Monday, March 19, 2018

It's an Easter Picnic

We are having the longest winter known to mankind, or at least it feels that way to me.  When March rolls around I'm ready to be enjoying some sunshine and walking outside, even if I have to wear a jacket.  Well this March has been as cold as February and I'm still wearing my winter coat when I venture out.  Since Spring has not sprung at my house I decided to bring some spring to my sewing room.

First off, the search for spring fabric.


These fat quarters are leftovers from previous projects that I saved. I store leftovers by color.

Then I googled basket quilts, because I was feeling the need for an Easter basket quilt.  It 's hard to choose just one basket quilt pattern, there are a lot of great ones.  I thought Carrie Nelson's Picnic pattern would look great in my spring colors.



I even had this pattern on hand which made the whole process even easier.  Carrie's Picnic quilt finishes at 34" x 34", I decided I needed a bigger quilt so I made everything just a wee bit larger.
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I made the basket blocks 2 inches bigger than the pattern.  And I made them one at a time, which isn't the most efficient way to piece but it was fun selecting two fabrics for each basket, then watching them grow one by one on my design wall.  




This is Lifetime Quilt Number 223
I've named it Easter Basket
The pattern is Picnic by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co
It finished at 48" x 48"
It has approximately 461 pieces.  

I enjoyed every minute spent piecing this quilt top, it was easy,  practically went together overnight, and the happy colors improved my mood, considerably.  And the best part, I have a cute little basket quilt to hang up each year around Easter, regardless of the weather.

Monday, March 12, 2018

Cake Mix Recipe Finish

Are you familiar with the Cake Mix Recipe papers sold by Moda?  All you need is a layer cake, some background fabric, and the Cake Mix papers and you can make a myriad of quilt tops.   I've admired several projects I've seen pieced using these papers and thought I would give them a try.


I think there are 8 different Cake Mix Recipe pads, I decided to go with Recipe 6.  For my fabric I selected a layer cake of Haiku by Moda.  I thought this family of fabric was very striking, a nice change of pace from my usual fabric choices, but had no idea what to make with it.

Each sheet of Cake Mix Recipe 6 yields the following units; eight 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" hsts, plus eight 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" rail fence units, one print 2 1/2" square and one background 2 1/2" square.

I used my own background fabric and cut my 10" squares to pair up with my layer cake.

The papers were a breeze to piece and produced units the exact size promised.  I pressed my seams open.  Whenever possible I make my block units larger then square them up to size, so I was worried about the accuracy of these pieces, but they were perfect.

Once I had all the units pieced it was time to decide what to make with them.  The Cake Mix provided 5 possible blocks using different combinations of the pieces and parts.  You can even come up with your own combinations.

I decided I liked Block 3 and Block 5 the best.  I thought they would work well for the Haiku fabric.



So I played around with a few options on my design wall then finally came up with this.

I think this was the fun part, deciding what was the best use of the pieces and what combos made the most pleasing design.


This is Lifetime Quilt Number 222
I've named it Haiku
The fabric is Haiku by Moda - I used two layer cakes to finish this top 
The pattern is from Cake Recipe Mix 6
It finished at 60" x 60"
It has approximately 1,058 pieces

I could not be happier with this quilt top.  I love the fabric and think the pattern is a great fit for the feel of the fabric.  I'm not sure I would have ever made anything with this fabric had I not tried the Cake Mix.


I think these Cake Mix Recipe paper pads are very clever.  I have several layer cakes that I've purchased because I like the fabric, but not enough to invest in the cost of a fat quarter bundle, fabric that I wasn't really sure what to do with,  now I have unlimited options.  You can go with patterns that have been designed by Moda or come up with your own design like I did.  The Fat Quarter Shop even has a book with patterns for the Cake Mixes.  (click here)

I think these would be great to take on a retreat, one layer cake with your background fabric plus one cake pad and you could have a quilt in a weekend easy.

I also think they would be a fun guild challenge,  everyone bring a layer cake and cake mix pad, mix them up, then you have to make something with the pad and layer cake you were dealt.

Shop around for the Cake Mix pads, I saw prices online from $9 to $14.



In honor of my Haiku finish I wrote a Haiku!

Baking with Haiku
A recipe but no plan
Finish is well done

I'm already planning my next Cake Mix Recipe adventure.