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Thursday, December 31, 2015

2016 Free Motion Quilt Along - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year -- Welcome 2016!  

2015 was an awesome year but now we're gearing up for 2016 to rock the house!!

For those of you new to, or just interested in Free Motion Quilting at home, we're firing up a short, simple, free, and fun Quilt Along for beginners.

We'll be using the Lewe's Balloons Growth Chart Panel by Susy Bleasby for The World of Susybee.

We've got some great sponsors -- that means great prizes!!

There'll be lots of FMQ basics and simple motifs, with NO PRESSURE, just FUN!

You can find all details by clicking the image above -- or my visiting:
Redbird Quilt Co. 2016 Free Motion Quilt Along

When we're done quilting you have a sweet Growth Chart to give to someone special.

Share with your friends -- we'll have a blast!

Find the details here.

Happy New Year all!
Hugs,
Karen

Monday, December 21, 2015

Chevron Shuffle on the Moda Bake Shop - A Modern Mini

Greeting fellow quilters -- thank you for stopping by!
I've been busy lately preparing a new recipe for the Moda Bake Shop and I'm excited to share it with you today.
Chevron Shuffle is a modern mini quilt prepared with the colorful and bright
Basic Mixologie by Studio M for Moda.
It finishes just about 24" square.
The design is based on my
February 2015 Moda Bake Shop Recipe
Chevron with a Twist and was created to celebrate the Bake Shop's December Month of Mini's.    
The recipe uses 84 print/white Half Square Triangles and 16 white/white Half Square Triangles.
The quilt top uses well less than 2 Charm packs and can be prepared in a weekend.
 For some fun I decided to use the "Focus" layout shared in the March 2015 post For the Love of Half Square Triangles.
The Focus layout uses the same number of HST's as Chevron with a Twist but they're arranged differently. 
On Chevron Shuffle I strayed from traditional applique and created a modern layered flower that complements the half square triangle design.
Also on Chevron Shuffle I tried some
new-to-me batting,
Dream Orient, by Quilter's Dream.
It's really unique batting -- dense but soft, all natural fibers, and oh-so-dreamy!  
I layered the Dream Orient with Dream Wool (100% Wool batting).

These two layers of batting provided for generous quilting texture, don't you think?
Other fun parts of preparing Chevron Shuffle included quilting with my favorite Aurifil threads in 3 different weights.  50 Wt for piecing, 40Wt for quilting and 12Wt for machine applique and top stitching.
Do checkout the Moda Bake Shop post to see all the details.
You know I love Aurifil thread!
And one last fun component of this quilt was using the QP Curve Templates to create some beautiful curved quilting texture around the modern flower.
I used a water/air soluble pen to mark my reference points 1/4" (A) and 1/2" (B) in from the seam points.  The #8 QP Curve Template worked beautifully!
If you've not tried out Linda Hrcka's
{The Quilted Pineapple}
curved acrylic templates you should.
I use them on my domestic machine to make beautiful designs.  They certainly open up a whole new world of quilting options -- even on your home machine.
*
You can read more about the QP Curve Templates on this post.
***
To view a few videos of my using the templates on my home machine,
 click on over to my YouTube Channel
***
If you have an interest in learning to Free Motion Quilt on your home machine, be sure to join 4000+ other quilters on my Facebook Community Group
 Free Motion Quilting Frenzy.

Also, I'll soon be starting a short but informative Free Motion Quilt Along -- stay tuned to my blog and/or my Facebook Page for more information on that.
Supplies and schedule to be announced soon.

Many thanks for stopping by -- I do hope you like the new Chevron Shuffle Mini Quilt.
Jump on over to the Moda Bake Shop to view all of the details.

Social Media ....
Have you made a quilt inspired by my patterns or tutorials 
-OR-
Would you, your shop, or your guild be interested in my Workshop or Program offerings ? 
You can write me anytime:  
karen@redbirdquiltco.com or 
redbirdquiltco@gmail.com

*** Follow Me ***

Did you know you can visit me on
and/or
I post all sorts of fun things there!!
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If you love to Free Motion Quilt consider joining my 
Facebook Community Group
*
Plus
I share quilting related
videos on my YouTube Channel
*
I'll soon be sharing live feed TV on my Periscope
*
I'm also on Pinterest and Twitter 
and I share other tutorials and patterns on
My Tutorials on my blog

Thanks again for stopping by...

Have a blessed holiday.
Karen

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Tis the Season - A Donation Quilt

Mr. Redbird and Berries has gone mini!
Really Mini
A wee 11" x 13"
Isn't he sweet?
 He was created for the O Tannenbaum fundraising event at our local Historical Society...
with a little Moda Muslin for the background and backing fabric...
using Aurifil 12Wt cotton thread to hand stitch the wool applique... 
AND a bit of Aurifil 50Wt thread for fun free motion quilting
on a domestic machine...
It was the perfect opportunity to re-use the
flanged and mitered machine binding technique
(See the tutorial here)
using this beautiful fabric by Primitive Gatherings for Moda -- LOVE!
And yes, on that binding I used yummy Aurifil 12Wt thread for finishing with a machine.
Oh! I love that little extra touch :)
I was sure to use 2 layers of Quilter's Dream 100% Wool batting -- it provides lovely texture!
Last I checked the silent bid was up to $75 - not a bad price for a mini quilt
Bidding is open for another week though -- you never know what it will go for.
The donation quilt is considerably smaller
 than the original Redbird and Berries
created for the Moda Bake Shop.
Click here for the original tutorial and download.
Making little pieces like this are fun and rewarding...
especially for a great cause.
Sister snapped a picture of me at the O Tannenbaum event... 
I thought it would be fun to share! 
*
If you've not tried wool applique and would like to learn more...
Click here and follow the links for some introductory posts.

Have a blessed weekend...
Hugs,
Karen

Social Media Details....
You can write me anytime:  
karen@redbirdquiltco.com or 
redbirdquiltco@gmail.com

*** Follow Me ***

Did you know you can visit me on
and/or
I post all sorts of fun things there!!
**
If you love to Free Motion Quilt consider joining my 
Facebook Community Group
*
Plus
I share quilting related
videos on my YouTube Channel
*
I'll soon be sharing live feed TV on my Periscope
*
I'm also on Pinterest and Twitter 
and I share other tutorials and patterns on
My Tutorials on my blog

Thanks again for stopping by...

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Throwback Thursday Redbird Christmas Pillow 2013

Greetings all and happy week after Thanksgiving!!

We have much to be Thankful for in our family -- aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, children and grandchildren included.
As our parents watch over us from heaven, we continue to nourish the relationships we have with one another on earth.
I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving too!!

Today I want to highlight an old favorite tutorial - one that comes together quickly using 2.5" fabric strips and a bit of wool.

Remember the free tutorial for the
*** Redbird Christmas ***
envelope pillow?
It's the perfect accent for your holiday decor!
Redbird Christmas was based on a free design and tutorial that I shared on the Moda Bake Shop, the Family Tree Quilted Envelope pillow.
Family Tree was my first tutorial for the Bake Shop and jump started my designing career.
I'm very thankful to the the Moda Bake Shop for taking a chance on me and allowing me to share what I love through their awesome program.

You can peruse all of my free patterns and tutorials by clicking here.

The Redbird Christmas pillow design is holiday oriented but generic enough to display after Christmas.
It includes a cotton background with a tree and bird wool applique focal point and a log cabin style block to finish out the pillow front.
I added a little extra batting behind the bird and the tree to make them pop!
It was quilted free motion and top stitched on my domestic machine using Aurifil 50Wt Mako Cotton thread.
***
I LOVE Aurifil thread for quilting!!
When I created the Family Tree and Redbird Christmas pillows I had yet to try Aurifil 12Wt cotton thread so I used another brand of embroidery floss for the wool applique.
If I were to make them again today, I would be sure to dig into my Auri-Stash and use Aurifil 12Wt thread.  
The Aurifil 12Wt works perfectly for wool applique and for beautiful top stitching!
Instead of using 2.5" strips for the back of the pillow, the Redbird Christmas pillow has a two piece envelope back.   The envelope works perfect to switch pillow covers from one season to the next.
If you're interested in making Redbird Christmas you can see the original Moda Bake Shop Recipe by clicking here.   
The tutorial is available as a PDF download at the end of the Bake Shop post.

If you're interested, you can read the Family Tree excitement and announcement on my blog by clicking here.
To convert the Family Tree tutorial into the Redbird Christmas pillow, just download the Redbird Christmas tree and bird template by clicking here and follow the original tutorial for the Family Tree pillow.
You can read the original blog announcement for Redbird Christmas (Dec 2013) by clicking here.
I hope you enjoy this featured Throwback Thursday Tutorial -- Stay tuned for some fun upcoming announcements!

I leave you with a Keuka Lake Sunset from Sept, 2015
Any day is a good day at the lake.
Many thanks for stopping by and do let me know if you have any questions or if you enjoyed this Throwback Thursday Tutorial!  
Blessings,
Karen

Social Media Details....
You can write me anytime:  
karen@redbirdquiltco.com or 
redbirdquiltco@gmail.com

*** Follow Me ***

Did you know you can visit me on
and/or
I post all sorts of fun things there!!
**
If you love to Free Motion Quilt consider joining my Facebook Community Group
*
Plus
I share quilting related
videos on my YouTube Channel
*
I'm also on Pinterest and Twitter 
and I share other tutorials and patterns on
My Tutorials on my blog

Thanks again for stopping by...