A Diamond Strings Quilt : :

My Rock 'n Romance Diamond Strings Quilt As You Go quilt is finished! We made several stops on our drive and around town to get these photos to share here today. Yesterday turned out to be such a beautiful day, with the sun shining bright but always changing, casting sunbeams, spots, and shadows on so many of my pictures. In the end I think this is just one of those quilts that's beauty shows best in person, but I tried my best!



This is the second quilt I've made using Pat Bravo's Rock 'n Romance fabric collection. The first was made for Pat to use in her  R 'n R promotional ads & video, and was quilted by the amazing Angela Walters. I haven't seen it finished, in person, but I do remember watching this fun video by Fat Quarter Shop from quilt market and then the shock that followed after hearing my name mentioned! If you watch it be sure to notice all that beautiful quilting!!

Well, after having my skull quilt featured in such a special way, I've been waiting for the perfect quilt idea to strike, one worthy to use up the rest of my R 'n R stash. Then a couple weeks ago while deciding which fabrics to use for my niece Ceci's quilt I kept going back to my stack of Rock 'n Romance and eventually sketched out my new quilt idea.

The rectangle blocks are made using the same technique I'll be sharing in my next tutorial -- combining cotton batting as my foundation and quilt as you go. Once squared up, the large rectangle blocks measure  10" x 18" and the blocks made with both strings and Pure Element solids measure 10" x 14." 





I wanted to create an ombre color-blocking effect using both pink & purple solids at the top and bottom of this quilt, and I love the end result! It made it difficult deciding which edge should be the top, just for picture taking sake, but it doesn't really matter with this pattern. Any way goes!

It's bound using AGF's newest blender, Squared Elements in both Fuchsia and Watermelon. From my Tula Pink Aurifil collection, I pulled a 40wt variegated thread that matches my binding fabric choice perfectly!



Here you can see the pretty decorative stitches I added using several more colors of Aurifil, along with a few of the built-in stitches my Janome offers. I love those special details!





I can't wait to give this quilt to Ceci! Now that this one is finished and Sylvia's Tule Sunset is on it's way to Sew Shabby Quilting, I have just four quilts left to make before Christmas! A "Princess Castle" quilt for Josie, a Superhero quilt for Ben, one for my oldest niece Kiele, and one for my Kaiden who has such grand ideas his quilt alone could take me as long as it's taken me to make the seven I'm considering finished. But I'm excited for the challenge!

This promise to make my children, nieces, & nephews all a quit this year has bettered me in so many ways. It truly is amazing!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today -- Have a great day!!  ♥  Maureen

Penelope Quilt Love : :

This weekend I finished up two quilts, my Rock 'n Romance Diamond Strings & my Herringbone QAYG! Today, I'm taking them both with me on a little road trip, along with some hope that the sun might shine for pretty picture taking. Wish me luck!!

Throughout the making of my Herringbone quilt I was careful to take lots of pictures for my tutorial, and Penelope was right there with me. Looking through my pictures this morning, they were too cute not to share just a few of them!







She's a little shaggy & ready for a new haircut, but isn't she sweet?! She seems to love this quilt and Lily definitely loves the cozy, Folksy flannel I used for it's backing. Hopefully they'll learn to share!

Well, in addition to my etsy makings and all the quilty goodness I've been sharing here recently, I've also been working on more publication work. This was another goal of mine for this Fall and it's all very exciting for me! So when my friends at Future asked if I wanted to share a special subscription offer to their new magazine Love, Patchwork & Quilting with all of you, I jumped!!

I have a special UK subscription offer of 3 issues for £5 to share, along with special US launch rates for my domestic friends right HERE! All subscription orders placed by the 27th of September will start with issue 1 of the magazine, where you'll get to see one of my favorite projects in print!

Be sure to stop back tomorrow to see a new finished quilt!!  

Happy Monday, friends!  ♥  Maureen

A Fabric GIVEAWAY : :

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It's Fabric Giveaway Friday!

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My sponsor Fabric Fly is an online fabric shop full of fresh designer fabrics! They carry a wonderful variety of quilting cottons, including yardage & pre-cuts, flannels, & scrap packs! They offer fast shipping and great customer service!!

We invite you to check out their --

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest

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We hope you enjoy visiting Fabric Fly!!  

 
For this week's Fabric Giveaway Fabric Fly is offering a Layer Cake of Bonnie & Camille's beautiful collection for Moda, Happy Go Lucky!  This Layer Cake pre-cut includes an assortment of all 40 of the colorful prints that make up the Happy Go Lucky Collection!


In addition, please be sure to check out what's new at Fabric Fly HERE! They just opened pre-orders for the highly anticipated Scrumptious collection by Bonnie and Camille. Regular price is $8.75, but my readers can enjoy a discount offer at $7.99/yard, throughout this giveaway weekend. Just use the code "scrumptious" at checkout and your discount will be applied!!

Enter to win!

Here's how,   

1. Simply leave a comment here in this post! (one entry)
2. Follow Fabric Fly on Facebook. Just let me know that you do by making a separate comment here to record that entry. (optional extra entry)
3. My followers get a third entry! Whether you follow me here, on Facebook, or on Instagram, just let me know that you do by making a separate comment here to record that entry. (optional extra entry)
4. Help spread the word!! I know that many of you already do, so I thought it would be nice to add that as another way to enter! Whether by tweet, facebook, pin, blog, etc... (optional extra entry) 

That’s 4 possible entries! Enter now through Monday, Sept. 23rd. The winner will be chosen by Random and I will announce their name on Monday, at the bottom of this post, here on the blog!

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Thank you to all who entered the Giveaway!!

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From 1,848 entries, Mr. Random says the lucky winner is...

    Comment #826 --   * Bonnie Pfrimmer *   

Congratulations, Bonnie! I will be in touch shortly!   

A New QAYG : :

In my last post I shared that I had a new quilt-as-you-go idea that came to me while making my Rock 'n Romance QAYG string quilt blocks using batting as my foundation. These blocks square up to 10" x 18", which works great for the diamond pattern I'm creating for this quilt pattern! 



But I had asked myself, "what if I just keep going to make extra long quilt-as-you-go string quilt blocks?" That could make one gorgeous herringbone, chevron-y style quilt. And, fast! Well, that image was definitely worth pursuing! 

So beginning this past weekend and here & there throughout these past couple of days I've been cutting a 2.5" strip or two from each fabric in my Anna Maria Horner stash. 



So far I have just two, very long string qayg strips sewn together. It's colorful, scrappy, and fun! I love it!!


What do you think?   ♥  Maureen

Next Up : :

Well, sewing together that Sunset quilt back and the two others I need to piece together yet, Tsuru & Rock 'n Romance, never happened yesterday. Instead I listened to music, cleaned the kitchen, cooked an Italian feast to take to my parents house for dinner, and then cleaned my kitchen again. I didn't sew a single stitch!
I suppose all the late night sewing hours I've been putting in finally caught up with me and I needed the break. So for today's plan, besides etsy orders, I'll be making quilt backs and maybe some binding, too.







After I finish those, sticking with my pattern of alternating quilt tops with quilt-as-you-go quilts, I'm going to begin a new qayg with a herringbone pattern in mind. This idea came to mind while making my R 'n R quilt and I think it's going to be another quick one!

How about you? What's happening in your sewing room this week?

Tule Sunset : :

At first peek I loved Tule, the new fabric collection by designer Leah Duncan for Art Gallery Fabrics. It's peachy pink, terracotta orange, minty green, sunny yellow, & aqua to cobalt blue scheme is color palette perfection in my opinion. So, when a Nevada Sun FQ bundle paired with coordinating Pure Elements Solids, recently arrived at my door I had a quilt idea ready in anticipation.

The pretty Tule colors brought images of the horizon at dusk and sunsets at the shore to my mind, and became my quilt design inspiration. I quickly drafted a pattern including repeating cuts & piecing, creating a quilt top that came together incredibly quick! I was thrilled with the result and shared a few pics on my Instagram along the way.

I snapped some fancier photos Friday evening just before nightfall on the top of Dutch Hill Road. Seeing the sunlight streaming down through the quilt top resembled stained glass, irradiating all the pretty Tule rectangles. It was beautiful!





So beautiful I have it hanging in my sewing room window while I piece together my quilt back this morning, and then it's off to Melissa at Sew Shabby Quilting to work her magic!!



For those of you as smitten with Tule as I am, my fabric notes include : :  Tule is with Pure Elements Solids in Sandstone, Apricot Crepe, Burnt Orange, Mirage Blue, Parisian Blue, Nocturnal, & Banana Cream for this quilt.

You can find these pretty fabrics newly available at The Intrepid Thread, Fat Quarter Shop, Stash Modern Fabrics, and Pink Castle Fabrics!

And, Art Gallery Pure Elements Solids on hand at Moona Fabrics, The Intrepid Thread, Fat Quarter Shop, Stash Modern Fabrics, Pink Castle Fabrics, and Contemporary Cloth!

Wishing you all a lovely new week!  ♥  Maureen