Christmas Shimmer

Do you have any patterns you just make repeatedly? I have a few clothing patterns I do this with, but only a couple of quilt patterns I've made more than once. This is one of them. It's Shimmer by Cluck Cluck Sew and it's a really fun sew. I like how it comes together, and it's a style I really enjoy sewing and think looks good. It's not too quick, but it doesn't take a long time and it shows off fabric well. The piece sizes are a good fit for the type of fabrics I usually purchase.

And, if you want, you can fussy cut. This is the first one I've made with fussy cut centers but I picked the pattern for this quilt specifically because the centers were a good size for fussy cutting the fabric I had chosen. 

See, I picked up a cut of a super cute retro style Christmas print at Garden of Quilts in 2022. I just couldn't resist it, even though it's completely NOT my normal style. And then I supplemented it with a few other focal prints...and set out looking for a pattern that would enable me to really show them off. 

Shimmer has centers that are a great size for the scale of these prints. The center is large enough there's a good amount of space so the entire selection can usually fit, but not so large that there's a lot of extra space around it. 

This is decidedly unlike my other Christmas quilts.

But I don't care, I love how it turned out. And I have a bit more of the focal prints so maybe I'll be making another quilt sometime in the future so it has a buddy...hmm...

Starshine Quilt

A few years ago, I picked up a couple of florals by Rifle Paper Co. that I loved. One had a lovely burgundy background, but I didn't know how to use them. They sat in my drawers waiting for a project. Last fall, I worked on a fabric Friday pull using them and settled on this. Even though I didn't have anything to tie in the burgundy, I thought it was still okay. And I really liked the colors together. So I kept it aside and thought about patterns I could use it for.

And then I remembered a quilt pattern I was given for my birthday from my oldest daughter. She had picked it out when we were at a quilt shop after visiting a quilt show at a nearby museum and had my husband buy it for her. It's called Star Shine by Modernly Morgan and I really like it. It looks like a simple pattern, one I would not buy for myself because I would think I could figure it out on my own, but I'm glad she picked it. Unfortunately, my colors look an awful lot like the cover quilt. I don't like remaking quilts someone else made, I really prefer to put my own spin on it, so this is disappointing, but I do really love the colors and how it turned out, so I don't mind too much.

When I was ready to make it, I had to pick out fewer fabrics than I had in my pull. Some were easy to eliminate because I didn't have a big enough piece. But I made sure to use the two Rifle prints that started it all. I'm really happy with it, I think it's a pretty quilt!

I backed it with a Ruby Star Speckled I picked up on sale, and I bound it with a Ruby Star Sprinkle that I got on the same sale. They don't match together super well, so I'm sure not going to brag about how great the back looks, but they both work with the quilt so I'm happy.

Hidden Stars

My older girls have been asking me to make them new bed quilts for a while. They've been jealous that the twins have minky-backed bed quilts, and theirs have boring-and-not-as-soft flannel. Even though they still share a room, I think they were also tired of having coordinated quilts and wanted something more personal.

It was on my list, but low. I have so many other projects that I'm more excited about, and they HAVE bed quilts. 

Then, I ordered a Florida jelly roll by Ruby Star Society when it was on sale and my oldest daughter fell in love with it when I opened it up to brainstorm. I don't usually buy precuts or sew with them because I've always found it easier to use yardage, and I don't typically sew quilts from just one line. Sometimes there's a dominant line, but I rarely use exclusively one line. 

This quilt is no exception. I used the whole jelly roll because it was a half-sized roll anyway, but I added a bunch of strips from my yardage too. And I copied a pattern I had seen online somewhere, doing the math myself  (not sure it was jelly roll friendly anyway). I love the secondary pattern it creates with the stars in the middle between the blocks and she was excited about it too. 

We backed it with dark gray minky and she loves it. At least, I think she does...she still mostly sleeps under her comforter. *shrug*

Long arm quilted by Abby Latimer, completed March 2022

Passages Quilt

 This quilt came about unexpectedly. 

I had visited Corn Wagon Quilt Shop in Springville and they had a pile of Moda scrap bags. I'd always been fascinated by these scrap bags; they seem slightly less expensive than a jelly roll (though, it doesn't seem by much...) and you get a variety of good sized scraps. But, just about everywhere that sells them online sells them on a mystery basis. 

That is not me. 

I don't even buy any of those subscription boxes, though I would love a surprise in the mail, because it's so hard for me to justify spending money on something I might get and absolutely hate. There are a lot of great Moda designers that I would enjoy receiving scraps of. But there are also plenty that are way too traditional for my taste, and then the fabric wouldn't get used. 

No thanks.

But, seeing them in person...that was different. I could peek through the window, and one was already open! So I got to see what it was. They had Ruby Star Society scrap bags and I found one I really liked. It was a mix of multiple lines, and they worked together well. I added in some from my own stash and bought some solids to go with them, and came up with this design based on some that I had seen on social media. It's made up of two different blocks made in the same way, like a 3 sided log cabin block, one with 2 rounds and one with 3. It reminded me of doorways or a covered walkway, so I called it Passages. I opted to make it large enough for our guest bedroom, and then after, I made a couple of throw pillows to go with it. The Essex linen is metallic and I used a rust orange color that I think works well with the quilt colors. I backed it with a Robert Kaufman wide back that I had purchased for my bed quilt, but when it arrived, I knew I couldn't use it on my bed. It's stiff and rough. My quilter, Abby Latimer, said that she heard that white prints are really tough to manufacture so that may have contributed. Maybe. But I don't mind putting it on the guest bed. It doesn't get used often, and I don't mind not encouraging guests to overstay their welcome ;-)

long arm quilted by Abby Latimer, completed March 2021