"Falling Up" - a Mini Quilt

Today I'm celebrating what I DID get done this month while I was so busy with summer school and interviews- my Modernista Homemade secret swap package (theme: bedroom).

See what's falling up (in the picture below)? That was an accident :) I like to name my quilts after accidents and embrace the disaster.

At first I took in my partner's likes and decided on just blue and green with white. I started putting the wonky stars together (from Oh Fransson's Sparkle Punch QAL tutorial), which is a pattern I always wanted to try.

 Ironically, Pam just posted about this, too - the myth that blue and green don't go well together... I thought they were going together, but that something was missing... even when I varied it up by making the stars white and the backgrounds scrappy.

Enter red, another favorite color of my partner! It added the PERFECT amount of pizzazz to the quilt, along with the pops of navy and the Simply Colored navy binding - do you agree? I could almost see my tiny but mighty red stash smiling :)

I made it reversible for the first time. I had a hankering to join in on the pixelated hearts bandwagon and just made up my own small version with extra 3" squares. I used a pretty Jennifer Paganelli fabric for the rest of the backing. Finally, I used my friend Renee's double sided hanging sleeve tutorial - so easy to follow and very clear! I, however, clearly wasn't completely awake when I did this:

Just keepin' it real. Look, I was even ready to sew the binding to the other side before I noticed. :(

After lots of threatening and possibly a tear or two, I took out all the binding and hanging sleeve stitches and sewed it to the correct side. Unfortunately, that took about 30 minutes. I really need to pay more attention the first time! 

I had SO much fun quilting this one - several of the star backgrounds got individual treatment, while the others were quilted in straight diagonal lines. It makes for a nice visual contrast. Angela Walters' newest book is still a constant source of inspiration for me. In fact, I quilted the actual star points per her suggestion.

 Love quilting different-sized pebbles now. Makes for a nice texture, too :)

Plus, I LOVE how you can see all the quilting on the back! I've always loved that... and this time, with all of the color, I decided to stick with white thread.

My husband wanted to keep this one and even picked out a place to hang it in our apartment... lol. Nice try. It's off to my partner, along with another small gift, which I hesitate to share until she receives it... she'll know it's for her!

And, of course, the short montage of photoshoot pictures:

 

I'll be sharing my swap goodies later this week! Boy, am I pleased :D

Linking up to:

Lovely Year of Finishes @ Fiber of All Sorts, Sew Cute Tuesday @ Better Off Thread, Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, TGIFF @ Quokka Quilts, and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Lantern-a-long Block 4: The Tinkerbell Lantern

Welcome to Week 4 of the Lantern-a-long (also known as the LAL)! If you're just joining us, there's still time to make a quilt top! Feel free to join the Flickr group and post pictures of your lanterns as you finish them. We've had some beautiful blocks so far! There will be five lantern tutorials throughout July and August. See this post for more info on the quilt top sizes and fabric requirements, schedule (also below), sponsors, and this post for prizes. Again - it's not too late to join!

Thanks again to the wonderful and generous sponsors of this QAL - 1 Choice 4 Quilting, I Don't Do Dishes, and Christa Quilts!

 

 LAL Schedule:

Tues. July 2 - Mon. July 8 - Gather supplies

Mon. July 8 - Lantern Block 1 - Fan Lantern

Mon. July 15 - Lantern Block 2 - Staircase Lantern

Mon. July 22 - Lantern Block 3 - Double Ladder Lantern

YOU ARE HERE --> Mon. July 29 - Lantern Block 4 - The Tinkerbell Lantern

Mon. August 5 - Lantern Block 5, finish up quilt tops

Mon. August 12 - Linky goes up for finished quilt tops/quilts (open for one week)

Mon. August 19 - Winners chosen at random from the linky pool!

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Block 4: The Tinkerbell Lantern

AKA - the tiny but powerful/will-change-the-face-of-your-quilt block

When I designed the quilt, I really wanted a lot of nice, long lanterns, because they are just too pretty. And then, I thought, why not design a smaller one to counteract the big ones? Hence, the Tinkerbell Lantern. Enjoy!

Finished size: 10.5" x 13.25"

See how it interacts with the other blocks?

 Remember - all the blocks for the LAL are made of 2.5" strips, but they all measure a different size when finished. When you put your quilt top together, you will have to add in some extra 2.5" strips or blocks of solid fabric. Also, you don't HAVE to trim your blocks to the size I did above - that's the size mine ended up.

1. Choose your print fabrics for the lantern. You only need 5 this week. I made sure to stagger mine based on how much would be seen. Don't forget to check your scraps to see if they fit :)

 2. Cut the following:

3. CUT each strip of background fabric in HALF (Row 1's will turn into 4.75"each, and Row 2's will turn into 2.5" each).








4. Sew each of the 5 rows together (background + lantern + background).

5. Press your seams to the side, out towards the background fabric. It's up to you, really (feel free to press them open if that's your preference), but I've mentioned that I like the visual effect of the lantern inset in the background.

 6. Sew the rows to each other.

7. Trim to 10.5" x 13.25" (if you want). You're done! Congrats, now you have your fourth block - can you believe there's only ONE more? (I can't!) If you're making a larger lap size, make sure you are sewing AT LEAST 2 or 3 of these.  If you're making a baby quilt, you only need 1 or 2, and you'll add some background fabric to fit around it!

Here are some other versions I made with different color combinations. Keep experimenting with color and challenge yourself! Sorry for the wonkiness of that last pic - my quilt top wasn't cooperating :)

I'll also be posting some layout ideas later this week! I also have my finished mini quilt to share tomorrow at long last :D

Don't forget to share in the Flickr group! I can't wait to see your lanterns!

 

All the pretty lanterns

There's a lot of Lantern-a-longing going on around here, and it's definitely not too late too join in! If you want relaxing sewing - ask any of the LALers - this is it. Here are some pics from the Flickr group:

1. Lantern 2 006, 2. Lantern #2, 3. Lanternrevised1, 4. lanterns, 5. Lantern-A-Long, 6. Lantern-A-Long

Look at all those amazing colors together!! Some are working with jelly rolls, while others are cutting their fabrics. Click the links above to see them up close. Thanks for all the great eye candy so far, ladies!

Schedule

Intro post and Sponsors  
Prizes 

Tues. July 2 - Mon. July 8 - Gather supplies

Mon. July 8 - Lantern Block 1 - The Fan Lantern

Mon. July 15 - Lantern Block 2 - The Staircase Lantern

Mon. July 22 - Lantern Block 3  - The Double Ladder Lantern

Mon. July 29 - Lantern Block 4

Mon. August 5 - Lantern Block 5, finish up quilt tops

Mon. August 12 - Linky goes up for finished quilt tops/quilts (open for one week)

Mon. August 19 - Winners chosen at random from the linky tool!

WIP Wednesday

This week's sewing catastrophe: have currently misplaced my good (aka big) seam ripper. Sadness. Using the one that's about the size of my pinky to unpick my FMQ, because the bobbin tension was bad... :/ Maybe I need to have more than two seam rippers laying around!

I've been watching a lot of "Orange is the New Black" - the new Netflix series  - as I use that little tiny seam ripper (see, it's really that small). Can't decide if I love the show or not, though!

Okay, positives! I'm almost done with the above swap mini quilt. I *plan* to be mailing my package out Saturday - if not, Monday (that's the mail out date). I have just been so swamped around here with school and demo lessons and interviews lately (5 this week, which is awesome but so time-consuming!) that I've barely had any sewing time. Sorry I'm so boring right now! But, I can't wait to share!

In any random moments, I'm still embellishing some of the embroidery hoops that I mentioned now adorn my new bookcase. New home decor idea, much? Maybe I'll start a trend ;)

I just love this AMH print, and I bought almost the exact right color of thread based off of phone pictures while at Michael's (score! Celebrate the small victories, am I right?!). I decided to mimic the patterns inside the purple circles, and I'm loving it so far.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced.

Lantern-a-long Block 3: The Double Ladder Lantern

Welcome to Week 3 of the Lantern-a-long (also known as the LAL)! If you're just joining us, there's still plenty of time to make a quilt top! Feel free to join the Flickr group and post pictures of your lanterns as you finish them. We've had some beautiful blocks so far! There will be five lantern tutorials throughout July and August. See this post for more info on the quilt top sizes and fabric requirements, schedule (also below), sponsors, and this post for prizes. It's not too late to join!

Thanks again to the wonderful and generous sponsors of this QAL - 1 Choice 4 Quilting, I Don't Do Dishes, and Christa Quilts!

 

 LAL Schedule:

Tues. July 2 - Mon. July 8 - Gather supplies

Mon. July 8 - Lantern Block 1 - Fan Lantern

Mon. July 15 - Lantern Block 2 - Staircase Lantern

Mon. July 22 - Lantern Block 3

Mon. July 29 - Lantern Block 4

Mon. August 5 - Lantern Block 5, finish up quilt tops

Mon. August 12 - Linky goes up for finished quilt tops/quilts (open for one week)

Mon. August 19 - Winners chosen at random from the linky pool!

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Block 3 - The Double Ladder Lantern

 Sharon of Vrooman's Quilts rightly stated that last week's block looked more like a ladder than a staircase - and I figured I should probably apply that to this week's lantern! The name from last week was decided on-the-whim - usually if I think of something quilty-wise, I just go with it :) Oh well! Here's your Double Ladder Tutorial. I like this one because it showcases all of your main fabrics very nicely (with more of a width visible than last week's, for example).

Finished size: 14" x 13"

 (see below for another version)

 Remember - all the blocks for the LAL are made of 2.5" strips, but they all measure a different size when finished. When you put your quilt top together, you will have to add in some extra 2.5" strips or blocks of solid fabric. Also, you don't HAVE to trim your blocks to the size I did above - that's the size mine ended up.

1. Choose your print fabrics for the lantern. You need 7, like last week. I made sure to stagger mine based on how much would be seen.You can see that my 4th strip was a scrap from an already-made lantern! Check your scraps to see if they fit :)

 2. Cut the following:

 3. CUT each strip of background fabric in HALF (Row 1's will turn into 4.75" each, and Row 2's will turn into 2.25" each).

4. Sew each of the 7 rows together  (background + lantern + background)

5. Press your seams to the side, out towards the background fabric. It's up to you, really (feel free to press them open if that's your preference), but I've that I like the visual effect of the lantern inset in the background.

 6. Sew the rows to each other. I find it easier to sew the strips together if I split the lantern up, like in this picture:

7. Trim to 14" x 13" (if you want). You're done! Congrats, now you have your THIRD block! If you're making a larger lap size, make sure you are sewing AT LEAST 2 or 3 of these.

I made this one in a gradient blue color scheme for some variety! Try to challenge yourself to try a new/different color approach to this block! See my recently reposted Color Harmony tutorial for some ideas.

Only 2 more blocks to go after this. Don't forget to post your progress to the Flickr group! 

I'll be writing a post this week about  all the beautiful lanterns so far!

Linking up to Let's Get Acquainted.