Sunday, June 19, 2016

Giveaway Winners Week 1 of the 2016 New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop


I am happy to announce the winners from the Week 1 giveaways for the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop!

Thanks again to our generous Week 1 sponsors of the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop: Fat Quarter Shop, Aurifil, Hawthorne Threads, The Quilter’s Planner, Mini Barn Quilts, Story Patches, Stitches Quilting, Meadow Mist Designs, and Quilting Jetgirl.

Without further ado, the 9 winners are:
Congratulations to our Week 1 Winners; emails have been sent to confirm your contact information!
Below is a recap of all the wonderful posts from Week 1 and stay tuned, as Week 2 (with more great giveaways) kicks off tomorrow!



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Friday, June 17, 2016

State of Being Quilt - MGQ Pattern of the Month for June

I am so happy to show you my newest quilt, State of Being which is the June pattern of the month for the Modern Quilt Guild (free to all MQG members)!

For quilters coming over from the MQG, welcome! I hope you have a chance to take a look around my little blog including some of my recent finishes and my third annual mystery quilt called the Meadow Mystery starting next month. You can also find me over on Instagram as MeadowMistDesigns.


“State of Being” is a modern take on a traditional Ohio Star block.  The design begins with one full star block in the corner of the quilt and becomes increasing fractured as the design extends into the negative space of the quilt.  Both the design and quilting represent our complex and sometimes chaotic state of being.

The quilt was made using Kona Cotton Solids in white and shale and a print from the Doe collection by Carolyn Friedlander, all from Robert Kaufman.  

For the quilting, I quilted the star pieces with dense back and forth quilting and quilted the background using Wild Quilting as taught by Christina Cameli (which I learned in her Craftsy class (not an affiliate link)).  In Wild Quilting, a bunch of different quilting motifs are combined together.  I quilted State of Being on my home sewing machine.



The relatively small scale in the quilting and the matching threads give the background texture and interest.   I used 50 wt Aurifil thread in 2024 (white), 2610 (gray), and 1154 (orange) for the quilting.  
The background alone took over 25 hours to quilt (most of the pebbles are about a 1/4" to 1/2").  You can see some more of the quilting from the back which features a newsprint fabric from Tim Holtz:


This is one of my favorite quilts I have made, thanks for taking a look!

I want to give a special thanks to Paige of Quilted Blooms and Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl for their super pattern review skills!! 




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Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Meadow Mystery Quilt - Sponsors - Pattern Designers

I am getting very excited about the start of the Meadow Mystery Quilt and I hope that you are too!  We are only about 3 weeks now from the first set of instructions (fabric requirements). You can find out more about the mystery quilt here.

 We have almost $600 in prizes for the mystery quilt from some very generous and wonderful sponsors!  The prizes will be given out randomly to those that submit a finished quilt or quilt top in the reveal parade in April 2017.  Because we have so many great sponsors, I will be breaking them up into a series of posts.

 Today, I want to highlight the pattern designers that are sponsoring the Meadow Mystery Quilt:

Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl is back as a sponsor for the second year in a row so a double thank you to her! Yvonne is an intuitive introvert who is passionate about hometown and online quilting community, who believes that quilts can cover the world with care and love. Yvonne uses her blogging platform to cultivate a community with which she shares her passion for quilt making and quilt pattern design. Yvonne blogs at Quilting Jetgirl and her patterns are available through her Etsy, Payhip, and Craftsy shops.  Yvonne is donating 4 digital quilt patterns (winner's choice), you can see a small selection of her available patterns below:






Lorna is a modern quilter, pattern designer and the author of the Sew Fresh Quilts blog. Lorna's use of eye-catching colour and minimalist design has taken modern quilting in an entirely new direction, as traditional piecing methods are used to create a menagerie of animals and entirely new blocks. A few of her signature items are her “Elephant Parade” and “Dog Gone Cute” quilt patterns, which are offered as free quilt alongs. On her website you can learn from her creative processes as she shares her love of quilting, tips and clever tutorials. Lorna's patterns are available on her PayHip shop and Etsy shop.  Lorna is donating one each of her Rural Squirrel, Raccoon, My Pet Hamster, Cat Treats, and Black Birds digital quilt patterns.








Soma of Whims and Fancies is a software engineer by trade. Aside from math and science, she has loved painting and photography since she was a child.  Soma started quilting in 2012. Within a couple months of that, she started writing quilt patterns. Soma blogs at Whims and Fancies and her patterns are available through her Etsy and Craftsy shops.  Soma is donating 3 copies each of her Pinwheel Vanes and Pinwheel Star digital quilt patterns.




Myra of Busy Hands Quilts is back as a sponsor for the second year in a row so a double thank you to her!  Myra makes custom quilts and design quilt patterns. Her 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 Myra's quilt patterns on her Etsy shop. Here is a small selection of patterns of her patterns to select from:







I, Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs, am also donating some prizes to the Meadow Mystery Quilt winners.  I will be giving away 4 digital quilt patterns (winner's choice).  You can find my quilt patterns on my shop.  Here is a small selection of patterns of my patterns to select from:

We have tons more prizes and sponsors to highlight, stay tuned :)



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Monday, June 13, 2016

New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop - Miss-Bee Hivin' - Week 1 Plus Giveaway



Welcome to the first week of the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop Week 1 where I get to introduce you to the first set of bloggers from my hive. I hope you will take the time to visit each of the 4 hive member's blogs today:

Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

Kate @ Smiles From Kate

Miranda @ I Have Purple Hair

Holly @ Lighthouse Lane Designs

If you have time, please also visit my co-hosts Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl and Stephanie @Late Night Quilter as they are introducing members of their hives today as well!


In addition to checking out the hopper's blogs, check out these great new advice posts from seasoned veterans:

You can find all of the blogger's blog addresses from my hive right here.
And now onto the New Quilt Bloggers Week 1 Giveaway!

 We are so thankful to our generous sponsors of the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop! This week you can enter to win one of these fabulous prizes:
  • Fat Quarter Shop - $50 Gift Certificate
  • Aurifil 12 Large Spool Designer Collection - Amy Sinibaldi, Sweetly Stitched (28 and 50wt)
  • Hawthorne Threads - $40 Gift Certificate
  • The Quilter’s Planner 2017 Starter Kit (Planner, Pens, Clips, Highlighters)
  • Mini Barn Quilts - Winner’s Choice of (1) of the (6) Original Mini Barn Quilts
  • Story Patches- $25 Starter Kit (patches and pen)
  • Stitches Quilting - $30 Gift Certificate
  • Meadow Mist Designs - Winner’s Choice of (2) Digital PDF Patterns
  • Quilting Jetgirl - Winner’s Choice of (2) Digital PDF Patterns
You can earn up to 5 entries to this giveaway using rafflecopter below:
Just use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway will run from June 13th through June 17th 11:59 pm EST and is open to entrants 18 years or older. Winners will be announced Sunday, June 19th!


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Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Flat Sheets as Quilt Backings


When I began quilting, I found myself pondering alternative quilt backings because

(1) I really dislike piecing quilt backs and
(2) backings can get quite costly, especially for larger backings.

I asked some more experienced quilters about using flat sheets as a quilt backing and I was strongly discouraged.  I was told that sheets are too tight a weave, they will cause all sorts of issues like skipped stitches and basically wreak my project.

As a scientist, I need to experiment and try for myself.  I bought a twin flat sheet from Target for about $9 and used it on the backing of a charity quilt.  It worked great for me!  The door to flat sheets as quilt backings was open!

Update March 2022:  I have used and washed a quilt with a sheet as a backing many, many times over the last 6 years and it is holding up great!


I have had success on both of my home sewing machines (1990's Singer and a 710 Bernina) on over a dozen quilts using sheets as backings.  I typically use Aurifil 50 wt cotton thread for quilting and an 80/12 or 90/14 needle.  Just a note, longarm machines are entirely different beasts and I have heard that sheets do not work out so well on them.

Here are some of my learnings:
  • Cheaper, lower thread count sheets work best.  The cheap 100% cotton sheets at Target (Threshold Brand shown above) are available as just flat sheets (so you don't have to buy the whole set) and work really well.  The really high tread count sheets like 500 or 600 count have a tighter weave which makes it more difficult for the needle to pierce. 
  • Avoid the wrinkle-free sheets.  I once used a wrinkle-free sheet from Wamsutta and I think that the sheet or yarns had coating on them which made the needle have a super difficult time punching through the sheet (and the needle seemed to make really big holes in the sheet).  The quilt wound up being really stiff too. 
  • While I usually only use 100% cotton sheets, one time I found a sheet that was the perfect match to some fabric I was making the Scrappy Tiles quilt top with.  It was not until I was done quilting with it that I realized it was actually a cotton/polyester blend.  It worked perfectly and has held up well in washing.

  • I always wash and dry my sheets before using them prevent bleeding and shrinking (I do not wash my batting or my fabrics in the quilt top).
  • I have used regular sheets, brushed cotton sheets, and flannel sheets, all with success. 
  • Some of the best times to shop for sheets are right after the school year starts (all of the back to school and college sheets are on sale) and right after Christmas (the flannels are on sale).

My most recent finish was a twin sized version of Looking Glass and I used a Threshold full size flat sheet.  It was their brushed Ultra Soft 300 count, 100% cotton in the Elephant color.  An 85" x 96" sheet (so no piecing of the backing) for only $12, not too shabby!


If you are thinking about trying a sheet as a quilt backing, I suggest going for it!  (Probably not on your wedding present quilt you have spend the better part of a year on... but maybe a little baby quilt or a charity quilt).  You will never know if it will work for you unless you try it :)

How about you, have you used sheets as quilt backings?  Was it a success or a failure?  Any tips you would like to share?







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