Rainbow Mini Swap Round Two: Colorful Cats

I am happy to show you Colorful Cats since my swap partner has received her mini quilt pillow cover for the Rainbow Mini Swap Round Two which took place on Instagram.

Colorful Cats pillow cover by Paige Alexander

Two of my swap partner's favorite fabric designers were Bonnie and Camille and Tasha Noel.  At the time I did not have fabrics by either one in my stash but soon remedied that with a a couple of trips to my local quilt shops.  You can read about my fabric selection of reds, pinks and aquas in this blog post.

Since my swap partner was limited on wall space, she requested a pillow cover instead of a mini quilt.  I found the Cat Block pattern by Elizabeth Hartman offered as a free download from Janome. The pillow finished at 20" x 20" which for a perfect size.

I incorporated some fussy cut elements into some of the blocks using fabrics from Hello Darling and Vintage Market with a few other fabrics added.  I used Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Bright White for the background.  Here are the finished blocks on the design wall.  I was still deciding on the arrangement of the cat blocks.

Cat Blocks made from Elizabeth Hartman's pattern

I decided on crosshatch quilting just like Elizabeth used on her pillow.  I marked the initial two quilting lines with a hera marker.

Quilting lines marked with a hera marker

Here is the quilt after the first two lines in each direction were quilted using the walking foot.

After four lines of quilting on Colorful Cats

Now here is where patience is needed.  You just keep quilting, line after line, until it is finally quilted.

Crosshatch quilting on Colorful Cats

I finished the pillow cover with a traditional binding us a Riley Blake dot fabric.

Traditional binding on Colorful Cats

Pillow Stats:

• Finished size:  20" x 20" pillow with envelope backing
• Pattern:  Cat Block and Pillow by Elizabeth Hartman for Janome
• Binding: 3/8" finished straight grain binding finished by machine using a Riley Blake dot
• Fabrics: Hello Darling by Bonnie and Camille for Moda, Vintage Market by Tasha Noel for Riley Blake and others
• Batting: 100% Cotton Warm & White by the Warm Company
• Thread: Aurifil 2024 White for piecing and quilting
• Quilting:  Crosshatch using the edge of the walking foot as a guide

From looking at the Instagram account of my swap partner, I knew she had a cute little kitten.  Rather than making a little something extra for her, I made a stuffed kitty for daughter.  The pattern for the kitty was from a panel by VIP.  I saw the pattern on blog and wish I could give them credit, but I did find the same panel in this Etsy listing.  This also shows the envelope backing for the pillow cover using a print from Vintage Market.

Calico Kitty made from a vintage VIP panel pattern

Although my pillow is missing a few colors from the rainbow, I tried to make something my swap partner would like.  Close to 500 swappers participated in the #RainbowMiniSwapR2 and I had fun participating. Thanks to Kate @katebasti for organizing  and swap mama Sara @supersara20 for helping with the swap.

Linking up to Finish Up Friday, Whoop Whoop Friday, Jenn at A Quarter Inch from the Edge hosting Thank Goodness Its Finished Friday this week, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Whoop, There It Is! and Show Off Saturday.

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!

Five Times Five Mini Quilt

We all know 5 x 5 = 25.  And that is the number of years The Electric Quilt Company has been around with Electric Quilt, the leading quilt design software.  I had no idea!  They are having a year long celebration which you can read about here on their blog.

To help kick off  the celebration, Michael Miller Fabrics issued a challenge to create a mini quilt using only Michael Miller fabrics and it must not be larger than 20" x 20".  That seemed doable.  So here is my mini quilt, Five Times Five, measuring 15" x 15".

Five Times Five by Paige Alexander

I only used two fabrics, Quarter Dot and Cotton Couture in black.  I purchased the Pearlized Quarter Dot in black and silver, part of the Glitz collection, when I was working on a quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild's Michael Miller Fabric Challenge.  Here is the half yard cut of fabric with the square cut out for Five Times Time. (And notice how the selvage information lined up perfectly where I cut out the square.)

Quarter Dot where I cut out a block for Five Times Five

The dots were printed at 45 degree angle to selvage so when I cut out the block it was on the bias. The dots did not align perfectly, probably due to me prewashing the fabric, but it was close.  I simply added borders of the cotton couture.  The quilting design worked out fairly well.  I decided to use my walking foot and quilt in a crosshatch grid between the dots.  And when I did that, the quilting lines were exactly an inch apart.  It is hard to photograph black, but here I hope you can see the quilting.

Crosshatch quilting of Five Times Five by Paige Alexander

I thought my idea of the 25 silver quarter dots representing the 25th anniversary of EQ was clever, but my quilt was not chosen as a winner.  I want to congratulate those that won!  You can see the winning quilts on the Michael Miller blog with a link to the winners' Instagram feeds.

Congratulations EQ on 25 years and thank you Michael Miller Fabrics for sponsoring the challenge.

Quilt Stats:

• Finished size:  15 1/4" x 15 1/4" 
• Binding: 1/4" straight grain sewn down by hand    
• Fabrics: Michael Miller Quarter Dot, Cotton Couture in black, Confetti Border for backing
• Batting: Hobbs 80/20 in black
• Thread: Aurifil 2692 for piecing and quilting

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday, Whoop Whoop Friday, Devoted Quilter hosting Thank Goodness Its Finished Friday this week, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Whomp! There IT Is and Show Off Saturday.