April Amazement

Despite being away from home for a total of fifteen days in April due to a Maine vacation and going to the GP House several times,  I was not expecting to have a Finally Finished this month. This past week when we were done with our travels, I worked on a somewhat secret project for one of my favorite Quilt Designer’s new book launch for early June. I thought if I was going to properly participate, I needed to first sew a top using one of my favorite patterns designed by her. I finished the flimsy this past Friday afternoon, several hours before dinner and thought I could possibly have a flimsy finish for April’s Country Thread Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. I was thinking that I was going to skip doing a project this month but when you soon realized that there was still time, the Peaceful Kingdom Cabin Fever quilt was a big finish last night and amazing for several reasons.

I’ve been saving this group of fabrics for several years now and been waiting for a pattern which would showcase the Rae Ritchie by Dear Stella print on the left. I don’t know the name of this print and since it’s more than several years old and thinking I may have purchased it for a baby quilt for the darling granddaughter who is now six years old, I’m calling it Peaceful Kingdom since the orange tiger and deers are co-existing rather peacefully in the pretty landscape. Rae Ritchie prints are always interesting and the colors in this print are fun. Before deciding on a pattern, I’ve been accumulating prints from recent purchases and from stash. I was quite pleased when I finally put these group of fabrics together on the right which are Cotton+Steel, two Bonnie Christine prints (the mint green circles and yellow alphabet), the rose pink dots from Clothworks and the blue dotted line is from Blend’s The Adventurers. When I make a quilt with less than ten different fabrics, I think the colors need to snap together or match perfectly which means sometimes the fabrics need to be from one fabric line but with this quilt using different fabric lines made it fun and happy.

I’ve been buying/collecting Villa Rosa Design quilt pattern cards since 2011 when they first came out and now have almost thirty pattern cards which includes the ones from Pineapple Studio. I always like buying these  cards (not an affiliate link) since they can be inspiring for quick and easy makes plus you can’t beat the price. I can honestly say though, I have never made a quilt using one of these pattern cards until now.  When I decided to finally make something with my Peaceful Kingdom fabric grouping, I knew I could use one of the pattern cards and the Cabin Fever pattern by Running Doe was perfect. Thankfully I purchased this card back in January when two of my Bee Sistas ( Wendy and Kathleen) participated in a Villa Rosa Design QAL and seventeen of these cards arrived at my house. (With this many new cards, I better have found a pattern, don’t you think? What can I say- $2 each, free shipping plus an app to tell you which pattern cards you own-I just have to remember Rose Cards means Villa Rosa Design pattern list and not my list-confusing, right?)

Anyhoot, Peaceful Cabin Fever (I have to be careful typing Peaceful since I sometimes mix-it up by typing Pieceful as in Wendy’s Blog)  although it was Pieceful with the cutting and sewing of the flimsy completed way under two hours.

Imagine my surprise when I thought Saturday was the first day of May but instead the last day in April which meant I could have a Finally Finished for the month. Horizontal wavy line machine quilting was with Aurifil #2123 (a very pale yellow color), two inches apart which made it fast and easy. The blue Cotton+Steel print was used for the binding and thought I would have to hand sew it since Juki Junebug is semi-retired now. But, with finally purchasing the Even Feed Foot for Jinny Janome, I was able to sew the binding down and it turned out great. Do I dare say, Jinny performed better than Junebug for machine binding?  I’m just glad I can finally machine sew binding down once again. Peaceful Kingdom measures 39”x47”. It’s amazing that the Peaceful Kingdom Cabin Fever Quilt was made slightly over 24 hours, right? And yes, I hummed “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” song from The Lion King even though there was tiger and no lion.

I had two yards of the Rae Ritchie print which I used for the backing although I was tempted to save the leftovers for another Running Doe pattern which I did not purchase although I thought I had the Baby Goose pattern. It would have been perfect also for this print but glad I used it for this quilt instead since this makes it a two sided quilt. I just love this print so much and really should be used for a backing because it’s so pretty and interesting. I had purchased this fabric online and was not disappointed with it once it arrived and started the quest to make something with it. After I had cut the piece needed for the front, it was two inches short for the backing so I sewed two strips of a mint green print on the top and bottom and it’s not too noticeable.  I used  a Pellon Cotton/Poly batting which makes for a puffier than usual quilt, just perfect for a new baby tummy time playmat. I think the Cabin Fever pattern would be great for making tummy time playmat quilts, especially using bright colors and patterns to stimulate the baby. Also, if you need a quick quilt to make for a baby shower, this pattern would be just right.

I thought I give a sneak peek of the flimsy for the upcoming book launch. Could I name it Wild Kingdom? I seem to have a theme this month. I should be home more during May which means I will work on finally finishing my Rainbow Neighborhood Quilt, this secret Quilt plus the May quilt for the Dirty Dozen Challenge. It would be another amazing month if I finish all three since June will be another traveling month.

I thought I would end this Post with a snapshot collage of my Strips Ahoy Quilt, meeting up with Kathleen McMusing and my amazing fabric and one pattern (not a Villa Rosa Design Pattern) purchases all done while in Maine which truly was a wonderful vacation.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation/NTT

The Kiwi and Mango Tango Bundle Buster Quilt

I like making quilts with big blocks especially with a great pattern; Yvonne Fuchs, Quilting Jet Girl's Bundle Buster and a stash of fabrics with colorful and fun prints.  It was at least three-four years ago, I think, that I discovered this pattern through a FaceBook post by a quilt blogger that this was a free pattern offered first only to subscribers/followers of Quilting Jet Girl and the pattern will be available some day. Of course, me, the lover of strips, squares and big patches and all things simple immediately went to her website, became a subscriber and was very disappointed that the Bundle Bundle pattern was not yet for sale. Some of us are do crossword or Soduko for mental stimulation, I, on the other hand, like to figure out quilt patterns with graph paper and pencil. Usually, I can figure it out if the quilt dimensions are given.  Most of the time after I do this exercise, I put it aside and end up never making the quilt. After spending a considerable amount of time figuring out the pattern, I came up with how to make this quilt and was ready to make one since I love how this pattern having made more than one of each of the Yellow Brick Road and Turning Twenty patterns.  Would you believe after doing all of this, the next day, the Bundle Buster pattern was made available for purchase as a PDF download from Craftsy.  So, really wanting to make sure my cuts and layout were correct, I immediately purchased the Bundle Buster pattern.  Since this pattern is no longer available from Craftsy, here is the link (non-affiliate) to Quilting Jet Girl's website if you're interested in purchasing the Bundle Buster pattern.

The first time I used the Bundle Buster pattern was in 2017 as an alternate block for the Grandpa Quilt which is one of my most popular posts.  This really is a great pattern for using the large and fun prints which this quilt definitely does have.

I am surprised at myself for not having made another Bundle Buster quilt until this week since I have enough fabric in my stash to make at least ten more.  Also surprising is that I didn't think of this pattern when I purchased fat quarters of some of Pam Goecke Dinnorf's  Figment fabrics several years ago. After realizing last year that this would make a great Bundle Buster quilt, I pulled together some Japanese homespuns, scraps of Stok, Bonnie Christine and Mixologie prints (fabric used in my 2017 Freefall QAL Quilt) and a fat quarter of my favorite Chic Neutral citron yellow print to put this on my 2019 Wanna Make List.  I don't have a true 2019 Project List since this year I'm trying a Sew With A Flow attitude and I can tell you so far I may need an adjustment since I spending way too much time with yarn. Even though I love all of the colors in this quilt, the greens and oranges are near and dear to my heart, especially in the large focus prints with the spoke circles.  If I won't eat a Kiwi or a Mango, much to my son Demando's dismay, I could at least name a quilt with these two fruits.

The Bundle Buster pattern is very fat quarter friendly and efficient--there is very little waste.  For some of the fat quarters I did not cut out according to the pattern since there were some of the large focus prints I wanted to showcase and only use for the strips then there were some scraps I only had enough for a strip or a square.  Once all of the patches were cut and laid out on my design board, it sewed together very quickly despite only sewing one block at a time--it's all about the sewing sequence.

Once I decided on a backing with my usual hemming and hawing, I decided on a green gingham check homespun and quilting it with alternate straight and wavy line quilting with dark gray thread which really gives the Kiwi and Mango Tango quilt a nice, soft feel and does this quilt feel light. I was going to bind it with the same black and grey check fabric in the quilt, but opted for a black print to frame the quilt better.

Sorry for the dismal photos, but per usual, once I have a quilt to photograph, the Sun takes a day off which isn't surprising since this week's weather included freezing temperature, way too much wind, tornado warnings, snow, rain and even a 60 degree day.

Tomorrow is National Quilting Day and I've informed the Hubby who probably thinks I celebrate this everyday.  I'm looking forward to starting another new project, maybe another Bundle Buster since I already have the fabric set aside, and will be not considering working on a UFO unless it happens to jump at me when I'm in the Studio.  I hate when that happens.

Happy National Quilting Day!

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation NTT