Flower in a Pot Quilt Along - Pattern #9

Here is the final block in my Flower in a Pot Quilt Along!

Here are links to how I put this Flower in a Pot together:
Flower in a Pot #9 

Here are the links:
Flower in a Pot #9 Pattern
Machine Applique Directions

Here are links to all the other blocks in the Flower in a Pot Quilt Along:

Flower in a Pot #8 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #7 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #6 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #5 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #4 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #3 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #2 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #1 Pattern

Please share what you've been creating on my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Box Inspiration

I look for quilt patterns in tissue boxes all the time.  They're a fantastic source of inspiration.  I also recently found a box at school that I found inspiring.

Here are some doodles I drew as well.  I definitely want to quilt these!

Come back Wednesday for the pattern for Flower in a Pot #9!  The last in the series.

I hope you're inspired and that you get to quilt today!

Flower in a Pot #9 - The Quilting

It's time for quilting!  It's one of my favorite parts of the process.  I decided to combine a bunch of different feathers together.  I got the idea from Judi Madsen's iquilt class where she teachers combining feathers.

Below you can see the different types of feathers I used.  From the left it is a curl feather, a regular feather, a hammer feather, a hook feather, a regular feather, a hook feather, a regular feather a hammer feather.  It was fun changing it up.  After having quilted this piece I think using too many different kinds can be distracting.

When I quilted All Fired Up I used only 3 different kinds of feathers and I think it looks nicer.

Here is the final quilt with the rick rack detail in the binding.  I really like this finish and can't wait to use it again on something.  I bought shiny gold rick rack.  It almost looks like lame.  I can't wait to try it out on something.

The back of the quilt could use some stitching in the pot and flower.  I'll get there eventually!

I hope you get the chance to quilt today!
Suzy

Flower in a Pot #9

I was so excited to make this last pot in the Flower in a Pot Quilt Along that I completely forgot to take pictures along the way!  Oops.

Here is the first two layers of pieces.  I really love these leaves.  They're make a statement.

Here is the block mostly finished without the top piece of the flower.  I had a really hard time choosing a pot fabric for this flower.  I knew right away that I wanted the flower to be red so I went in search of a fabric that would work for the pot and had red.  It was really hard to find a batik that fit this!  Thus I ended up with a fairly simple dot print.  I like the end result.

Here is the back of the block at this point.  If you look closely you can see how I stop and start when I know a piece is going to be put on top.

And here is the final block.  Check out the top of the flower!  I totally fussy cut that piece to look like it radiated.  It's from a batik that had circles of dots that got larger as you went out.  This is also a sneak peak at the quilting.  More on that on Saturday!

And don't forget to join my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group!

I hope you get a chance to quilt today!
Suzy

Forever Gifts Boutique and Quilt Shop

It's summer and I had the opportunity to explore a new quilt shop in the area, Forever Gifts Boutique and Quilt Shop in Prescott, Wisconsin.  It was fantastic!  They had a lot of fabric in bright vibrant colors and lots of neat gifts too including a whole wall full of signs with funny sayings.

The shop is right on Main Street in Prescott and very easy to find.

It was really fun to poke around and see all the gifts interspersed with fabric.  Their fabrics were so fun and colorful.  It's a really cheerful shop.

They had lots of modern fabrics to explore and batiks as well.

I will have to go back and buy some signs sometime.  They were hilarious.  The jewelry was fabulous too.

Here are some fun flowers at the eatery next door.

Their ceiling is painted like a tiger!  Can you see it?  My sons had a blast finding it.

I can't wait to go back and explore some more.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Island Batiks Modern Checks - The Quilting

I am fairly new to modern quilting.  I must admit the more I do it, the more I love it, but I still love traditional quilting too.  And art quilts for that matter!

So for this quilt I decided I was NOT marking and I was just going to go for it and see what happened.  I started with the straight lines following the checks.  After doing 8 rows of that I'd decided I'd have enough and needed to do something different.  So I did some more straight lines at the end of the quilt and decided to do something different in the middle.

I forgot to engage the walking foot on my Bernina.  Oops.  In the photo below I didn't have it on and you can see what happened to the fabric.  It ripples in some places.  In the photo above I did remember to turn it on and the rippling was much less.

Then I decided to fill the open areas at the ends of the quilt with free motion lines.  I'm sure this has a name, but I am unsure of what that would be....if you know, please comment!  First, I did a line of pebbles to separate and then echoed them once.  The I did the straight line fill to finish the area.  The taller the straight line fill, the harder it is to keep straight!

Next I decided to try doing the straight line fill in alternating directions so that it looked like chevrons.  It went well, but it's hard to know what it's going to look like when it meets up in the center.

Finally I decided the third area was too wide, so I made a row of bubbles down the center and then did the straight line fill on either side of it.  The bubbles really show up here with is fun!

Finally I filled the center areas with a curl technique of Angela Walter's.  I just watched her "Quilting Negative Space" class on Craftsy and I had to try it out.

Overall, I am really happy with this little quilt I did for Island Batik's Modern Batik Challenge!  It was fun and I'm excited to try more modern quilting,  It was very freeing.

Now I need to bind it.  I must admit that I've been procrastinating on that.  I actually have 3 small quilts I need to bind right now.  I should get to that.  Really I should.  Someday soon.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Island Batik Modern Checks - Planning and Piecing

This month's Island Batik Ambassador challenge is to make a Modern Batik Quilt.  For whatever reason I stumbled upon check marks when I was thinking about this project.  I wondered what would happen if you stack them on top of each other going in opposite directions.   I added an extra square to make the pattern feel more complete.

The first thing I did was try out a few different colorations with markers.  I had a bunch of beautiful green Island Batiks to use, but decided they didn't have enough contrast for a modern quilt.  Then I tried different colors using a repeat of four colors and a repeat of five colors.  I decided the scale of four colors worked better.

Then I had to figure out how to piece it.  I always do this to myself!  I decided that it would be easiest to make in a "french braid" kind of fashion where you start with a triangle and then keep sewing on strips.  Here are my pieces before ironing....

Roland decided the pieces would make a great "boa" around his neck.  The kid is a ham!

Here you can see that I started with a central triangle and sewed strips to the right side, then the left side, then the right side, then the left, forever and ever and ever!  Or at least it felt like it at the time because I had to iron after each piece.

Here is the final piece with the last two triangles sewed on.  Clearly I miscalculated their size.  Oh well, too big is better than too small.

Now since this is a modern quilt, I knew I needed to add negative space to both sides.  So after squaring up the center "braid" I auditioned how to position it within the negative space.  Below there is a lot of space on the right.

In this option there is a more even amount of negative space on both sides.  I decided to go with the first picture: a little negative space on the left and a lot on the right.

Stay tuned for the quilting of this Modern Checks on Saturday!
Suzy

Meet a Quilter Guest Blog

The amazing Carol Steely, fellow Island Batik Ambassador, invited me to be part of her "Meet a Quilter" series on her blog this month.  Check it out here.

Here's a sneak peek at tomorrow's post:

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Zumbrota Inspiration

On a recent trip to All in Stitches in Zumbrota, Minnesota I came across these inspirations:

I love the different colors of flowers in these pots.  Coral, peach, magenta and purple.  I love warm colors.  I also like the two baskets of flowers next to each other.  It has possibilities.

The stores in Zumbrota had colorful flags flying outside their shops.  I love this one.  It would make a fantastic border or triangular corners to square up a block that's on point.

Here is another fun flag.  I like how the blue diagonal lines go through the varying stripes.  It would be fun to play with two stripes set against each other like this.

Happy Quilting!

Suzy

Flower in a Pot Quilt Along - Pattern #8

I'm excited to share the pattern for Flower in a Pot #8 with you!

Here are links to how I put this Flower in a Pot together:
Flower in a Pot #8 - Part One
Flower in a Pot #8 - Part Two

Here are the links:
Flower in a Pot #8 Pattern
Machine Applique Directions

Here are links to all the other blocks in the Flower in a Pot Quilt Along:
Flower in a Pot #7 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #6 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #5 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #4 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #3 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #2 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #1 Pattern

Donna just recently finished Flower in a Pot #1 and posted a picture to my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group.

Happy Quilting!
Suzy

Minnesota Quilter's Show 2016

I went to sneak preview yesterday at the Minnesota Quilter's Show in St. Cloud.  It was an absolute blast and we had a great time!  There were a ton of gorgeous quilts that I will be posting pictures of for the next week or two over on my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group.

I was excited to see how my two new show quilts did and I was quite pleased with the results.  Kaboom! took second place behind Margaret Solomon Gunn.

All Fired Up (made with some of my lovely Island Batiks as part of the Island Batik Ambassadors) took second place behind Sharon Schlotzhauer.

Here's my mom with her two quilts in the show!  Come check out some others in my Facebook group.

AND today was the last day of school.

AND I got the proofs for my book today!

It's been a crazy, but good week.
Suzy