I finally finished this second variation of my Linework Quilt a few weeks ago! It was the perfect little quilt to give to my cousin who is expecting her first baby boy. Paper pieced string quilts like this one aren't exactly the quickest to put together, but I know my cousin appreciates the effort! 

The quilt is made from a mix of Indigo fabrics that I had picked up last year at Stitch Supply Co. Lots of them are from Cotton + Steel's first Bluebird collection, but there are also some Alison Glass Handcrafted Indigo prints and a few Leah Duncan prints sprinkled in as well. I also used one of my hand dyed shibori indigo prints that I made during my summer retreat last year! I love mixing prints from lots of different collections! 

I tested out the new Cotton + Steel thread from Sulky while quilting this one, and I have to say I'm pretty impressed! I am kind of an Aurifil snob but I found the Cotton + Steel thread to be just as good. Not a ton of lint, no problems with my machine or breakage even when quilting pretty fast and I liked using it for handstitching the binding on too! I quilted using straight lines in a small grid pattern, which is a nice contrast from all the on point blocks! 

The back is this awesome octopus print from Bluebird. It's so vibrant and cute and I love the way it looks against the front!

The binding is another C+S print from Cookie Book. Naturally, I was stitching it on about 5 minutes before the baby shower started, I need to get better about that! Thankfully my cousin let me borrow the quilt again after she opened it to take some photos!

The pattern for the Linework Quilt will be available soon! Make sure to sign up for my newsletter for shop updates!

I finally finished my courthouse step quilt top using Rifle Paper Co's Les Fleurs line for Cotton + Steel. I started this quilt this past summer while at an annual retreat with friends. Then it sat for months, as did everything else sewing related. I always feel very motivated to get back to quilting after the holidays, especially this year since my photography season is wrapping up and work at the studio has been a lot less lately. It's nice to get back to the sewing room and have a chance to be creative! There's something about sewing that just makes me feel normal again! 

As much as I love log cabins, I love that courthouse step blocks take a lot less time, since you can sew two strips on each block at a time before pressing and trimming. I chain pieced a few large batches of blocks to make this top, so they came together pretty quickly, I just sewed a set of strips on each batch whenever I had an extra few minutes. I'm usually more of a marathon quilter, doing everything all at once rather than in bits and pieces since I'm usually on a deadline! But since this quilt is just a personal one there was no real rush.

I enjoyed sewing with the Rifle prints so much, I've been a huge fan of Anna Bond's work since she started the company and it's awesome to finally have her work on fabric! The florals are my favorite, along with those cute flamingos! I paired them with a contrasting Essex linen and a polka dot linen that a friend found for me at her LQS. I think the Essex colors are Black and Chambray yarn dyed Essex.

Jackson wanted to get in on the photo shoot too, as usual. He's been coming with me to the studio some days and is finally getting used to it there! At least as much as a little watchdog can get used to constant traffic going by and not being able to bark at the cars!

I'm looking forward to getting this top quilted! Just waiting on my backing fabric to arrive, which should be here soon. Hawthorne Threads still has some Les Fleurs if you're looking!

I was completely inspired by a quilt made recently by my friend Nancy of Owen's Olivia, and knew a similar block design would be perfect for this fabric! I just chopped my favorite 10 prints into wonky strips and pieced them together with bits of white in between. The Freespirit Arctic White gives the eye a bit of a break from all the bold color, but still makes it a bright and happy quilt!

I quilted it with one of my go-to quilting patterns, wavy lines, so it went really quick! I even tried spray basting instead of pinning this time and it worked pretty well. I'm still not a huge fan of the spray though because I can't stand the smell of it!

The back is just bigger pieces of some of the prints on the front. I really love that big polka dot print!

I got to take photos of the quilt in my studio which was pretty fun! The first time against the white brick, and I love it! Just need to paint those floors and it will finally be time to move in! I can't wait.

Freespirit was kind enough to send me some extra Kaffe Fassett fabric and Coats thread to giveaway as well! To enter, you can sign up for my newsletter! I haven't sent one out yet but I plan on working on that soon, and it would be nice to have some people to send it to! You can subscribe over in the sidebar! I'll choose a random winner from the newsletter subscribers next Friday, Oct 28th!

Make sure to check out the other stops on the blog tour as well for project inspiration and more giveaways!

Simple Simon & Co on 9/23

Craft Sanity on 9/30

One Hundred Billion Stars on 10/7

Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts on 10/21

Confessions of a Fabric Addict on 10/28

Sarah Fielke on 11/4

Yesterday my block "Full Circle" was released, and it has been so fun to watch everyone stitch it up! I'm so impressed with how fast everyone is sewing along. There have been some really beautiful blocks made already! You can get the pattern for my block here. I completely forgot to take a photo of the block I sent in for the series, so I made another one with my Brush Strokes collection and it turned out pretty cute! 

If you want to find out more about the series, make sure to check out The Splendid Sampler website! Thanks so much Pat and Jane for including me!

I'll be sharing my project in mid October, but today I wanted to share with you the other talented quilters that will be on the tour as well!

Simple Simon & Co on 9/23

Craft Sanity on 9/30

One Hundred Billion Stars on 10/7

Bijou Lovely on 10/14

Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts on 10/21

Confessions of a Fabric Addict on 10/28

Sarah Fielke on 11/4

Make sure to check out the tour for project inspiration and giveaways!

Since my friends know the baby is a girl, it was the perfect excuse to sew with my Brush Strokes collection. I added in a few Cirrus Solids, some Kona Highlight (the perfect bright yellow!) and a bundle of Cotton & Steel's Checkers, which are the cutest woven gingham prints! I love how it turned out despite being such a simple quilt!

I quilted it with a wide crosshatch pattern through each of the blocks. I can't seem to quit the crosshatch quilting lately!

I backed it with my Flowerfield print and a small strip of the Aqua Trellis. It finished at about 40x50".

Glad to have this project finished and excited to see it in use by my friend's little one very soon! 

I was so honored when my friends Faith, Lee, and Katie asked me to be a part of their Summer Sampler series. All three ladies are so talented and their collaborations have been amazing! If you don't have their book, Vintage Quilt Revival, you should get it, it's a great one! For their Summer Sampler 2016, they asked several designers to join them for the series to create twenty 12" blocks and three different quilt layouts.

I designed two blocks for the 2016 Summer Sampler, and today's block is my first, Parallel. It's a unique design that can change quite a bit with creative fabric placement and different layouts. It's paper-pieced for accuracy and pretty simple to put together!

Here's an alternate layout for a baby quilt using the Parallel Block! 

This quilt is created using two different block layouts, paired together in groups of 4 to make each quadrant. You'll need 8 of each block to make a 48" square baby quilt.

Here's a diagram of the block layout to create the quilt. Just pair the blocks into sets of four and rotate each quadrant by 90 degrees.

Can't wait to see all of your Parallel blocks! If you're interested in joining the Summer Sampler, you can purchase the pattern here! Thanks so much to Faith, Lee, and Katie for the opportunity to participate in such a fun project!

The Design Star Club is a monthly subscription club. You can choose between FQ and half yard bundles, and each month you'll receive a bundle from one of the 11 different designers. There is also a contest where you can create a bundle of your own on the Stash Fabrics website before July 31st for a chance to move on to the next round. The winner of the Design Star contest will curate the last bundle for the club and also win all 12 bundles! 

June - Rita @ Red Pepper Quilts
July - Holly @ Bijou Lovely
August - Ashley @ Film in the Fridge
September - Nicole @ Lillyella Stitchery
October - Felice @ Sew Scatterbrained
November - Nicole @ Modern Handcraft
December - Anna @ Noodlehead
January - Giuseppe Ribaudo
February - Jennie @ Clover & Violet
March - Sari @ Sariditty Handmade
April - Jacey @ JaceyCraft
May - Stash Fabrics Design Star Winner - TBD

You can read more about the contest here.

For my bundle, I started with a few of my favorite prints from Brush Strokes, and added in several prints from some of my favorite designers including Leah Duncan, Carolyn Friedlander, Alison Glass and Cotton & Steel. The resulting bundle is very bright and summery, and I'm dying to make something with it! Thanks Beth for the chance to participate in such a fun project! 

I couldn't help but add in some coordinating Cirrus Solids since they match the fabric so well! Added here are Lilac, Fuchsia, Rain, Sprout, Salmon, and Denim. I'll do another post with a list of all the coordinating Cirrus Solids sometime soon!

I opted to quilt it in a crosshatch pattern, which took forever but I really love how it turned out! My lines are definitely not perfectly straight but you really can't tell that much unless you look closely. I used Aurifil 50 wt thread in white so it would blend in with the background fabric.

I wrote up a pattern for this quilt, which is now available for free on the Cloud9 website! You can find it here. I'd love to see your quilts if you make one, so please tag them with #chromaticquilt on social media so I can see your progress! 

They chose to use Trellis in Lavender, Facets in Multi and Brush Strokes in Multi to make the pincushions and they all look so pretty set inside those fancy wooden bases!

You can purchase your own beautiful pincushions in the mybricole shop! They are gorgeous! I'm so grateful to have such talented friends that helped me make my Quilt Market cubby special. Thanks Deedrie and Andy!

A few days before leaving for market, I decided to stitch up one last garment out of the Bouquet print from my Brush Strokes collection. This print was just begging to become a dress! Made by Rae's Ruby Dress is one that I've had on my list to make for awhile, and it seemed like the perfect pattern to use with this print. 

I fully lined the dress with Cirrus Solid in Limestone, because I can't stand when a dress is see through! It turned out nicely although since the dress is quilting cotton, the drape is a little stiffer than voile or lawn. It looks super cute with a belt though, as shown here on my sister.

Brush Strokes is available in stores now! Make sure to add the #brushstrokesfabric hashtag to the projects you make with it so I can see them! I'll be posting projects made with the fabric all week!

I don't know what it is about pompom trim but it just makes everything so much cuter! Daniela from Modern Stitch Studio stitched up some pompom pillows for my Quilt Market booth and I just love how they turned out! Cloud9 made some cute triangle pillows too, like the blue one shown here!

From the top, the prints featured in the pillows are Trellis in Navy, Facets in Multi, and Trellis in Aqua, all from my Brush Strokes collection for Cloud9 Fabrics. I'll post more about the quilts featured in these photos later this week!

My first fabric collection, Brush Strokes, for Cloud9 Fabrics is now available in stores! You can find it at quilt shops and online fabric stores. It's a playful collection of graphic blooms and geometric prints painted in vivid shades of watercolor, and is made up of 16 organic quilting cotton prints. There are eight multicolor prints and two blender prints (Speckled and Trellis), each in four color ways. 

I had a great time showing off the collection at Spring Quilt Market in Salt Lake City last month in the Cloud9 Fabrics booth! 

I'll be sharing more about the booth, the projects, and all of the prints in the collection in the coming weeks, so make sure to check back here and on my Instagram for more details! 

For a full list of where you can purchase Brush Strokes, search the "Where to Buy" feature on the Cloud9 website! I can't wait to see what you all create with it! Please hashtag your projects with #brushstrokesfabric so I can see what you're making!

www.bijoulovelydesigns.com

New posts will be going up here from now on, so please update your blog readers to the new address. I hope you like the new look! It should be a lot more functional going forward! Thanks for sticking with me! :)