Sunday, January 31, 2021

Favorite Finish Monthly Linkup - January 2021

Welcome to January's Favorite Finish Monthly Linkup!


How is January over already?  Wasn't it New Years just a few days ago?  I hope that everyone has had a good start to 2021 and can take a few minutes looking at the favorite finishes posted (and leave a comment or two for the creators).

My favorite finish for this month was my Tahoe quilt and pattern.  I am happy to report that the quilt is now in the mail to my relative, I hope they love it!  You can grab a digital copy of Tahoe in my pattern shop.




Ready for the party?  

Here is a reminder of the party details:
  • The linky party will open at 12:01am EST on the last day of the month and will be open for 5 days, through the 4th at 11:59 pm EST.
  • For instructions on how to link up blog, Instagram, or pictures from your computer (new - there is now a way to just upload a picture without a web link) to the party, click here.  
  • If linking a blog post, I ask that you please add a link back to the party.
  • Please visit at least 3 other links (and preferably leave comments) to share the love and celebration :)
I hope you join in by checking out the posts or linking your favorite finish of the month!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 




Thursday, January 28, 2021

Scrappy Tiles - Revisited

Scrappy Tiles was one of my first quilt patterns that I wrote all the way back in 2014! I loved the quilt I made for the cover, using a stacker (what Riley Blake calls their layer cakes) of Fly a Kite by October Afternoon for Riley Blake.

I have kept my Scrappy Tiles baby quilt for the last 6-7 years; I have not used it but could not part with it. This past fall, my coworker had a baby girl and I knew that Scrappy Tiles needed to get out of the closet to be used and loved.

I took some new pictures of the quilt (because my photography skills have hopefully increased in the last 6 years), packaged the quilt up, and sent it to its new home. I am happy to report that the quilt is being loved on and drooled on now :)

Here are some of my favorite new pictures of Scrappy Tiles.






Just as a reminder of how Scrappy Tiles came to be...The design was actually inspired by the tile on the floor of my bathroom at work!

The Scrappy Tiles pattern looks like a random array of squares and rectangles, but is actually made of of a repeating single block design that is rotated within the quilt top to give the top a random look. The Scrappy Tiles pattern has directions to make the quilt top using 10" x 10" squares (commonly referred to a layer cake slices) and scraps in two sizes: a baby quilt measuring 36" x 48" and a lap (or toddler) size measuring 48" x 60".

I'm glad that I took the time to take some new pictures of Scrappy Tiles to remember it before I gave it away.  You can pick up a copy of Scrappy Tiles in my pattern shop.

Pin it for later...









Thursday, January 21, 2021

Tahoe Quilt and Pattern

The Tahoe quilt is finished and the pattern is being released today!  The Tahoe pattern is now available in the Meadow Mist Designs pattern shop. 

I have not made an all solid fabric quilt in a while so I was excited to make one.  Tahoe is not only in all solids, but in all blues, my favorite color!  

My version of Tahoe is going to be shipped out to a relative who is undergoing some heath issues.  I hope that they find it to be a hug made of fabric :)

The cover quilt picture below was taken at a pond near my house right after sunrise, you can see a little video I made of the photoshoot on Instagram @MeadowMistDesigns.



FABRICS & MATERIALS

I knew that I wanted to use a dark navy as the background fabric and quickly decided on white for the Irish chain looking parts of the quilt.  Armed with the fabric requirements, I pulled a bunch of fabrics from my stash that I had at least a ½ yard of for Fabrics B and C.  

I laid out the fabrics on the navy and white to see how they would look together.  I settled on more blues!  All of the fabrics I wound up using were Moda Bella Solids by Moda Fabrics.

Fabric A - Bella White Bleached
Fabric B - Bella Capri
Fabric C - Bella Bright Turquise
Bg Fabric - Bella Navy

The blocks are mostly made using strip piecing which makes them sew together very quickly and accurately. 


I bound the quilt in more bright turquoise and used a wide backing by Tula Pink as the backing.





QUILTING PLAN AND DESIGN


When it came down to quilting, my first instinct based mostly on the end use of the quilt (possibly being used in a hospital and being washed a lot) was an allover design.  But when I was thinking about an allover design, I really did not want a light thread on the darker fabrics or a darker thread on the lighter fabrics interfering with the quilt design.

This was one of those quilts that I wanted the thread to match the fabrics so the design could be the star.  

So I decided on a more custom quilting design, but kept it easier with using a more simple design in the majority of the quilt (the navy background).  

Using matching navy Auriful thread in 50 wt, I quilted the background in a stipple / meander design.  I was able to move throughout the quilt between the Irish chain pieces so I was actually able to quilt the entire background without breaking thread (which made the quilting go by really fast).


I switched to my walking foot to quilt a straight line through the white squares using white thread.  I was planning on quilting the fabric B &C areas using a loop design, but then I spied my ruler foot.

I have not ruler foot quilting in a long time, so I changed plans and added an X type design in the block pieces.  You can see the quilting well on the backing.  Have you tried ruler quilting on your domestic machine?  If you are looking to try ruler quilting, I have a post with Five Tips for Successful Ruler Quilting on a Domestic Sewing Machine.



TAHOE PATTERN DETAILS

The Tahoe pattern is written at a confident beginner level. Strip piecing makes the blocks come together quickly and easily and then the blocks are set on-point.

The pattern contains instructions to make a lap sized quilt, about 55 ½" x 63 ½".

Tahoe is on sale in my pattern shop as a digital pattern at a special introductory price of $9.50 through Tuesday, January 26th.  Once you make a Tahoe of your own, you can share it via social media using the hashtag #TahoeQuilt.

In my pattern shop, you can combine this intro sale price with an additional coupon for more savings. Use the code "TWOPATTERNS" for $2 off 2 patterns and "THREEPATTERNS" for $4 off 3 patterns.






MANY THANKS

I would like to thank Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl for her amazing tech editing skills and quilting ideas.  I would also like to thank the Warm Company for the Warm & White batting (my favorite!).



ALTERNATIVE COLORWAYS

When I created Tahoe, the first fabric I selected was the dark navy background, then I picked the other colors to compliment the navy.  I wanted to also see how the design looked in light backgrounds and other colors.  Here are some alternative colorways I came up with.





I also played around with using different fabrics in each block.  This would require a little change to the pattern, but I thought it was a fun variation.


PINTEREST 

I have been more and more active on Pinterest (check me out here).  If you would like to save Tahoe for later on your Pinterest boards, here is a pinnable image.


Remember, you can get the Tahoe pattern in the Meadow Mist Designs pattern shop for only $9.50 through Tuesday, January 26th.

In my pattern shop, you can combine this intro sale price with an additional coupon for more savings. Use the code "TWOPATTERNS" for $2 off 2 patterns and "THREEPATTERNS" for $4 off 3 patterns.





Thursday, January 7, 2021

Morewood Mystery ++ Block A

Happy New Year!



Welcome to the January instructions for the Morewood Mystery Quilt along. There is plenty of time to join in on the quilt along!  You can find all of the information about the Morewood Mystery, including schedule, past instructions, links to the Facebook group, sneak peek, and more at the Morewood Mystery Page.

Let's start sewing all of units we have made over the past months into blocks!  Now that the Mystery Quilt has ended, you can find a easy to print, full version of the pattern for sale in my pattern shop.






 Block A



Make a total of 15 block A using steps 1-3.
1. Arrange the following blocks and pieces according to the diagram. Note: The orientation of the seams between the bg fabrics in the hourglass units does not matter.

2 C/bg HST units 4 ½" x 4 ½"
4 hourglass units 4 ½" x 4 ½"
3 bg squares 4 ½" x 4 ½"

2. Sew units and pieces into rows pressing seams open or away from the hourglass units. Each row should measure 4 ½" x 12 ½".

3. Sew the rows together, pressing seams open, to make a block A 12 ½" x 12 ½". Repeat to make a total of 15 block A.

 




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






Any questions?  Leave them in a comment below or post them to our Facebook group page.  I look forward to seeing everyone's units.  The next set of instructions will be published on the first Thursday of February, the 4th.




 




Tuesday, January 5, 2021

YouTube Channel

Just a quick post today to let you know that I have created a Meadow Mist Designs YouTube channel

 I have been doing Facebook Lives in the Meadow Mist Designs Facebook Group for each of the Morewood Mystery Quilt monthly instructions and wanted to be able to put the videos somewhere that was easy to find and available for those not on Facebook.

You can find the new YouTube channel here and I would love it if you considered subscribing.


Thanks!
Cheryl