Where Flowers Bloom Blog Hop

Yay - I'm ready for my day on the Where Flower's Bloom Blog hop!  This is a great time for flowers, I've got so many pretties out in my yard right now - so inspiring!

My favorite peppermint rose - isn't this so pretty?  Maybe a pink and green quilt would be fun.

And these yellow ones smell like heaven!  I always love yellow in a quilt, I think maybe I need to add some of that, too.

The Lithadora is a favorite of the bees - there was one, but I guess he was a little camera shy because I don't see him anywhere.  Well, I suppose my quilt is going to need a little bit of blue as well!

With all this floral inspiration I was having a hard time deciding what fabric to use for my project, but I had a little brainstorm at the last minute and looked through my stash of charm packs and oh, yes - I hit the jackpot!  Chance of Flowers by Sandy Gervais for Moda was the perfect choice for my quick little table topper.  I started off with some big nine patch blocks.

A little cutting, a little shuffling and one more round of stitching got the top finished in no time at all.  Then I dug into my stash, and I didn't have to go too far to find a sweet little flowery backing, and the perfect shade of yellow for binding.

And how do you think I quilted this?

Loopy flowers, of course!  I used a variegated yellow thread from Aurifil - 50 wt is always perfect for an overall design to give you lots of texture without seeing the thread as much.  I used the same thread and similar quilting for my Twinkle Star baby quilt last year!

This backing is a cute print from Riley Blake.

Check out how cute my little bud vase looks with this!  Tomorrow I'm going to cut one of those yellow roses for my cute little lady to wear in her hat.

Here's the whole quilt - a petite 26 inches square.  It is available for purchase in my Etsy Shop - I know someone is going to love this on their table!

And I got lucky this afternoon when the sun came out - here's a garden shot to enjoy!

I hope you find as much inspiration and enjoyment as I have with all the lovely projects in the blog hop.  Don't forget to check out the rest of Thursday's quilts:

Thursday, June 14th
Sew Incredibly Crazy
selina quilts
PamelaQuilts
Ms P Designs USA
sunshinequilting
Melva Love Scraps
Quilty Pleasures

Thanks again to Miss Carla of Creatin' in the Sticks for putting together this fun hop!  I had a blast coming up with my project - hope you enjoyed it!

Cobblestones Table Runner Pattern

Several years ago I had a goal of writing a different pattern for each month of the year using charm packs (5 inch squares).  Several of them are still in draft form, but one of my favorites was the one I designed for March, which I named Cobblestones.

It's a wonderful pattern to use for romantic florals as the piecing allows the fabrics to mix without the pattern of the piecing taking over.  I decided I needed to come up with some new samples for my pattern, so dug through my stash of charm packs and pulled out a few to see how they would work for it.

The first one I made was from Sweet Blend by Moda - so pretty!  I really love the way it came out and realized I had totally forgotten how fun and fast this pattern is - the cutting and sewing is simple and satisfying.

Next I decided to try an old set of gorgeous florals by April Cornell - I've had these for years, but it was hard to use them for a project because I liked petting them so much.  I finally decided that they should be used because I actually have another set in my drawer :)

Very soft and sweet!  I just love the aqua in this line with the pink.  After this one I decided to be a little wild and try using one of the Kiss, Kiss charm packs I had on hand.  Now this line is definitely a little crazier with the color, so it's not as soft looking, but is very vibrant and lively looking!

Last, but not least, I found a charm pack of PureBred.  The colors in this are soft, and the prints are very different, but lend themselves well to this project:

So there you have it!  All four were pieced and quilted this month (July), so you can see that it's a project that you can finish quickly.  I've listed all the finished table runners in my Etsy shop - just click on the pictures to see the listings.  You can also purchase my pattern in my Etsy shop. 

My favorite thing about these table runners is that each one can be made from one charm pack!  At least I've made a dent in my collection, plus I enjoyed doing some simple piecing and quilting.  My goal for next month is to use another one of my patterns to make a few new samples - plus maybe get busy and finish up one or two of those patterns that are still drafts - there is a really cute butterfly that I'd really love to get done up in fabric!  

Oh - and today starts the "I Wish You a Merry Quilt Along"!  If you would like to join in making a sampler quilt of 12 different blocks, the first block is here at Quilt in Piece.  I need to go look at my fabrics and get going - they have some great prizes, and isn't it always more pleasant to sew with a group?  Come join in!

Travel Themed Baby Quilt 2

This is the second travel themed baby quilt - the border fabric in this one is so cute!

As you can see, this one is a bit brighter!  I thought the yellow was a perfect accent for it.  Some of the fabrics in the center are from the Riley Blake detour line.  I got a charm pack of that and split it between the two quilts.  I am trying to find out who makes the border print because it is so adorable - I know that there are some of you who would love to have some of it!

 I tried to keep the fabrics a little more bright and cheery on this version of the quilt.  I used my Baby Nines pattern for this one as well.  It's super easy and fast to make!  Plus I love playing with charm squares for a scrappy look.

Make sure you take a look at Connie's Our Favorite Things blog post today - her sewing space is so charming!  And if you haven't already, go back and look at mine - comment to be in a drawing to win a strip bundle of Island Batik fabric!  I will draw on Friday, so please make sure you get your name in for the drawing.  Also look for an announcement of the plans I have for August - another blog hop and some birthday fun coming up!