Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2013

Have you heard about the Blogger's Quilt Festival that Amy hosts over at Amy's Creative Side? I love looking through all the entries each spring and fall, and I almost never remember to enter any of my quilts in time. For this festival though, I knew exactly which quilt I wanted to enter: my Gradated Mod Mosaic quilt.



You regular visitors here at Pitter Putter Stitch know how much blood, sweat, and tears went into this quilt. It started back in March of 2012. I had received a ton of color wheel charms and didn't have a clue as to what I should do with them. My month in the Sew Beautiful Bee was in April and inspiration struck as I looked through the colorful charms.

I started planning a ROYGBIV quilt. My goal was to create a quilt that would lead your eye through the color wheel in a gradated manner. I used Paint (yeah, I'm fancy that way) to draw a mock up of my idea to share with the girls in the Sew Beautiful Bee.



I sent out my fabrics,



made several blocks of my own, and then started piecing the quilt together. The top came together exactly as I envisioned.



Fast forward to the end of 2012 and I still hadn't finished the quilt. I wanted it to turn out amazing so I sent it off for quilting in January 2013. Unfortunately, the back was attached to the top sideways. I nearly started crying when I noticed that it wasn't on right. So I began the arduous task of unpicking all the quilting that had been done. My sweet husband even spent a night or two helping me.

Once all the quilting was unpicked and I was recovered from all the mojo-draining that happened, I re-basted the quilt and set out to quilt it myself. I quilted organic straight lines about 1/4-1/2 inch apart horizontally across the quilt. The quilting gave the quilt such amazing texture, which is exactly what I was hoping for!



For the backing, I used large squares of rainbow colors as a simplified/color-blocked version of the front. I also included the Sew Beautiful Bee label each of us received.



Thanks to all the ladies in my bee! I couldn't be happier with how this quilt turned out.

Finished Gradated Mod Mosaic Quilt

It's been nearly a year and a half since I started planning this quilt. I'm happy to finally show you the finished product! (Related posts can be found here.)

This first photo shows off the quilting really well. I quilted organic straight lines about a half inch apart across the entire width of the quilt. It took a little while, especially if I count all the hours I spent unpicking the previous quilting. But, I love the result.

This photo shows the colors as they truly are. (They look a bit faded in the first picture.)

For the backing, I made a large patchwork to mimic the colors on the front. Then I offset the squares and added a border using the same black and white crosshatch print that I put on the front. The binding is the same print.

This quilt will happily be staying at my house. It's a good lap size. And with all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making it, I don't think I'd be able to part with it anyway.

Finally unpicked!

It took forever, but I finally finished unpicking all that quilting! Now to add a bit of fabric to the backing and it'll be ready for round two.

WIP Wednesday 1/23/2013

This is my first WIP Wednesday post of 2013. I thought it'd be a good time to check in and post a bit of my finish it 2013 progress. I've neglected my camera lately, so these photos are courtesy of Instagram (@pitterputterstitch).

Last year, I pieced a few quilt tops and then set them aside while I worked on other projects. My first order of business for 2013 was to get those quilt tops quilted. They were all bee quilts so I chose to send them off for quilting.

Kayli quilted my Sew Beautiful Bee quilt top from 2011, Circle of Circle of Circle of Flying Geese. She did such a great job! I've cut the binding strips for this and just need to finish making the binding so I can cross this quilt off my list.

Barbie quilted my SLMQG bee quilt from 2011, my 1001 Peeps Supernova quilt (photo courtesy of Barbie). I love the wavy line quilting she did! The binding strips are cut and ready to turn into binding for this one too.

The last quilt top I sent off for quilting is my Gradated Mod Mosaic quilt top, my 2012 Sew Beautiful Bee quilt. I haven't gotten this one back yet, but I'm really excited for it!

Next up on my WIP list is my Madrona Road Challenge quilt. I initially wanted to make a quilt with a lot of Lynne's ET Phone Home blocks,

but then I changed course and went with Anna Maria Horner's Spinning Stars pattern instead. I've been wanting to make a quilt like this so I figured I may as well kill two birds with one stone.

I hope to finish this one up next week in time for the Modern Quilt Guild's deadline.

I also finished a quilt top for my new nephew.

I plan to baste this one when I baste my Madrona Road quilt. Then I need to get back to this baby, my Castle Peeps Lucky Square quilt. The mister is really looking forward to having a quilt of his own. This pattern is by Jessica Kelly and is for sale here.

Linking up to Lee's:

2012 Tribute to Sew Beautiful Bee - I'll miss you ladies!

I finished up my last bee block of 2012 the other night. I'm kind of sad about it being my last bee block, but happy with how it turned out. Lee sent a gorgeous palette of solids to make these 16.5" unfinished blocks so she can make a quilt like Rita's Chicopee Giant Vintage Star Quilt.



After making blocks comprised of half square triangles (HSTs), I always say I need a break from them. Without fail. But, in this block, there were only six HSTs, trimmed down to 4.5" - totally doable. And I didn't get sick of making them. I may need to make myself a quilt like this one of these days.

As I finished up Lee's block, I thought back over the year and put together this mosaic of blocks that I made and received in 2012 through the Sew Beautiful Bee. Several of us are not continuing on with the bee next year due to other commitments. I'm sad to see our group disband, but understand that all of us have full, busy lives. We plan to keep our connection alive though by having a swap sometime next year, and of course we'll all be keeping tabs on each other through blogs, Flickr, and Instagram.

It's been such a joy getting to know all of you girls over the last two years. I wish you all good luck in your future endeavors!



I'm finishing up a couple quilts for Christmas and then I hope to finish up my Gradated Mod Mosaic quilt that these ladies helped me put together. It'd be pretty amazing if I finished a bee quilt in the same year that I started it!

A few quilt blocks

Since making this house block last year for Cara's quilt, I wanted to try making another one with a little more to it. I had a few fat quarters from the Dress Up Days line from Riley Blake, which showcases some super cute little girls doing various activities. I used the piece from the blue colorway as my starting point for this block. I cut out three of the little girls, added an apple tree, a house on a hill, and then hand-stitched a sun, cloud, and chimney with smoke.

I also tried making an atomic ranch-style house block. The mister told me it looks like a rest stop. With that, I put this block away and will try adding to it later when I can see something other than a rest stop crossed with Stonehenge. =)

I'm only three blocks away from finishing my Gradated Color Mod Mosaic quilt top. Here's another blue block. I have one more blue and two yellow blocks to go.

While driving to Oregon for my friend's wedding back in June, I took some paper pieces and fabric scraps and tried my hand at English Paper Piecing (EPP). I wish I would have planned the project out a little better. Since I only had scraps, not all the fabrics went well together. So I improvised. I may sew these hexagons onto some zippered pouches, or maybe make some more random hexagons and just attach them all like this for a table topper or something.

On our roadtrip, I found myself really enjoying EPP so when Kati asked for paper pieced stars for her month in the Sew Beautiful Bee, I settled on a rose star EPP pattern. This shot shows the star in progress, but I've since finished it and need to get the photo off my camera.

I've been spending a lot of my sewing time lately on smaller projects like this. It's really satisfying to start and finish a sewing project in one setting. But, I did manage to finish another quilt that had been basted and patiently waiting for months for me to get around to it. I'll show some more of these projects soon.

Pre-Weekend Catchup

Happy Friday, everyone! I got Instagram on my phone a couple weeks ago and I've been totally loving it! I'm so glad they finally made it available on Android. (I'm pitterputterstitch if you want to follow me.)

This week I've spent some time working on a project I can't show for a few weeks, but I've really enjoyed working with COLOR this week.

I laid out all the blocks I have so far for my Gradated Mod Mosaic quilt and I think it is looking a.maz.ing! Can't wait to get the rest in the mail and finish my four blocks!

I also decided to make a quilt out of melon patch blocks. It's a bit slow-going right now as I only have four of the 64 segments pieced, but I think it'll look great in Anna-Maria Horner's Innocent Crush.

I've been so obsessed with color lately. I commented to the mister last night that I wonder if I'll get sick of all this rainbowy goodness and have to make a few projects out of neutrals or something. I sure hope not. I just can't get enough of color!

Coming Along

My limited sewing time this week has been spent on my Granny Squares quilt and my Gradated Color Mod Mosaic bee quilt.

This week's granny is purple and black/gray. Four down, sixteen to go.

This is going to be a colorful quilt. In fact, I used scrap pieces in every color.

I love how these Mod Mosaic blocks look. I just wish that they didn't take so long to put together. I also find it a bit time-consuming to get the final size right. I want all the blocks to be 12.5 inches. For this block, I had to add a couple additional strips that weren't part of my original layout. It ended up being fine, but it takes more time to stop and plan additional aspects of the block.

But, I'm so excited to see the blocks my bee-mates are posting on Flickr. I CAN'T WAIT to put this one together. I'm hoping to churn out my remaining four blocks before I receive all the other blocks in the mail. That way, I can get this puppy put together ASAP!

Isn't it coming together so nicely?!

WIP Wednesday: Granny, Melons, and Fabric

I've been slowly chipping away at my to-do list this week. Let's get on with it, shall we?

Accomplished this Week

I managed to make another Granny Squares block - a Halloween version.

I also put together this bee block for Andrea. The directions she gave us calls this a melon block. I'm not sure if that's the correct name or not, but I sure do like it. I want to make a pillow out of this block for my living room, but with each quadrant rotated so the finished block looks like a giant cathedral window instead.

I also finished my Sew Beautiful Bee 2011 quilt top, which I'm calling Circle of Circle of Circle of Flying Geese. Read about it here.

I also made some x&+ blocks, but haven't taken any photos yet. Stay tuned.

No Progress Made

I haven't worked on any of my other WIPs. I realized too that I need to start yet another quilt for my BFF who's getting married in June. She and her new hubs needs a quilt, methinks.

My in progress items include:

• 1001 Peeps Supernova Quilt
• Single Girl/Retro Flowers Quilt
• Twin Quilts
• Mom's Quilt
• Lorax Quilt
• Daughter's Quilt
• Gradated Mod Mosaic Quilt

But, I did manage to take some photos of new fabric that's arrived at my house lately. I get so happy just looking at all of it!

Flea Market Fancy

Chevrons

Alphabet Soup and Pezzy Prints

So that's what's been going on around here. What about you? What have you been working on this week?

My Turn in the Sew Beautiful Bee

A few months ago I participated in some of Kati's color wheel charm swaps. After two rounds, I had all these five-inch charm squares and no plans for what to do with them.

Fast forward to the end of January/first of February. I started brainstorming about what I'd like the girls in the Sew Beautiful Bee to make during my month. I toyed with a few scrap quilt ideas (using confetti blocks like this and wonky triangle blocks like the one in Block Party). Ultimately, I settled on mod mosaic blocks using Elizabeth's tutorial.

I thought this would be a great way to use the charms, so I set out organizing single-color packs of fabric

and planning this layout.

My plan is for each block to gradually move from color to color. For example, for those making the green blocks, they'll place the green-yellow fabrics in the upper left corner, the green fabrics diagonally in the middle (bottom left to top right), and the green-blue fabrics in the lower right corner.

I'll be making all the yellow and blue blocks while the rest of the girls in the bee make the other blocks for me.

I really hope this idea works. I think the end product has the potential to be pretty awesome!