I know I posted a couple weeks ago that the Kona Color Card Patterns were updated – but I updated them again! Two reasons: One, because I found Robert Kaufman’s charm packs to total all 365 colors and easily put it all together – I even have a PDF now with how they are sorted through the charm packs, top down. All you need to do is print the labels, label the fabrics and start sewing. Plus this makes the finished size even bigger and snugglier – I know that is what I am after, when we all try to share the quilt on the sofa for movie night!
And two: I moved one square of the Color Burst layout as I was sewing it together. And when one square moves, they all move. But this is it – no more moves, and it is almost halfway sewn together. I will have a Color Burst Quilt Top completed photo for you soon.
For now, below is my final floor layout and a photo of the bottom row sewn together. I am excited about it all coming together and what that will look like – definitely different than the computer version – but I had to start with something!
Find the Kona Color Card Pattern Set (x4) and the Color Burst Pattern here on Etsy. If you want to make one or more of these with the precut Robert Kaufman Kona charm packs, order one of each (per quilt): CHS-692-85, CHS-693-85, CHS-694-85, CHS-695-85, CHS-851-42. And 5 sheets of Avery 8167 labels. This Color Burst shown below will be just over 6′ square when finished.
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
I found this States collection awhile ago, and I downloaded it a couple months ago with a goal of making each state. It is a big goal as there are 50 states and so far with the five states I have completed, the smallest number of color changes is about 25, and the largest is 55! Even with my 10-needle machine, that is still 6 full thread color changes. Plus the embroidery alone takes about 3 hours, so babysitting the machine for three hours and all of the color changes, and then I need to finalize the hoop into the wall art as seen below, another hour or so. My goal is one or two per week.
I created my first test state using Washington, my home state, and figured out what NOT to do for the next time. So I made Washington again and I think it turned out much better than the first time!
My biggest hurdle right now is converting the called for Floriani colors into the Madeira thread that I have. Initially I was trying to convert color for color, have a different Madeira thread for each Floriani thread. That would be logical right? Turns out, it doesn’t work that way. Floriani has a focus on different colors than Madeira does, plus there is a sheen with Floriani that is hard to match up to Madeira and make sure you are getting the correct color! So now I am making a list of my Madeira selection for the Floriani conversion – in that moment in time. Knowing full well that in the future, that may not be my Madeira color of choice for the project, but it worked the best the day I chose it, against the Floriani color card. More on that later.
I decided to start with the West Coast (best coast) and work my way east. Here are Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii and California. I will finish up my Floriani conversion and start on the next 5 states, which will begin with Idaho and Montana. In time I will have the color conversions for all 50 states and have them all made up in hoop art as shown here.
I have big plans for this weekend while the boys are camping. Hopefully I’ll have something new to share next week. Have a great weekend everyone, and thanks for visiting!
It is September! I am searching for the cool crisp autumn days and just not finding them. For the past few days it has said “Feels like 95” for my area, one time all the way up to 97! I have a feeling I will be wishing for these days again in a few months, but for now the humidity is killing me.
I just wanted to share some new things I created recently. I finally took the plunge and tried out lace designs with some new embroidery thread and I’m so glad I did! It might be a new obsession.
First I tried this Nevermore Bookmark. This is the Battenburg Lace technique which required a thicker thread and is cotton instead of the rayon polyester standard Madeira thread that I use. There were a few quirks that I figured out along the way, and when I had a request to make a second one it was much smoother.
After the Nevermore Bookmark, I wanted to try the Autumn Leaves I have been eyeing, along with the butterflies, dragonflies, etc. So I made my first Autumn Maple Leaf: Large. And then a Medium. And then a Small. And I love them!
And Birch Leaves:
Saturday morning I decided to make some coasters with these Autumn Leaves patterns. I think I might need to make us a set too:
And I finished some Hoop Art, including the next 4 months of Monthly Girls, and just look at this Painted Lion!
And I recently finished two Halloween quilts and posted them on Etsy. I made my son the Too Cute to Spook quilt and I loved it so much I made another one. And the jelly roll Monster Bash has matching fabric for the Backing and Binding. The Too Cute to Spook White/Purple quilt has matching Binding, but a Black Sparkle Fleece for the back – nice and soft! Here are a couple photos of the quilts: Child not included.
You can click on the images above – or find my Etsy shop here. Thanks for visiting!
I entered my first Fair! I saw an Instagram post that the Lincoln Modern Quilt Guild posted about quilts being entered into the local County Fair. I had a couple days to decide, and I decided I would be able to finish one in time, and I had three I wanted to submit. I filled out the form, finished hand sewing the binding on the largest one, and dropped them off a week ago. I haven’t entered a quilt show or Fair or anything else before, so I was a little nervous about leaving them behind – they took so long to make and so much went into them – in the way of fabric, and time and trial and error and skill learning, and custom quilting! Judging was to be done the next day before the Fair opened.
Fast forward to Saturday and we went to the Fair, with Demolition Derby tickets for that night. We wanted to arrive a few hours early to look around the Fair at the activities and see some events, and go check on my quilts that I dropped off. We finally made it over to the room where the quilts were displayed and I saw Minecraft right away – with a tag with my name on it! I turned around to see my Gravity quilt, larger than life and bold in color – and I excitedly said “that’s mine!”. I took a photo of Minecraft on display, one with my son in front of Minecraft (it is his quilt…) and I waited for Gravity to be clear.
I walked over to my Gravity quilt and saw the white tag with my name on it again – and under the white tag was a red ribbon – 2nd Place for the Bed Size Quilts Class! I’m not exactly sure how the ribbons work with the Class being Bed Quilts and having 12 subclasses, but I was so surprised – and happy – to see a ribbon attached!
I was talking with the Lincoln Modern Quilt Guild Rep that was there about how excited I was to have a ribbon, and my husband took my photo – I asked if I could hold up the ribbon while he took the photo – she allowed it only because it was my quilt. You are not allowed to touch the quilts! I didn’t touch any but my own. And then I said I had one more entered that I hadn’t found yet. I turned to the next section and I found my third quilt entry – the Small Quilts Class – and I entered it into the Embroidery category. Under the name tag on this quilt was a blue ribbon! I couldn’t believe it – two ribbons and one of them was blue! I received a First Place Blue Ribbon! I was hoping Gravity would get me some positive feedback, as I worked really hard on that one and I thought my piecing was pretty good, and the quilting is beautiful (Thank you Teresa Silva: Quilting Is My Bliss). I was not expecting a blue ribbon for the Embroidery Panel quilt – but I am so happy I received it!
We talked about how they had a National judge come in who gave some really specific feedback (looking forward to and a little scared of that). And we talked about the Lincoln Modern Quilt Guild – my husband basically signed me up on the spot.
For now, I’m just very excited that my first quilt entry was a success. I did not expect to receive 2 ribbons but I am very happy. I am looking forward to having the quilts back home. And the ribbons.
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…
Happy Bastille Day! I wish I was in Paris celebrating. Okay I always wish I was in Paris…
I was able to finish some new Hoop Art today and just got them posted. I have a couple of new series that will be available over time. The one I’m most excited about is the States series – I am hoping to have one new one each week. They are large and detailed and take a lot of time for the machine to finish, even with the new beast! Today I am starting with my home state of Washington. Go Seahawks! Go Mariners! I’ll start with the Western states and head east. Next up is Oregon!
I also found a Toile Space Needle design that I could not pass up, some Crazy Ladies, a Celestial Balloon girl, a Miss July, and a Lunar Landing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing!
Images are linked below – as always let me know if there is something you are looking for that you can’t find and I’ll see if we can figure it out. Thanks for visiting, and I hope you are having an amazing summer. I can’t believe it’s half over and school will start so soon!
Happy July and Happy Monday! It’s Monday, which is always scary, but it’s a new day, a new week, a new month, and the Second Half of the New Year Day! Yeah that’s a real thing. It’s also less than 6 month to Christmas! Are you getting ready for that yet?!
Anyways… this past week was really busy. Last weekend I was not able to finish any new items because I was making so many patches and shipping them out all over the place. Thank you if you had a recent patch order! But it also meant that I had items just sitting there waiting to be finished, so this week I made sure that I was able to finish a few of them.
I went back and revisited the Celebration Gnomies and finished the group of them in their proper coloring. I also made the Surf ‘n Swim Gnomies and the Strike A Pose Gnomies, that might be my favorite Gnomie set right now.
I also finished a Watercolor Lobster, a Gemstone Wolf and some Patriotic Blooms. It may sound like a random assortment but I love them all! They have all been added to the shop and are ready to ship immediately except for the Patriotic Blooms – this one has already been sold but I can make more!
As always let me know if there is something you are looking for – otherwise I am working through my very long list of ideas and will be back soon with more to share. I hope you all have a good Holiday and weekend this week!
