Blogger's Quilt Festival: Storm At Sea

Oh, it makes me so happy to see this quilt again! This modern twist on Storm at Sea is definitely one of my favourites I've made, so of course it's the first I thought of when another instalment of the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side opened. I've entered it in the Mini Quilt Category.

I made this for the Alison Glass mini quilt swap. I'd been wanting to make a Storm at Sea quilt for a while, then I read my partner liked "traditional blocks iwth modern colours/arrangments" and I knew it would be perfect. I played with the design to highlight the waves in the bottom right and the circle in the top left. I stuck with the green and blue fabrics and all is Alison Glass, including the text print and white on white in the background.

Then I was brave and veered away from my comfort zone of straight-line quilting and did a spiral and wavy patterns in blue, green and white thread. That took quite a while!

On the back, the dense quilting stands out on the mostly solid fabric.

I am really proud of this mini. Best of all, my partner loved it! It really is wonderful when you send a swap package out into the world, and then you can tell the recipient genuinely appreciates the effort you put into making something just for them.

You can see all the amazing quilts in all the categories for the Blogger's Quilt Festival on Amy's blog. Don't forget to vote for your favourites! Voting is open Oct. 29 to Nov. 5 and winners are announced Nov. 6. Good luck everyone!

Feeling blue

Last time I have my family over to my place, my middle sister went on not so subtly about how she really liked my quilted pillows. I got a quick yes when I asked if she'd like one. Together we picked out fabric in primarily blues for a Hazel pillow. This pattern is so much fun to make, it really is a pleasure to sew with that cute little face looking back at me.

Wavy lines again, which seems to be my go-to quilting for Hazels. It is wonderfully freeing, especially for a perfectionist like me. I just go at it with no guides, and I go fast! Then it was a quick task to add the envelope back and it was ready to give.

I really need to get around to finishing the Hazel pillow I started for myself way back in the spring. It's all quilted and only needs to be turned into a pillow. But projects for myself always simmer on the back burner.

Keep it simple

Here's my latest finished swap mini. My partner said she loved paper piecing for it's intricacy, which fit perfectly with the pattern I'd had my eye on for a while - the New York Beauty. I found this lovely one made by In Color Order as part of a quilt along.

I think the swap's name - Simply Mini Swap - unconsciously influenced me. Really it meant that we were only sending a mini to our partner and no extras, unlike most swaps where that become a big part of the package. For my mini, I decided to use a simple design and colour scheme. It's so tempting to get crazy and pull a big stack o' fabrics, so very tempting. But because the New York Beauty pattern is so striking, I really wanted that to be the focus and so I stuck with a three-colour scheme - purple, red and turquoise.

I really love how it turned out. My partner said she likes a bit of whimsy, so I couldn't resist including a smattering of that super cute C+S panda print. It adds a nice dimension to the mini as well. I had a bit of a fail on the outside arc when I tried using a low-volume print that was just too busy. Then I found this light mottled grey with a bit of sparkle that worked much better. It was a bit tricky getting the four blocks together and lining things up, but I think I did pretty well. Luckily I had the perfect fabric for the binding - purple mirror ball dot that I just picked up on my L.A. trip.

I've also been plugging away on making Polaroid blocks for my #polaroidgreetingswap. These are so much fun to make, and go really quickly with chain piecing.

First I made a batch for everyone in my group of 20, with a couple extra to send two to my international #pgsbuddies.

Then I made a whole bunch more for my swap mamas to thank them for helping out, and some extras for a few people in the swap. A young girl joined her first ever swap and is doing a great job and is so appreciative of the blocks she's getting in the mail, so I wanted to encourage her in the craft. And then a few more for friends who joined.

I'm even trying my hand at making the cards. I remembered I had a pack of vintage paper scraps and dug into those to make these collage cards. I like a little arts and crafts time that leave my fingers sticky from the glue stick!