A finished quilt: Window Garden featuring Tilda fabric

Hello quilting friends! Today I’m excited to share my most recent quilting finish: a Window Garden quilt for my bed! This quilt features two beautiful Tilda fabric collections I had been hoarding: Cabbage Rose and Memory Lane. 

You may remember that I’ve blogged about this quilt before, and I’ve been taking my sweet time with it. Since I was making this quilt just for me and the hubby, it had no deadline and I worked on it between other projects. But now this beauty is quilted and bound and laying on my bed. What a great feeling!

Now I have a hankering to go shopping for some new throw pillows and maybe a fresh duvet cover so that I can really "layer up" our bed and make it look pretty.  Hmmm, I wonder if Mr. Carried Away Quilting will join me on that shopping expedition.

My friend and quilt shop owner Barb of Quilts on Broadway did the machine quilting.  I love the swirly, flowing floral pattern that she used. It really suits this quilt.

Window Garden is a layer cake pattern, but as I explained in my February 7 post, it’s just as easy to make this quilt from a favorite bundle of 10 fat quarters! That is what I did with my Tilda version. 

If you are looking for a fun layer cake pattern, I hope you’ll give Window Garden a try.  I’ve seen it made in many different fabric collections, and it looks beautiful every time! My original Window Garden featured Olive's Flower Market by Lella Boutique for Moda. My daughter quickly claimed this quilt for her college room.

If you are interested in purchasing my Window Garden pattern, please visit your local quilt shop or one of my blog sponsors. You can also purchase directly from me. Window Garden is available on my Etsy Shop. Quilt shop owners: wholesale information is available here.

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today! I have three more quilts that I need to bind in the evenings. I can’t wait to share those with you too!

~Taunja

"Easy Does It" lap quilt pattern featuring Grandale by Keera Job

Today I’m pleased to be a stop on the Grandale Blog Tour featuring a beautiful new collection by fabric designer Keera Job for Riley Blake Designs. Grandale includes a soothing range of colors, stunning florals, and terrific coordinates. Isn't it wonderful?

I’ve made a lap quilt and coordinating pillow with this lovely fabric. The lap quilt is a new pattern of mine called Easy Does It, and the coordinating pillow features a sweet little butterfly block from Elea Lutz’ book called Pretty Playtime Quilts.

I initially had different plans for Grandale. But when Keera's gorgeous fabric arrived, circumstances in my own life caused me to think about the people I know who are experiencing health issues. People who are wheelchair bound due to accidents, illness and old age. I thought of my 93-year-old Great Aunt Dorothy, who gets around with the aid of a walker.  I thought of friends and relatives who have had to endure chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Quilts are a wonderful expression of love and comfort. And so I sought to create a pattern that we could make quickly and easily, and that would be just the right size for people in this situation.  

Grandale’s main floral prints are stop-and-stare pretty, almost too pretty to cut up! The cream and teal florals are my favorites from the collection, so I decided to feature them in my lap quilt. Once the top was together, it seemed to me that the quilting needed to be soft and simple, so I machine quilted horizontal lines of serpentine stitching. I used the zigzag (#4) stitch on my Bernina with the longest and widest stitch settings my machine would allow. I started quilting in the center and worked my way out to the top and bottom, using the edge of my walking foot as a guide for the next stitching line.  No marking required!

Rather than using white thread, I chose Aurifil’s baby pink (2423 50 wt). It coordinates so nicely with the soft pinks in Keera's collection. I think the final result makes you want to reach out and touch the quilt, which is just what we want in a comfort quilt!

For my coordinating pillow, I highlighted the butterfly with simple outline quilting and added a translucent pink button for a finishing touch. In this photo you can see the sophisticated Grandale Carnation Tan floral from the collection. It has an almost linen-like appearance ~ what a great print for sophisticated home coordinates!

I don't have a pattern for the pillow. After making the butterfly block from Elea's book, I simply framed it with fabric to the size that I needed for a pillow form I had on hand.  Then I created an envelope back and bound the pillow with the Grandale Pink Dot. I am hoping this gives you an idea of the lovely things you could create with Grandale!

The Easy Does It pattern finishes at 41" x 50" and is available on my Etsy Shop. I hope this is a pattern you can turn to when you need a quick comfort quilt for someone you love. This pattern also happens to be just the right size for a child’s quilt!

Many thanks to Keera Job and Riley Blake Designs for including me on this Grandale Blog Tour. If you’d like to see other makers who are playing with Grandale, please visit these websites:

Primrose Cottage Quilts (4/3/2018)

Fabric Mutt (4/4/2018)

Down Grapevine Lane (4/26/2018)

Thank you all for stopping by the blog today. Now go and get carried away quilting, my friends!

~Taunja

Star Spangled BOM with Fort Worth Fabric Studio: Corner Stars

Hello quilting friends!  I’m popping in today to share my progress on the “Star Spangled” block of the month hosted by Fort Worth Fabric Studio and designer Lindsey Weight. Last night I made the darling corner star blocks for this patriotic quilt, and I love how they came out.   

Lindsey’s instructions called for two different pairs of red and blue corner star blocks, and hers are so pretty. But I got it into my head that I wanted to make mine tonal, red-on-red. After I made the first one, I liked it so well that I made the next three exactly the same.  

If you've been following along, you know that I’ve been sewing from my stash, using a combination of fabrics from Fig Tree & Company as well as Bonnie & Camille (both for Moda). My corner star blocks feature a combination of the red polka dot from Fig Tree’s Chestnut Street collection and the red gingham from their Strawberry Fields Revisited collection. I used the same background fabric I’ve been using for all the blocks, which is from Fig Tree’s Coney Island collection.

If you'd love to make a patriotic quilt but don't have enough reds and blues on hand, or if you just want someone else to do the choosing for you, the folks at Fort Worth Fabric Studio have put together a KIT using beautiful Moda fabrics from various designers. The kit includes all material you need to create the quilt top plus binding.  They also have coordinating backing you can purchase!  

This patriotic BOM runs for five months, from January through May. I've included links to Lindsey's posted patterns at the end of this blog post. You can join in at any time.  Remember, the patterns are free! 

Thank you to Lindsey and FWFS for providing this BOM opportunity for us all!

~Taunja

All of the details for the Star Spangled block of the month can be found here:

https://fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.com/2017/10/2018-block-of-month-star-spangled.html

The instructions for Block 1 are available here:

https://fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.com/2018/01/star-spangled-block-1.html

The instructions for Block 2 are available here:

http://fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.com/2018/01/star-spangled-bom-block-2.html

The instructions for Block 3 are available here:

https://fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.com/2018/02/star-spangled-bom-block-3.html

The instructions for Block 4 are available here:

https://fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.com/2018/02/star-spangled-bom-block-4.html

The instructions for Block 5 are available here:

http://fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.com/2018/04/star-spangled-bom-corner-stars.html

Quilting brings the cheer when the weather is something to fear!

The calendar might say April 7, but in central Minnesota we are still experiencing winter. Mother Nature hit us with nine new inches of snow last weekend, and the weather man is predicting more snow this weekend. Ugh!  Quilt making and decorating with quilts is my refuge as I wait for sunshine, green grass, flowers and warm breezes.

Right now our guest bedroom is the most sunny room in the house. It literally gets the best afternoon light, but I've also added sunshine to the room with my quilts. Above the daybed I've hung my "Flower Tile" quilt, providing instant cheer. 

My mom is the only regular visitor to the guest room, but I know she appreciates the effort. Plus, this room is home to my fabric closet, so I go in there quite often for a "pick me up" as well.

Maybe you need a cheery quilt in your life too!  If so, I do happen to have just two "Flower Tile" kits left on my Etsy Shop.  Flower Tile is a charm pack friendly quilt that finishes 44 1/2" square. It makes a great wall hanging or table topper.  

My kits feature the newest Fig Tree & Company collection, Ella and Ollie. They include everything you need for the top, backing and binding. One kit includes the milk floral as backing, and the other kit includes the daisy turkey tracks as backing.

In other quilting news, this weekend I am playing with beautiful fabric by Keera Job for Riley Blake Designs. This new collection called Grandale (pictured below) will be available in stores soon. Aren't the florals just magnificent? On April 19 I will reveal my finished project as part of the Grandale Blog Hop. I hope you will check back, because I just may be offering a new pattern at that time!

Finally, I have four quilts back from the quilter, so I have several evenings of binding ahead of me. Thankfully, I do enjoy hand binding. I find it relaxing and it also keeps my fingers out of the snack bowl and my mind off of the yucky weather, at least temporarily. This is just a cute shot of the bindings I've prepped. Did you notice the cute pincushion ring? Such a fun little gift from my sister.

I nearly forgot to mention that I am also running a PAPER PATTERN SALE this month on my Etsy Shop! Select paper patterns are 20% off during the month of April. Sale prices are marked!

I hope the weather is better in your neck of the woods. But if not, please join me in spirit and get carried away quilting!

~Taunja