias so I gave them a good spray of Magic Sizing before sewing and cutting.  I decided to press the seams open.  With this method it almost eliminates fraying and the risk of the colored threads shadowing behind the lighter fabric.

My only dilemma was which way to press the seams when sewing it all together.  I decided to press the seams of the blocks in the same direction alternating from row to row and then pressed all the seams down when sewing the rows together.  It is bulky in some places and will consider pressing all of the seams open next time.  For those of you who have made this block, which way did you press the seams of the half square triangles and rows?

For quilting, I decided to crosshatch going through the centers of each friendship star marking the lines with a hera marker.  The lines ended up being 7/8" apart and I extended the lines across the quilt.

Crosshatch quilting detail of Wreath of True Colors by Paige Alexander

Here it is the before blocking and applying the binding.  I dunked it in the washer (top loader) with warm water, ran the spin cycle and put in the dryer for about 5 minutes before blocking.

Wreath of True Colors just out of the washer and the dryer a few minutes

Good eye if you noticed the slight difference in the background fabric of the half square triangles and the solid squares.  When starting out, I planed to use Cotton Couture in Bright White for the background, but accidentally grabbed Soft White instead.  All of the background fabric is Soft White, but there must be from a difference in the dye lots.  I will be sure to use from a continuous cut of fabric from here out.  It is not noticeable when hanging up.

Slight variation in background fabrics noticeable in the HSTs

One more picture of the quilting detail.

Wreath of True Colors stars and quilting

I made the double fold bias binding from 2" strips of Wisteria Daisy Buds and used Aurifil 2479 Medium Orchid to hand sew it down on the back.  I just love the way a bias binding feels when you sew it down by hand.

Bias binding and Aurifil thread

One more picture of the bias binding with a mitered corner.

And, I was very excited to find out my big block mini was chosen and I won a copy of EQ7 software! Thank you Fat Quarter Shop and Electric Quilt! 

Quilt Stats:

• Finished size:  24 1/2" x 24 1/2" (Finished block size 22 1/2" with 1" borders)
• HSTs:  unfinished 3" square, made from charm squares
• Binding: 1/4" bias binding from 2" strips sewn down by hand    
• Fabrics: True Colors by Tula Pink for Free Spirit Fabrics and Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Soft White
• Batting: 100% Cotton Warm & White by the Warm Company
• Thread: Aurifil 2024 White for piecing and quilting, 2479 Medium Orchid for sewing down binding

Instagram - If you woulld like to follow along on Instagram, you can find me at @QuiltedBlooms.


I am happy to link up to Finish Up Friday, Whoop Whoop Friday, Lisa in Port Hope hosting Thank Goodness Its Finished Friday this week, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Whoop, There It Is! and Show Off Saturday.

And I am linking for the first time to Afton @ Quilting Mod for Lessons Learned!  I've learned my lesson about using fabric from the same dye lot!