Week ending January 23, 2022

With my Monday off from work, I did some sewing, went to a doctor's appointment and got sosme seeds started in my greenhouse  in my garage. First off, I wanted to do some work on my 2021 temperature quilt and got it pieced through April - I think. I love how it looks so far. January is on the left and those white and light pink pieces are Winter Storm Uri.

I got fabric in the mail this week. I had to order some for another pattern test that I'm doing - I'll share more photos of it next week as I didn't work on it this week other than to cut into the fabric I had to order. I had run out! But I got these Ruby Star Society Charm Packs in the mail from Stitch Supply Company from an Instagram giveaway!  These came in a nice zippered project bag.

I signed up for another quilt pattern test! This one is for Lifting Limits Quilting and it's going to be so good! I am determined to use my "good" fabric especially my hoarded fabric from Anna Maria Horner. She's my favorite fabric designer and I have hoarded some fabric from her for way too long. I really need to use it and get more enjoyment from it. I agonized over my fabric pull for way too long. I needed 12 fabrics - which I always feel like the more fabrics the better. But it can be so hard to make a final decision. 

I started cutting them out and kept checking how I liked them all together.

I was happy and relieved once I had everything cut out.

After everything was cut, I took some time to fold and organize all my Anna Maria Horner remnants and scraps. I think at some point this year I want to make a scrappy quilt with my AMH scraps and remnants - and any bonus blocks I make along the way. The bag on the bottom left is filled with truly scrappy bits and is the project bag that was part of my prize from Stitch Supple Company. It can hold a  lot!

 

I made quite a bit of progress over the weekend and got all my flying geese made.

I took some extra time to sew a second stitch line so that I could use the trimmed wings for a bonus project later on. I now have a whole bunch of HSTs in these fabrics. 

Here are my flying geese.

Now I just need to get them all trimmed this coming week. My bonus blocks are in the box shown at the top of the photo. 

I'm hoping to get at least one quilt top finished this coming week - but that might be a stretch. Thankfully I have plenty of time to get both done and  don't need to rush. One silly project I have in mind to do in the coming month is to make the cats their own quilt. Yes - that's right. I'm making a quilt for the cat. I'm thinking a 20" quilt or two that they can have in their kitty beds. 

Chantli Quilt Pattern by Jess Poemape

Earlier this year I was a "mentor" for the Chantli Quilt pattern by Jess Poemape. A mentor looks over the instructions and checks out the quilt math and provides feedback. I did this while I was recovering from my gallbladder surgery back in July. I was something creative I could do while I wasn't quite feeling well enough to sew. 

As I worked through the math and instructions I really loved the simplicity of the pattern - it's almost all strips of the same width just cut to different lengths, but how they are arranged really gives a complicated look.  I love it when a quilt looks harder to make than it really is. I also kept thinking about how great it could be for scraps and jelly rolls. I had been cutting fabrics to make my Deltille Quilt at the time and put all my scraps aside knowing they would make a great Chantli Quilt.

The pattern was inspired by the traditional log cabin block. A traditional log cabin block always starts with a red square to signify the home. I've included one small red square in my quilt as a nod to the log cabin block. Home in Nahuatl (a language of the Aztec and Toltec people) is Chantli - hence the name of the pattern. Jess Poemape is a Latina quilt pattern designer and wants to spread knowledge about her ancestral heritage. As a fellow Latina - I fully support her mission. 

I used some Art Gallery Lower the Volume cotton poplin in Simple Growth for my background. I had some of this fabric leftover from a project for Minerva. I was able to get all my pieces cut for the blocks, and for part of the sashing, and then ran out. I had to order more from  the Fat Quarter Shop. There is a very slight color difference between the two, but I don't think it's that noticeable.

The Chantli Quilt was really fun to put together. I will definitely be making another - most likely with scraps as I really love how it looks. 

Be sure to check out other Chantli Quilts on Instagram by looking at the #chantliquilt hashtag and give Jess Poemape a follow. She makes gorgeous quilts and is a fantastic longarm quilter. 

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The Crafty Capuchin Crystallized Quilt Pattern

With a cute name like "The Crafty Capuchin" I couldn't resist applying to test their Crystallized Quilt Pattern. If you never met a Capuchin monkey, then you don't know how clever they can be. You can't get mad at them, because they are so cute. I spent two summers in the rainforests of Ecuador in college and have found memories of the Capuchin monkeys that would steal food from my backpack. 

I was also drawn to the faceted crystal like design of the Crystallized quilt pattern. I saw so many possibilities. The thing about crystals is that they reflect light and their surroundings on their faceted surfaces. When I think of crystals and how they shine, I think  of how you see the various shades of the crystal itself, and also lots of white and the sky over head.  

When selecting my fabrics and colors, I decided to go with some more muted tones. I looked on my shelves of some of my favorite specimens and was drawn to a  fluorite crystal on a substrate. The fluorite is bicolor and is a tealish blue with some lavender jutting out of an otherwise ordinary greyish brown rock. 

I looked through my fabric stash to see what fabrics I had that gave me that same "feeling". I used a solid white, a white with lavender floral print, An Opal print from Spoonflower, a teal rose design that I made from Spoonflower, and a large scale floral print with all the colors I needed. I absolutely love how my quilt turned out. I  didn't quite get it completely finished when I took photos. I forgot to add the border to the quilt. It has been added and I used the white print with lavender flowers. I ordered more of my teal rose design to use for the backing and plan to use the large scale floral for the binding.  

This pattern is beginner friendly and goes together quickly. I was very grateful for the ease in which I was able to complete this project. Right after I started, I learned I would need to have my gall bladder removed. I really couldn't put it off and scheduled surgery as soon as I could. That said, I did my best to get my top completed before I had surgery. And I did - minus the border that I somehow forgot. 

This pattern requires the use of half square triangles (HSTs). The instructions were very clear. Once you make all the HSTs needed, it is just a matter of following the diagrams to make the blocks, then joining those blocks together. The finished design looks more complicated than it is to complete. 

The pattern includes a lap size that is 52" by 52" and a twin size that is 72" by 82". I made the lap size and really love this size for a beginner. It takes less fabric, finished quickly, and can be backed with a 58" wide fabric so that it can be done without piecing or buying more expensive extra-wide backing fabric. 

Just like a capuchin monkey, the Crystallized Quilt pattern is very clever and looks so cute. 

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. These links provide me with a small compensation if you make a purchase using my link. There is not cost to you when you do this. My thoughts and opinions given in this blog post are mine.