Bright Sky QAL - Ms Nightshade

A few months ago, Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts asked me if I would be interested in joining her Bright Sky Quilt Along?  Sure, I said.  No problem, I said.  And really, it wasn't a problem - I just got my skates on and got the quilt top made incredibly fast! Seriously, this is a super quick pattern to put together! But I then had to leave it languish in my pile of WIP's, because, Tokyo.

Anyway - today is my stop on the quilt along!  So I'm going to show you my version of the Bright Sky pattern.  And it's a colour palette I never really envisioned EVER using!

This, my friends, is Ms Nightshade.

 

Isn't she beautiful?  I was lucky enough to score a big bundle of Nightshade fat quarters from Quilt Jane earlier this year.  I know two females in my life who would die over these prints, I just had to wait for the right pattern to use them in.  And given Bright Sky's big scale pattern, I brought Nightshade out to play.  It took a lot of umming and ahhing to convince myself it was going to work!  I mean - olive, pink and black?  And CREAM?!?!!?  I ordered the solids from The Oz Material Girls (their quilting solids really are beautiful to work with!) and was pleased when they arrived and actually co-ordinated well with the prints.

The next step was to make the cameo of this gothic princess work.  Let me tell you - fat quarters and huge scale prints are not ideal!  It almost killed me not using a complete cameo, but I basically had to fussy cut this baby so that it was pretty much centred.  My fat quarter had the top of the cameo cut off - hence why the bottom is too!  The great thing about this pattern however, is that the centre block just had to be 18" square.  Which essentially means you can make that square up however you please.  You would have seen Alyce's latest version, which she made in to a star, well this one is just a frame around the cameo.  Winning.

 

I was VERY impressed with my points on the inner star!  It was relatively easy to put together in terms of the bias I was working with, but I was a tad worried during the process!

What I WASN'T impressed with, was how my outer star points ended up!  Completely my fault, and I am dreading having to unpick to fix the problem.  BUT, I can't really not have star points!  I'm thinking the reason behind this minor issue was that the outer star rectangular blocks were a little bigger than they should have been, so I SHOULD have trimmed them down a little before piecing it all together.  Doh. So that is my next step.

Now, a little dilemma I'm having is BACKING.  I searched high and low whilst in Tokyo for the perfect backing fabric - to no avail.  I even had lovely Alyce's help, but nothing.  If you head over to Blossom Heart Quilts today, she is having a little old giveaway - and all you have to do is suggest what fabric I should use for my backing.  I look forward to getting some options!

And just for laughs......here's an out-take from the photo shoot yesterday......

Was a tad bit windy....

I hope you like my version of the Bright Sky pattern!  You can find the pattern HERE and the full schedule of quilt-alongers is here:

Monday 29th September – Choosing Fabrics Tips

Week 1: Centre Star
Monday 6th October – Have Fun With Your Centre Star!
Wednesday 8th October – Echo by Molli Sparkles

Week 2: Piece Outer Star
Monday 13th October – Outer Star Tips
Wednesday 15th October – My Fabric Relish

Week 3: Piece Quilt Top + Backing
Monday 20th October – BHQ
Wednesday 22nd October – Ms Midge

Week 4: Quilting
Monday 27th October – Pretty Bobbins free motion quilting guest post here at BHQ
Wednesday 29th October – A Stitch In Between (Bright Sky mini)

Week 5: Quilting
Monday 3rd November – Elven Garden Quilts free motion quilting guest post here at BHQ

Week 6: Final Linky
Monday 10th November – Linky opens here at BHQ for a week

Voting:
Monday 17th November – Linky closes and voting opens for Viewers’ Choice award
Friday 21st November – Winners announced!

I'm also linking up with Freshly Pieced!

Sea Breeze Mini QAL - It's My Turn!

If I'm to be honest, a mini quilt QAL was the last thing I had in my sights a few months ago, but who was I to knock back a spot on Gnome Angel's list??   I procrastinated for quite some time after buying the pattern, because I was trying desperately to figure out how I could make this little mini in to something that reflected my own style and my own "vision"??  Ok, does that sound stooooopid?  Anyway.....  After before-mentioned procrastination, I finally had that vision, and was grateful to one of the QAL peeps for producing a little colouring in platform for me.  Next thing, I found myself happily colouring in which lead to this little picture......

Doesn't really look like the Sea Breeze does it?  The next step after the colouring in was fabric selection.  This mini was never going to be for me - you see, I have a grand plan that my sewing room walls will eventually be filled with others minis, not my own!  So with the recipient in mind, I set out finding the fabric I would use......

Kind of bright yes?  And then it was translating the drawing and fabric in to an actual quilt top......

It was about here that I may or may not have done a little fist pump!

And here she is - in all her glory - my Sea Breeze Mini Quilt!

You like?  I LOVE!  Not only does it look unique because of the fabric layout, the quilting then changed the look of it also.

 

I used a number of Aurifil threads - #2605 for swirls in the grey negative space, #2810 for a little matchstick and pebble action on the turquoise and #2530 straight-lining around the pink "ribbons".

 

There are a couple of intersecting hst's that are not perfect, and I keep picking on them, but I really am very happy with how relatively straight it all is!

 

And just because there is a use for almost everything in this world - I've made this big mini in to a cushion cover!  I've found a neat way of making an exposed zipper look pretty, and am wrapt with the end result.

So - what do you think?  Did I take the secondary or third pattern within the pattern and make it work?  I think so!  Lesson of the day:  A pattern doesn't always have to be ONE pattern.  You can ALWAYS find a few others within.

If you're yet to get on board with the QAL - there's still plenty of time to grab your pattern and get moving.  This really is a one day project if you're focused and have nothing else to do!  Pop over to Gnome Angel and get the low-down!  You'll find the whole schedule of action and will be able to drool over everyone's creations!  Go!

There's also a progress linky right here, right now, so go ahead and link on up!

An InLinkz Link-up

I'm linking up - You can too!

W.I.P. #15 - Bloom Bloom Pow!

Another W.I.P. Wednesday on a Thursday - It's Wednesday somewhere in the world!?!

This week saw me embarking on my first ever QAL (quilt along for those who just raised an eyebrow).  I'm joining in with Lee from Freshly Pieced, and making her Bloom Bloom Pow quilt.

It took me much thinking, over thinking and then a bit more thinking to finally decide on which fabrics I would use.  And also which size I would make.  I ended up opting for the Cocoon range by Valori Wells.  It's been sitting on  my shelf waiting for the right project!  I also chose to make the baby size quilt, due to the fact I won't have much time over the next month or so.

The result of a few hours cutting!  I've gone with Cocoon for the big petals, and a whole eclectic mix of prints and plains for the bloom's background.  And this afternoon I'm cutting the white.

Tomorrow, Lee will give us the instructions for piecing - I'm VERY excited!

It's not too late to join in, I've joined a fab Facebook group for some of us taking part, which is great for bouncing ideas around and a good laugh! Let me know if you would like to join in too!

I'm linking up with W.I.P. Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced!