Carolina Byways Miniature Quilt - with link to free pattern

"Carolina Byways".... Isn't that a great name for a quilt?
It brings to my mind the wonderful times we had meandering through the Great Smoky Mountains, where my Grandma delighted in getting us lost, just so we could spend more time there.  

Carolina Byways is a split nine-patch quilt created by Janet Wickell and she has offered it as a Free Pattern!  Her quilt is made with 6" blocks and she also has instructions available for a miniature version with 3" blocks.  I made the mini - so each square you see in the photos is 1". (There are nine squares, arranged 3 x 3 in each nine-patch block.)  I also didn't follow Janet's pattern exactly and changed the way my nine-patches were split.

Which usually comes first for you?  Do you start with fabric you love and then search for, or create, a pattern?  Or do you find a pattern you just have to make and then look for the fabrics?  In the case of this quilt, I fell in love with Barbara Brackman's Morris & Company fabrics and then looked for a way to use them in a mini quilt.  They spoke of the woodlands to me:

Morris & Company fabrics

I played around with the fabrics and the layout of the squares before sewing them all together.  You can see how I made the more distant mountains blue and the closer ones look like they were just starting to be touched by Autumn.  I wanted my mountains to look like the morning mist was still lingering, so added light colors along the ridges. It is pretty easy to end up with something you love when you work with such a beautifully designed collection.

Here is what it looked like when I had the final layout up on the design wall, but hadn't sewn them together yet.  You can see that my nine-patch blocks are split wherever it looked best, and not in the traditional way.  I think it gave the mountains a more natural feel. I also added 1 extra row of squares to both the width and the height... in a way, this became a postage stamp quilt with HSTs (half square triangles).

Carolina Byways - playing with the patches before sewing

Here is the final quilt, with a mitered border framing it: 

Carolina Byways Mini Quilt

And of course, I had to make a pretty label for the back.  The leafy border is from our garden:

Linking up to Quilt Story / Fabric Tuesday.  

Thanks for visiting!

Lara

Sam's Woolly Flannel Quilt

It's Sam's turn next to receive a quilt.  He likes dark colors and soft textures, so this was the perfect fabric collection for his quilt. 

Moda Wool & Needle Flannels

   

He's not into fussy looking things, so he chose a very simple 9 patch block.  

These measurements do not include the seam allowances

Every other block will alternate the positions of the lighter and darker colors.  Sam chose charcoal satin for the binding.  This is the mockup for the couch sized quilt we eventually want to end up with:

Sam's Wooly Flannel Quilt - 71 x 53 inches - 6 inch blocks

I've made a good start on the blocks, but keep having to set the project aside to work on other things. This fabric is wonderful to work with because it is so soft to the touch and has no problems with pilling, even after prewashing.  

The prospect of making my own satin binding has me a little concerned.  If anybody has some tips on the best way to do this, I'd love some advice!

Thanks for visiting!
Lara

Sweet Serenade Lil' Twister Quilt

Pinwheels in soda pop bottles

When Alina & Gonzo were married last year, one of the fun things Kaitie and I did was to make pinwheels for every table.  We wanted pinwheels that actually spinned and found the perfect pattern from Gwynn Wasson Designs with her free template and tutorial. Thank you Gwynn!
http://www.gwynnwassondesigns.com/2011/04/tips-hints-pinwheel-tutorial-and-free.html

The cardstock we used for the pinwheels was from BasicGrey.  When Moda came out with a fabric collection called Sweet Serenade, in a music motif with the same kinds of colors and also by BasicGrey, it seemed like it was meant to become a Lil' Twister quilt for our newlyweds.  

I chose the fabric layout by playing around with EQ7 software.  The program didn't come with a Twister block, so I recreated the basic block.

Lil' Twister quilt block

My layout is structured, but I kind of wish I had done it scrappy.  

At first, I couldn't make heads or tails of how to use the Lil' Twister tool, until I found a wonderful tutorial written by Jackie of Canton Village Quilt Works fame.  Then it all became as clear as day.
http://cvquiltworks.com/blogs/blog/12663829-lil-twister-tutorial

Whatever pattern you chose with the plain squares is also the pattern that will show up in the Lil' Twister:  These are the two mock ups.  The plain blocks made a top that was 81" x 111", but after cutting the Twisters and sewing them together, the finished quilt was 54" x 72".

Lil' Twister - Before and After

Here is the real quilt - pieced by me and quilted by my friend Valerie, the Pumpkin Patch Quilter.  http://www.pumpkinpatchquilter.com/

Sweet Serenade Lil' Twister Quilt

I asked Valerie for quilting that looked like a breeze playing with the pinwheels....

She sure got it exactly right, didn't she?!

Linking up to Lindsey's Friday Fabric Frenzy

at Forth Worth Fabric Studio

Thanks for visiting!
Lara