Berry Crush Blog Hop..."a Garden of ABC's" Phase 2

 Hey quilter's...hope your having an exciting time following a long on the Berry Crush Blog Hop. I love seeing everyon's creativity using the stunning fabric collection "Berry Crush." This collection is Jennifer Thomas from @curlicuecreations new signature fabric for Lumin Fabrics by Jerry Khiev. The vibrant colors and prints will inspire your creativity. You can view all the exciting details on curlicue creations page and make sure you check out what Jennifer is giving away! I'm having a blast and sew thankful to be part of the Berry Crush Blog Hop. All the designers featured are super talented and the designs are stunning. I've had a blast creating a Children's Learning Quilt using this collection. As I stated earlier the design was inspired by my love of flowers blooming on a trellis and hopes to have a sweet great-grand using this quilt one day. I know...my grandson is only 15 but a "Gege" can dream...right? Who knows what the future holds but the one thing I can say..."I finally have a quilt finished a head of time!" Right? Plus a super cute tote to gift it in :-) Well...we're on the finishing stage of this fun design. It comes together quickly and you have so many options to personalize it to your needs. All stated in Phase 1. I love a basic design that gives you room to be creative and have fun. I'll be showcasing the "Gift tote" soon using the say design layout that features some quilting options. I did the classic "orange peel" around the lattice and simple accent quilting around the center flower. I can only imagine if you did some fun "meandering" around the design with stunning thread. The advanced option is  a "scrappy border" on the quilt and tote bag becasue I couldn't get enough of showing this fabric! I did a "throwback" of my special time of "tack quilting" w/ Oma. That was such a fun time in my life...the stories she shared while quilting together will be cherished forever. A quilts memory lives on forever to pass down for generations. This is why I started the "Children's Learning Quilts"...I thank y'all so much for following a long on this journey with me. Follow curlicuecreations for all the events of the "Berry Crush Blog Hop." Enjoy!

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

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Here's all you do...

* Press each block and make sure you have no "loose threads" on back :-)

Tip...you will have 49 squares  (7 across...7 down)

* Sew each row of blocks with right sides together using a 1/4" seam allowance. Press each seam  of rows in opposite directions (helps when joining rows together)

* Join rows together using the same method as above.

* Press and square up if needed before adding borders.

Borders...

* Do a "traditional border" if desired or challenge yourself and do the advanced scrappy border :-) You can't go wrong either way. This fabric is so stunning that a solid border would be beautiful too. Just take your widest width of quilt top...rotary cut your strip 1" x your width and sew to the top/bottom of quilt with right sides together using a 1/4" seam allowance..press square up. For your sides do the same.

Tip...I add about 2" to each side then square up after attaching to quilt. This allows me to have some "playing room" while sewing :-)

Batting/Backing...

* Rotary cut your cut your backing fabric a bit larger than your quilt top...you can trim after quilting.

* Layer your backing w/right side facing down.

* Batting

* Quilt top...right side up.

* Pin or clip to secure (remove them as you quilt) :-)

Tip...due to the weight of the quilt I love to use clips to secure the quilt and I use my ironing board to help with the weight of quilt too.

* Quilt and bind as desired.

Advanced 1/2" Scrappy Border...

* Rotary cut your scraps 2 1/2" x wide by your desired length. I cut mine about 3 -4" in length to give a fun scrappy design using as much of the beautiful fabric.

* Join the scraps in a "vertical" fashion using a 1/4" seam allowance..finger pressing as you go.

* Join scraps until you achieve the desired width for all sides of the quilt using the same method as above.

* My Border/Binding technique...

* I rotary cut my strips 2 1/2" wide and sewn with same method as above. After I pressed and squared up my quilt....starting at top folded back the scrappy border to the back of quilt leaving a 1/2" border/binding on front. Fold in half again on back and to hide raw edge Clip to secure.I do the same for the bottom and left/right side of the quilt..press and top stitch on front to secure. This is not a tradtional method by it works for me :-)

I thank you so much for following a long and check back soon for the advanced coordinating tote pattern and more stunning deigns feautured on the "Berry Crush Blog Hop!"

Talk soon.

Cat

Berry Crush Blog Hop Day 4!

 Hey quilters...hope y'all are having a great week. I'm having a blast seeing everyone's designs on the Berry Crush Blog Hop.Today features Lisa of Lisasquiltingpassion.blog wall hanging. It's sew adorable and those butterflies using this collection are adorable.  This is very exciting blog hop because we don't know what the other designers have created until their special day. This stunning collection "Berry Crush" by Jennifer Thomas 'curlicuecreations" is her new signature fabric collection for Lumin Fabrics by Jerry Khiev. The prints and color hues are stunning. Pop on over to curlicuecreations site to view all the blog hop details. Jennifer Thomas has also feautred on her site her new designs that are absolutely beautiful featuring her new collection. I'm having a blast and I hope y'all are too! Oh, did I mention that you can enter to win a Fat Quarter Bundle of this collection at curlicuecreations! :-) Thanks so much for following and check back tomorrow for a big suprise :-) 

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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Berry Crush Blog Hop...

Berry Crush Blog Hop Day 3!

 Hey quilters...hope you're having a great week and following the "Berry Crush Blog Hop." This is an exciting Blog Hop featuring Jennifer Thomas "Curlicue Creations" new signature collection "Berry Crush" for Lumin Fabrics by Jerry Khiev. Todays feautred designer is Emily of "The Darling Dogwood." View her stunning design featuring this beautiful collection Berry Crush. I'm loving this hop...sew inspiring seeing everyone's creativity incorporating this stunning fabric collection. You can view more of all the events on @curlicuecreations.com page and view Jennifer Thomas beautiful designs!  Every day I'll be featuring the designer for y'all to follow. Sew much inspiration and it's only day 3! Make sure you check back Friday... "hint...hint :-) 

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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Berry Crush Blog Hop...

Berry Crush Blog Hop day 2!

 Hey quilters...hope you're week is off to a great start. Today is "day 2" of the Berry Crush Blog Hop featuring this stunning collection "Berry Crush" by Jennifer Thomas for Lumin Fabrics by Jerry Khiev. Todays featured designer is Laura from Slice of Pi Quilts so make sure you check out her beautiful and creative design on her site. Visit curlicuecreations.com for all the details and don't forget to enter to win a Fat Quarter Bundle! I'm having a blast seeing all the stunning designs created so far. This fabric collection is so inspiring and sew fun and it's only day 2! :-)

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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Berry Crush Blog Hop... 

Berry Crush Blog Hop starts today!

 Hey quilters...we're going to start the week off with an exciting Blog Hop featuring Jennifer Schifano Thomas new signature collection "Berry Crush" with Island Batik Lumin Fabrics by Jerry Khiev. This fabric collection is stunning...vibrant colors and prints to inspire your next quilting project. Hop on over to @curlicuecreations.com for all the exciting details and don't forget to enter for your chance to win a fat quarter bundle! The talented Jennifer starts today so view her new designs featuring this stunning collection on her site. I'll be sharing the events all week long with the designers blog information as well. You can view all the "designers" participating on her website. Come join the fun...my day is Friday :-)

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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Berry Crush Blog Hop...

Cats Tip of the Day!..."Just roll w/it" :-)

 Hey quilters....hope your week is going well. I'm enjoying the "coolish" mornings here in Florida. I'm anxiously awaiting the fall weather. I watch the National news every morning and will admit I tend to get a bit jealous seeing states that actually have fall. I love the leaves turning on the trees and just the smell of the cool freshness in the air. The fall festivities....pumpkin patches everywhere and pumpkin spice everything. I'm one of those crazy people that make pumpkin bread all year. I like to say..."it's a bit healthier." :-) Well a lot of y'all are probably on to fall quilting but I wanted to share a tip that has saved me while quilting on a domestic machine. While I was quilting the ABC Childrens Learning quilt, wall deco that I recently shared, I tried this tip. Instead of rolling up your quilt the traditional way "straight roll" for the bulk...I did a angle fold then continued rolling the bulk of the quilt away from me. It was a game changer for me. I had less bulk which made it easier to quilt...less stress under the needle and I could handle the roll to maneuver as I was quilting. It almost became a "steering wheel." I will mention that "needle down" while repositioning is the key. It's amazing how that one trick of "needle down" helps to secure your quilt for no skipped stitches. The pics below show how I used this trick while quilting on my Brother sewing machine. I hope this tip helps make your quilting adventure a bit easier. I thank y'all so much for following and check back soon for more tips and exciting projects. In the meantime pop on over to Instagram & Facebook and see the exciting projects the Lumin fabric Ambassadors are creating. Talk soon!

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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Wild about ABC's...Children's Learning Quilt...Phase 4 Quilting w/ 4-N-1 Mini Ruler

 Hey quilter's...hope y'all are having a great week and the weather is kind in your area. We've been having heavy rain showers off and on in Florida but I'll take that over a Hurricane. When it's raining I just want to make a cup of coffee and hang out with my favorite fabric and thread. I've been a-pla-queing with my Lumin Batiks and Aurifil thread on my next project that I'll be sharing soon. I love it when my thread compliments the fabrics perfectly. I'm not a fancy quilter. So if I'm quilting an area that there could be a chance of a "oopsie"...I then quilt with a neutral thread. When I a-play-que I love to enhance the design with an accent thread and play with my decorative stitches on machine. It's amazing of how you can create a different stitch just my changing up the stitch width and length. I want to share with you a quilting ruler that I'm in love with and use for marking straight and curved lines. The 4-N-1 Mini ruler by Piece N Quilt by Natalia Bonner had been a delight to use. I quilt on a domestic machine (Brother) and depending on the design I will mark the curved lines with a erasable marking tool before quilting. I will also mark accent lines if needed using this ruler too. It's a wonderful tool to have and she also has tutorials to watch to inspire your quilting skills. She is amazing and her quilting skills are so inspiring. I used this ruler to mark all the curved lines within the square-in-a-square block. I used Aurifil # 3910 and it was a perfect match with my neutral Batik background fabric. In this phase you will be quilting the wall hanging then you'll be ready to do your border and finishing. I will suggest to rotary cut your backing fabric and quilt batting a bit larger then trim after. Dependng on how your quilting the fabric might shrink up a bit. I also like to start at the top and smooth and quilt as I go. I alway's say...you do what works best for you. I'm so thankful for y'all following a long on this journey with me. I have more fun...fast-n-fab Children's Learning Quilts coming soon. Enjoy!

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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Follow me on Instagram...Facebook & Pinterest (links upper right on home page)

Here's all you do...

* Rotary cut your backing fabric and batting ( see tip of how I cut mine a bit larger then trim after quilting)

Tip...I rotary cut Teardrops yellow lemon batik and batting to 16 x 48...then trimmed after quilting before adding binding.

* Layer backing right side down...batting...then quilt top right side up.

* Pin or clip as desired.

* Mark your quilting lines as desired or just use your quilting foot on your machine as a guide.

* Smooth and remove pins/clips as you go.

* Once you have finished quilting...press quilt and trim away extra backing and batting...leaving a 1/4" allowance on all sides for adding your binding.

Note...I do a border/binding as I'm sure you've noticed on my previous designs but you do what works best for you. If you do my rotary cut your strips width 1 1/2 by your top/bottom...sew with right sides together...press...then add your strips to left/right side and sew using the same methode. I then press and fold back the strip leaving a 1" border on the front...fold raw edge in the back to secure and top stitch on front per my design (see original post with pic). Again,,,finish your quilt as desired and what works well for you. 

I hope you enjoyed creating a quilt that will make a great learning quilt to pass down for generations!

Talk soon,

Cat