Northern Lights Finish

This quilt was not as simple as I thought it would be.  The pattern is written for the lighter version of the quilt, and of course, I chose to do the dark version.  Somehow this was difficult for me to wrap my head around when piecing the top.  I loved the star blocks!  Lovely... and not too hard to put together.  The cross blocks were another story.  There are SO many seams that it's tough to get everything to line up nicely.  I used lots of pins and starch to get everything to lay flat.  The pattern does show which direction to press your seams to as you work.  For whatever reason, when I printed the pattern, none of the photos/diagrams showed up.  I simply followed the pattern directly from my laptop screen, but I do like a hard copy to reference.

Overall, for my first attempt at this one I am happy.  I do love the Scandinavian look of the pattern, much like the fair isle sweaters.  One mistake was my choice in backing.  I wanted this to be a warm cuddly quilt for winter.  I chose minky with the dots in a snowy white.  Minky is not my friend to say the least... it moves.  I pinned and pinned and checked, but ended up with a hot mess on the back and ripping out a lot of stitching.... NIGHTMARE.  I followed the many tutorials on line, including those from the Missouri Quilt Company to guide me when working with a larger quilt and cuddly fabric.  I used a serpentine/zig zag stitch for the binding and for outlining the star blocks.  I also sandwiched this quilt with a layer of warm and white batting.  It was just too heavy for my little Bernina and I to get finished.  I keep thinking about sending quilts out once I've completed the top.  Perhaps I should just stick with a nice quilting cotton for backs unless I'm doing a baby quilt?  Thoughts?

This one measures about 60x60 and is available on etsy as a pattern from Cora's Quilts.  

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Happy Holidays:)

Jen

Northern Lights

At the end of the last two summers we have sent off "lanterns" at the beach.  I purchased them on Amazon.  If you haven't done this before, it's well worth it!  The lanterns look amazing as they float off into the dark sky over the water.  Each of the kids sent off their own... much like in the movie Tangled.  

Speaking of "Lights" I've started cutting and organizing the pieces for a new quilt called, "Northern Lights".  This pattern has a Scandinavian feel to it.  I'm drawn to these types of quilts, as my grandmother was born in Norway.  I purchased this quilt kit and pattern from etsy.....

The other similar pattern I'd like to do is from Camille Roskelley.  It's her Norway pattern you can purchase here.

This is my WIP for the week to start off the month of November.  I'd love to know if any of you have tried either of these patterns?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jen:)

Friday Miss Kate and Hexagon Piecing

After finishing the fireworks quilt I needed an easy go to project to do...simple patchwork is the best.

This is Miss Kate fabric.  Isn't she lovely?

This one now measures 41x44... good size for a crib quilt.

I haven't decided on quilting or a backing yet, but it feels great just to finish a quick top. 

 I've also started cleaning out my sewing room and have created a destash section in my etsy shop.

If anyone is looking for fabric from Laura Gunn, I've got some:)

Magnolia Lane and Lantern Bloom, both great collections no longer available.

I am revisiting a hexagon project I started quite a while ago.  It requires piecing hexagons by machine and is inspired by the quilt pattern from this magazine.  

Linking up with Crazy Mom quilts finish it up Friday.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend:)

Jen

Daysail Quilt!

I made this quilt using Camille Roskelley's Firework pattern and her fabric collection, DaySail.   

This quilt involved a LOT of piecing for me.  The blocks were not difficult, but time consuming.  Most of my time was actually spent pressing the seams open to reduce that bulkiness for quilting.  I so wanted to love this quilt.  But in the end, I think I should have stuck with a more simple fabric selection.  The Daysail fabric is gorgeous, but all together, I think it seems too busy for this particular quilt pattern.  It's definitely the red that stands out to me as the trouble squares.  

Have any of you later regretted piecing a quilt using too many fabrics from one collection? or maybe wished you had used solids instead?  

Thank you for visiting Pretty in the Port!

I'll be linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday from My Quilt Infatuation....

Fall finish

This is a Joel Dewberry quilt measuring 48x48.  I'd held onto this fabric for quite some time.  It's from the designer's Modern Meadow collection, one of my very favorite collections.

This is a free pattern from Westminster Fibers.

You can see more pics in my etsy shop!

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation and CrazyMom Quilts:)

Thank you for reading my blog.

Happy Fall everyone!

Jen

Signs of a wonderful end to summer.....

Labor Day Weekend, oh my... always comes too soon.  This summer was full.  

Lots of great beach days on Cape Cod lingering at the ocean until late in the day.

Staring at the sky....

Holding on to baby feet....the best.

Talk of sharks and lots of them surrounding the waters off Chatham...

Never want these days to end...

But thoughts of cool days and fall start to surface as the kids head back to school.  There will be more time to finish up some WIPs.  I've only done 9 out of the 16 blocks from the Firework pattern I've been working on.

Looks like my Liam wanted to get his paws on this one....

 Slow going during the summer...Looking forward to maybe not Friday finishes but fall finishes!

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation

Thanks for stopping by- Have a relaxing end of summer.

Jen

Fireworks! (in August)

This is a project I've been wanting to do for a while.  The pattern is Camille Roskelley's titled, Fireworks.  This is a fairly large quilt that is made out of 16 blocks which are mostly pieced out of HSTs.

I chose the fabric from her Day Sail collection which I love!

 

Here's a close up of some of the fabric.  This might be my favorite block so far.  The mint green and pretty cursive writing is lovely.

These blocks are time consuming, but I do find that chain piecing, pressing the seams open and using lots of starch help to get those points set just right!  This one's a keeper..... just need to decide on a fabric for the back.  There are just too many pretty Day Sail fabrics to choose from.

Thanks for visiting my blog!  Can't believe it's August already....
(I'm linking up with CrazyMom Quilts finish it up Friday.)

Jen  

Sea Glass Chevron Quilt Completed

This was a commissioned baby quilt purchased through my etsy shop.  The buyer wanted something to compliment a sea turtle batik from Michael Miller for her baby's nursery.

I came up with coordinating batiks that look much like water colors or shades of sea glass.  The chevron was created by making HSTs out of 5 inch squares.

I quilted this using four different colors of sulky thread which I love!

Above you can take a closer peek at the quilting which highlights the chevron pattern throughout.

I did love making this quilt!  I had never sewn with batiks before, and I'm sure I will use similar fabrics again as they are lovely!