Friday Finish #2 - Simple Celestial Mini

Here's a little mini to brighten up your day.

I blogged about this little guy here, so I'll keep this post on the short side. Or perhaps it'll be a "mini" post...? Lol, I crack myself up.

I mentioned before that I loved this block so much that I was going to turn it into a wall-hanging. Enter some FMQ, some quick binding and BAM! A finished project!

For the FMQ, I did a micro (a mini? Lol, again) stipple in the white fabric to really make the prints pop.

Stats:
Name: Simple Celestial Mini
Pattern: Simple Celestial by Diane Bohn of  FromBlankPages
Materials: Unknown print, white solid, Warm and Natural batting, Essential Thread by Connecting Threads in White.
Date: Started/Finished - May 2015
Size: 9"x9"

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Linking up to:
- Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Fridays
- Confessions of a Fabric Addict - Can I get a Whoop Whoop?

Bloggers' Quilt Festival - ROYGBIV

Hello and welcome! If you are stopping by for the first time from the Bloggers' Quilt Festival, please stay and have a look around. For those of you that don't know me my name is Sarah and I love color, design, and fabric! Here are some of my past projects.

I've really enjoyed the BQF in the past years but this is my first time actually entering a quilt! I'm entering my Rockstar mini in the ROYGBIV category.

Rockstar is a paper pieced pattern I tested for Diane Bohn from FromBlankPages. You can read my thoughts on testing the pattern here. It really works up beautifully.

I kept the quilting simple because I wanted the rainbows to really pop. I did do a little FMQ in the center square though. When I say "little" I mean that literally! This is a mini after all and I had to do some micro quilting in that center. The design is meant to mimic the shape of the rainbows. 

Quilt Stats:

- Name: Rockstar Mini

- Size: 12" x 12"

- Pattern: Rockstar by Diane Bohn

- Materials: a variety of solids, Warm and Natural batting, Essential Thread in "White" and "Stone" from Connecting Threads

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out all the other amazing quilts in the BQF!

Simple Celestial - Pattern Testing

I really do enjoy testing patterns. I’ve tested a few patterns for Diane who blogs at FromBlankPages and I’m happy to announce that I’m waiting in the wings to test for some other people as well. Anyway, here is the latest.

This is Diane’s new pattern called Simple Celestial. It’s a simplified version of her Celestial Star pattern; so if you feel intimidated by the complexity of that pattern, you can easily get the same look with this pattern. Make sense? Good.

I love the versatility of Diane’s patterns and Simple Celestial didn’t disappoint. I spent many, many (way too many) hours creating different designs and coloring in the coloring pages. I think I came up with 14 different designs in total, and some of those had multiple color schemes! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the hardest part of Diane’s patterns is picking a design!

I really struggled with picking a design on this one. I liked all my options but I wasn’t happy with my fabric pulls or I didn’t have the right fabric for a particular design. Do you ever have that problem? Finally I spotted this fabric.

This ¼ yard of no name fabric had been sitting in my pile of ‘”uglies” for a few years. You know the “uglies,” the fabrics that you just don’t like and can’t for the life of you figure out why you ever bought them in the first place, but you don’t want to get rid of them because maybe one day they will be perfect for a project. I figured I’d give this one a chance because, hey, it had the right number of colors I was going for.

I wasn’t sure about my choice as I started fussy cutting and I was even less sure when I started sewing.

I think it was right about this point that I knew this fabric was perfect for this project. In the end it felt like fate, destiny …kismet?

As it turns out, I LOVE this block. I’m turning it into a mini wall hanging which is something I never do; that’s how much I love it, lol.

Until next time,

- Sarah

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Linking up with Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday!

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts Let's Bee Social!

A Friday Finish

So, here's the deal. I've been tediously working away at this Stack N' Whack/One Block Wonder quilt for a few weeks now. Just when I finally get all my hexies put together, I realize that I don't love what's happening here. There's no gorgeous watercolor flow, no amazing psychedelic swirling happening. Sadly, I have to admit that my fabric for this project was crap from the get go.

Rather than admit defeat and condemn this one to the UFO pile, I decided to "make it work" Tim Gunn style.

So I powered through and finished the top. The thing is, I know that there comes a point in every quilt I make where I just don't like it. Maybe you know what I'm talking about, maybe you don't. But there is always that moment when I question myself and wonder what could have possessed me to choose this pattern or that fabric selection, etc. To date, that feeling of "Oh, what have I done?!" has generally been fleeting and I've ended up really loving the things I made, or at least being proud of them. This one though... This one has yet to turn that corner; to go from distaste to a mild liking (I don't dare hope for more than that!) 

If you know me at all, you will know that I always try to find a positive. So, I have to say that I'm very pleased with how beautifully my points came together. That's it, that's all I've got for now. In the meantime I'm going to let this one sit for a while and ruminate on it a bit. Maybe it will be the quilting that pulls it off for me, maybe I'll just sell it or donate it. Anything could happen. 

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Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Fridays! (for the first time!)