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Wednesday, December 7, 2016

BIG News, Sugar Plum Fairy (and NTT)

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday, y'all!  I am so glad that I finally get to reveal a quilt finish that is not secret; but before I do, I want to let you know some HUGE news which explains all of my secret sewing lately.  I have signed a contract with Martingale Publishing to author my first book!  I am still in the beginning stages, and still working on the quilts, but the book will be released in Spring 2018!  eeek!  I have been about ready to jump out of my skin with excitement about it, and now that is totally official, I can finally share!  I'll have more specifics about the book's concept for you later, but for now, at least you know what all of the secrets are about.

 Whew!  Okie dokie, time to share my latest quilt.  My husband saw this one and let me know that if I was going for the "unicorns and cotton candy" look, I nailed it, haha!  Even though this one isn't Christmassy at all, I couldn't help giving a little nod to the season by naming it Sugar Plum Fairy.


I had a couple of quilty victories on this one, and the first is that I managed to use up so many pinks and purples that had just been sitting in my stash.  Between purchasing several on sale and having a few gifted to me, there was quite a chunk of them in my cabinet, and I really put a dent in them.


The best little victory on this quilt though, is the quilting motif.  I tried my hand a free motion flowers for the first time.  It took me a little while to get into the groove, and I really had to learn how to not quilt myself into a corner, but overall, I'm pleased with the result.  I'll be using this motif again for sure.


With all of the soft, sweet colors, I thought this one needed a binding with some pop.  The hot pink polkadots are the perfect frame for it.


I enjoyed making this pattern a lot, and I think I'll definitely be using it with other palettes.  For those of you that asked, I made a couple of block diagrams as a little tutorial so you can see the measurements I used.  It is a quick block that makes an easy and cute quilt !

(Diagrams are NOT to scale!)







Let me know if you decide to give it a try!

















Alright!  Check out some of my favorite projects from last weeks linkup!  There is so much movement in this awesome quilt by Dawn Chorus Studio!


Deb at New Creative State shared this lovely quilt, and at first glance on the thumbnail, I thought it was just a finished top.  The colors against the dark background almost look like they're lit from behind.  So cool!


and lastly, this oh so adorable pincushion is from Jayne at Twiggy and Opal.  Those are some teeny tiny pieces.  I can't even.


Keep bringing the awesomeness, my friends!  Let's party!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!
2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.
3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  
4. Spread the comment love far and wide!
5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

*If you're new to the party, here's a helpful tip for linking up- select "Auto Crop"  when selecting your thumbnail photo.  For some reason, trying to crop your own image results in the dreaded "white question mark box," and we definitely want to see your awesome work!  :)


37 comments:

  1. I love it all - Sugar Plum Fairy, flower FMQing and the way you compiled the blocks.
    Congrats on the book deal!

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    1. Wanted to let you know I made your block for my son's quilt
      https://thriftshopcommando.blogspot.com/2017/08/sons-quilt-finished.html
      And made a couple more blocks for the #2018 monthly color challenge - February's color is blue. I'll have a post linking back to this one and showing off my blue blocks.

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  2. what a beautiful feminine quilt!! someone is just going to be so happy with it. and thanks so much for the diagram of how to make it.

    Congratulations on your book project!! that is an accomplishment and a lot of work. I wish you lots of quilting success. Merry Christmas!! from Iowa

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  3. Congratulations on the book, Kelly! That is such exciting news :)

    Your fmq flowers look great. That's a design I haven't tried yet, but I really like it. I love the asymmetrical way you pieced the backing on this one. It could be a quilt top in its own right!

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  4. Congrats on the book Kelly! 2018 seems a long time to wait...

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  5. Congratulations Kelly! Wow how exciting news! I'm wondering how you manage to do some secret quilts + these that pop out here every week! This quilt is beautiful and I love the flower quilting! x Teje

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  6. Fantastic news on the book deal I am so happy for you. I love your quilt style and will look forward to seeing it published. I know how long it takes though, it must be 18 months since my husband signed his book deal but we have a publication date of January 27th 2017, I'm so excited I can hardly wait!
    Sugar Plum Fairy is lovely, and won't take too long to make either, thank you for the tutorial.
    Smiles
    Kate

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  7. Congratulations on your first book, that is some exciting news indeed!! It's a lovely girly quilt, and the quilting is beautiful!

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  8. Yay! Huge congratulations. And I love your girly quilt!

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  9. What a lovely quilt finish and congratulations on the book deal! :)

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  10. Oh Kelly what a lovely surprise to see my quilt top up there, thank you! Big congratulations on the book, I'm surprised you could contain yourself, haha!!! Love the fun quilt and it's great to see how you made the block, not how I would have done it all - I'd've caused myself no end of headaches making 4 mini blocks to sew up! Genius :) And thanks and congratulations again.

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  11. The name is perfect for this quilt! Sweet as sweet can be! Congratulations on the book deal! You must be on cloud nine with delight! It'll be a lot of hard work and I know many of us are looking forward to seeing what you have planned!

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  12. Love the quilt! I have used similar motifs before for a few of my quilts and I found that the best way to help prevent yourself from getting stuck in a corner is not getting too committed to the number of "layers" of petals that you quilt -- I usually try to mainly stick with one number of layers, but will add an extra here and there to be able to travel to the next place I want to work on! :)

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  13. I am impressed with your free motion - good job

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  14. Thrilling news about your upcoming book, Kelly -- congratulations!! Sugar Plum Fairy turned out so cute. Aptly named, and the binding is perfect!

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  15. Congrats on the book! That is fantastic! I'm sooooo excited for you! If you need a pattern tester, I'm here for you! Yes, really!
    The quilt is all kinds of bubble gum fun and you did a great job on the quilting - I really like that design!

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  16. Congratulations on the book!!! What exciting times ahead! (my first one is coming out in May, and I can say that it is ABSOLUTELY worth all of the incredible amount of time and effort that you put into it!) Can't wait to see it!!

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  17. Congrats on the book deal Kelly!!!! I'm really excited for you and will look forward to seeing it. Wishing you happy sewing times and a Very Merry Christmas too.

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  18. Oh my goodness, you've nailed it with that quilting!! Congrats on the book!

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  19. And thanks for the tutorial on the block - I've pinned it for future reference.

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  20. Congratulations! The flower quilting is fabulous - you did a great job and the quilt is terrific. Love the colors!

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  21. Sugar Plum Fairy is a perfect name, and the flowers look great!

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  22. I'm def going to check out Deb's quilt at New Creative State to run down that pattern - it's awesome! Thank you for the linkup and giveaway chance!

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  23. Congratulations Kelly. A book - it is about time you had one to your name. I am excited and so looking forward to it.
    Hugs,
    Preeti.

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  24. Congratulations on the book!! The name for this quilt is awesome. And you did a great job on the quilting. I haven't attempted this motif.

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  25. That is absolutely wonderful news.........."AUTHOR" Kelly. Love it. Of course I can't wait til your book is avail. Thank you.

    schimmel(dot)db(at)gmail(dot)com

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  26. I really like the new quilting motif! It goes perfectly with this "unicorn and cotton candy" quilt! Thanks for including the tutorial. This will be a great scrap buster.

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  27. Congrats on a beautiful finish and on the new book deal. That is so fun and exciting.

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  28. Congratulations! Can't wait to see what you have in store for us.

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  29. Super cute and sugary quilt! Congrats on the book deal!

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  30. Thanks so much for the tutorial - it's a great block😀

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  31. I Love the Sugar Plum Fairy quilt.. Can I ask what pattern, if any you used to do the flower quilting? I still have yet to FMQ and this might be a quilt and quilting I might try.. Thanks for sharing.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Christine! This quilting is done completely free-motion. So, there is no pattern for it. I just sketched the design on paper until I felt comfortable, and then practiced stitching on some small quilt sandwiches before quilting on the actual quilt.

      :) Kelly

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  32. Thanks for letting me know. I really need to make some sandwiches and get practicing.

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  33. Just to let you know, the Dawn Chorus Studio link redirects to spam/pornography.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for letting me know! It certainly didn’t link to spam/pornography at the time of this post, but I will make sure the link is removed!

      Kelly

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