Winged Blog Tour...Improv Quilted Pot Holders

Today I'm excited to take part in Bonnie Christine's Winged Blog Tour.  Bonnie is a fabric designer and I've just fallen head over heels for all of her lines.  If you follow along on my blog, the Honeybee fabric I used for my Catherine quilt is from Bonnie also.  I finally finished her and will be sharing photos soon.  For today I created some whimsical pot holders that I plan to give as Christmas gifts along with some note cards.  

Bonnie sent me these four fabric fat quarters and I just love how her lines are mixy matchy but coordinate so beautifully.  You can definitely choose fabrics from just this one line and get a really fun project going.  Bonnie was inspired by the first butterfly sightings of Spring for this line.  It evokes a new season, warmer weather and fresh blooms.  I think these fabrics will be perfect for my potholders come Spring time when we're all ready to be over with the holidays and cook something fresh and new.  

First, let me tell you that my process photos are a little wonky.  I like to work first thing in the morning when the light is bright so it wasn't the best timing for taking photographs.  But I wanted you to see my process so here goes.  I knew I wanted to cut out the butterflies and make them the center focal point of my potholders. 

 Next I trimmed fabric pieces from the other fat quarters.  No measuring, I just started cutting.  I used the improv style of quilting to create my pot holder fronts.  It's kind of like a wonky log cabin....there are no precise measurements.  Just keep cutting a piece, sewing it on, trimming and then continue on.

 Here's four of my pieces all cut and ready to sew.  I kept my potholders at a finished size of 8.5" so I just kept adding on fabric until I had a size big enough to trim to a 8.5" square.

 Here's my pot holder tops all sewn and pressed.  This is a great project for beginning quilters because you don't have to measure or be precise.  I am an experienced sewer and I like it because....well, you don't have to measure or be precise.  :)

 For the backing and batting I used all natural materials.  You don't want a polyester or some fabric that will melt when a hot pan is set on the potholder.  For my backing I used some fabrics from my stash.  For the batting I love to use Warm & Natural quilt batting.  I find it at JoAnn's and use a coupon when I need some.  It's all cotton and is fluffy and soft.  It makes the warmest quilts ever.  I had some large pieces leftover so I trimmed some out for my potholders.  I've also used old cutter quilts or layers of old flannels for the batting.  It's nice to have some thickness especially if you cook with heavy pots or cast iron.

 I sandwiched all my layers together and made some edge binding out of some fabric from my stash.

 Here are some of my finished pot holders.  Now don't hold me to perfect corners or even perfectly square pieces.  The pots aren't gonna care, folks.  :)

 What I love is the fun mix of fabrics, colors and patterns.

 To keep the fabric from shifting when washed or with extended use, I just top stitched over the butterfly squares.  This added a little poofy quilted look too.

I hope you enjoyed my project today.  This is a great blog tour and I've enjoyed Bonnie's previous blog hops so much.  Be sure to check out Bonnie's cute project from yesterday and then hop over to May Chappell's blog on Monday for another inspiring post.  There are 31 wonderful days to this blog tour so don't miss out.  Thanks for stopping by.  

Catherine Quilt Progress...piecing a block improv style

I thought I would share some more of the process of my Catherine Quilt.  Today I'm sharing how I pieced together my improv blogs.  Kind of like a messy log cabin but just totally random sizes.  No measuring, I just started cutting pieces of fabrics.  I staged each block like this, putting together colors I liked mixed in with some of the linens.  

Starting with my first two pieces of fabrics that are similar in size I sewed them together then pressed open the seams. 

I trimmed the edges to be straight using my ruler and rotary trimmer.

Next I found the adjoining piece of fabric that was similar in size to my stitched together pieces. 

Each time I sewed on a new piece I pressed open the seams and trimmed the edges straight.

I kept sewing each stitched piece to the next piece close in size until I had enough blocks completed for the size of quilt I wanted. 

Here's the majority of my blocks spread out on my bed.  I ended up creating 16 blocks approximately 18" square in size for my quilt.

I was so happy to see this progress taking place.  The color and patterns just started to pop.  Next up, I'll be sharing how I sewed all the blocks together to form a quilt top.  Stay tuned....

Project Update: Catherine Quilt (Improv Quilting)

I've been making progress on my Catherine Quilt so I thought I'd share some photos today.  If you remember in my last project update I was just starting to piece together random fabrics to form quilt blocks.  Here's the first two that I made.  

This type of quilting starts with scraps so it's a great project for those who keep  all their scraps, big and small.  I didn't have many scraps so I started with all new fabrics + a large bundle of linen that I purchased at a thrift shop.  

Some simply call this type of quilting "scrap quilting" or "wonky log cabin" but after much research on the Internet I found that this type of quilting actually has a more formal name.  It's called "improvisational quilting" or "improv quilting" as I will call it from here on out.  It can be very simple in nature by just sewing together random scraps or it can become a very artistic expression using fabric and intricate designs.

I decided to use this improv quilting method but I had no idea what it was called or if there were many others doing this kind of quilting.  Why am I interested in this type of quilting? When I took my first beginning quilt class several years ago the quilt had 9 square blocks that had traditional type pieced patterns.  The patterns had to be so precise, it involved measuring and matching up corners and making triangles.  It was a bit stuffy feeling to me and I felt like the dear ladies at the quilt shop silently critiqued  every little mistake.  Of course they didn't and were nothing but super helpful and nice...but still I felt that maybe this type of quilting wasn't for me.  It was too perfect.  It didn't settle well with my mixy matchy, scrappy style that I was used to in my paper crafting.

So I decided to venture out on my own and just see what I could come up with.  I had a few ideas brewing about when I started my Catherine Quilt.  First, I wanted to pick fabrics with patterns and colors that I loved. I think my quilt really does reflect my style, sort of like what I would select when paper crafting.  I also knew that I wanted to dig into this beautiful stash of linen that I had been saving for a special project.  I loved the idea of using the soft tans of the linens as my neutral instead of a white fabric. Next, I knew I didn't want to measure anything.  I know that sounds crazy but it's just like my paper crafting...I don't measure too much. It's so stifling to have to be that precise.  So I started cutting strips without measuring any of them.  Then I started laying them out as you see in my photos today.  Next I just started stitching them together and trimming them down.

One issue I had was deciding if I wanted all my blocks the same size.  I initially thought about using my 12" ruler to square them all up but in the end each and every block I created was a different size, about 18" square approximately.  I thought by doing this, my quilt would have a more organic look, without perfectly spaced squares.  I thought it would be unique if the viewer of my quilt had to look twice to see how I pieced all the pieces together.  The more I worked on piecing the blocks, the more mixy matchy they turned out.  I'm very happy with the results so far.  

Since I started quilting my preferred way I looked up improv quilts on Pinterest.  I've added lots of quilt ideas to my Quilts board and my Catherine Quilt board.  I've found that the Internet has endless inspiration for improv type quilting.  If you're like me and think perhaps that the traditional type quilting blocks are a little too much for you at this time, I so hope you'll give this style a try.