Flower Boxes Quilt

Even before Happy Land was in my hands I was planning on what to do with it. I surprisingly won 6 yards of it from commenting on the freespirit blog and was excited to see what the colors truly looked like. I don't know how Jennifer does it, but all these colors play off each other so amazingly. I really do get my inspiration from a single fabric and run with it. After all, these fabric designers are the experts at color- especially Jennifer! I started cutting up the fabric and wanted to do a different design for this line and the Flower Boxes pattern took shape. I only had a few blocks done and had to wait for a gap in receiving the rest of my order, so they sat Washi taped to my wall for a few weeks. Once I received the rest of the yardage, the fun began. I tried to mix up each block, not matching the fussy cut flowers in the center too exactly if possible. If you can let go, you can find some amazing color combinations just playing around. I quilted it with an Aurifil thread that is a fuchsia variegated #4660. Every fabric from Happy Land was used in this quilt! I truly get too distracted on a daily basis finding new fabric combinations as a happy accident from a sudden inspiration! :) I have put this quilt in my shop~ a rarity to have a ready made quilt in the shop, but this one is here in case it speaks to you! :) Its a 45x63 which would work as a throw, or toddler bed or baby quilt. I am so honored that Jennifer featured this quilt on her blog today!!! She is such an amazing, supportive person and I love the beauty that she brings to the quilting world with every new collection! I had never sewn clothes until recently because I found I had to wear these amazing fabrics, too! :)

Happy Land & Best of Jennifer Paganelli Quilt Done!

I was finally able to finish a custom order for a customer using the Happy Land fabrics with the best Jennifer Paganelli fabrics from her past lines that coordinate. I used Aurifil thread #5006 to quilt it. It was fun pulling out my Loopy scraps for this one. I love how the navy and fuchsia are great contrasts with the other colors. That's me in my newest Devon, a larger picture on flickr. I used Candice in sky and love how it looks with jeans. The fun has just begun with this fabric line! You can find it everywhere~ Hawthorne Threads, Etsy & Quilt Home to name a few. Marie Madeline will be carrying it soon. 

Happy Land preview

Midnight colorway includes navy, aqua, fuchsia, golden yellow & green

Hand quilted using Aurifil thread #2588

back

Ta Da!

I was super excited to win some of Jennifer Paganelli's soon to be released Happy Land fabric! It got shipped to me yesterday & I decided by the end of the day the first thing I would make is a purse for myself! It is my own pattern & I used fusible batting so I could hand quilt some details & machine quilt the rest. I have found that Aurifil #2588 is usually an awesome match for the fuchsia in Jennifer's fabrics. I used that so the quilting would stand out more. When ever I get her new fabric, I am itching to make something asap! :) It is supposed to be released Oct 1, but sometimes they are early. I know that Hawthorne Threads is planning to carry it. Next up is (of course) a baby blanket using Happy Land midnight and other previous JP lines.

Quilt It!

I love the opportunity to free motion quilt some swirls. I use a Juki TL-2000 Qi. I love how it quilts~ it's a workhorse! For this eclectic mix of fabrics I chose a variegated pink Aurifil thread. The backing fabric is Natasha in red & the binding is Cecilia in brown. I think that sometimes one of the hardest decisions is choosing the thread color for the quilting. Often, the backing fabric has a greater influence on the choice for me. I like it to somewhat blend when I am doing the swirls as I sometimes feel like I am scribbling all over the fabric designer's artwork! I love the crinkly goodness that results after washing when it's quilted all over. I hope Kristin enjoys her quilt!
Additional info: it is available as a made to order quilt in my shop. :)

June Song Quilt

A few months ago I was contacted by Lothian to make a custom quilt for her. She told me a few fabrics she loved and I pulled from my stash to create the quilt pictured. Alexander Henry's June Song fabric was the jumping off point for the colors. I used lots of coordinates from Jennifer Paganelli as well as Lizzy House (love all her pearl bracelet prints), Lecien, Josephine Kimberling, Valori Wells & the Daisy is from Riley Blake. I had the daisies with red center on hand and couldn't find yardage for the binding, but found the same print without the red center. It looks so pretty for the binding

I wish it showed up better, but I straight line quilted this with a variegated fuchsia thread from Aurifil which looks especially beautiful on the back against the black fabric. I hope Lothian loves it as much as I do!

Quilt from Recycled Crib Bedding

The best of Jennifer Paganelli fabrics

Marie in blue from West Indies

random patchwork twin size

patchwork sham to match

I was given an exciting opportunity recently to take a crib skirt from a previously made (not by me) crib set and make it into a quilt. Amanda contacted me because she had seen my work on Jennifer Paganelli's blog (thank you, Jennifer!) and thought I might be interested in taking on this project. I said, 'yes, yes, yes!!!!' couldn't wait! The print from the skirt is Nicole in blue from a discontinued line called Mod Girls. There was also a fitted sheet in the Eliza Stripe that she wanted to incorporate, but since I had some that was brand new, we decided to use my stash for that.  I pulled from my extensive JP stash to get all the colors from the main print including Bell Bottoms, Flower Power, Pretty Please, So St Croix, Poodle,  Queen Street, and West Indies. The backing is Marie from West Indies and the binding & sham ruffle is the Eliza Stripe. I free motion quilted in Aurifil thread using a variegated fuchsia thread in a scroll pattern. I hope Amanda and her daughter enjoy it as  much as I enjoyed making it for them! 

New Toys to Play With

After seeing the post about Aurifil thread by Katy I knew I had to try it. I ordered a few spools to start plus this AMAZING color chart with real threads on it! :O I love charts of all kinds, it can go with my Kona cotton chart and Moda Bella Solids chart. I used a yellow Auriful thread to quilt the quilt in the first picture and it was marvelous, smooth and has a nice luster to it without being shiny, if that makes sense. My only complaint is that I wish the thread colors had names to them, not numbers. I'd be happy to take that job on if anyone is listening~ lol! I took a stab in the dark ordering the thread not knowing if I was getting ivory, white, etc. Now I have my chart, tho and I'm good to go!

I also got the Modern Log Cabin quilting book from Amazon and love it. I've always loved log cabin blocks and the variations that you can make with them. The author shows you the different patterns with their names and then each quilt or project lists which type of log cabin block it is. There's both quilt projects as well as pillows, pincushion, apron, bags and more. I know I will be trying out the projects. :)

UPDATE: Mr. Alex Veronelli from Aurifil sent me an email with an attachment that has all the names of the thread! What a nice guy! He said they will be on the thread cards in the future. I found out that the thread color I used on the quilt is Medium Butter. :)