As you may have heard, Robert Kaufman just released 25 new Kona Colors – yay! So I needed to update the Color Card Quilt patterns. I rewrote and reconfigured Color Card Versions 1 and 2, Color Order and Color Slide. I kept Version 3 as is, Color Shift because I like that version. And I created a new Version 4 Color Refraction – along the same lines as Version 3, but uses almost all of the Kona Colors. Plus I added a new embroidered label for Versions 1 and 2.
And then I created a blank slate and started again from scratch, square by square, to create a completely new version, the Color Burst. I have been wanting to create a version like this for a while, and with 365 colors now, I thought this was the perfect time. This version uses all of the Kona Colors and a few neutrals, and builds from the center out, darkness to light. I will be making this version with 5″ cuts for a finished size of just over 6′ square. I am excited about this one! I saw a Kona Charm Pack last night and immediately added it to my cart, and then thought about it and realized it was only the new colors, not all the colors I need – back to the cutting table.
See the previews below. I will start working on the samples and get the quilt top previews posted as soon as possible. You can find the Kona Color Cards Pattern here, and the Color Burst Pattern here. Thanks for visiting – I hope you are having a wonderful weekend and getting into the Thanksgiving spirit. Happy Fall Y’all!
I finished up the first new set of Halloween Art this weekend: Supernatural Wit Halloween Hoops. Each piece is brightly colored on a dark background with a sassy phrase – what better way to get you prepared and in the proper mood for October?
I may have a plan to bring in a set of these to my day job and hang one outside of everyone’s door. I don’t know what will be left for me and my door, but I have an idea of where “Resting Witch Face” and “Watch Out I Bite” will end up. LOL – there is a lot of love in our office, and we all love the holidays. Looking forward to the First Day of Fall and all things festive through the end of the year!
Which reminds me: A couple of years ago I was driving through town and looking for my destination and I turned the corner, saw a sign, and started laughing so hard. I told my husband to take a picture for me but he was too slow. The sign in question was an Auto Shop. The sign: “THEY’RE BACK! PUMPKIN SPICE OIL CHANGES!” Best Pumpkin Spice Sign Ever. I still love it.
Each image is clickable so you can get more information. Thanks for visiting and have a great First Week of Fall! #PumpkinSpiceEverything
Have you ever made a Panel Quilt? I just got 4 panels that I am very excited about! It all started with a quilt I saw hanging in a quilt shop recently – with a panel they don’t even carry! So I had to hunt it down because I needed it. You know?! So I tracked it down, and during my research I found three others I had to have, so now I have four panel quilts I have to make! The hard part right now is finding the perfect border and binding fabric, and the perfect backing for each. I think I want to do Minky backing for all of them and then they will be super soft and fuzzy, perfect for movie nights in our theatre chairs!
The Inspiration:
And the 4 Panels I have plans for – (Jack glows in the dark!) :
Have you made a Panel Quilt before? Do you have a favorite border size or quantity of borders? I like the idea of a Minky backing but the one I was looking at said no ironing and it wasn’t wide enough by itself, there would need to be a seam! Something else to look into…
Have you heard about the new Harry Potter game that was released on Friday? It’s called Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. My family downloaded it and we all created character names, but I’m not as far into as they are – I never played the Pokemon game so I’m still trying to figure it all out!
But with the release of this new app, it reminded me that I never shared my Harry Potter Surprise on the blog. If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen this a few months ago, but here I can give a little more detail and some more photos.
If you are familiar with the Harry Potter books, then you know what happens when you turn 11. My son turned 11 in March and it was around the time of the school’s Spring Break, so we took advantage of that and did a whole themed Spring Break vacation, complete with the reveal!
I created the pieces well in advance just in case I ran out of time. Plus I needed to have everything staged – we were headed to Seattle for a couple days before we came back home, to surprise him and then leave again! So these photos are of what was waiting for him when he walked through the door. I recorded video on my phone and my husband took photos – the reveal was so fun. He was so surprised and shocked and excited!
Please look past the snow on these first few photos – it was snowing that day but the light was good and it was my only chance to get some outdoor photos before the reveal!
I found a zip up sweatshirt on Amazon that was black on the outside and yellow on the inside – perfect for my little Hufflepuff! I added the Hogwarts Crest to the left side of the jacket, and I added Bowtruckle to the right, his favorite character from the new Fantastic Beasts movie series. On the back I have the quote “I Solemnly Swear I Am Up to No Good”.
I moved my mannequin out to the dining room table – where he would see it as soon as he walked in. We set out the Hufflepuff t-shirt we found, the Hogwarts Acceptance Letter, and the Owl delivery – I wish I could have gotten an actual owl to deliver but, you know…
This was one of the many faces he made when he realized what he had received, and what was about to happen. One of my favorite faces that day!
And a photo of him standing with the Knight Bus – the first stop before entering the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – and the only time he wore the jacket! To be fair, it was hot, and he got his own House Robe shortly after that so he wore that, when it wasn’t too hot!
In addition to Hedwig, I also created Bowtruckle and Niffler. The jacket was my favorite though – got some oohs and aahs with that one, the short time that he wore it!
I would like to go back and create the Hogwarts Crest on a mini hoop as well as the 4 House Crests – and wrap them in their House color. I think that would be fun. I think the Hogwarts Crest would need to be wrapped in black to match the robes – that would be fun to hang on the wall with our other souvenirs.
I am so close to having all the blocks made for the Trinket Quilt. I decided to do the 76″ x 92″ layout which is 19 squares x 23 squares for a total of 437 blocks – 218 of which are paper pieced! It was a lot to take on, especially since I wasn’t expecting to be sick for a few weeks and not have the ability or energy to sew, plus the last 2 weeks my main sewing machine has been in the shop for repair, so I’m using my old little machine. It’s been rough.
Anyways, as of this moment I am 40 blocks away from finishing the blocks. I know what you are thinking – so many people ONLY made 40 blocks total. I know – this is why I am kicking myself in this moment, but I think in the end I will be happy with my decision to create so many more. Plus we like the extra long quilts for the sofa – it really helps when you have to share.
When I decided to create this quilt a few months ago, I came up with a layout idea based on the 19 x 23 block layout, and using 36 of the 40 colors for the paper pieced squares. I will be using Raven for the background checkerboard squares, and apparently Charcoal for the backing – I accidentally ordered Charcoal instead of Raven so… there you go. Probably Raven for the binding too, as I want the focus on the squares.
I will share the specific block layout later (each color square labeled) but for now just the color overview. With my 36 selected colors, I would create six blocks of each as a Base Color (i.e. base color Cherry, base color Fern, etc.), with the last 2 colors having 7 each to make the total of 218. I am also making five of each of the 40 blocks, plus an extra 17 of my choosing, and the bonus ribbon block. Here is my color grid:
It won’t look exactly like this of course because each colorful square will have some sort of design, but I am hoping this idea transfers through. And I should mention that I took the Kaleidoscope colors, selected the closest Kona cotton colors, and used those Kona colors that I have saved in the computer to come up with this layout – these colors will NOT be exact to the final Kaleidoscope colors.
Be sure to check out the Trinket Sew Along page for each individual block and their colors if you are interested. I will have more detailed information posted soon. And I hope to have my blocks finished this week so I can start cutting the background squares and putting this whole thing together!
Hello! Happy Saturday… May the Fourth Be With You! I can’t resist – the Force is strong with my family! And I hope you have some plans for tomorrow’s Cinco de Mayo day.
I just wanted to let you know that I think the transition to the new site is complete – I have re-posted all of the blog posts that I think are still valid and relevant. I have pages for the Minecraft Quilt, the Tula Pink 100 Modern Blocks City Sampler, the Trinket Quilt, the Delightful Desert Quilt, and other pages of projects and quilts that I have created in the past, but didn’t seem to earn their own blog post – see the right sidebar for more page links.
I do have more blog posts planned soon, I just don’t have them ready to go quite yet. At this point I am frantically trying to finish up all of my 218 Trinket paper pieced squares to finish the quilt top in time for the Trinket Sew Along deadline. Wish me luck with that.
Check out the Trinket page for the blocks I have finished and photographed so far – I will eventually have them all up and labeled, as well as my layout plan and how I put it all together.
Also – I will be sharing my Wizarding World of Harry Potter surprise for my son’s 11th birthday. Again I just need to get everything together for that.
So just a quick hello, checking in. Thank you for stopping by and subscribing. I will be more active with blog posts soon – it was a big process to try and recreate all of the blog posts moving over to the new hosted site, plus we were out of town for spring break, then I was very sick for a few weeks, and now I am playing catch up. Thank you for your patience, and I will be back soon!
