modern plus sign quilts - kaleidoscope plus

Welcome!  

I'm honored to have been invited to participate in the Modern Plus Sign Quilts blog hop and I'm excited to share my Kaleidoscope Plus quilt with you today.

Photo credit: C&T Publications

When we received a copy of the book we each had a few days to choose which quilt we would like to make.  There are 16 interesting and exciting patterns and this Kaleidoscope Plus quilt really intrigued me.  I have always thought color with kaleidoscopes so I wanted to try this pattern using colors.

This quilt is made with both foundation pieced and traditionally pieced blocks.  I re-created the blocks with my EQ8 software then started playing around with bright solid colors.  There are infinite options.  Ultimately, I decided to use up some blue, orange, and green print scraps and went with this placement.  It was fun!  And it wasn't too hard to keep track of how many of each color block I needed.

The background, the pluses, and the stars around each plus are all Cotton and Steel prints.  The stars are a metallic basic but between my limited photography skills and the bright sun at the frozen beach I can't help you to see the sparkle.  Sorry about that.

For the back I used this print I had stashed away from the Ansonia collection by Denyse Schmidt.  The blues and yellow-greens are a perfect match with the scraps on the front.

The wind is really helping to show off the binding!  I love how this Dottie print, another Cotton and Steel basic, wraps around the edge.  There's a little sparkle in those dots, too. Along with being colorful, kaleidoscopes sparkle in my mind!

I free motion quilted this with all over jagged lines.  I used Aurifil 2021 (my favorite!) 50wt thread for all the piecing and quilting.

 Quilter's Dream cotton select loft batting always gives such a beautiful drape.  

I'm super pleased with my quilt and excited to attempt a few more of the Modern Plus Sign patterns.  I think next up will be a Postage Plus quilt using my hoarded bits of Liberty.  Doesn't that sound luxurious?  

The book is available on Amazon or from C&T Publishing.  Or better yet, you can get a signed copy from either Cheryl or Paige.  

Here are all the participants...so you can hop along and hopefully be inspired to make your own Modern Plus Sign Quilt!  

Signature Plus

Soma @ Whims and Fancies

Ann @ Brown Paws Quilting

Kitty @ Night Quilter

Tribal Plus

Sophie @ Luna Lovequilts

Afton @ Quilting Mod

Shelley @ The Carpenters Daughter Who Quilts

Plus Surround

Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal

Jen @ A Dream and a Stitch

Abigail @ Cut & Alter

Kaleidoscope Plus

Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl

Sandra @ mmm! quilts

Karen @ Run Sew Fun    ←Me!

Postage Plus

Linda @ Flourishing Palms

Bernie @ Needle and Foot

Liz @ Savor Every Stitch

Stacey @ Stacey In Stitches

Rick Rack Runner

Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty

Patty @ Elm Street Quilts

Melanie @ A Bit of Scrap Stuff Blog

Row Addition

Myra @ Busy Hands Quilts

Izzy @ Dizzy Quilts

Transparency Chains

Ruth @ Charly and Ben's Crafty Corner

Christa @ Christa Quilts

Faceted Rings
Jessica @ Quilty Habit
Cindy @ Hyacinth Quilt Designs
Jennifer @ The Inquiring Quilter

Petal Plus
Julie @ The Crafty Quilter

Message in a Bottle
Tish @ Tish N Wonderland
Judy @ Sew Some Sunshine
Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

Cute as a Button

Wanda @ Wanda's Life Sampler

Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Katherine @ Sew Me Something Good

Celestial

Anja @ Anja Quilts

Kate @ Smiles from Kate

Sue @ Sevenoaks Street Quilts

Pinwheel Plus

Carole @ From My Carolina Home

Alison @ Little Bunny Quilts

Intertwined

Debbie @ Esch House Quilts

Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts

Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts

Bear Claw Plus

Janice @ Color Creating and Quilting

Joanne @ Quilts by Joanne

Finale
Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs
Paige @ Quilted Blooms

Finally, there's a daily giveaway!!!  

You can participate using the rafflecopter on either Cheryl's or Paige's blog.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.  

Along with participating in the book's Blog Hop, I'll be linking up this post with 

Sew Fresh Quilts Let's Bee Social 

and

Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday.

i spy economy blocks

Another fun baby quilt.  This time I was pretending to be Rita!

I used her Economy block tutorial to make these.  I adjusted the size so my blocks finish at 8" square.  That means my center squares are cut at 4.5"  Digging through my stash to fussy cut these was a blast!  I was surprised that I had no problem finding 30 different things to "spy".
Here are a few close ups so you can spy some things, too.

Quilted with organic straight lines about 1/2" apart.  This time I did things like Rita. I started by ditch stitching all the horizontal and vertical block seam lines.  Then I filled in with 16 vertical lines within each block.  Yes, it's time consuming, but I do love the texture of straight lines.  And by golly, Rita is right, those initial stabilizing lines really help keep things lined up.

Quilter's Dream cotton request loft batting and this darling (black & white!) alphabet print on the back.  Baby can spy his letters as he gets older!
Do you notice the binding is a little wider?  I used directions from Lynn Harris' book Every Last Piece to make this single fold 1/2" binding.

Not the same black and white stripe that's Rita's signature but this fabric was in my stash.  I spent a few extra minutes and lined up the print when I was sewing the strips together.  So worth it!!!  I couldn't be happier with how this finished up. 

Just in time for gifting!

Thanks for stopping by.

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts and Finish it up Friday.

under the sea

When Daddy is a scuba diver and Mama's favorite neutral is teal it takes this quilt maker about a minute to decide to use Elizabeth Hartman's Awesome Ocean pattern and make some creatures who live Under the Sea.  It takes a lot longer to get the song out of my head.  Not to worry, The Little Mermaid is my favorite Disney movie.  

Just look at the world around you

Right here on the ocean floor

Such wonderful things surround you

What more is you lookin' for?

I made one of each of Elizabeth's creatures and rearranged them into a horizontal quilt.  I like how there's a little space between them so they have more room to swim around.
I started with a fat 8th bundle of Heather Ross's Mendocino fabric then added a few solids and scraps of other prints. 

Down here all the fish is happy

As off through the waves they roll

Let me introduce you:

Tony the turtle, Mr. Manatee, and Puffy...

Angelica...

Salty the seahorse... (my favorite!)

Preppy the whale, Octavian, and a couple Chuckles!

We got no troubles

Life is the bubbles

Under the sea

My little bundle of Mendocino had just one piece big enough to fussy cut this pair of mermaids.

And I had enough yardage of the blue fish print to piece a backing. 

Darling it's better

Down where it's wetter

Take it from me

I quilted this with my walking foot and a stretched out serpentine stitch.  I used my Hera marker to make lines then stitched on each side of them to get the wavy under-water look.  
I was hoping to photograph this quilt with a beautiful lake in the background so I took it up north, twice, but the weather just would not cooperate.  Oh well - I should have known!

The seaweed is always greener

In somebody else's lake 

So, I'm settling for an aquarium in the snow! 

Now I'm wondering if you have a favorite Disney movie?  
Or a favorite Elizabeth Hartman animal pattern?

Under the Sea lyrics by Samuel E. Wright

I'll be linking up with: 

Vera @ Negligent Style for TGIFF

Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday

Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social

wrapping it up

Almost 2 weeks into the new year and I'm finally wrapping it up and sharing my December makes.  First up, a 30 Wood Forest to celebrate one of my favorite people in the whole wide world turning 30!  She loves the northern woods - in any season!

I used this tutorial by Amy Smart.  I originally intended to make this into a table runner but I couldn't work that out so I off-set the trees and made a wall hanging.  I added the borders "Log Cabin" style.  Who doesn't love a cabin in the woods?

The back is a map because everyone needs a map to navigate their way through a forest.

Especially when there are bobcats hiding in the trees! 😜

Next, rope bowls.  This year it was rope bowls for everyone.  Have you caught this bug?  Modern Handcraft has a video tutorial to get you started but be careful - they're addicting!

Finally, my top 9 Instagram photos.  This year I updated the collage to include my top 10 because...So. Many. Babies!!!  What a year!  Two new grandsons for us and many new friends for them!  The bottom row includes my favorite photos of major personal sewing accomplishments:  finishing this year's Summer Sampler, completing 100 blocks in 100 days (watch for that quilt to hopefully be finished this spring), and meeting Crazy Mom Quilts!  

17 has always been my favorite number and 2017 did not disappoint!  Thank you so much for sharing this fun journey with me. Your encouraging comments are so appreciated.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!  

Keep warm!


I'll be linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Sew Fresh Quilts

another plus quilt

Plus quilts are always a win!

I made this one using this free pattern by Jeli Quilts as a guide.  I had an odd sized bundle of Rae Hoeskta's Lotus Pond that I cut up into 4" squares.  I added a few more rows and columns than the pattern directs.  For the background I used  Painter's Pallette from Paintbrush Studios in Aluminum.  Super soft and in my stash - win, win!  Have you tried these solids?  They're wonderful.  

For the back I found a cut of the green print from the collection on sale at Stash Fabrics.  I needed a little more than a width of fabric (of course) so used some of the odd sized scraps that were leftover to make a colorful strip and pieced it in.  This green will go well with grass stains for summer concert-in-the-park goers - win!

I marked a grid following the lines of the pluses.  Then I free motion quilted this all-over pattern.  I washed the  quilt before photographing to erase all the blue lines.  Quilter's Dream cotton select loft batting.  Look how crinkly and cozy it looks - win!

Two labels for this quilt. My usual (with the year on the back), and because all the prints are from the same collection I used a bit of the backing selvage and included a second label.  (Rae's name is on the backside.)

Rolled and tied just in time for gifting.  Win!  

Happy holidays to everyone!

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts and Crazy Mom Quilts.

summer sampler 2017

My Summer Sampler 2017 quilt is finally finished!

I enjoyed last year's quilt along along so much I signed up again this year.  First up was choosing our fabrics.  

I won this purple bundle in the Dog Gone Cute QAL.  It matched perfectly with the 4+ yard cut of Anna Maria Horner I grabbed on sale awhile ago.  All I needed was a background.  Originally I choose a light gray.  I looked at it for about a week and it just wasn't singing to me.  At the time I was working on a baby quilt and a piece of twinkling star fabric happened to fall on the purple bundle.  BINGO!  

I realized early that photographing the blocks each week would be a challenge.  I tried to capture each block with a bloom or something that would show the season progressing.  Capturing the purples to show as they do in real life while showing the twinkling star background was beyond my photographing ability. 

Still, some pretty pictures!  

We finished all the stars in September then got the final instructions for the filler blocks and putting it all together.

I think I spent at least three weeks on these fillers.  I considered counting up how many total pieces were in this quilt.  Then I decided probably better if I didn't know!

Finally it was time to put this puzzle together.  This was definitely the most involved quilt I've ever made.  It's also the most photographed.  I've taken it out 3 times trying to capture it and I just can't.  

Here's a close up of the twinkle star background.  So much prettier in real life.

It was not too hard to line up the print when sewing this backing together.

I used Warm and White batting and quilted this with a simple stipple.  

I used Aurifil 2021 for both the piecing (50wt) and quilting (40wt).

A frosty morning finish!

The IG hashtag is pretty huge but you can see some of the other finishes here.

You can buy the pattern here.

I will be linking up with:

Crazy Mom Quits for Finish it up Friday  

Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social.

Thanks so much for stopping by.