Sweet Tooth ~ Is the Piecing Bug Back?

For the last few years, I was in a massive piecing slump. I used to flip through my pattern books, look at Pinterest boards, or stare at my stash, and just get so excited about piecing new quilt tops. But for at least a period of two years, I felt no desire or motivation.

And then, a few weeks ago, a switch flipped, just like that. I suddenly took a look at my Sweet Tooth quilt kit, something I thought was a torture device just a few months ago, and thought, wow, I really want to make this now!

Sweet Tooth is a Block of the Month quilt pattern by Jaybird Quilts, and now that I want to piece again, I'm having such a good time with this quilt! There are 24 of these hex blocks total, 2 colorways for each style, and they're truly enjoyable to put together.

After piecing the blocks, I had to put together all the background pieces. This part took concentration and I had to follow the pattern really carefully, but Jaybird Quilts is an excellent pattern writer, and the instructions were so good and clear.

At the end, a truly impressive looking quilt is finished! It looks complex, and it is, but it really wasn't hard, and I just had to follow the instructions. However, I'm still surprised it came out so well.

I just know this will be so fun to quilt too, when I get around to it (someday)!

Arcade Game

When I first saw Arcade Game by Jaybird Quilts, I thought the quilt was absolutely adorable and definitely had the 3D effect it was going for. I waited to make this until I had a kit though, because I knew color placement was absolutely critical.

Piecing this quilt was very fun because I like any excuse to use a specialty ruler, and Jaybird's rulers are so fun to use! Piecing was easy, and the only part I had to be careful of was to make sure I didn't mess up the color placement, or the effect would be ruined.

Although the quilt had fun jaggedy edges, I wasn't in the mood to use bias binding to finish this, so I chickened out and added black filler triangles to make it a rectangular quilt. Maybe next time!

I had an idea in quilting this to make sure the 3D effect stands out, and I quilted the top "panel" of every cubes the same with echoing lines, but switched up the designs on the sides. It was fun to pick different designs for every block!

Since I only wanted to use a single color of thread, I quilted more densely on lighter colored blocks and less densely on darker colored blocks.

I meant to finish this quilt in October, but I got so busy with other things that I didn't touch the longarm for nearly a month. (I was also very wrapped up in piecing another quilt by Jaybird Quilts, and her quilts are downright addictive.) Once I started this however, it went fairly quickly, and I love the finished quilt!

I rarely take staged photos anymore because ... actually I don't have a good reason. But this quilt demanded to be hung from some railing and taken a photo of! So, I had to follow that call.

Northern Lights

I first saw a sample of Northern Lights, a pattern by Julie Herman, in a quilt shop in Alaska. I immediately was intrigued by the pretty solid colors in a gradient, and I loved the quilting on the store sample. It was a lot of dense fillers in matching colors that complemented the quilt perfectly and added a delicious texture.

I didn't buy the kit then, because my suitcase was already full, and I wasn't sure I would be able to piece it. But I thought of it constantly. Earlier this year I finally bought it as a late Christmas gift to myself. As a bonus, I finally had the excuse to invest in a Hex 'n More ruler! I just love collecting rulers.

I decided to make my quilt exactly like the sample, in the same arrangement of colors. Although this quilt is doable without the Hex 'n More ruler, I do have to say it makes cutting the trapezoids a lot more quick and fun! I was worried I wouldn't be able to piece this, but it wasn't as difficult as I thought. I did have to use a pin or two during row assembly, but it came together very quickly and almost all of my points almost match. Close enough is good enough!

Quilting this top was an exhilarating experience. As I was quilting this, I became convinced that this quilt top was designed specifically to showcase free-motion quilting. The big expanses of space, all in solids ... there is no place to hide, and everything shows! On some sections, it's great news. On others, well ...

To start with, I filled some sections with paisleys, pebbles, and swirls. I don't think I'll ever get tired of them.

I decided to try a new filler that I've never tried before. Leaves! I know leaves are pretty much just a pointed paisley, but I find it quite a bit more challenging to execute compared to the paisley. However, it has such a great look so I was determined to learn them.

I wanted to add some straight lines just to break it up a bit. But one block in, I realized I was already bored. So to break it up even further, I added some wavy lines to contrast with it.

I'm so happy I conquered this! Quilting this quilt was amazingly fun (isn't it always, though?) and it's such a joy to watch the quilt come to life. All in all, I'm thrilled with the way this turned out.

I really like the back of the quilt too ... I didn't realize until awhile after the quilt was finished that the back shared some of the colors as the front and has a Northern Lights kind of feel! Now that's what I call a happy coincidence.

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Link parties I joined: Crazy Mom Quilts, Busy Hands Quilts, Sew Can She, and Cooking Up Quits.

Snail Mail Quilt

What do you do when you have a quilt where the fabric is too busy to showcase quilting designs? Well ... you can 1) do an allover design or 2) use the opportunity to practice practice practice since it won't show anyway.

Of course I opt for option 2.

I've had my fabric bundle Paper Obsessed in my stash for a few months, and while I really like the whimsical prints, I also didn't know what to do with it. It's a bit novelty for my usual taste, but I couldn't resist it at the time. I had also been interested in making Radio Way by Jaybird Quilts for some time, but the timing never felt right. Then, one day, I pictured the Paper Obsessed fabric on Radio Way, and knew it was the right combination.

Piecing this quilt was easy and relaxing, which is exactly what I was looking for. I debated between using the black or the white for the frame squares, but ultimately decided on black as I thought it'd look a tad more striking with the lighter tones in the printed fabric. (And to be honest ... I wish I had gone with white. It would have at least made one area where you can really see the quilting.)

For the quilting, since I can't see what's going on anyway, I threw tons of designs on there, but the one I used the most is ribbon candy. It's a design I love, but never was able to get the hang of. Well ... after quilting it 30+ times in this quilt, I got the hang of it! It is so fun to quilt, too. While I mostly treated each "strip" as a unit and quilted within it with linear designs, I kept in mind Angela Walters's "make a rule, break a rule" and occasionally I'd treat the block as a single unit and quilt a square design.

I'm glad I got a fun quilt out of this whimsical fabric bundle, and lots of free-motion practice in to boot. I've always been on the fence about rail fence quilts (pun intended) but the Radio Way pattern introduced a twist with the frames, and that makes it more interesting to me.

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This post participated in the link party at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Busy Hands Quilts, and Crazy Mom Quilts. Join the fun!