November 2014 - QA Creations

It’s been 6 weeks, so it’s time for our quilts to continue their journey! I joined the Round Trip Quilt bee, which is made up of US and Canada bloggers that met through the New Blogger Group from Plum and June. We are a pretty relaxed and free form bee group. We don’t make (necessarily) an entire border all the way around each time, and we usually (but not always) sew an additional piece to one or more sides of the quilt. I love our rules because as a group, there are some amazing quilts taking shape.

This round I have an autumn themed quilt from Christina at Wips and Tuts. She used the center medallion from the Liberty medallion quilt that went around quilty blog-land awhile ago. It’s from the book Liberty Love by Alexia Marcelle Abegg (affiliate link). This is such a fantastic medallion center, and it’s being added to my never ending bucket list of quilts.

As soon as I saw her initial blog entry explaining the theme of her quilt, I got excited. I love fall, and I was fortunate enough to get this quilt during fall. It felt perfect. Then I discovered I had more ideas than I could easily narrow down! Seriously, my Round Trip Quilts pinterest board is over half autumn block ideas.

Kim at Ties that Bind Quilting added the first round to this quilt. She added apples all around the center, which is so perfect for fall! When I pulled the quilt out of the package, I had two immediate thoughts. 1 – this is awesome and 2 – this is huge for only being the second round!

As I said before, I was actually stymied by how many directions I could take this quilt! I even had a misstep before deciding on the final choice. My first attempt were some freeform pumpkins, that while I like them, I did not like them with this quilt. It’s alright though – they will make some pretty sweet placements for next fall.

Round Trip Quilts - Christina — Quilting FAIL

I actually hate them less in this photo than I did initially. Ironically, the linen I laid down so that I didn’t get the quilt dirty would have made a nice border and made them sort of work even though the style is still wrong for where the quilt is right now.

Next, I asked Christina on Instagram (with this selection of brown fabric) how she felt about squirrels because she had mentioned woodland creatures as a possible inspiration topic. Squirrels (or bunnies as my daughter calls them), are a very popular topic in our house. The squirrels in the backyard are entertainment during most meals, and there is a Curious George episode that features squirrels that she absolutely loves. Thus, when I found the squirrel pattern from During Quiet Time, it seemed like a perfect option. Plus, Christina had ok’d it as an option.

I reverse printed one squirrel so that the two squirrels could be facing each other. I wish I would have taken a picture of the back before I peeled the papers off, because all those reverse printed letters and numbers looked pretty funny. Although, because I was making two at the same time with such similar colors, having one set reversed was a lifesaver so I didn’t connect the wrong parts!

I did have a moment of doubt as to the scale of these two guys. These blocks are 12″ square. They are pretty large squirrels. I considered reducing the size, but due to the paper piecing pattern, if I had done that there would have been some spots that I never would have gotten the paper out of. Then, I felt better when I considered that the squirrels are actually is really good proportion to the size of the apples. Christina, I hope you feel the same way!

Next I just had to add some sashing at each side and in the middle so that the squirrels lined up properly with the rest of the quilt, and I was ready to pass this quilt on! This quilt moves on to Liz at Green Cheese Quilting next and I can’t wait to see what she does with it.

The next quilt I received is the center from Chelsea at Patch the Giraffe. She picked a really soothing palette that I am looking forward to working with.

I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

– Heather

Linking up to some of the following: Anything Goes Monday, Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts, WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced, Let’s Bee Social Wednesday @ SewFreshQuilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Whoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt Addict, Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Ft. Worth Fabric

This year I participated in the Stash Bee, an online bee made up quilters all over the world. I was in Hive 12, and my month was May. I asked the members of my hive to make me blocks from my Square Dance quilt block tutorial using the paper piecing pattern that I created for this project (now available on Craftsy).

Here she is – in all her glory! The members of my hive did such an amazing job with their blocks. The variety that they added to this quilt is what really makes it shine! I will really enjoy sitting on the couch cozying up with this quilt this winter knowing that so many people helped make this quilt happen.

A huge thank you to Heather, Cheryl, Jennifer, Michele, Kristel, Laura, Toni, Genevieve, Francis and Willa!

Above are some pictures of the quilting in progress. To see more pictures, please see my Quilts Actually blog post about the quilting of this Square Dance quilt.

This quilt was a little rushed because I was working to complete it before the fair. The binding and I spent some late nights, a lot of time in front of the TV, and an all day guild meeting together in order for it to get done.

It was worth all the work though… I finished it in time to enter it in the North Carolina State Fair, where we earned 2nd place in the Group quilt category! I’m going to say we were robbed… just kidding… I didn’t actually see the 1st place quilt, so the possibility does exist that it was better.

Once I was able to pick up the quilt after the fair, it seemed like everyday was sunny or rainy so it I had to wait quite awhile for a nice overcast day to take proper photos. Luckily, our fall colors were at their peak, making a nice backdrop.

The back of the quilt really shows the quilting in detail. I also added a few extra blocks in a strip along the bottom. I love that little pop at the bottom! I was also quite proud of myself for adding the hanging sleeve right away (granted…it was forced because I wanted to enter it in the fair), but usually I wait forever and don’t have any backing fabric leftover to use. The sleeve looks so much nicer in matching fabric!

Note to self: make the hanging sleeve when you first finish the quilt from now on.

This is my Stash Bee Square Dance with my miniature quilt Square Dance. These two quilts have earned a few second place finishes – North Carolina State Fair, Quilting in the Pines Quilt Show, and Floral Fantasy Quilt Show.

Finally, a photoshoot out-take… My daughter was “helping” to arrange the quilts just like mom. Maybe I have a future quilter on my hands! Or a photographer…