Thursday, March 7, 2019

✂️Can't We All Just Quilt Along?!!✂️

Have you seen Angela Walters' t-shirt that says, "Can't we all just quilt-along?" We quilters love quilt alongs, where a group makes the same quilt, each in their own fabric choices. I put this saying on a Shutterfly notebook along with a photo of my En Provence quilt. This is where I keep track of all of the quilts I've quilted. I am up to #558 now.

All this is to say, I've been working on two quilt-alongs (QALs) recently. The first is a "quilting cousins QAL" involving my sister, our cousin and myself. The Villa Rosa pattern we chose is called Lamplighter. I used a charm pack called "Strawberry Fizz":


I quilted it with a design called "Clementine" that looks like classic orange peel quilting:

The completed top:

The backing needed a bit more width, so I pieced in some of the white background charm squares that I had pulled out, and some extra "small cuts" from Japan:

This "oops" was pointed out to me when all was said and done! No one but God is perfect, right?:

I sent this quilted hug to my friend, Paula, who is fighting cancer. With that in mind, I decided to put the finished quilt through the washer and dryer twice, to start softening it up. I used 100% cotton batting. I found it interesting that the quilt shrunk 4" in both length and width, from the quilt top size to the post-washed and dried size. 

Now, keep in mind we just started this QAL on February 25th. And we already have the big reveal! They are, left to right, mine, Cousin Sue's and Bonnie's:
The second QAL that I am participating in is the Meadowland QAL by Meghan of Then Came June. There are more than 2,400 quilters signed up for this online QAL! 
Here is my fabric pull for week 1:

Inspired by this Design Seeds color combo:
This is a fat quarter quilt, so the first step is cutting up all the fat quarters and arranging them for each block:

We are currently in week 2. Here are my first five blocks:

You can see thousands of photos of this QAL on Instagram at #meadowlandqal. Talk about inspiration!

Grace and peace!!! ~Nancy 
  
Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation, TGIFF, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Friday Foto Fun, Busy Hands Quilts, From Bolt to Beauty, Sew Can She, The Inquiring Quilter.

12 comments:

  1. Hi Nancy! I love the quilt along with cousins. That sounds like a lot of fun - if only I had some cousins that quilted. I have a HUGE family and I can't fathom how I'm the only one that quilts. And wowee - I can't imagine 2,400 other quilters in a QAL - that really sounds like fun and inspirational. I'll check out the link. Happy Friday to you! ~smile~ Roseanne

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  2. Oh, how I love that Clementine quilting pattern! Just like the traditional orange peel design, it has a strong geometry with the softness of curves ... so pretty and versatile! I know Paula will appreciate the beautiful quilt you made her. : )

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  3. Love your fabric pull for Meadowland and your layout of the pinks.

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  4. Your "cousins" quilt is so sweet! I'm sure your friend will truly appreciate the quilty hug. I had to really look to find the "oops" :)

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  5. The cousin quilts all turned out great! I'm sure your friend appreciated your thoughtful gift. I like where your QAL is headed, too. Have fun with it!

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  6. 558 quilts! How impressive is that?! It would almost be worth a trip to MN to see the Shutterfly book!

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  7. I can't even imagine finishing that many quilts. Well done!!! I do better at starting but not so much finishing my projects.

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  8. You do a great job keeping up with the quilt alongs.
    Great to see the finishes.

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  9. I love Villa Rosa patterns! This one looks great! Love the dot fabric you used for sashing. Your blocks for the other quilt along are beautiful!

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  10. Two qals! What fun. The Meadowland quilt looks beautiful with your color choices! The cousins qal looks fast and easy, my kind of quilt! Thanks for linking up to Wednesday Wait Loss!

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  11. I really love your quilting journal! Your En Prevance sure is pretty. QALs are so much fun. You've re-inspired me to try to get my sister and cousins organized to do one together.

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  12. I loved reading about you doing a QAL with your cousins. I have done round robins with my sisters, so I know how memorable that can be. The red was the PERFECT sashing and the orange peel pattern was too. You have superior taste in my book.

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