Chain Reaction in Figs - Quilt Festival

Thanks once again, Amy, for creating a place for us all to come and share.

"Chain Reaction in Figs" 

I first saw this pattern at Quilt Market several years ago, and fell in love with it . . . more about the pattern here

  stacked coin design on the back

You can see this new line of Fig Tree fabrics featured on the designer's blog in this post

  

I love this pantograph design by Beany Boy quilts for Willow Leaf Studio, but I don't have a long-arm.  So, I had to transfer the design onto my quilt. 

For the first row, I tried tracing the pattern onto thin paper

then sewing through it

 but then I had to do this: (which took for ever!)

 so I decided to make a stencil . . . 

 the process went by much faster after that

 you can read about my adventures quilting it here

  since then, I have come across a system of using netting to transfer a design for quilting, eliminating having to make a stencil  (more to come in a future post about that)

The "Chain Reaction" pattern can be found in this book by Swirly Girls

quilt stats:

60" x 77" (washed)

fabric is Mirabelle by Fig Tree

negative space is Kona pfd bleach white

warm & natural white batting

quilting design is "Tickle" by Beany Girl Quilts

Pattern is Chain Reaction by Swirly Girls

Now follow the link at the top of this post and go visit the other entries :)

trip around the world - give away w/ mini orange peel tutorial

I jumped on this band-wagon a little late, so you may be sick of seeing "trip around the world quilts"

This quilt was so fast and easy since it uses 2 1/2" strips, which I already had.  This is the 3rd quilt to be made with this collection of fabric and I'm proud to say it's all gone!!!

design wall . . .

I think this magazine was what started the whole parade, and it was fun to be able to find one.

But the easiest tutorial I've found for this quilt is to sew tubes with your strips.  You can find that tutorial here.

There are so many options to this quilt.  I've seen a low volume version from Miss Rosie's quilt's, I've seen them with borders, and without borders (my favorite), you can color coordinate or just go scrappy . . .

But the best part is that you can use up all your scraps!  All of them . . . no picking and choosing.  (Well, I did throw in the blue to add interest)

I've been dying to try this "orange peel" fmqing design.  It was amazingly easy.

Mark a grid onto your fabric like this

Or like this . . .
Then starting at the bottom, scale up one column curving your diagonal line to the next corner like so . . .  (bad set of photos, sorry)

Then, back down that same column swinging your diagonal line in a downward curve like so . . .

Then on to the next column.

If you're lucky, your piecing will have the grid marked for you.

Here's a tutorial by "Oh Frasson".  She explains it better than me.  (and has better pictures)

I made this quilt for my mother-in-law who was just diagnosed with cancer.  She'll be sitting in her reclining chair A LOT for a while.  I wanted her to have something to remind her of all the great crafts we did together through the years.  They live out in the country where these photos are taken.

Give away   closed
I'd love to give away this great magazine.  If  you're interested, leave me a nice comment :)

linked:

freshly pieced

crazy mom quilts

tgiff
whoop whoop