Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Villa Rosa Designs blog hop - Twinkle

Welcome to my stop on the Fast & More Fun Blog Hop, brought to you by Villa Rosa Designs.  There are a whopping 28 bloggers participating!  I was so thrilled to be asked to join in the fun!  I've been a fan of Villa Rosa Designs for years and have made several of their patterns.  You've likely seen their pattern cards in quilt shops, they are post-card sized with beautiful photos of the whole quilt on one side and the instructions on the other side.

For this year's hop, Villa Rosa Designs (VRD) has put together a bundle of five patterns.  There is one for fat quarters, one for 10" squares/layer cake squares, one that uses a panel, and two that use charm squares. You can buy the set here, or just might WIN a set!  VRD is giving away a set of pattern cards at EACH of the participating blogs! Visit them all for more chances to win!  More on prizes below.

Villa Rosa Designs was started by Pat Fryer.  In the beginning, Pat was the only designer and she named all her patterns after rose varieties.  Now VRD has several designers and you can find their names & logos at the bottom of the front of the card.  If it's one of Pat's designs, it will have the rose the pattern is named after in the upper right corner.  This is why these pattern cards are sometimes called Rose Cards. 

I chose to make Twinkle, designed by Tricia Lynn Maloney/Orphan Quilt Designs.  Twinkle uses 5" charm squares and makes a quilt that finishes at 60" x 60".  I made it exactly as written, though I cut my HSTs with my accuquilt instead of the 2-at-a-time-and-then-trim method.  I thought about using more of the accent squares in the border, but decided to go as written for the first quilt. I cut enough squares to make a second Twinkle, and might add more accent squares in that version.

 


I don't have many charm squares, but Island Batik's stash builder strips are 5" x WOF, so I used a lot of those to make my own 5" squares.  I decided to limit my color palette to all shades of blue, green, and in-between.  So in addition to blues and greens, there are lots of teals and aquas.  I vastly under-estimated how many different fabrics in my chosen color way I would find in my Island Batik scrap bin, so I cut way more than I needed.  I limited the actual quilt to only 2 HSTs made from any one fabric.  I have enough cut out to make at least one more Twinkle.  I hoped to have at least started my second in time for this hop, but alas, time was not on my side.


All fabrics are Island Batik: scraps for the stars, solid white for the background, and a black mottled blender for the accent squares in the sashing and the binding.  I wanted a blue that was almost black for the accent, but I didn't have enough, but this black feels almost blue, so it works.

I quilted it using the wavy line stitch on the grid made by the squares--a look I stole from Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts.  It is easy to do and gives great texture.  I used a light-but-almost-medium blue thread for the quilting, so it shows up a bit and I think complements the overall colors I used.


Twinkle sewed up pretty quickly, especially for being as big as it is. (60" square)  I'm really happy with it, and since I already have more blues and greens cut, a second and maybe even a third won't be far behind.  I'd also love to do one with a darker background and lighter charm square fabrics.  


PRIZES

I mentioned above that Villa Rosa is giving away a set of the 5 featured pattern cards to a reader of EACH blog.  In addition, each blogger will choose 3 readers to go into the drawing for the sponsor prizes.  To enter here, leave me a comment. You can leave me a comment about anything, but if you need a prompt, tell me your favorite flower, in honor of Pat's love of roses.  I will use a random number generator to choose my winners.  Be sure that I can contact you if you win!  Make sure your comment is not anonymous!

For even more chances to win, visit all the bloggers and see what they made from the featured Villa Rosa patterns!

Thursday, March 14
Bog Hop Kick-Off
  https://villarosaquilts.com/

Friday, March 15
1. Kathleen McCormick — https://kathleenmcmusing.com/
2. Cheree H — http://livelylatte.blogspot.com/
3. Roseanne Nelson — https://www.homesewnbyus.com
4. Wendy Tuma — https://www.piecefulthoughts.com/
5. C&T (Valerie) — https://www.ctpub.com/blog/

Saturday March 16
1. Bernie Kringel — https://needleandfoot.com/
2. Sandra Walker — https://www.mmmquilts.com/
3. Linda — https://www.texasquiltgal.com/
4. Debbie Huber – http://time4stitchn.blogspot.com/
5. SIY (Branyn/Jennifer) – https://blog.siysewityourself.com/

Sunday, March 17
1. Carolyn — https://quarterinchcapers.blogspot.com/
2. Emily (Norton House) — https://www.nortonhousequilting.com/blogs/news
3. Gail Sheppard — https://quiltinggail.com/
4. Susan Slaton — http://wazoonewsbits.blogspot.com/

Monday, March 18
1. Nann Hilyard — https://withstringsattached.blogspot.com/
2. Jaftex (Jennifer) — https://scottfortunoff.com/
3. Jan Altomare — https://www.cocoaquilts.com/
4. Tricia – http://quiltwithaview.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, March 19
1. Joy – https://shout4joy-shouting.blogspot.com/
2. Emily Leachman — http://thedarlingdogwood.blogspot.com/ YOU ARE HERE!!
3. Vicki S — www.knitbug2.blogspot.com
4. Rose Mikulski — https://somethingrosemade14.blogspot.com/
5. QOVF (Lexie) — https://www.qovf.org/

Wednesday, March 20:
1. Nancy — https://www.graceandpeacequilting.com/
2. Jocelyn — https://happycottagequilter.blogspot.com
3. Tracie — https://joyfullytracie.com
4. Daryl — Patchouli Moon Studio
5. Electric Quilt (Diane) — https://doyoueq.com/blog/

Thursday, March 21:
Blog Hop Recap
  villarosaquilts.com

The grand prizes are:

  1. Kaffe Fasset Precut Collection
  2. $100 digital Gift Certificate to Hancock’s of Paducah
  3. A BIG BOX of mystery quilty goodies
  4. An Electric Quilt 8 download — the winner for this prize will be selected on the EQ blog, so you will need to register there for this prize

AND there are tons of smaller prizes, like books, patterns, fabrics, notions, and more from our fabulous sponsors. 

https://hoffmancaliforniafabrics.net

https://modafabrics.com

https://www.ttfabrics.com

http://jaftex.com

https://electricquilt.com

https://www.northcott.com/home.aspx

http://benartex.com

https://www.hancocks-paducah.com

https://foxchapelpublishing.com

https://www.ctpub.com

https://www.pbtex.com

I hope you have a great time admiring all the beautiful projects made with the featured Villa Rosa Designs pattern cards.  Be sure to check out their websites see and all their designs.  And check out the past quilts I've made from Villa Rosa Designs:  Blueberry Hill, Galaxy version 1, Galaxy version 2Cherish version 1, and Cherish version 2.  Thanks for visiting!



Monday, March 18, 2024

Purple Path: A Stay at Home Round Robin finish

Welcome to the finale of 2024's Stay At Home Round Robin!   I planned my quilt out in advance this year, using EQ8.  I used a variety of purple Island Batik scraps, with Almond as the background.  The dark purple is an Island Batik blender.  (It might look black but it's very dark purple.)  I cut it out with my Accuquilt and the 8" cube & cube companion dies.

I finished the binding on my quilt just a few days ago.  I left the quilt on the couch, and Husband found it and used it for a nap.  Always nice to see quilts being used!  And this was mere hours after it was finished.  (He ducked under it when he realized I was taking photos.)


Special thanks to Gail for coming up with such a great idea, and for inviting me to play along.  Also many thanks to the other hosts: Wendy, Anja, Kathleen, and Brenda.  Be sure to visit each of them to see their finished quilts!

I was so glad to see so many people sewing along with the Stay at Home Round Robin!  Link up with Gail at Quilting Gail for a final entry for the prizes from our generous sponsors.  We will do the prize drawings at the end of the month and will post the winners on the blogs of all of the hosts. This was my fourth Stay at Home Round Robin and I hope it's not my last!  This one might be my favorite.

 2024 Purple Path

2023 Flamingo Fun

 

 

2022 (Unnamed)


 

2021: Ursa Major


Monday, February 26, 2024

Round Robin #6: Letters & Numbers

Welcome to the last prompt of this year's Stay at Home Round Robin!  This time it is Kathleen of Kathleen McMusing who tells us what to add, and she picked letters and numbers.  Before I go into my thought process and what I did, let's take a look at where I left off after last week's round.

When we first chose our rounds and prompts, this one stumped me.  I think I mentioned previously that my original plan for this year was to make a sampler quilt.  I knew I could incorporate every other prompt into a sampler block, but the letters and numbers threw me.  After a day or two of ruminating, I thought of X & O block.  Those are letters of the alphabet!  I got out my graph paper notebook and sketched an X block that I liked. (I never did design or sew an O block.)

Then when I switched to this half-medallion with a large sampler border, I kept the X blocks.  And by putting them in the corners, I got this cool chain effect going through the whole quilt on the diagonal!  I also really like this block, and may use it again in something.

I thought I got a picture of the whole top before I layered it for quilting, but I did not.  The weather was acting up at one point and I must have forgotten I never actually took the photos.  So here is the completed top layered on the batting and backing, but before quilting. It looks like I added an outer border, but I did not. That's the extra batting from the layering.



Are you sewing along?  Link up this week with Kathleen.  And you now have 3 weeks to complete your round robin quilts, then come back on March 18th and link up with Gail one final time.  Quilt tops and finished quilts are both accepted for that final round, so don't worry if you can't get it quilted and bound by then.  After everyone shows off their beauties, we'll do the prize drawings.  Remember, you get an entry for every week you've linked up.  If you want some inspiration for how to use letters and numbers, be sure to visit all the hosts!

  • January 15th: SAHRR starts!  Link your Center Block with Gail of @ Quilting Gail
  • January 22nd: 1st Round: Signature Blocks * Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts
  • January 29th: 2nd Round: Two Colors * Anja @ Anja Quilts
  • February 5th: 3rd Round: Triangles * Emily @ The Darling Dogwood (That's me!)
  • February 12th: 4th Round: Square in a Square or Set On Point * Brenda @ Songbird Designs
  • February 19th: : 5th Round: Four * Gail @ Quilting Gail 
  • February 26th: 6th Round: Letters and Numbers * Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
  • March 18th: Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!




Monday, February 19, 2024

Round Robin #5: Four

We're nearing the end of the Stay At Home Round Robin!  This week it is founder & mastermind Gail of Quilting Gail's turn to pick, and she picked four.  Four what?  Four whatever you want!  Four blocks, four colors, four of a certain kind of unit, four-patch, whatever your heart desires that can incorporate the number four.  After last week's fourth round: here is what I had:

 


Now, what did I do with the prompt four?  Remember the block I made for Round 3, when I chose triangles for my prompt?   

For that round, I made four blocks.  For this round, I made four more.  Cheating?  I hope not!  This is supposed to be fun, after all! But, if you think this is perhaps bending the rules, I will point out that each block has four fabrics that are not the background, four HST units, and four triangle-in-a-square units.  Surely all of those add up to a passable prompt for four.

 


The reality is that I originally planned for this quilt to be more sampler-style, but I ended up making that large center with the first few rounds incorporated into it.  When I made that change, I really didn't like the outsides being too different; I wanted it to look more symmetrical.  So I decided to make four more so all four sides would match.


How will you use the prompt of four?  Link up with Gail, and remember that if you are behind, you can link up a previous round--all progress is progress!  Check out how each of the hosts incoperated four into their quilts for this round. Then come back next week to see the final prompt!

  • January 15th: SAHRR starts!  Link your Center Block with Gail of @ Quilting Gail
  • January 22nd: 1st Round: Signature Blocks * Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts
  • January 29th: 2nd Round: Two Colors * Anja @ Anja Quilts
  • February 5th: 3rd Round: Triangles * Emily @ The Darling Dogwood (That's me!)
  • February 12th: 4th Round: Square in a Square or Set On Point * Brenda @ Songbird Designs
  • February 19th: : 5th Round: Four * Gail @ Quilting Gail 
  • February 26th: 6th Round:  Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
  • March 18th: Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!



Monday, February 12, 2024

Round Robin #4: Square in a Square

Welcome back to the Stay at Home Round Robin!  This week, what we're adding is up to Brenda at Songbird Designs.  She is giving us a choice: Square in a Square units, or blocks on point.  Before we get to what I added, here is a look at where I left off after my triangle round last week:


From here on out, I am going sampler-style with 12" blocks around the middle that is made up of my center block and first two rounds.  I created a block that started with a square-in-a-square, and then used HSTs and flying geese to create a second square-in-a-square effect.  

I made four of the blocks and added them to the center of each side.  Someone commented last week that they wonder if my triangle blocks would stay in the same positions.  They are sewn in now, so yes!  There are three different purples in these blocks.  I am using various purple Island Batik scraps and the background fabric is a neutral called Almond.  Here is how it all looks after this round:


Be sure to link up with Brenda this week if you are sewing along!  Remember, every time you link up, you get an entry into the prize drawings from our fabulous sponsors; all prizes will be drawn in March after our parade of finishes.  

And be sure to check out all of our hosts this week to see what they did!

  • January 15th: SAHRR starts!  Link your Center Block with Gail of @ Quilting Gail
  • January 22nd: 1st Round: Signature Blocks * Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts
  • January 29th: 2nd Round: Two Colors * Anja @ Anja Quilts
  • February 5th: 3rd Round: Triangles * Emily @ The Darling Dogwood (That's me!)
  • February 12th: 4th Round: Square in a Square or Set On Point * Brenda @ Songbird Designs
  • February 19th: : 5th Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail 
  • February 26th: 6th Round:  Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
  • March 18th: Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!


Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Fairy Cabin

Welcome to my stop on the Island Batik log cabin blog hop!  I was sent the beautiful Fairy Floss collection by Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis.  I love these colors together! 

 

Log cabins are such a versatile block; there are so many options!  I worked with EQ8 to design my quilt.  I had a center I really liked, but it wasn't large enough for a whole quilt, and using it as a really large block and repeating 4 times would have been larger than I had time for.  I was feeling really stuck.  I had dinner planned with my quilting friend Kate, and I took my laptop.  After we ate delicious Mexican food, I brought out my laptop, opened up EQ8, and showed Kate what I had.  She almost immediately suggested a courthouse steps block I had already been playing with as a border.  It was exactly what I needed!  I took her ideas home and played some more.  I think we sent about 20 texts back and forth that night with me taking pictures of my EQ8 screen and her suggesting tweaks!  I am so pleased with our joint design!  I am calling it Fairy Cabin, with a nod to both the Fairy Floss fabrics and the log cabin blocks.  I like the idea of this being in a fairy's home, or even hung in a fairy's cabin!


The center I liked, as designed in EQ8

Fun side story: at the restaurant, there was a young girl, maybe about 6, who walked up to our table and was absolutely fascinated with the images in EQ8.  Her family had to drag her away!

The center in the actual fabrics

Fairy Cabin uses a combination of traditional log cabin blocks and courthouse steps variations.  It finishes at 50" square.  I pieced and quilted with Aurifil thread using Schmetz needles.  The batting is Hobbs silk batting, which is nice and light.  And this was my first time using my new Oliso iron!  I did most of the cutting in strips, but I did use my Studio 180 Designs Wing Clipper tool for the tiny flying geese for the turquoise stars in the outer border.  

tiny geese!

Materials used in this project were given to me by Island Batik, Schmetz, Hobbs, Aurifil, Studio 180 Design, and Oliso.

binding ready to go

For the background, I used Oatmeal from the always-available Foundations collection.  It's a nice kind of mellow yellowish color, and I really think it glows with the Fairy Floss.  Oatmeal plus cabins makes me think of Goldilocks!

Courthouse Steps

 

log cabin

There are twenty different fabrics (SKUs) in the Fairy Floss collection.  I used fifteen in the quilt top and a sixteenth for the binding.  That means I have 4 half yards that are untouched.  I have plans for one of them, but I am offering a giveaway of the remaining three.  That's a yard and a half of beautiful Island Batik fabric, and I'll probably add some scraps of some of the other Fairy Floss fabrics as well.  To enter the giveaway, leave me a comment.  You can comment on anything you like, but if you need a prompt, tell me your favorite log cabin block variation.  For a second entry, visit me on facebook.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

 


Two other Island Batik ambassadors are playing with Fairy Floss today. Be sure to visit them and see what they made!

Brenda @ Songbird Designs

Pamela @ Pamela Quilts





Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Island Batik Log Cabin blog hop

It's time for the first Island Batik blog hop of 2024!  All month long, Island Batik ambassadors will be showing off the newest fabric collections.  And what better way to show of fabric than that classic block, the log cabin?  Log Cabin blocks are great because there are so many ways to use them, and so many variations!


I was sent the beautiful Fairy Floss collection by Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis.  You don't have to wait long to see what I made with the gorgeous collection of purple, green, and turquoise: my day is tomorrow!


Each week, Island Batik will have a new fabric giveaway that you can find on their blog.  Many of the ambassadors will do their own giveaways as well.  Here is the full schedule for the Log Cabin blog hop:

February 6:

February 7:

February 8:

February 12:

February 13:

February 14:

February 15:

February 19:

February 20:

February 21:

February 22:

February 26: