The Blues Deliver

In my December 16, 2016 post I showed you the fabric for my “floating 8” quilt.  Below is the final result after Ms. SJ finished the quilting.

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I had some extra yardage so I made matching pillow shams.  Ms. SJ quilted them for me as well.

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Below is a picture of the border and binding.  Simply divine!

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This quilt and shams are a birthday gift for my good friend whose birthday is today.  She loves the color blue AND she just got a new mattress and box springs.  How timely…these blues will deliver birthday happiness!

FOUND: The Blues!

I’ve been looking for just the right blue fabrics to make a bed size quilt for a good friend.  She loves the color blue but my stash is woefully lacking in blues.  In my quilting travels, nothing materialized (pun intended!) until I found the blues in Annabelle by Williamsburg from Windham Fabrics.

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I’m using the “floating 8”  pattern published in Precut Quilts by janie lou.  This book is one of my favorites;  it features modern, fresh designs using precuts.  I think the mix of these traditional fabrics with janie’s modern design will be beautiful!

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My local quilt shop did not have precuts on hand, so I am in the process of cutting 5 inch squares from fat quarters.  Once I finish cutting my fabrics, this quilt will go together quickly.  I’ll add this to my Christmas vacation projects and soon  I will be celebrating that I finally found the blues!

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A Berry Special Gift

Mom loves to pick berries–especially wild strawberries!  Ever had one?  If not, it is a delicacy to behold!

These teeny, tiny little berries are packed with unrivaled flavor and sweetness. 

Every Christmas, we each get a small jar of wild strawberry jam.  It is such a treat!  Wild strawberry jam is great on toast, let’s say mid-January when the snow is blowing and we get to stay inside all day.  My husband likes it as a sauce over vanilla ice cream.  This small jar doesn’t go very far and needless to say, it takes a whole lot of tiny berries to make even a small batch of jam!

Growing up on the farm, we always picked wild strawberries mid-June, right before the hay was ready to cut.  When my son and my nephew were young, mom always took them on a wild strawberry picking bonanza, they loved this time with Gramma!  In my quilt shop travels, I saw the Strawberry Fields fabric collection by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree & Co. and I decided that Gramma would be getting a quilt for Christmas from her grandsons.

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The fabrics are so feminine and pretty with images of strawberry blossoms, tiny strawberries, leaves and spring flowers.  I decided on a pattern called “Nest and Feathers” from Janie Lou’s book entitled Precut Quilts.  It’s an easy pattern that uses fat quarters cut into 6 inch x 6 inch squares.  The squares are sewn together in random order, re-cut and then sewn together to make larger blocks.  The solid brown sashing helps to showcase these bright, fresh prints.

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My quilter, Ms. KB, quilted a sweet leaf and vine pattern for me.  You can see some of the quilting on the front and the back.   I just finished adding the label and the binding this morning.

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I know mom will love her quilt and cherish the memories behind it.

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Misc. Monday

I came across this book by Janie Lou at a local quilt shop.  It’s a great book for beginners because all the quilts in the book use some form of precut fabrics.  The quilts are fast and easy and can be adapted to your own personal style!

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I had a fat quarter bundle of Cotton & Steele fabrics in shades of navy blue, teal, gold and white so I decided to make the “floating 8” quilt from Janie Lou’s book.  The colors in this fabric collection look fresh and sharp against the white and the navy blue.

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I used the mustang fabric for the quilt backing.  Maybe I am really a cowgirl at heart!

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This could be one of my all time favorite quilts!

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I have another quilt from this book in progress.  If you give this book a try, I think you will like the results as much as I do!