Villa Rosa 2024 Fast and More Fun Blog Hop

Today is Day 6 of the Villa Rosa Fast and More Fun Blog Hop which I am one of the 28 Bloggers participating and it’s my day to present my quilt. Five new quilt patterns were designed for this blog hop and since I was one of the last bloggers to join, I was asked to make the 31 quilt (top left) to ensure the pattern was well represented in the blog hop. Before I present my quilt, I thought I would mentioned the following:

• You’ve probably have read the previous posts from the other Bloggers, read the story of Villa Rosa cards, seen the list of all the Blogger Participants and of  the wonderful giveaways and Grand Prizes, so rather than repeat this again, here is the Villa Rosa link for you to read and also if you want to purchase a bundle of these five pattern cards.
• If you leave me a comment, your name will be entered to win either a set of the pattern cards above, a chance to win a sponsor prize or be entered to win one of the Grand Prizes. One of the Grand Prize is an Electric Quilt 8 download and the winner will be selected on the EQ Blog so you will need to register there for this prize.
• Registration for the prizes closes on Sunday, March 24th. Please be sure to leave an email address so you can be contacted if you are one of the lucky winners.

So let’s get hopping—here is my version of the 31 quilt pattern: The Hungry Caterpillar.

This is only the second time that I’ve made a panel quilt and have only purchased a few which were novelty/kid prints. I have a nice stash of Eric Carle’s Brown Bear and Hungry Caterpillar fabrics from making several quilts for the darling Granddaughter, so I purchased the Hungry Caterpillar panel. The 31 pattern sews up fast as long as you have the right sized panel but unfortunately The Hungry Caterpillar panel was too small.  I could have altered the panel by removing the stripe border and adding strips to get to the right size but I didn’t want to because it was too cute as is. I added the necessary strips of the Adventure Land dots to three sides of the panels which made it a little busy and uneven. It complements the somewhat solid HSTs which I changed the orientation of them from arrows to a butterfly shape since I thought it was more fitting for the caterpillar theme.

I was afraid that my changes deviated too much from the 31 pattern but now that the quilt is done I think the changes are subtle. I had a love/hate relationship while sewing and machine quilting The Hungry Caterpillar. It wasn’t until I added the wide stripe binding, which wasn't in the plan and glad I did, that I finally loved it and in my mind I'm calling it Cater-thriller.

I opted to use white Aurifil thread instead of a variegated thread for the grid and straight line machine quilting since I wanted the quilting to be quiet against the colorful prints. The machine quilting was a little challenging with the backing being a blue fabric purchased many moons ago from Joann’s and I don’t know if this combined with the 80/20 cotton Pellon batting caused the big puckering and pinching resulting in my having to used the seam ripper too many times. I’m pretty sure it was during this time I hated the quilt. I was so relieved after the final line was quilted. The Hungry Caterpillar Quilt will be a gift for the darling Granddaughter who will be turning seven next week. This will be a wall hanging but would have been a wonderful playmat for tummy time if she was still a baby. She is growing up too fast and hope she will enjoy this quilt for at least several years.

I wasn’t too familiar with The Hungry Caterpillar story which was published in 1969 until the darling Granddaughter. My boys weren’t big fans though I do have a caterpillar memory spanning from when I was a young girl of maybe five to a mother of five-year old Demando. When I was young and playing outside with my friends, we spotted a bunch of caterpillars so we ran home to get empty jars to contain them. I was sad and very bummed that my mother did not have any. I kept this memory of my disappointment and vowed that I would always have an empty jar ready for my kids. When Demando was born, I started saving empty jars and had a bottom kitchen cabinet specifically for the day they would be needed. Several years later when I picked up young Demando from kindergarten, he was being real quiet sitting in the backseat. I thought he was sad because he was having a great time at the playground. When we arrived home and I turned around to talk to him, he opened his hands which had at least a dozen very tiny yellow caterpillars squirming. Even though I wanted to scream, I did manage to say “I’ve been waiting for this day” and walked into the kitchen and told Hubby that we needed a jar and without missing a beat he pulled one from the cabinet. After the caterpillars were settled in their jar and Demando was very happy, I quietly whispered to Hubby to get rid of the jars. I realized then this may have been why my mother didn’t keep empty jars. All kidding aside, I still have a cabinet of empty jars in the garage but I’m not saving them for bugs.

 

Thanks to Tricia and Villa Rosa for letting this big fan participate in the Fast and More Fun Blog Hop. I’ve been buying Villa Rosa cards for at least ten years now, at first from local quilt shops and now buying  them directly from Villa Rosa. I have at least twenty-five cards which I keep in a special binder. I also liked that Villa Rosa provides a link for you to keep an online list of cards you want and cards you own. Sometimes I get confused when I click on the Rose Cards link and hundred of cards appear giving me a heart attack thinking they’re mine but my cards are under My List—Phew! The 31 pattern is only the third Villa Rosa quilt I’ve made but I did make a version of the Clover table runner which I will post later since it was made for the Country Threads March Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. If time permits, I hope to make the Gypsy Rose pattern (which I already owned before the blog hop) using a much loved stash of fabrics fitting of the pattern name purchased many moons ago.

After today, there are only two days left for the blog hop so here are the remaining bloggers for today and until March 21st. Happy reading and good luck!

 

Tuesday, March 19
Shout 4 Joy — https://shout4joy-shouting.blogspot.com/
The Darling Dogwood — http://thedarlingdogwood.blogspot.com/
Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting — www.knitbug2.blogspot.com
Quilts of Valor Foundation — https://www.qovf.org/

Wednesday, March 20 — First Day of Spring!

Grace and Peace Quilting — https://www.graceandpeacequilting.com/
Happy Cottage Quilter — https://happycottagequilter.blogspot.com/
Joyfully Tracie — https://joyfullytracie.com/
Patchouli Moon Studio — https://patchouli-moon-studio.blogspot.com/
Electric Quilt Company — https://doyoueq.com/blog/ (be sure to leave a comment here if you want to be eligible for the grand prize of an Electric Quilt 8 download

Thursday, March 21
Villa Rosa Quilts — villarosaquilts.com