Aisle Path Lighting

I have a bunch of quilt finishes from 2019 that I have not yet shared on the blog so I will attempt to do so over the next few weeks.  The first quilt I would like to share is called Aisle Path Lighting.

My local guild, the Greenville Modern Quilt Guild, hosts a quilt challenge every August.  The challenge for this past year was the crayon challenge.  The rules were:

• Randomly select 3 crayons 
• Make a small quilt (no side larger than 36") 
• Use the the crayon colors as the majority of the quilt top
• Focus on negative space

My colors were a dark blue, bright yellow, and grass green.

I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone a little and try some improv piecing.  I started by creating little dots of yellow on a dark blue background which I thought looked a little like aisle path lighting you would see in a plane (which is how the quilt got its name).

I then slowly pieced the top together cutting different angles and using slightly different hues of the dark blue for interest.  I really did not care for the grass green so I included it in just one tiny spot :)

For quilting, I first machine quilted some dark blue lines echoing the seam lines and then added some big stitch hand quilting using Aurifil 12 wt in dark blue.  I faced the quilt instead of my usual binding.  The finished quilt measures 34" wide by 25" tall.

I am happy to report that I submitted Aisle Path Lighting into QuiltCon in the small quilts category and it got in!  I am working on putting a hanging sleeve and label now.

I'm linking up with NTT at My Quilt Infatuation.

Disappearing Oranges - MGQ Pattern of the Month for July

I am so happy to show you my newest quilt, Disappearing Oranges which is the July pattern of the month for the Modern Quilt Guild (free to all MQG members)!

You can find the pattern on the MQG website right here.

For quilters coming over from the MQG, welcome! I hope you have a chance to take a look around my little blog including some of my recent finishes and my fifth annual mystery quilt called the Mosaic Mystery quilt which just started a few weeks ago. You can also find me over on Instagram as MeadowMistDesigns.

Disappearing Oranges was made using my Subcontracting for Minimalism technique starting with an orange peel design.  I am excited to be teaching this technique again at QuiltCon 2020.

Many thanks to:

• Hoffman Fabrics for the Indah Batik Solids
• The Warm Company for the Warm & White batting
• Aurifil for the thread for piecing and quilting

Photo by the MQG

For the quilting, those that know me well know that I prefer to do free motion quilting over straight line quilting.  But looking at the design, I really thought that a cross-hatch pattern would be the right choice.  I used random spacing of the quilting lines (guiding off of previous stitched lines with different parts of my walking foot) to have spaces between ¼" to 1 ½".

I used a 50 wt white (2021) Aurifil thread for the quilting.  The thread was great for adding texture and not standing out too much on the high contrast dark blue and orange fabrics.

Photo by the MQG

A fun light blue Me + You batik from Hoffman Fabrics completed the quilt as the backing.

I want to give a special thanks to Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl for her super pattern review skills!! 

Mikado ++ Quilt Finish

I would love to show you Mikado today, my QuiltCon entry for the APQ 2-Color Challenge category.

The quilt is made with the Smoosh block which I designed for the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG)for their October Block of the Month.  The Smoosh block is foundation paper pieced and is available for free for all MQG members.  You can find instructions for the block and a quilt here.

For the Mikado quilt, I set the Smoosh blocks on point and then randomly substituted in some black and white striped fabric for some of the fabric pieces.  I took care to make sure that all of the stripes in all of the striped fabrics go in the same direction (which was a little difficult due to a few piecing oopsies).

The quilt got its name because I thought it looked a little like a bunch of sticks from the game Pick Up Sticks.  It turns out that Pick Up Sticks is based on the European game Mikado :)

I do not love to do straight line quilting, but each time I started to plan out the quilting, I came back to a dense, randomly spaced cross-hatch pattern echoing the seam lines of the on-point blocks.  Luckily, the quilt is pretty small (about 41" x 50") that the dense quilting did not take too long.

I used 50 wt white Aurifil thread which blended well with the background and did not stand out too much on the black or striped fabrics.  A fun geometry themed fabric from Moda called Modern Background Paper by Zen Chic became the backing. 

For batting, I used my favorite batting Warm & White from the Warm Company.  The white color made sure there was no shadowing or color coming through the mostly white quilt top, and once blocked (see how I block a quilt here), the batting gives the quilt such a crisp and flat look.

I finished the quilt off using a really thick binding using 5" binding strips.  I think that the quilt top really needed a strong frame with all of the negative space.  I made and attached the binding the same as I normally would (I had tested the larger binding on my last charity quilt). 

I will let you know if it gets into QuiltCon :)

Quilt Stats
Size: 41" x 50"
Design: Smoosh blocks set on point (designed by me for the MQG)
Fabrics: Moda Bella white, Kona black, Robert Kaufman stripe
Quilting: 50 wt white Aurifil thread in a dense cross-hatch

Ruminate ++ Mini Quilt Finish

It's that time of the year again...each fall, Amy, who blogs over at Amy's Creative Side, hosts the Blogger's Quilt Festival on her blog.  We are allowed to link up two quilts and have the opportunity to visit and be inspired by other blogger's wonderful quilts.  

My first entry to the festival is my latest finish I have named Ruminate.  Ruminate is a verb meaning to think about seriously and I think that it fits my latest quilt finish very well.

I started this quilt back at QuiltCon 2017 (a year and a half ago) in a workshop on improv by Densye Schmidt.  In the workshop, we were supposed to start with a traditional block and after making a few regular blocks, we started playing with shape, scale, and size.

I started with the L Block which is shown below.  My L blocks become long and skinny, teeny tiny, and lopsided. I had fun at the workshop, but was totally stumped as to how to fit all of these odd sized blocks together into a quilt top.

So I left my blocks in a bag to age like fine wine for about 18 months until I was cleaning my sewing room and decided to either donate the blocks or get them sewn together.

I started by sewing pairs of like sized blocks together and then piecing the pairs together, sometimes adding an extra piece of fabric, sometimes trimming the blocks to fit.

My finished quilt top was about 24" x 30" and I wound up using almost every block I had made in the workshop.

Once I basted the quilt, I ruminated on the quilting design for a couple of weeks. Eventually I decided to use three main groupings of lines that intersected randomly across the quilt top and then added echoing lines around these groupings.

Unfortunately, because my quilt top was a little wavy (due to the blocks being cut without rulers and how the blocks were sewn together), as I quilted the straight lines, I wound up with more and more quilt top excess and was starting to get puckering of the quilt top.

I changed my quilting design after I had the initial three groups of lines and instead quilted a small bear claw design in the remaining areas. This helped to take up the excess quilt top fabric and prevented any tucks in the quilt top.

For the quilting I used a variety of Aurifil thread weights in black, white, gray, and yellow. I used 50 wt, 28 wt, and 12 wt. The 12 wt makes a bold statement on the quilt top and really stands out again the busy, print filled quilt top.

Framing the quilt with a binding did not seem like the way to go so I used a facing instead. I am thinking of hanging this quilt somewhere in my house. I am pretty happy with the way it turned and how much I learned along the way.

Thank you for stopping by through the Bloggers Quilt Festival, I hope that you stick around a bit and check out the rest of my blog :)  Here are some links...

Free Quilt Alongs

Tutorials

Pattern Writing 101

2018 Quilt Finishes

Meadow Mist Designs Etsy Shop

Subscribe via Bloglovin

Subscribe via Email

I am also linking up with the fun new linky party that Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty is hosting called Brag About Your Beauties.

50th Wedding Anniversary Quilt

My family recently traveled up to Delaware to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary party.  The party also served as a family reunion and it was exciting to see so many of my relatives together (my family is very spread out across the US).

For their anniversary gift, I made them a king sized quilt for their bed.  My mother like more modern designs and requested something in blacks, whites, and grays to go with their bedroom.

This is my first king size quilt I have made, an enormous 112" x 98".

Sorry for the lack of a better photo, taking pictures of a quilt this huge proved to be very challenging as it did not fit on my quilt stand.

I went through many different iterations and different designs including some designs with curves, paper piecing, and improv before I settled on a quilt based on equilateral triangles.  I thought that the triangles gave the design a modern and classic look.

I used my technique of Subtracting for Minimalism (I'll be teaching this method at QuiltCon 2019 and I also offer it as a 3 and 6 hour workshop for guilds) to come up with the design.  I wanted the affect of the middle having more white/gray prints and fading to black along the top and bottom.

Here was the rendering I made in EQ8 to figure out sizing and fabric placement:

I cut the triangles 8 ½" (the largest my ruler would go) to minimize the amount of triangles I needed (I still used over 200).  I thought that the larger triangles would scale nicely with the size of the bed.

I was able to use some of my special, hand printed fabrics in the quilt.  Here was a triangle made using some fabric that I created the screen print and printed in Karen Lewis's QuiltCon 2018 class.

Here is some fabric that I printed using a pre-made screen at a workshop hosted by my quilting friend Faye.

The piecing on this enormous quilt was actually not too bad because the larger triangles made the quilt top come together pretty easily.  I had planned on quilting the quilt myself, but admit that the huge size was really daunting.  I think that I would have had to take out all of the furniture from my family room just to have a space to baste the quilt :)

Right as I was working sewing the rows of triangles together, I received an e-mail from Jennifer Istok of Knotted Thread (Instagram, Etsy shop) about a Christmas in July quilting sale.  The sale offered an excellent pricing on quilting a Christmas themed quilt and an additional quilt so I jumped on it.  Jennifer said she could quilt my quilts in a tight time frame and she did an amazing job.  

Super quick, Jennifer had my parents' quilt back with the most amazing meandering feather quilting pattern.  The light gray thread blends in well on the white/gray prints and stands out on the black areas.

My parents loved their new quilt and I think that it looks great in their room :)

QUILT STATS

   Name: Parents 50th Anniversary Quilt

   Designed by: Cheryl Brickey using the Subtracting for Minimalism technique

   Size: 112" x 98"

   Fabrics: Assorted white, gray, and black prints on a Kona black background.

   Quilted by: Jennifer Istok of Knotted Thread

   Quilting Design: Meandering feathers

Isosceles Addition ++ Love Patchwork & Quilting

Today, I get to show you the last of the plus sign designs that I had made for magazines to celebrate the release of my book, Modern Plus Sigh Quilts.

This quilt is called Isosceles Addition and it appears in the latest issue (#60) of Love Patchwork & Quilting.

I really like the strong geometric shapes and the bright colors of this design.  I was so happy to see that a little piece of the quilt made it to the cover :)

Photo by Love Patchwork & Quilting

My thanks to Robert Kaufman for the Kona Cotton Solids, Aurifil for the piecing and quilting thread, and the Warm Company for the Warm & White batting. 

In my quilt, I used Kona colors honeysuckle, chartreuse, and white.  The bright pink and green pop against the white.

It took me a very long time to figure out the quilting design for Isosceles Addition, I wanted something more than an allover design, but I could not think of how to custom quilting it.  Many thanks to Paige for helping me come up with the design.

Using Aurifil soft white (color 2021) in 50 wt, I quilted a series of randomly spaced straight lines between the plus signs, then filled in the areas of the plus signs with a bear claw quilting design.  I really like the contrast of the straight lines and the curved lines.

Here is a beautifully styled shot from Love, Patchwork & Quilting.

Photo by Love Patchwork & Quilting

I love the Modern Quilts Unlimited magazine, the magazine is so bright and happy. Check out Love Patchwork & Quilting Issue 60!

If you love plus sign quilts as much as I do, be sure to check out the Modern Plus Sampler Quilt Along that I will be hosting with my book co-author Paige Alexander.  The reveal of the design will be on June 7th and the quilt along will kick off on July 5th.  You can find out more information here.

I am linking up with Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts and 

Finish it Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts.

Child's Play Quilts Book Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Child's Play Quilts Book Hop.  Child's Play Quilts was written by Stacey Day, another Stash Author, and contains 20 different baby quilts designs.

The book focuses on using your stash and is divided into two sections, 10 applique patterns and 10 traditionally pieced patterns, with each of the designs being shown in both warm and cool colors.  Child's Play Quilts has a great resource section in the front to help organize your stash as well as instructions for basic quilt making skills.

There were a number of quilts I was interested in making and I chose Fox Hunt, a traditionally pieced design.  My co-worker is expecting his second child in May so I figured that I could make Fox Hunt for them.  Here is the version from the book:

He and his wife are not finding out the sex of their baby, so I picked out some red, black, and mustard prints for the fabrics.  It kind of reminded me of Mickey and Minnie mouse so hopefully they will like it.

The quilt came together pretty quickly and I love the addition of the fox faces to a couple of the blocks that Stacey teaches in the book.  I used some black Aurifil thread in the thick 12wt to embroider the eyes and nose.

I used one of my favorite (and quickest) quilting design, the meander, on the quilt and then finished the binding completely by machine (both for speed and for wash durability).

I will be gifting this quilt next month to my co-worker at his baby shower, I hope he likes it!  Have you made a gender neutral quilt recently?  What colors did you use?

Thanks Stacey for including me in your book hop!  Hop over to her her blog, Stacey in Stitches, for a chance to win a copy of the book and you can purchase a copy in her Etsy shop or at Amazon (affiliate link).

Here are all of the stops on the hop:


Stacey Day @staceyinstitches April 9th
Brett Lewis @naturalbornquilter April 9th
Cheryl Brickey @MeadowMistDesigns April 9th

Karen Foster@CapitolaQuilter April 10th
Cathy Mackay @cathysmithmackay April 10th

Fiona Kelly @tangledblossom April 11th
Jackie White @jackiesartquilts April 11th

Jean Jones @sew_catstudio April 12th
Reece Montgomery @reecemontgomery April 12th

Carl Hentsch @3dogdesignco April 13th
Brooke Sellmann @sillymamaquilts April 13th

Kaitlyn Howell @knotandthread April 14th
Amy Gunson @badskirt April 14th

Kelly Bowser @kelbysews April 15th
Karis Hess @themodernsewist April 15th

Sara Lawson @sewsweetness April 16th
Leslie Meltzer @lelliebunny April 16th
Pamela Morgan @sweetlittlestitches April 16th

Amy Garro @13spools April 17th
Stephanie Perrins @stitchandbobbin April 17th

Chelsea @Pinkdoorfabrics April 18th
Michelle Wilke @ml_wilkie April 18th

Tiffany Sepulveda @sewtiffany April 19th
Rachael Riechmann @sewilearned April 19th

Pamela Lincoln @mamaspark59 April 20th
Kate Maryon @katydidklm April 20th

Arrow Point Path - Chicopee Version

It is rare that I remake a pattern, there are so many new quilt designs on my to-do list, but I had so much fun making a second version Arrow Point Path as a Christmas gift.

You can find the digital and print versions of Arrow Point Path (in four sizes: baby, lap, twin, and queen) in my pattern shop.

I decided to make my son's cub scout leader a quilt for Christmas.  He has been the leader of the troop for 5 years and with my son bridging up to boy scouts in the spring, I wanted to make him an extra special thank you.

I needed a quilt design that would be a relatively quick make and one that I thought he (and his family) would like.  I had a bunch of charm packs of 6" square (yes, strange size) of Chicopee by Densye Schmidt.  The Chicopee line has been one of my all time favorites and I was looking forward to making it into a quilt.  I was also excited to see how the design would look using prints versus the blue and green solids of my first version.

My pattern Arrow Point Path, which I designed as part of Quilt Theory, fit the bill perfectly.  The pattern requires 6" sq prints along with a background fabric.  I had the white background fabric and the Tim Holtz Documentation print from the Eclectic Elements collection for the backing fabric in my stash so I was already to go!

The blocks came together easily and soon the quilt top was done.  At this point, I needed to gift the quilt in 4 more days so a quick quilting design was a must.  I love stippling a quilt so I stippled using the soft white (2021) 50 wt Aurifil thread.  I had the entire quilt quilted in less than 2 hours.

I bound the quilt using another Densye Schmidt print I had in my stash, from Shelburne Falls, I really like the look of the plaid printed on the bias.

After taking some pictures, I washed the quilt to give it that crinkly, soft look.  I am always worried if I gift a quilt without washing it, the recipient will think that they did something wrong washing it when it comes out of the dryer looking so different.  Here is a picture of the yummy texture of the washed quilt (sorry for the indoor shot, it was super windy out and I had to gift the quilt the next day).

My son's cub scout leader and his family loved the quilt.  He was amazed at how I had quilted it.  It was a good reminder to me that to those that do not quilt and are not familiar with quilting, simply moving the quilt under a stationary needle to create a quilting design (no matter how simple the design is to us) is truly impressive to others.

Quilt Stats:

   Name: DS Arrow Point Path

   Size: 60" x 70"

   Design: Arrow Point Path (by me) (first version in solids)

   Fabrics: Chicopee by Densye Schmidt for FreeSpirit (prints) and  Moda Bella in White

   Batting: Warm & White by the Warm Company

   Thread: Aurifil 50wt white 2021 for piecing and quilting

   Quilting Design: stipple

Thanks for stopping by!

Pop Rocks - QuiltCon Michael Miller Challenge Quilt

Update:  I am happy to report that I released a pattern for Pop Rocks and it is available in my shop in both Digital and Printed Formats.

The deadline for entries to QuiltCon 2018 was last night and I was happy to be able to get my challenge quilt finished and entered in time.

I made a quilt I cam calling Pop Rocks for the Michael Miller challenge.  The challenge was to create a quilt using at least two of the prints from the Our Yard collection by Sarah Campbell for Michael Miller Fabrics along with any Cotton Couture solids.  My idea was to create a "pop" with the Our Yard prints on a monochromatic, minimalist black and white quilt.

The design began in my head as more of a quarter Dresden plate design with the curves going in random directions.  From idea to actual construction, I moved to more of a paper pieced curve design (which had way too many pieces per block) to finally a template based design using curved piecing.

I played around with the design in EQ8 until I was happy with the blocks and the placement of the Our Yard prints and then I set to work making the quilt.  Here are some in progress pictures as the quilt came together...

After the blocks were sewn together, I added a black border to help ground the blocks and extend the black negative space around the design.  The quilt top measured about 43" x 51".  I used Warm & White batting (by the Warm Company) for this quilt, I find that quilts made with batting hang really well.

I took a long time to figure out how to quilt this quilt and finally decided that straight lines would play with all of the curves in the blocks really well.  I started out creating 3 chunks of straight lines, with the lines within each chunk having varied spacing (shown in red).

Then I echoed the chunks with more randomly spaced lines (shown in green).  

I used a medium gray Aurifil thread in 50 wt (#1158) which showed up enough to give impact but also blended somewhat with both the white and black fabrics.  

I even was able to use up all of the extra Our Yard fabric in the pieced back (you can see the quilting a little more on the back too)...

Overall, I am happy out how the quilt turned out and especially how the yellow fabric pops against all of the whites, grays, and blacks.  I hope that Pop Rocks gets into QuiltCon 2018, I'll let you know :)

Have you submitted a quilt to QuiltCon?

Quilt Stats:

   Name: Pop Rocks

   Size: 41" x 53"

   Design: Original by me

   Fabrics: Our Yard by Sarah Campbell and Cotton Couture, both by Michael Miller

   Batting: Warm & White by the Warm Company

   Thread: Aurifil 50wt white 2021 for piecing, Aurifil 50wt medium gray 1158 for quilting

   Quilting Design: Randomly spaced straight lines in multiple directions

Here are some professional photographs by Amy Garro of Quilt Photography Co.