Happy Birthday Modern Plus Sign Quilts

I am a couple of weeks late, but I wanted to wish Paige and my book, Modern Plus Sign Quilts, a happy 1st birthday :)

I can't believe that it has been an entire year, I had such fun brainstorming, making the quilts, and writing the book with Paige.

Book Quilts

For the release, we held a 40+ blogger blog hop.  Below are thumbnails and links to each of the quilts from the book and the different versions from the bloggers.

An InLinkz Link-up

Find Modern Plus Sign Quilts

• Your local quilt shop
• Amazon (affiliate link) - both digital and print versions
• Meadow Mist Designs Etsy Shop - Signed copies (plus when you purchase a signed copy from me, you get a free bonus quilt pattern of your choice)
• Indigo (large Canadian online book store)

Modern Plus Sampler Quilt Along

The Modern Plus Sampler is wrapping up soon, with a reveal party (with tons of prizes) next month.  You can find more information and a full pdf of the pattern (book required to make the quilt) right here.

Share your Plus Sign Quilts

Have you made a quilt from the book?  I would love to see it!  You can share on social media using #ModernPlusSignQuilts and e-mail me at cheryljbrickey at gmail dot com

Photo by Paige Alexander

Modern Plus Sampler ++ Small Plus Area

Welcome to the September instructions for the Modern Plus Sampler!

This month's instructions are the most time consuming of the entire quilt along, but next month in October we are only making one quick block.  Therefore, you really have two full months to make all of the small plus blocks.

Modern Plus Sampler

The Modern Plus Sampler will run from July 2018 until April 2019 with a set of directions revealed the first Thursday of every month. The quilt is a large lap sized quilt finishing at about 63" x 78".

The instructions are published within this post (right after these few announcements) and are available in an easy to print pdf format:

Modern Plus Sampler - Small Plus Area

 Additionally, the directions and all of the other information related to the sampler quilt along can always be found on the Modern Plus Sampler Page.

Facebook Group 
I encourage you to join the Meadow Mist Designs Facebook Group (if you have not already).  We now have over 3,200 members in the group and I am so excited to see your progress!

If you want some feedback on possible fabric choices or have any questions during the quilt along, the Facebook is an excellent resource.  You can find the Facebook Group right here.  Please share your progress pics on social media with the hashtag #ModernPlusSamplerQuilt and tag me at @MeadowMistDesigns.

And now without further ado....August's instructions...

Small Plus Area

Cutting Instructions
Tip: These fabric cutting sizes are from “instructions for individual block makers - actual size blocks”. If you would prefer to make oversized blocks and then trim them down to size, you can use the “instructions for group block makers - oversized blocks” on page 38.

FABRIC C


Cut 9 strips 2 1/4" x WOF.
     1. Sub-cut the strips into 160 squares 2 ¼" x 2 ¼", each strip can yield 18 squares.

Cut 5 strips 1 1/2" x WOF.
     1. Sub-cut the strips into 160 rectangles 1 ½" x 1 ¼", each strip can yield 32 rectangles.

FABRIC D


Cut 7 strips 1 1/2" × WOF.
     1. Sub-cut 4 strips into 40 rectangles 1 ½" × 3 ½", each strip can yield 11 rectangles.
     2. Sub-cut 3 strips into 80 squares 1 ½" × 1 ½", each strip can yield 27 squares.


Piecing Instructions
Use the “instructions for individual block makers - actual size blocks” from the Signature Plus pattern on page 40.

Use the fabric C pieces for the “red fabric” pieces and the fabric D pieces for the “white fabric” pieces make 40 small plus blocks 5" x 5".

Paige and I can't wait to see your small plus signs!!

Many thanks to the generous sponsors of the Modern Plus Sampler!

Honey, Bunny, and Doll | Sew Fresh Quilts | Make Modern | Aurifil

Cooking Up Quilts | Quilting Jetgirl | Quilter's Planner

Needle & Foot | Fat Quarter Shop | BackSide Fabrics | Whims and Fancies

Meadow Mist Designs | Tish's Adventures in Wonderland | Busy Hands Quilts | C&T Publishing

The next set of instructions will be published on the first Thursday of October (the 4th).

Modern Plus Sampler ++ Yardage Requirements for Alternative Quilt Top Layouts

Paige and I have had many requests for yardages for the alternative layouts (where paper piecing and/or applique are not used) so many thanks to Paige for doing the math this weekend!

Below are the fabric requirements for the four different layouts we presented (note that only the traditionally pieced version has different fabric requirements, all of the rest are the same as the original).

I hope this helps!  If you would like yardage help for your particular colorway you have in mind, you can e-mail me at MeadowMistDesigns (at) gmail (dot) com.

Modern Plus Sampler ++ Fabric Sales and Quilt Colorways

I hope that you have decided to join us in the quilt along and are having fun going through your fabrics to figure out what colors you are going to make your version of the Modern Plus Sampler in :)

You can find out all about the fabric requirements here and all of the other details about the quilt along here.

Fabric Sales

If you are going to be purchasing fabric for the sampler, please consider shopping at one of our generous sponsors of the quilt along.

Honey, Bunny, and Doll Etsy Shop

Honey, Bunny, and Doll has a wonderful Etsy shop that specializes in Kona solids and great quilt patterns (they also carry some wide fabrics and batiks). Their fabrics would work very well in the Modern Plus Sampler.

As a special bonus in honor of the quilt along, enjoy free shipping (in the US) on your order of $30 or more through July 22 (no code needed, discount is taken automatically)!

Needle & Foot Etsy Shop

The Needle & Foot Etsy shop has a beautiful curated selection of prints and Bernie would love to help you create your own bundle to make the sampler.  (She has a ton of Art Gallery prints, one of my favorites to use because of their colors and the feel of the fabric.)

Fat Quarter Shop

The Fat Quarter Shop has one of the largest fabric selections online.  They have many different solid fabric brands (Moda Bella, Robert Kaufman Kona, and Art Gallery Pure Elements to name a few) as well as a huge selection of the newest fabric collections.  The Fat Quarter Shop offers free shipping (within the US) with a minimum purchase of $80.

Backside Fabrics

Backside Fabrics specializes in wide fabrics (104+" wide), perfect for quilt backs that you do not have to piece.  But you can use wide fabrics for fabrics used in your quilt top also (and when you do the math comparing one yard of a wide fabric to one yard of regular 40" wide fabric you will see that the wide fabrics are a great value).

Alternative Colorways

I had a great time playing around with the quilt top design, rendering it using different colors.  Here are some of the colorways I came up with.  Remember, you can find the fabric requirements and download a coloring sheet of the quilt top right here. 

Note: some of the renderings use different numbers of fabrics and different placement of fabrics as compared to the pattern so the fabric requirements would differ a little.

**Edited to add** I noticed that I actually was coloring an older version of the design (the block at the top of the middle area is different). I had to change this block with another from the Kaleidoscope pattern because I could not scale it to work with the size within the plus sign. Sorry for any confusion.

I hope these gave you some ideas!  Which is your favorite?  

Please share your fabric pulls in our Facebook group and on social media using #ModernPlusSampler

Modern Plus Sampler ++ Fabric Requirements

Welcome to the start of the Modern Plus Sampler Quilt Along!!  

I am so excited to get started and I hope you are too!

Quilt Along Intro -
The Modern Plus Sampler will run from July 2018 until April 2019 with a set of directions revealed the first Thursday of every month. The quilt is a large lap sized quilt finishing at about 63" x 78".

The instructions are published right in this post (after these few announcements) and are available in an easy to print pdf format:

Modern Plus Sampler - Pattern Intro, Fabric Requirements, & Coloring Page

(If you have any trouble with the link, you can find instructions on how to access and download the pdf file here.)  Additionally, the directions and all of the other information related to the mystery quilt can always be found on the Modern Plus Sampler Page.

We have 15 generous sponsors for this event!  You can read more about the sponsors and prizes here and find links to each at the bottom of the post.


Facebook Group - 
I encourage you to join the Meadow Mist Designs Facebook Group (if you have not already).  We now have over 3,200 members in the group and I am so excited for the members to start sharing pictures of their fabric picks.  

If you want some feedback on possible fabric choices or have any questions during the quilt along, the Facebook is an excellent resource.  You can find the Facebook Group right here.  Please share your progress pics on social media with the hashtag #ModernPlusSamplerQuilt and tag me at @MeadowMistDesigns.






And now without further ado....July's instructions...

Fabric Requirements

Within the quilt pattern instructions, the following colors will be used to represent the fabrics.  

If you change up the pattern (for example, replacing the applique blocks with traditionally pieced blocks) your yardage requirements will also change.

Please do not feel limited by these colors (or number of colors) within the pattern, feel free to use a different colorway, change up the colors used in each section, or use more or less numbers of colors and fabrics. In both Paige and my sample quilts, we changed up the colors within the quilt top using more or less colors and more or less yardage of each fabric.

Quilt Fabric Options - Tomorrow (Friday July 6th) I will be posting a bunch of colorways for the quilt top for inspiration.

The coloring page of the quilt top is also included in the downloadable pdf above to test out potential colorways.

Alternative Quilt Tops

The sampler quilt pattern is designed for an advanced beginner.  The pattern is mostly made using traditional piecing, but there are a few blocks that are paper pieced or appliqued.  We encourage you to try these blocks to gain new skills, but below are some alternative quilt top layouts if you would like to avoid paper piecing and/or applique.

Additional Pattern Notes

• Width of fabrics (WOF) for this pattern is assumed to be 41". 
• A scant ¼" (a thread width smaller than ¼") seam is to be used throughout the construction of the quilt unless otherwise instructed. 
• The pattern is written for non-directional prints. If you are using a directional print, you may have to alter the cutting instructions and need additional yardage beyond what is listed.
• Press all seams open unless otherwise instructed.

Any questions?  Leave them in a comment below or post them to our Facebook group page.  I look forward to seeing everyone's fabric selections.

Many thanks to the generous sponsors of the Modern Plus Sampler!

Honey, Bunny, and Doll | Sew Fresh Quilts | Make Modern | Aurifil

Cooking Up Quilts | Quilting Jetgirl | Quilter's Planner

Needle & Foot | Fat Quarter Shop | BackSide Fabrics | Whims and Fancies

Meadow Mist Designs | He said. She said. Quilting | Busy Hands Quilts | C&T Publishing

The next set of instructions will be published on the first Thursday of August (the 2nd).

Modern Plus Sampler ++ Reveal!

I am so excited to show the design for the Modern Plus Sampler today!

Paige (Quilted Blooms) and I designed this sampler quilt using blocks from our new book Modern Plus Sign Quilts and it has been so difficult keeping it secret for the last 5 months!

The fabric requirements and different layout options will be posted next month on July 5th (giving you an entire month to gather your fabrics).

Just a recap of the quilt along... (you can find out more information and always find links to the instructions on the Modern Plus Sampler Page).

1.  Schedule

This quilt along will be run similarly to my previous mystery quilt quilt alongs, a nice slow pace with a set of instructions posted the first Thursday of each month.  

The quilt along will finish up in April 2019 with a fun reveal parade where you can show off your quilt.  


2.  About the Quilt Along

The Modern Plus Sampler is a free quilt-along that will run from July 2018 until April 2019 that uses most of the blocks from the Modern Plus Sign Quilts book together in a brand new lap sized quilt design! 

As this quilt along is a compilation of all different blocks from the Modern Plus Sign Quilts book, the book will be required to quilt along.  The good thing is that the book is on sale at Amazon!

(At the time of this post), the kindle edition is only $9.99!! and the printed version is only $16.94 at Amazon (you can get the book for less than the cost of 1-2 yards of fabric!).

The book is available at:

• Your local quilt shop
• Amazon (affiliate link) - both digital and print versions
• C&T Publications - both digital and print versions
• Meadow Mist Designs Etsy Shop - Signed copies (plus when you purchase a signed copy from me, you get a free bonus quilt pattern of your choice)
• Indigo (Canadian online book store)

3.  Confident Beginner Level Pattern

This pattern will be at the confident beginner level with a few more challenging blocks.  Don't worry if you have questions or get stuck, we will all be quilting together and you can ask me or the Facebook group any questions you have along the way.

Most of the quilt will be traditionally pieced, but there will be a couple of applique blocks and paper pieced blocks.  I encourage you to try these and learn some new skills.  If you would like to avoid applique and/or paper piecing, we will be giving alternative instructions to avoid these methods.

4. Facebook group 

We have over 3,000 members in our Facebook Group (Meadow Mist Designs Facebook Group) sewing together! Join the group today so you can share and see everyone else's fabric, progress pictures, and finished quilts.

5. Prizes 

We have tons of great prizes lined up for this quilt along!  (All prizes are awarded randomly to those that participate in the reveal parade in April 2019 with a finished quilt top or quilt).

We will be posting about prizes on Thursday, June 21st.

6.  Questions?

I hope that you are planning on joining us for a fun quilt along! If you have any questions you can leave them in a comment below or e-mail me at MMDmysteryquilts@gmail.com, I look forward to quilting along with you!

Modern Plus Sign Quilts Book Tab

Just a quick post to let you know that I have added a tab above (right under my logo) for the Modern Plus Sign Quilts book.

The page contains information about where to find the book, the Modern Plus quilt along, errata, and most importantly thumb nail images with links to all of the quilt patterns in the book made by bloggers during the Modern Plus Sign Quilts Book Hop.

Please go check it out and I hope that it is helpful being able to see and have links to all of the amazing hop quilts all in one place.

Photo by Paige Alexander

Have you made a quilt from the book? I would love to see it! You can share on social media using #ModernPlusSignQuilts and e-mail me at cheryljbrickey at gmail dot com

Celestial ++ Baby Version

As part of the marketing for my book, Modern Plus Sign Quilts, Stash has a few of the book quilts (including Celestial) to bring to Quilt Market, QuiltCon, and other shows.

Paige and I knew that we were going to be doing some trunk shows for the book so I decided to remake another version of Celestial (this is the quilt in the lower right hand part of the front cover.   I decided to re-make the quilt in a baby size, which is much easier to travel with.

Celestial is a super fun and quick quilt to piece, each block is 24" square finished so only 4 blocks are needed to make a 48" x 48" baby sized version (9 blocks make a large lap and 16 blocks make a queen).

For this new version of Celestial, I started with a background of Kona Cotton in cornflower, one of my favorite blues.  For the plus signs, I used a variety of prints, mostly Cotton & Steel, in blacks and whites.

As this was a small and manageable baby sized quilt, I decided to have some fun with the quilting and took some pictures along the way to show how I quilted Celestial.

I knew that wanted to quilt feathers on the quilt, where the feathers wound around the different plus signs.  To highlight the feathers, I planned on doing a dense quilting pattern so my goal was to fill as much area as I could with the feathers (to minimize the area I had to densely quilt).  Matching the Aurifil thread (50 wt) to the fabric hides many imperfections with the quilting.

Here was one of the feathers...

I then echoed the feather to help it stand out more.

Then I filled in the remaining area with pebbles.

I then quilted each plus sign using a square meander.

I hope that you enjoyed seeing the quilting progression of Celestial!

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Celestial (made into a baby size) from Modern Plus Sign Quilts
Size: 48" x 48"
Fabrics:  Kona Cotton in cornflower and various black and white prints.
Quilting: Feathers and pebbles
Batting: Warm & White
Thread: Light blue, soft white, and black 50 wt Aurifil cotton thread