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 2,  Cherish version 1, and Cherish version 2.  Thanks for visiting!