Meadow Mist Designs: December 2019

Saturday, December 28, 2019

My Best of 2019

Hi and welcome to my stop on the Best of 2019 blog linky party! I had such fun going through my posts from the year to figure out which 5 posts I would be highlighting today. It was a great way for me to review the year and revisit some finishes from earlier in the year that I had forgotten about.

Click on any of the titles to be taken to the actual blog post for more details and pictures.

1. Mosaic Mystery Quilt

The Mosaic Mystery Quilt kicked off in July and is going strong. The quilt along posts are always among the higher view count posts of mine. If you want to join in the fun, you can find all of the information about the Mosaic Mystery Quilt here.

2. Rock and Roll Baby Quilt Tutorial

The Rock and Roll baby quilt tutorial was my most popular tutorial this year. You can see more pictures on the blog post and get the full tutorial on the OLFA blog. This quilt was great to use up some strip shaped scraps and was gifted to my friends' new baby boy.

3. Favorite Finishes Monthly Linkup

I have wanted to start hosting a monthly link up for for a while so I started the Favorite Finishes Monthly Linkup Party in March of 2019. I really enjoying seeing all of the finishes linked each month. Here is the link to November's party. The Best of 2019 linkup is taking the place of the Favorite Finishes Linkup this month, but it will be back in January :)

4. Camden Road

My favorite finish this year is Camden Road. I love the modern take on a classic design and its color scheme. There has been a lot of interest around this pattern, so Cindy of Hyacinth Quilt Designs and myself will be hosting a quilt along starting at the end of next month for the pattern (more details coming soon).

5. Candy Stripes

Candy Stripes was my favorite quilt publication pattern this year, appearing in the 2020 Quilter's Planner magazine. The quilt has fun pops of color and brightens up my room. I love the new smaller size of the Quilter's Planner for this upcoming year and am excited to start working in it in just a few days. There is still time to get your own Quilter's Planner.

Photography by Kitty of Night Quilter, used with permission from Quilter's Planner

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope you will consider linking up your favorite posts from 2019 or stopping by to see other blogger's best of 2019 posts! You can visit the Best of post right here.

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Best of 2019 Linky Party

Welcome to the Best of 2019 Linky Party!

This is the fifth annual "Best of" blog party to share your and read others top posts of 2019.

To take part in the link party, simply write a new blog post highlighting your "best" 5 posts from 2019 and linkup. There is no set way or rules to pick your best, you can pick and highlight your posts anyway you would like. Some examples include:

Posts with the most views
Posts with the most comments
Posts that provoked the best discussions
Posts showing your favorite 2019 finishes
Posts of your best tutorials
Posts that are simply your favorites

I invite you to grab a cup of tea, coffee, apple cider, or your favorite blog reading beverage, relax, and have some fun reading the best blog posts of 2019 :)

The link party now through Thursday, January 2nd.

Please note that this year end party will take the place of the Favorite Finishes Monthly Linkup, so there will be no monthly linkup for December.

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Looking Glass ++ Christmas Version

I hope everyone's holiday seasons are off to a good start! Today I wanted to share a Christmas quilt I made for my neighbor. She has been a wonderful friend and has helped me immensely by taking my son home from after school activities on the days I work. She loves Christmas (she has four Christmas trees set up in her house), so what to give her? A Christmas quilt :)

I had a bunch of holiday fabrics I wanted to use up, so I decided on making a scrappy Xmas version of my pattern Looking Glass. There are no half square triangles or flying geese so trimming is kept to a minimum and there are few seams to match (and the seams that do match up all nest).

I originally had pulled green and red prints from my stash and then noticed that one of the Christmas fabrics had a darker periwinkle background. I thought that gave a lot of interest and depth to the colors so I added in some more darker periwinkle prints. I also tried to vary the green and red prints in the quilt, using lighter and darker colors and different hues too.

The quilt top come together really quickly against a background of Bella White. I backed the quilt in some red and white Amy Butler fabric I had on hand.

For the quilting, I went with a quick stipple allover the quilt along with each one of the family's names to make the quilt more personal and special for them.

I just dropped off the quilt on their porch so hopefully I will find out if they like it soon :)

This is actually my fourth time using this pattern, it is such a go to for a quick, easy, pre-cut/scrap friendly design. Below are the other 3 quilts I have made with this pattern.

What to make your own version of Looking Glass? You can find digital and print versions of the pattern in my shop. To celebrate this quilt finish, you can use code "LOOKING" for 25% off the price of the pattern (this code will only work on the Looking Glass digital and print pattern until the end of the year).

Happy Holidays!!

Monday, December 16, 2019

2019 Goal Review and 2020 Goals

I can't believe that 2019 is almost gone! Wasn't it just July?

My wonderful bloggy friend Yvonne, who blogs are Quilting Jetgirl, hosts an annual planning party to layout goals for the upcoming year. I thought that I would use this post to first go back to my 2019 goals to see if I had actually accomplished them and then post my 2020 goals. There are tons of great prizes for linking up (I am a sponsor).

2019 Goal Check-In

My main goal and word for 2018 was to be SHARE and I tried to be more selective on my goals and have more flexibility.

On my list were:

Design and host the next mystery quilt starting this summer ✅

The Mosaic Mystery kicked off in July and is going strong.

Host a twice yearly Tips and Tutorials Festival with Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl.

Yvonne and I decided not to do the Festival this year.

Make at least 6 charity quilts

I will say this one is partially done. I have a ton of quilt tops for charity, but only finished 2 to gift so far.

Host the Best of 2019 Linky Party ✅

The party will start the day after Christmas. You can find more info here.

Quilt pattern for the 2020 Quilters Planner ✅

Done :) I made Candy Stripes.

Become a better quilt teacher.

I really focused on my teaching this year, creating new workshops, honing my skills, and doing a lot of teaching. I taught at a number of guilds, QuiltCon, EQ Academy, NC Quilt Symposium, and more.

Overall, 2019 has been a great quilty year!

2020 Goals

I have really enjoyed having a more relaxed and less "have to" sewing for 2019 and plan to continue that. I feel that I traveled a bit too much to teach in 2019, so I am glad that did not over commit for 2020.

My main goal and word for 2019 is going to be APPRECIATE.

My two kids are in late elementary school and middle school and it is hitting me how fast they are growing. I want to appreciate my time with them and my husband, appreciate my quilting time, and appreciate my teaching engagements. I want to make sure that I give each enough time that I can focus on being in the moment instead of running through the list of 20 things I need to be doing in my mind.

Here are some of the more concrete items:

Design and host the next mystery quilt starting this summer. I already have the name and design set :)
Focus on giving back including teaching others to sew/quilt and making charity quilts
Host the Best of 2020 Linky Party
Submit a proposal for my next book

How are your 2020 plans shaping up? You can read all of the 2020 planning posts at Yvonne's #2020PlanningParty.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Mosaic Mystery Quilt ++ December Flying Geese Linkup

Today is the link up to show off pictures of your Flying Geese (and Half Flying Geese and Half Square Triangles) and enter to win some great prizes from our generous sponsors.

Mosaic Mystery Quilt Links:

November's Sponsors & Prizes

Busy Hands Quilts

$25 gift certificate

Myra of Busy Hands Quilts is a quilt pattern designer whose patterns include instructions for all sizes from wall to king, including two lap sizes, whenever possible. Clear instructions with easy-to-read charts and diagrams are also a part of her patterns, as well as fabric requirements using yardage and precuts when applicable. She ♥ strip piecing because it saves time, and she includes directions for strip piecing if it works for the pattern. You can find her patterns in her Etsy shop, Busy Hands Patterns.

The Quilter's Planner

Prize: Quilter's Planner

The Quilter's Planner is a yearly organizer designed specifically for quilters, perfect for organizing work, family, quilting, and life. The planner also comes with a magazine with a year long quilt along as well as over 10 other quilt patterns.

** Congrats to #74 and #9 to winning this month! **

Now onto the linkup!

Linkup Details:

You will link up your picture of your fabrics using the inLinkz system below. Details on how to link up and a practice link up party can be found here.
The linkup party will open at 12:01 am EST on the second Thursday of the month and will stay open until 11:55pm EST on the last day of the month. Winners will be announced within the first week of the following month.
The prizes will be awarded randomly to people who link up using this system on this post (posting a picture on Facebook is awesome, but it needs to be entered here to be eligible to win).

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

QuiltCon 2020 ++ Quilt Submissions

Did you submit any quilts for QuiltCon 2020? I submitted six quilts this year and I am happy to say that I will have three quilts hanging in the show (plus one in an exhibit). Here are my submissions and results:

1. Logging into Alchemy (group quilt) - Accepted

Logging into Alchemy was created by the Modern Design Lab, a small group of quilters I belong to. We each made log cabin style blocks that incorporated at least one half square triangle. We used blues, grays, and orange Painters Palette fabrics that Paintbrush Studios provided for us. Then, as a group we turned figured out how to get all of the different sized blocks into a quilt top. Straight line quilting and some amazing binding (by Paige of Quilted Blooms) finished the quilt. Many thanks to Hobbs for the batting and Aurifil for the thread.

2. Jupiter (Stripes Challenge) - Accepted

For the APQ Stripes Challenge, I wanted to explore the use of quilting as the main "stripe" element. I created this minimalist mini quilt (about 17" square) using just three pieced dark blue stripes on white negative space. Then I used randomly spaced match stitch quilting using a thick gold 12 wt Aurifil thread over the entire quilt. My son said the gold of the thread reminded him of his tuba and thought I should take a picture of the two together, so the quilt is named after the tuba brand.

3. Stripes on Stripes on Stripes (Stripes Challenge) - Rejected

In my day job, I write patent applications on textiles. One of the things I do often is selectively pull out the warp or weft fabrics from a woven fabric to look at the individual yarns. I noticed one day that when some of the yarns are removed, it makes the fabric look striped. That was the inspiration for this work.

I took squares of a dark blue Kona fabric and selectively pulled out some of the weft yarns to make little striped fabric squares. Then, I appliqued the striped fabric squares in striped columns on negative. The negative space itself is striped using white quilting thread. Therefore there are stripes, on stripes, on stripes.

4. Robo-bot (Hoffman Fabric Challenge) - Rejected

Robo-bot was my submission into the Hoffman Fabric Challenge. I had just finished up my Camden Road quilt with all of its flying geese and just wanted to play with fabric. The quilt top was made using improv without the use of rulers until the borders were added.

I hand quilted the quilt using a very organic, big stitch quilting design to highlight the imperfections and randomness in piecing.

5. Aisle Path Lighting (Small Quilt) - Accepted

I made Aisle Path Lighting in August for my local guild's, the Greenville Modern Quilt Guild, challenge. We randomly picked three Crayola crayons and had to make a modern mini (no side greater than 36"). I had picked a dark blue, sunny yellow, and bright grass green color. I used improv piecing to make the quilt and a combination of hand and machine quilting to finish it.

6. Wooly Bear (Modern Traditional) - Rejected

I made Wooly Bear for the Michael Miller challenge category last year and it was not accepted into QuiltCon 2019 so I thought that I would try again. More pictures and information are in the Wooly Bear post.

7. Disappearing Oranges - Part of the Quilt of the Month Exhibit

Disappearing Oranges, a quilt and pattern I made the for the Modern Quilt Guild will be shown in the Quilt of the Month Exhibit at the show.

I hope that you had good news on your submissions, I look forward to seeing all of the wonderful quilts in February!

Monday, December 9, 2019

Best of 2019 Linky Party Coming Soon

It is no secret that I love blog link parties. One of the main reasons I started my blog was so that I could take part in the sharing of knowledge and inspiration through the parties and so I am very excited to announce that I am hosting my fifth annual blog linky party, the Best of 2019 Linky Party!

Please note that this year end party will take the place of the Favorite Finishes Monthly Linkup, so there will be no monthly linkup for December.

Posts with the most views
Posts with the most comments
Posts that provoked the best discussions
Posts showing your favorite 2019 finishes
Posts of your best tutorials
Posts that are simply your favorites

This post is not only a great way to find new readers, it is also wonderful to be able to highlight some of your best posts for those readers who have joined your blog throughout the year.

The link party will open the day after Christmas, Thursday December 26th and will be open for one week ending on Thursday, January 2nd.

I hope that you will consider writing a post to highlight your best of 2018 and link up! Here is a button for your blog if you would like:

While you are waiting for this linky party to start up, you can take a look through the Best of 2015-2018. Thanks!

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Mosaic Mystery ++ Flying Geese

The Mosaic Mystery Quilt instructions for December are here! This is the last month of piecing instructions, in January we are going to get to assemble the quilt top!

Mosaic Mystery Quilt Links:

Now that the Mosaic Mystery Quilt has ended, you can find a easy to print, full version of the pattern for sale in my pattern shop.

Full pdf Instructions of Mosaic Mystery Quilt

Flying Geese

Half Geese Blocks

1. Combine 4 bg fabric rectangles 3 ½" x 6 ½" and 4 fabric B squares 3 ½" x 3 ½" to make 4 bg/B right hand-half flying geese blocks (bg/B RH half geese blocks) 3 ½" x 6 ½" using steps a.-b.

a. Place a fabric B square 3 ½" x 3 ½" on the right hand side of the bg fabric rectangle 3 ½" x 6 ½", right sides together. Draw a diagonal line using a removable marking device on the back of the fabric B square (shown as the solid line).

b. Sew along the marked line. Trim ¼" from the seam line and press open or towards fabric B. Repeat to form a total of 4 bg/B RH half geese blocks 3 ½" x 6 ½".

2. Repeat step 1 using 4 bg fabric rectangles 3 ½" x 6 ½" and 4 fabric C squares 3 ½" x 3 ½" to make 4 bg/C right hand-half flying geese blocks (bg/C RH half geese blocks) 3 ½" x 6 ½".

3. Combine 4 bg fabric rectangles 3 ½" x 6 ½" and 4 fabric B squares 3 ½" x 3 ½" to make 4 bg/B left hand-half flying geese blocks (bg/B LH half geese blocks) 3 ½" x 6 ½" using steps a.-b.

a. Place a fabric B square 3 ½" x 3 ½" on the left hand side of the bg fabric rectangle 3 ½" x 6 ½", right sides together. Draw a diagonal line using a removable marking device on the back of the fabric B square (shown as the solid line).

b. Sew along the marked line. Trim ¼" from the seam line and press open or towards fabric B. Repeat to form a total of 4 bg/B LH half geese blocks 3 ½" x 6 ½".

4. Repeat step 3 using 4 bg fabric rectangles 3 ½" x 6 ½" and 4 fabric C squares 3 ½" x 3 ½" to make 4 bg/C left hand-half flying geese blocks (bg/C LH half geese blocks) 3 1/2" x 6 ½".

5. Reserve the remaining 4 bg fabric rectangles 3 ½" x 6 ½", these will be used as is in the quilt top.

Flying Geese Blocks

1. Combine 2 bg fabric rectangles 3 ½" x 6 ½" and 4 fabric B fabric squares 3 ½" x 3 ½" to make 2 bg/B flying geese blocks 3 ½" x 6 ½" using steps a.-d.

a. Place a fabric B square 3 ½" x 3 ½" on the right side of the bg fabric rectangle 3 ½" x 6 ½", right sides together. Draw a diagonal line using a removable marking device on the back of the fabric B square (shown as the solid line).

b. Sew along the marked line. Trim ¼" from the seam line and press open or towards fabric B.

c. Place another fabric B square 3 ½" x 3 ½" on the left hand side of the bg fabric rectangle 3 ½" x 6 ½", right sides together. Draw a diagonal line using a removable marking device on the back of the fabric B square (shown as the solid line).

d. Sew along the marked line. Trim ¼" from the seam line and press open or towards fabric B. Repeat to form a total of 2 bg/B flying geese blocks 3 ½" x 6 ½".

2. Repeat step 1 using 4 bg fabric rectangles 3 ½" x 6 ½" and 8 fabric C squares 3 ½" x 3 ½" to make 4 bg/C geese blocks 3 ½" x 6 ½".

3. Repeat step 1 using 6 fabric A rectangles 3 ½" x 6 ½" and 12 bg fabric squares 3 ½" x 3 ½" to make 6 A/bg geese blocks 3 ½" x 6 ½".

Half Square Triangle (HST) Blocks

1. Combine 2 fabric B squares 4" x 4" and 2 bg fabric squares 4" x 4" to make 4 B/bg HSTs using steps a.-c.

a. Place the fabric B and bg fabric squares right sides together. Draw a diagonal line using a removable marking device on the back of the lighter square (shown as the solid line).

b. Sew a ¼" seam on either side of the solid line (shown as the dotted lines). Cut on the solid line and press seams open or toward the darker fabric.

c. Trim each HST block to 3 ½" x 3 ½". Repeat to make a total of 4 B/bg HST blocks.

Many thanks to the generous sponsors of the Mosaic Mystery Quilt!

Hobbs Batting | Bear Creek Quilting Company | Quilting Jetgirl | Sew Fresh Quilts

Quilter's Planner | Needle & Foot | Fat Quarter Shop | BackSide Fabrics

Cooking Up Quilts | Paintbrush Studio Fabrics | Honey, Bunny, and Doll | Make Modern | Tish's Adventures in Wonderland

OLFA | Aurifil | Busy Hands Quilts | Whims and Fancies | Meadow Mist Designs

Any questions? Leave them in a comment below or post them to our Facebook group page. I look forward to seeing everyone's progress. The next set of instructions will be published on the first Thursday of January (the 2nd).

Monday, December 2, 2019

Arrow Point Path ++ Baby Size

A co-worker was due to have a baby boy in January so I had just started planning her baby quilt when we found out that the doctors might induce the pregnancy early due to a medical condition. The baby shower was all of a sudden scheduled less than a week out. I needed to make a baby quilt and fast!

I decided to use one of my favorite patterns, Arrow Point Path. I like how in this pattern, the block sizes are scaled so even at a baby size, you get the full impact the blocks and design.

I knew that I did not want to use a white background due to the quilt being for a baby, so I went up into my sewing room to see what I had available. I have a bolt of the FreeSpirit Solid in Cerulean which looked perfect for a baby boy.

I combined the blue background with white, gray, and black scrap prints from my stash. How is it that I cut all of the prints from my scrap bin and yet it does not look any smaller? :)

I picked a Me + You modern batik print for the backing. The quilt was the perfect size to use with a single width of backing fabric, no piecing the backing, yeah!

The blocks came together quickly and easily and soon I was onto basting and quilting. I quilted using a stipple (one of my favorite designs). I timed myself and had the quilting complete in less than 18 minutes.

After a quick photo shoot, the baby quilt was washed and ready for gifting.

The mom loved the quilt and even better news was that she found out that she would most likely not have to deliver early!

If you want to pick up your own copy of Arrow Point Path (which contains instructions for baby, lap, twin, and queen sizes) you can get it in my pattern shop.

Here are the other two versions of Arrow Point Path I have made (both lap sizes).

Photo by Michelle Bartholomew

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