The Bad Ass Quilt Club: Bazaar Delight

Spool has this really great quilt club that I couldn't resist.  Go check out the full description of the "quilt club for the oddly afflicted" and then come back here to see what I did with my version.  I promise, the blog will still be here.

This is how packages come from Spool.  Totally Bad Ass!

The June pattern is Joy by Jessica Darling.  If you aren't following her amazing work on Instagram you totally should.  An added bonus to joining the club is that you also get this pattern from Villa Rosa Designs for a card holder to hold your pattern cards.  I know I have several of these pattern cards.  I just don't know where I have put them.   That means I need this holder.

I picked out some fun fabrics from Spool in the Bazaar Style line by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics.  This fabric is amazing.  I see more of this my future.  I think it would be great for making skirts and shirts.  It is soft, a very tight and stable weave.  This pattern is very simple and requires only 2.5 yards of fabric for the top and binding.  I pulled the solids and the backing fabric from my stash.  (You should also check out the Sale Table at Spool.  Totally worth it.)

This quilt makes up quickly.  I was really happy about the simple piecing.  The cutting is very straightforward with little waste.  I was glad the swirl print (Bellydancer Sky) had a little more than I needed since I did make one cutting error.  With the extra I saved myself some tears.

I wanted to add some applique that would give this little quilt some extra punch.  I grabbed three solids and coordinating threads and Urban Threads' Flash Stitch applique design pack.  All three threads are Magnifico from Superior.  It is a great filament poly thread that is perfect for embroidery and quilting.

I traced my chosen designs onto some fusible web and pressed them onto my fabrics.

Then watched an episode, or two of Downton Abbey while letting the embroidery machine do its work and carefully cutting out my applique shapes.

One of  my stars is a little wonky.  An embroidery machine is not to be trusted while you go get a fresh cup of coffee.  Ever.

I selected this great mauve So Fine #50 from Superior Threads for the top thread and the light gray Omni for the bobbin.  I usually match my needle and bobbin threads but I figured if the intensity was close enough no one would ever be able to tell.

Loaded up and ready to go.  I quilted with a gentle wave design that had some swirls thrown in for interest.  I'm really pleased with the overall effect.

This is the better of the two stars.

Each one of these appliques got me closer to the right answer for preparation, stabilization and stitching speed.

The anchor came out the best, I think.

Machine-finished binding helped me get this one finished in a weekend.  From start to finish, this was one weekend.  I think the quilting took almost as long as the applique, but it was worth it on both counts.

If you like a quick and easy project, or need a quilt in a hurry, this is the perfect project.  If you just want an excuse to buy some fabric, it's good, too.

The Wandering Quilt Returns!

Remember when I posted about Soul Stealer?  And about the fun adventure the quilt would be going on?  All the way to Paducah, KY, and then on to the AQS show in Des Moines, IA, as part of the BadAss Quilters exhibit.  I was so excited when someone shared photos from the quilt show on Facebook.  I got to see my quilt from all this distance.

On Thursday evening I returned home to find a UPS notification that i needed to sign for a package and I knew my quilt had finally returned from its travels.

I went home for lunch on Friday so I could catch the UPS man and catch him I did!  I signed for my package and set it aside for the evening.  Back to work I went.

When I got home I grabbed the box and went up to my studio to open up the box and get my ribbon.

Yes, I'm excited and pleased my quilt got to go to a quilt show.  I'm so much more excited about the ribbon that every quilt in the exhibit received.  I love this ribbon!

Thank you to Maddie Kertay at the BadAss Quilters Society for being the advocate to get all these bad ass quilts into the AQS in not just one show but two!  Great job!

Soul Stealer - A Quilt Made of Dreams

Months and months ago -- meaning more than a year ago -- a friend of mine said she had a dream about a quilt that would steal your soul when you slept under it.  She said it had tentacles and was green and black.  That was how this quilt was born.  That simple idea rolled around in my head for days, weeks and maybe even months.  (Don't worry, no souls were used in the making of this quilt.)

I found that I had some black and white prints from Blank Quilting.  I paired that with some solid cotton in a bright yellow/green and some black and white prints from my stash.  I designed the block size based on that simple beginning.  I had no idea how big the finished quilt would be or how many blocks it should have.  I just sort of went with intuition.  

I used Electric Quilt to design the layout and the simple blocks.  This quilt uses ten different blocks (all based on the same basic block) to give me the space I wanted for embroidery.  The blocks were positioned so I could fit in several different embroidery designs but without making the two sides just mirror images.  

The blocks used different areas of background fabric to give me that embroidery space.  I pieced all of the embroidery blocks so the embroidery machine could do its work while I finished piecing the rest of the blocks.

My embroidery machine showed me the error of my ways when it came to walking away and leaving it without adult supervision.  This isn't even a block I could save.  At this point I wasn't sure I even had enough of that green left over to make another block.  I found the fabric and made another block to replace this one.  I used eight different embroidery designs from Urban Threads to make the different blocks of this quilt.

The blocks spent more time in a pile waiting to be sewn together.  I finally got them stitched together and the border attached.  Then the top waited some more to be quilted.  I still had to find a suitable backing.

I ordered the pre-wound Bottom Line bobbins and Fantastico thread just for this project. This means I still have an insane amount of bright green thread.  The best part is that it is great thread!  

I picked up the backing fabric at the Annapolis Quilt Show hosted by the Annapolis Quilt Guild.  When I saw it I knew it was the perfect backing for this quilt. Maybe not an exact match on the green, but close enough and the three swirling arms of the print are just perfect.  A busy backing and coordinating thread are great when you want people looking at the front of the quilt and not the back.

The backing is pieced, which is not unusual for me.  I don't mind a pieced backing as long as it is done thoughtfully.  I took loads of pictures of this process and plan on sharing another backing tutorial at some point.

This one came out better than I hoped.  I didn't plan this so much as it sort of happened.  I'm likely overly pleased with it.  You can see the join, but it isn't terribly obvious.  

With all that green on the outside, I wanted to stay green on the inside.  I was pleased with how this batting quilted.  It provided some nice body to the quilt and didn't compress as much as I would have expected from a comparable cotton batting.  You can find out more about Quilter's Dream Green batting on their site.  I'm going to use this batting in another project soon.  I'll try to write a better review as I work through that project.

When I loaded the quilt onto the frame I couldn't decide what to quilt onto that surface.  All that embroidery had to be worked around but I had all that amazing thread.  I stood there and just stared at it for a while.  I've been known to sit in my chair and just look at a quilt.  Mostly I'm hoping it will say something to let me know what it wants.   

In the end, I settled on a simple swirl with points.  Not so many points, I suppose.  I like this easy filler.  It gives me freedom to move around and work with both curves and points.

Swirls and spikes.  Swirls and points 

Sometimes they even look like tentacles.  I did all the quilting without the aid of the computer.  This quilt really needed the custom quilting, I think.  Working without the stitch regulator takes some getting used to.  Now that I'm comfortable working without it I absolutely love it.

A quilt this cool needed a special label.  I checked my embroidery library and found that I had picked up this great Inked Alphabet set from Urban Threads. Since all of the embroidery designs in this quilt are from Urban Threads I figured this would be perfect way to finish off this quilt.  The capital letters and the spider web skull are from Urban Threads.  The rest of the lettering is from my embroidery design software. 

The label is huge!  Okay, maybe that is an overstatement.  It measures 7" high by 11" wide finished.  This is the first quilt I have ever sewn a hanging sleeve onto.  What a pain in the backside that was!  I will seriously consider needing a hanging sleeve before I ever do that again.

Here is the final design.  I created this image using both Electric Quilt and The GIMP.  I used EQ for the quilt blocks and the border.  The embroidery designs were added in GIMP.  I'm sure there is an easy way to do it all in EQ, but I was more comfortable with editing in GIMP.

This quilt turned out to be so much more than I expected.  I love the final effect of the quilting, too.  As you can see I decided to go with the green border instead of the original black.  I like how the blocks seem to float on the surface of the green background.

Finished dimensions:  62" wide by 72" long.

The best part about this quilt?  It's going to the AQS QuiltWeek – Des Moines, IA, event on October 1 - 4.

When Maddie at BadAss Quilter's Society asked people to submit their quilts to AQS for AQS QuiltWeek in Chattanooga, TN, I decided to jump on the chance.  It doesn't hurt to try, right?  Much to my surprise, Soul Stealer was selected, but was chosen to attend the Des Moines show.  I'm not picky, though, I want to share this quilt and I don't care how far it has to travel to get there. 

If you're in Des Moines, IA, during the show and manage to snap a picture of Soul Stealer for Instagram please tag me (@beccascrazyprojects) so I can see it at the show.  

Superior Mail

On Friday afternoon, I came home to find a box on my front porch. 

This label announced to me the contents of this humble cardboard box. Everything I get from Superior is amazing.

The most important thing in this box is the thread holder. I wanted to use cones with my DSM and this seemed the perfect tool.  Loads of other great stuff in the box, too.  Let's see what it all is.

The Masterpiece color cards will help me get matching thread for piecing. I also picked up Try Me specials of Masterpiece (five spools on the right) and So Fine! #50 (five spools on the left).  I love the Try Me specials. Best way to try out new threads.  A dozen pre-wound bobbins for the embroidery machine. The handy nets for the cones were thrown in almost as an afterthought. I also asked for a test color of the new Fantastico.  Well, not the new Fantastico, but one of the possible new colors.  I also received the brilliant Fantastico #5062 Glowing Green.  I'm going to use that to quilt a very special quilt.

Celestial Bloom

At the last Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild meeting, it was announced that Heather Kojan, the founder of the chapter, had a new quilt tutorial available on the Moda Bake Shop site.  I popped over and decided to give it a try.  Since I'm on a fabric diet, I had to pull these fabrics from my stash.  

I found this fun collection of bold flowers, bright yellows and oranges and this green that fit in with the bunch.

I cut and stitched and before I got very far I had laid out this block.  Just a starting point, but I had to start somewhere. 

 

I pieced and played with layout.  I had some minor problems with value that were rectified by some careful rearranging of the blocks.

Squaring up all those half-square-triangle blocks always leaves me with this fun little pile of trimmings.  I always want to do something with it, I just don't know what.

I rearranged the squares until I had this layout.  Then, I changed it a couple more times.

Here is one half of the top, all pieced together.

The finished top!  I decided not to add any borders to this one.  With a quilt this big (72" by 72") I didn't think a border really needed to be added.

I loaded it up onto the long-arm frame and totally choked.  I had no idea what to do with it.  I was forced to call it a night and get some sleep. 

The next morning I drew out the block design on some graph paper and got to doodling.  I doodled and doodled and finally settled on what I wanted.  This only shows part of what I though of and after I started quilting I never looked at it again.  Sometimes, my creative process is like that.

I loaded the long arm with some pretty Magnifico for the top thread and some coordinating Bottom Line for the bobbin.  This gives the top-stitching some shine.  I did these trapped bubbles in the triangular shapes along the outer edges.  I like it better without the outer lines, but once you start something, you have to finish it.  Ultimately, it adds loads of interest because the bubbles do different things in different blocks on the face of the quilt.

Swirls and bubbles ended up in the giant diamonds that make up the stars.  I just can't escape swirls.

The bubbles on the black background get sort of random in different parts of the quilt.  I like the overall effect, though.  Little places where your eye can go and see something unexpected.

The size is no joke, though.  I'm not sure how I'll ever finish another queen-size quilt for my bed if I think this one is huge!  All that remains is to cut, piece and attach the binding.

Finished size 73" by 73"

Quilting cottons; all pulled from my stash!  Even the backing.

Warm & Natural cotton batting

Superior Threads:  Magnifico and Bottom Line

Pattern from Moda Bake Shop