Inspiration - Nordic Style

Do you ever ponder where inspiration comes from? I enjoy thinking about that sometimes...looking at things I've made and reflecting on where the idea came from.

Nordic throw with a matching pillow

Early last fall I received a Country Curtains catalog and saw this picture of a cozy and inviting Christmas bedroom. I was dreaming of how perfect something this look would be in the guest room of our log home :o) I just knew that great Nordic throw would be the perfect companion for my All Points North quilt block.

Festive Christmas bedroom - Country Curtains catalog

I purposely kept my Christmas making to a minimum this year because of all the time being spent on preparations for our log home. However, if you're a maker then you know it just doesn't feel like Christmas if you don't have at least one handmade gift to give ;o) This pillow was a nice project to occupy myself during the evenings between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Deep saturated reds and inky black fabrics gave a nice crisp look to this Nordic-style block.

All Points North - Nordic style

The background fabric was a fun departure from my comfort zone - my first inclination was to play it safe and use Kona bone (a solid fabric), but I have long admired printed background fabric in the work of others. I decided to go for it and pulled from my stash the red/cream Purebred Derby Preakness paint-by-number fabric from one of my favorite designers, Erin Michael. It adds a fun layer of dimension to the pillow.

The beautiful hand work of Mary Dugan (Molly Flanders Makes blog) enticed me to quilt this with big stitches using perle 8 cotton. Hand quilting is a comfortable, slow process that allows me to sit in the living room with my husband in the evenings instead of at my sewing machine.

Envelope-style back with buttonhole stitch trim

My favorite way to make a pillow back is the simple envelope style. I always plan on a generous overlap and usually use 2/3 of the pillow dimension for my fabric measurements - this ensures no pillow insert peeking out. To add just a touch of cozy to the back I added machine buttonhole stitch to sew down the binding across the back.

This was a satisfying final project for 2016 and has been gifted to a sweet friend. I think that cozy Christmas bedroom picture provided just the inspiration I needed :o)

As 2016 comes to a happy close I'm looking forward to what 2017 brings. Hopefully, a move into our log home for my family! What are you hoping for in the New Year?

Blessings,
~ Debbie

Baby shower goodness

How fun it is to find just the right pattern when needing to make a gift. A few years ago Julianna, of Sewing Under Rainbow, shared a paper pieced tutorial for the Not So Spring Deer. This deer, to me, looks like a young buck, and therefore perfect to honor the upcoming arrival of a certain little mister :o)

The "Not So Spring Deer" paper pieced pattern as a wall hanging

This little man's mama is creating a woodland setting in baby's nursery and using neutral colors with a touch of blue. The geometric print from Kate Spain's Good Fortune line seemed the perfect print for paper piecing as the densely printed pattern blurs well where the paper pieces come together. Looking through my stash I found a nice variety of medium dark gray fabrics to round out the project.

30 degree diamond quilting

I wanted the solid gray background fabric to have a dense quilting that did not extend into the borders. To accomplish this I layered the deer panel onto the batting; then used a ruler to mark 30 degree diamonds, and the edge of the walking foot to quilt the lines approx. 1/2 inch apart. Each time I came to the deer I cut the thread, knotted it, and wove it in. After the quilting was finished I stitched the borders onto the batting.

30 degree diamond quilting

The dense quilting does a nice job of making the deer stand out from the background. A thin blue 1/4 " border adds a nice frame, and then some fun polka dots to enhance the young look of the buck.

Perle cotton buttonhole stitch

Somewhere I remembered seeing buttonhole stitch used to sew down binding. I thought this would add a nice hand-stitched look as well as a texture, and I just happened to have the perfect gray perle cotton on hand! I love how it looks, but was surprised at how hard it is to do buttonhole stitch through cotton; definitely hard on the hands. I don't think I could do this on a larger quilt.

Envelope style back

I found two more prints in my stash which are just the right shade of gray to finish out the mini quilt. For the back I opted to go with an envelope closure; this allows the mini to be used either as a wall hanging, or a pillow. Using fun prints makes the back just as show-worthy as the front :o) Projects like this are so much fun! I love finding just the right fabrics and considering each little detail.

Not So Spring Deer as a pillow

 I'm praying for the safe arrival of this sweet little boy, and blessings for his mama and daddy as they experience the joys of their first baby.

Acorns of all shapes and sizes

Late summer is always a fun creative time for me. My dear friend, M, has a birthday in August and I always have the best time making things for her. She and I both share a love for autumn so this year I thought I'd use the icon of all things fall-ish, the acorn, as inspiration.

Acorns of all shapes and sizes :o)

It all started when I happened across the super cute acorn patchwork pillow pattern by Bridgette of The Family Hearth. This is a great pattern for using up scraps of low volume fabric! I love the bold, graphic design! I made my pillow with a simple envelope style back.

Acorn patchwork pillow - pattern by Bridgette from The Family Hearth

For the quilting I used masking tape to mark simple diagonal lines in order to stitch an "X" through each square.  It's always so fun to quilt small projects because they fit in my Janome sewing machine without any tight pushing or pulling to get the quilting done.

After the pillow was finished I did a bit of searching for some acorn accessories to go with it. On Pinterest I found the pattern for patchwork acorn potholders made with fabric on the front and a dish towel backing.

Patchwork acorn potholders

These patchwork acorn potholders by Therm-o-Web are so easy to make, and again, scraps are the name of the game! I really like how the fabric squares end up on point in the potholders. I lined them with Insul-Bright to make them more heat resistant in addition to the dish towel backs.

Finally, I just wanted one more small item to tuck into the package and decided on the little crochet acorn. This pattern comes from Kristi of the blog Engsidrun. I was able to use scraps from some of my favorite yarn for these sweet little acorn.

Crochet acorn

I am fully aware that I probably got a bit carried away with theme gifts, but I had such fun that maybe I got away with it? Hope you enjoy the first days of fall! I know I will :o)

Scrap Consumption Progress & July ALYoF

Goodness is seems like forever ago that I wrote up this post about the need to use up fabric scraps and set a goal for July in the Lovely Year of Finishes group. The good news is that I've been able to do both :o) 

My July ALYoF goal was to make two rows for a Year of Rows quilt my local quilt guild is doing as a fun project this year. Each month we are drawing an idea out of a bowl and interpreting it any way we choose into a row of quilt blocks. In the end we will have 12 rows to put together into a quilt. These quilts can be any size you choose. Mine is 36" wide because that dimension allows me to use blocks of various sizes (4", 6", 9", or 12") as I make up the rows.



The first month saw the word "stars" selected as the theme so I drafted my own paper piecing pattern for these 8-point scrappy stars. The second moth saw "girls night out" for the theme. It was a bit harder to choose something to represent that theme. After thinking about it I concluded that going to my local guild meeting was the most consistent thing I do for girls night out so I choose to make a row of spools. 




I really like the super pointy "arms" on this style of star. Many of these background fabrics represent the very last precious scraps of favorite fabrics. 



I actually made this center spool block (text print fabric) quite a while ago with no real idea what I would use it for. I've always thought this particular print from the Mama Said Sew fabric line is so cute. 



Both of these rows have been constructed mostly from my fabric scraps with very little cutting from folded stash fabric needed. 

In addition, I've been able to make more of a dent in my scraps with a recent flickr swap I joined: The Great Pillow Fight Swap. I don't participate in a lot of bees or swaps because with working full time I don't have a great deal of sewing time. However, I do feel like joining in every now and then on a small project type of swap helps to keep creativity flowing and to keep in touch with others in the online quilting community. 

My secret partner requested scrappy low volume combined with bright colors. From looking through her flickr favorites I see she is drawn to rainbow brights and color wheel layouts. I combined this information with the wonderfully scrappy Christmas Snowflake block designed by Rachel Woodenspoon. She got her inspiration from Rachel of Stitched in Color's Snowflake block from the Penny Sampler class. A great tutorial for a pillow-size version of Rachel's block was put together by Katie of the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild (scroll down to find a link to downloadable instructions.)

This is the colorful collection of scraps I cut up to make the pillow top. Again, more than half of these came from scraps with the balance cut from stash fabrics. 



So far I've managed to get two quadrants of the snowflake stitched together. I really enjoy this kind of sewing where all of the points have to match up exactly...it's kind of a personal challenge :o) It was fun to move the little 2" squares around trying to get the color balance just right in each point. I pretty much maxed out my variety of fabrics for each color of this snowflake block. 

I"m happy to have met my July ALYoF goals and am linking up with the July finishes party. Hop on over there to check out the other beautiful projects going on!

And the Winners Are...

Before I announce the winners for the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks blog hop drawings I'd like to thank each person who took the time to stop by my blog! This is the first time I've participated in something like this and can I just say it was so much fun! I so enjoyed reading each and every comment. I also want to thank all of my new blog followers...you made my day!!

Last night I used the Random Number Generator to select two winners. One for an issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, vol. 9 magazine, and one new blog follower to receive a Dashing Geese pillow cover. Both winners have been contacted by email. I know you are anxious to find out who the winners are!

First, the winner of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, vol. 9 magazine is Deb G! She will receive an issue directly from Quiltmaker's :o) Congratulations Deb!!

Next, the winner of the Dashing Geese pillow cover is my new blog follower, jrt14!! Thanks so much jrt14 for adding my blog to those you follow! I will get this pillow cover in the mail as soon as I receive your address :o) 

Before I go, let me tell you I was so surprised by how many "no reply" commentors there are out there. I actually had to try several times to find a winner for each prize. So, if you comment on blogs you may just want to check your profile and make sure there is an email address associated with it.

If you make a Dashing Geese block I'd love it if you'd share it on my flickr group page...or tag it in IG with #dashinggeese and be sure to let me know: @shadowsoftheblueridge

Thank you again for making this blog tour such fun! 

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 9 Blog Tour!

Welcome to day three of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Blog Tour! I'm so happy to have my regular blog followers and blog hop guests stop by today :o)

This is the first time I've submitted a block for consideration, and I could not be more excited to have Dashing Geese included in Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks volume 9. Here it is, block #883 on page 67 :o)

Dashing Geese found in Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks vol. 9

Dashing Geese is a combination block containing a small bit of paper piecing for the geese units and regular piecing for block construction. You can read a bit about what inspired me to try designing a block here.

I had so much fun coming up with a design. To begin the process I thought about what kind of quilt block I am drawn to...often these are traditional blocks with a history to tell. I selected the churn dash. Next, I considered what I could do to make this block my own. The churn dash has great possibilities when you consider the "real estate" available in the rectangular areas of the block. Mulling over the options I decided to fill the rectangles with flying geese. 

Due to the dimensions of a churn dash I could not use the 1:2 ratio of traditional flying geese. Instead, I drafted a paper piecing template to create the geese unit. I don't have special software and just used the Drawing toolbar of MicroSoft Word to work out the specifics.  

Depending on the fabric chosen Dashing Geese can look contemporary or traditional. Fabric placement also impacts how the block looks. Here are a few different "looks" for Dashing Geese:




Quiltmaker's invited block designers to make and submit a quilt featuring their block for inclusion in the Designer Gallery section of the magazine. Quilts submitted will also be on display in the Golden, Colorado office gallery for the summer! So fun :o)  

Dashing Geese wall hanging. Photographed by Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks.

For this Dashing Geese mini quilt I used my all-time favorite fabric, Rouenneries by French General. In each block I changed up the fabric placement or colors to create a sampler-style quilt.

Magazine give-away! Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, volume 9 goes on sale May 6, but Quiltmaker's Magazine is going to give one of my readers a free issue!  Just leave a comment telling me if you are a contemporary/modern quilter, or if traditional is more your look. I'd also love to hear what fabric line and colors you'd use to make a Dashing Geese block...I'm always looking for creative options :o) This magazine drawing is open to everyone-international included. 

In addition, I'm holding a special give-away! Follow my blog and be entered into a drawing for this Dashing Geese pillow featuring DS Quilts fabrics, hand-quilting, gathered borders, and an envelope closure on the back! In your comment tell me how you follow me (Bloglovin', email, Google/Blogger Follower) to be eligible to win! This drawing is open to everyone who follows my blog-international included. Check out the sidebar on the right if you'd like to become a follower...and I hope you will :o) (Drawing is for pillow cover only, pillow form not included.) 

Dashing Geese pillow with gathered borders

I'll use Random.org to pick the winners at 10:30 p.m. EST, Friday evening, May 2 for both the magazine and the Dashing Geese pillow. Check back on Saturday to find out who the winner's are. You must have an email account associated with your profile in order to win, if your account is a "no reply blogger" I have no way to contact you. 

Make sure you stop by Quiltmaker's blog, Quilty Pleasures, for even more prizes, and a complete list of blog tour participants! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and sharing in the fun!

April Goal - A Lovely Year of Finishes

April means we are ready for fresh, bright colors and flowers...right?! Thoughts of warm weather and spring clothes sound so good :o) It is so very nice to go outside without a winter coat on!

This month I am in need of a little gift to give away so I've decided to use it as my April ALYoF goal. I have a mental image for a quilted pillow with an envelope-style back. We'll see if I can pull it off ;o)

I started with this sweet collection of orange fabrics:

From left to right, Kona Navy, the plaid and floral prints are from the Blossom Reel line by DS Quilts, Color Weave by P&B Textiles in  Light Orange, and finally Kona Snow.

I'm linking up the the April ALYoF Goal Setting Party! Mine is Entry No. 72. Click over there and have a look at all of the great projects going on...you're sure to find something to inspire you :o)