Holland Breeze Quilt Finish: FLANNEL backed quilt!

Here she is... this larger-than-I-expected beauty.  I'm not sure why I was surprised at her size though.  She's a brick house with 16" blocks.

Holland Breeze has blocks made for me by the {Sew} Beautiful Bee ladies in 2011.  This finish is looooong overdue.  For some reason, these blocks ended up on my UFO table, until a thought of warm cozy flannel crossed my mind.

I first saw Ruby in FLANNEL at the Fabric Shack almost a year ago.  I guess it stuck with me because it was one of those moments where you sit up straight in bed in the middle of the night,  "FLANNEL!", that I decided to use it.

Above is a shot of the flannel goodness.  This was the first time I used quilt shop quality flannel.  Let me tell you - it's a lot heavier than flannel at Joann's.  This quilt is SO warm and solid.  :)  It's my new favorite of course.

My budget didn't allow me to spend more $ on binding fabric, so I ended up using the extra cutoff after quilting.  I don't think I'd use flannel for binding again.  Because it is so thick, it was a little hard to work with since I still made double-fold binding.  (I remembered to put a tag label on this one.  I am the world's worst quilt labeler....)

The boys have been using it as a tent, and it's nice since the 3 of them and I can all fit underneath it.
Squeaking this finish in before the end of the year.  :)

Quilt Stats.

Name: Holland Breeze

Size: 66" x 89"

Design: Dutch Pinwheel - 16" finished block

Fabric:  Ruby and Bliss by Bonnie & Camille; Kona in Ice Frappe

Piecing: {Sew} Beautiful Bee 2011 and Me

Quilting: LAQ Beany of Quilty Pleasures

Allotrope Pillow & Block Tutorial

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, Mark Cesarik sent me a nice little package with charms of his Cosmic Burst line.  I had best intentions of whipping up a project with them before baby came back in the spring.  My pregnancy got complicated at the end and so, these poor little charms sat neglected.

UNTIL....inspiration struck!  And you know what?  Boy, am I glad I waited.  These colors are just screaming out with energy.  Sometimes the right fabrics and design just fall into place, you know?  That's how this block felt for me.


I turned this block I'm calling Allotrope into a pillow.  I'm gifting it this Christmas.  Perfect for a little girl.

I used the Cosmic Burst charms and paired it with Kate Spain's Terrain.  It was a surprising pairing for me, but I am really digging how they look together.  I straight line quilted it pretty tight - something I don't normally have the patience for.  I think it adds some nice dimension here.

I also piped it using my Pillow Piping tutorial with colorful Terrain print.

What a difference from the original sketch I had for Allotrope with blues!

If you'd like to make your own Allotrope block, I've provided Allotrope templates for you.  I only used the templates for the corners though.  All the center squares are 2.5" unfinished squares sewn together to make an on-point block.  This makes a 12" block.

(I added a white border on the pillow to make a 15" square.)

{betty dress} quilt block pattern

Here is my latest mini.  Is it vintage yet modern?  I am so happy with how it came out.    The background print contains vintage ads/logos for sewing notions and trimmings.  I immediately had this curvy paper pieced dress in mind when reading the text.  So I drafted up a 10" block featuring this ladies dress to feed my paper piecing addiction yet again.

Look at those curves!  Although the skirt is only solid green, I visually wanted to add a pleat or dart look.  The skirt is paper pieced in four sections to add the visual interest.  Then I added the scalloped quilting down the skirt using the pleats as guidelines.  These were the first curves I've actually ever pieced myself.  It's not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.  I tried it first on a test block before using my real fabrics.

 As I've mentioned before, I am focusing on smaller projects and building my confidence in FMQ and other skills.  The scallops and the loops in the border were an experiment.  I like the effect of those loops on the solid border.  The grey color adds some modernness to the otherwise vintage feel.

Here is the paper pieced block standing alone without the border.

I've made the {betty dress} block up into a pattern if you'd like to try it yourself.  You can get it in on Craftsy.

The {betty dress} is a PDF pattern.  The finished block measures 10" square.  The pattern includes written instructions, a diagram of the block, and mirror image pattern pieces.  This pattern does not teach you how to paper piece.  {betty dress} is an intermediate level pattern.  There are 2 curves and 2 y-seams.  This block is a great place to try out these techniques!

I'd love to see your version if you make one!