Dreamtime Quilt | Quilt Now, issue 8

As a quilter, I can't think of many things more rewarding than seeing your quilts in print. Having one of my quilts featured in a book or magazine allows me to share my work with quilters from all around the world, and I get the warm fuzzies thinking that I might be delighting and inspiring others. And when it's not just a quilt but also an original pattern of my own -- one that others might also choose to make themselves -- it makes me downright giddy.

Recently, I've been fortunate enough to have a few of my quilts featured in an exciting and relatively new publication, Quilt Now magazine. Based out of the UK, Quilt Now is helmed by my quiltsister Katy Jones as editor and recently celebrated its first year in print.

Earlier this year I had my first quilt featured in issue 8 of Quilt Now.  Each issue of the magazine centers around a theme, and the theme for the eighth issue was "monochromatic quilts". I have kind of a love affair with grey prints, so I set about making quilt top with a scrappy mix of a wide variety of grey and white (aka "low volume") fabrics.

The quilt ended up being quite large -- nearly king-sized -- but I wanted to add a little something extra. I drew some simple jewel and gemstone shapes, made cardboard templates, and cut them from a mix of brilliant pink & regal purple solids. Inspired by the design of Casey York's Apiary quilt pattern, I arranged the shapes in the center of the quilt, forming a circular focal point. I fused them down and used a raw-edge appliqué technique for an easy finish. It was finished with some AMAZING quilting by the AMAZING Trudi Wood. (Thanks again, Trudi!)

I named this quilt "Dreamtime" because of the juxtaposition of the calming and relaxing grey background and the vibrant jewels that appear, as if part of a dream. Who wouldn't love to dream about being covered in jewels?  :)

Big thanks to Katy and the great team at Quilt Now for featuring the Dreamtime quilt! I hope you'll check out their gorgeous magazine and let me know if you decide to make a Dreamtime quilt of your own.

Welded Quilt with AGF Stitched and the Fat Quarter Shop

Hello everyone, and welcome new visitors! Just a quick post today to share one of my recent quilt top finishes and let you know about a fun new free quilt pattern offered by my friends at Art Gallery Fabrics and the Fat Quarter Shop.

You may have seen my post a few months back about the Birchen quilt pattern, the first in the new AGF Stitched series of free patterns and projects born out of a collaboration between Art Gallery and the Fat Quarter Shop. I was excited to be asked to join in the launch of the newest pattern in the AFG Stitched series, the Welded quilt.

I've had the chance to make my own version of Welded, and I can attest to the fact that it is a fun, beginner-friendly pattern that delivers great results. I always love a quilt pattern that is able to showcase my favorite large prints, and Welded certainly fits the bill.

The Art Gallery Fabrics portfolio of designers and fabric lines has grown so much that it's always difficult to decide what fabrics to use for these quilt patterns. For Welded, I decided to play with my good friend Katy Jones' line for AGF, Priory Square. That navy blue "clippings" print, with its collage-inspired mix of floral images and hand-drawn birds, is a new favorite of mine.

Though I finished the quilt top per the pattern instructions, I'm not quite done yet. I'm waiting for some more cuts of the fabric to arrive so that I can add some borders and increase the size of the quilt in order to make it a bit more queen-sized bed friendly. This one's going to be a Christmas present for someone!

I will admit that I found the on-point layout of the blocks and assembling the quilt top in rows a bit tricky. Actually, the tricky part was trimming the edges of the top once it was assembled. I had to trim a bit more off than expected, because my row ends didn't quite leave me a straight line for easy trimming. I'll chalk that one up to a learning experience.

As always, the Fat Quarter Shop team has done a great job putting together materials to make your quilt-making experience as easy and enjoyable as possible. These materials include the pattern, quilt kits, and a YouTube video that you can find below.

Quilt pattern: http://static.fatquartershop.com/media/wysiwyg/pdf/Welded-Pattern.pdf

Quilt kits (featuring Artisan by Pat Bravo): http://www.fatquartershop.com/welded-quilt-kit

Backing set: http://www.fatquartershop.com/backing-set-welded-quilt-kit

There is a whole bunch of other talented quilters showing off their Welded quilts today. Go check 'em out and say hi!

AGF Designer, Caroline Hulse of Sew Caroline

AGF Designer, Katarina Roccella

Kitty of Night Quilter

Dana of Old Red Barn Co.

Michele-Renee of Quilt Matters

Corey of Little Miss Shabby

Christina of Sometimes Crafter

Jess of the Elven Garden

Erica of Kitchen Table Quilting

Svetlana of Sotak Handmade

Natalia of Piece N Quilt

Megan of Quilt Story

Cara of That Crafty Cara

John of Quilt Dad

Sinta of Pink Pin Cushion

Jemima of Tied with a Ribbon

Riane of Vessel Quilts

Kaye of Miss Print