Author: happycloudcreatons

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The Beauty of Solids

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Let me tell you a secret. I used to think Solid colored fabric was SO boring!!! I never purchased solids for my quilts or projects. I’d use a dot fabric or a fabric with a white on white pattern.

And then I joined Instagram. I saw all these gorgeous quilts that had solids in them! They looked so balanced, not too busy and so so pretty!

So I decided I’d go out of my comfort zone and make an all solids quilt! Yes ALL solids!! Crazy huh! I found the perfect pattern, a Tetris quilt for my husband. I loved how it turned out so much! The Kona Cotton fabric by Robert Kaufman is so vibrant!

Tetris Quilt

Solids can help balance out your quilt and showcase the block designs. If you have too many busy prints the design can get lost.

So I had some left over solids from my Tetris quilt and I decided to test out my Stepping Stone Quilt pattern with the solids too. I love how it turned out too!

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I bound it with a Black with White dash fabric called Thicket by Gingiber for Moda and the backing fabric is made by Riley Blake. This quilt is listed for sale in my Etsy shop here.

 

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Then I saw this awesome fabric from Arrow Flight by  Michael Miller fabric and got inspired to make the front of my quilt mimic the backing fabric.

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So I came up with my super easy Colorful tiles quilt pattern.

colorful tiles quilt

This Colorful tiles quilt is also listed for sale in my Etsy shop here.

I used the Kona Cotton by Robert Kaufman Color chart to help pick some of the solids for the front of this quilt.

color chart

This color charts is super awesome! It’s great for picking out backing fabric and coordinating solids. You can buy one online from a variety of quilt fabric shops. What’s also cool, is this color chart matches up with all of the Kona Cotton fabric sold a Joann Fabric Stores online and in store

If an all solids quilt isn’t for you. You can try to mix more solids in with your quilt to help the pattern pop. Like in my X Marks the spot quilt. The white fabric makes the design pop. You can find the pattern here.

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So if you haven’t made an ALL solids go try it!! Or at least try adding some solids to your next quilt, I’m sure you will love it!!

Happy Quilting!
Andrea

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Colorful Tiles Quilt Pattern, Super Easy Quilt!

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Digital Download (USA)
Digital Download (International Customers)

I love the simplistic design in my Colorful Tiles quilt. I had drawn out this design a while back after I had purchased this awesome backing fabric from the Arrow Flight collections by Michael Miller fabrics. The backing fabric gave me the idea for the front design.

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After I had drawn up this quilt design, I thought, this would be a great pattern for a beginner! I know some new quilters are a little scared of using triangles. I thought this was a great spin on the basic sew a bunch of squares together quilt top. This quilt pattern has color diagrams with step by step instructions for piecing your quilt top, piecing your backing fabric, making your binding and attaching your binding.

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I quilted this quilt in the ‘organic’ straight line quilting, that I love to do! It’s quick and easy. My sewing machine didn’t come with a walking foot, so I had to purchase it separately. I start out by using one of my long seams as a guide. I line my foot up on a middle seam, and quilt from the top to the bottom. Then I set the guide that came with my walking foot to about 1 inch (some quilts I go bigger). I quilt using my guide from my center of my quilt outward. I really love the texture the 1 inch quilting gives my quilts.
I also like to use cotton batting to give it that extra crinkle once it’s washed and dried.

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Whenever I make a quilt pattern I like to test each size the pattern makes. This is my Throw size tester quilt top.

colorful tiles quilt

It has ended up in my finished quilt top pile and has not been finished yet. Hopefully I can work on that pile next month!! I used a variety of Cotton+Steel fabrics for my throw size quilt.
I love this pattern because it was very quick and easy! It went together in a day!

Digital Download (USA)
Digital Download (International Customers)

Happy Quilting!
Andrea

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Snowy Day Quilt Sampler Block Challenge

SDQS - QuiltCLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD: Snowy Day Quilt Sampler Pattern

Recently my Snowy Day Quilt Sampler was used in the National Quilters Circle Block Challenge! Over 24,000 signed up for the challenge and over 17,000 joined the Facebook Group.

It was a lot of fun meeting and interacting with all of these wonderful quilters. Seeing all of the Beautiful fabric and color combinations, makes me want to make more and more quilts.

The National Quilters Circle did a great job getting all these wonderful quilters together to make this quilt. I am so happy I had the opportunity to be part of it. You can see the Block Challenge recap by clicking here. I list a few of my favorite quilts from the challenge! There were so many beautiful quilts to choose from!

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I chose to go with straight ‘organic’ line quilting! It’s quick, easy and I love the texture it give the quilt!

When you use cotton batting your quilt will shrink 3% when you wash and dry it. It will get all nice and crinkled and it has a wonderful texture.

I used Macramé fabric by Rashida Coleman-Hale of  Cotton+Steel in the quilt I made for the pattern!  I love this fabric so much, I am also using it in my NEW Happy Flower Garden Quilt. The pattern will be coming out June 1, 2017! Yay! Stay tuned for photos!

During the block challenge I made two quilt tops with the group! My first quilt top was made with a mixture of Up Parasol and Clementine fabric by Heather Bailey for Free Spirit Fabrics.

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I loved how the blocks turned out! But there seemed to be a lot of pink. So I decided to add a pink border around each block. Then I added a scrappy teal/aqua sashing in between all of the blocks. I gifted this quilt to my parents for their 41st Anniversary!

The second quilt I made during the challenge was made with a variety of Cotton +Steel fabrics. I love how they all go so well together, even though they are from different designers.

Sprinkle by Sarah Watts, Cookie Book by Kim Kight and Paper Bandana by Alexia Marcelle Abeg

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I tried to make this a little different than my other two quilts. I did a border in white around each of the blocks and then I did a navy Paper Bandana sashing with the Red Sprinkle cornerstones. I’m excited to finish this one. I bought some Kona Cotton in Baby pink for the backing fabric.

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You can follow me on Facebook and Instagram to see the new patterns I’m working on!

Happy Quilting!

Andrea

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Hand Knit Dish Cloth Pattern

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These are my all time favorite dish cloths! My sister had made me a pair and I absolutely love them. They are great for scrubbing counters and dishes. It’s an easy knitting project you can do when relaxing and watching TV. My favorite type of yarn to use is Sugar n’ Cream 100% Cotton. They have a great variety of colors.

This is a very common pattern. I love how easy these are to make!

*You will need Sugar’n Cream 100% Cotton yarn (1 ball will make 2-3 dishcloths, depending on how tight you knit and what size needle you use)

*Knitting Needles size 6-9 US (4 – 5 1/2 mm), I like using size 8 US (5 mm)
K – knit
YO – Yarn Over (to increase)
k2Tog – Knit 2 Together (to decrease)

Cast on 4 stitches
k 1 row
Next row, k2, yo, k2
Next row, k2, yo, k to end of row
Continue to repeat the (k2, yo, k until end of row) until you have a total of 43 stitches on the needle (If you want a smaller dish cloth do Less)
Next row, k1, k2Tog, yo, k2Tog, k to end of row
Continue to do the (k1, k2Tog, yo, k2Tog, k to end of row), decreasing each row until you have 5 stitches are left on the needle
Next row, k2, k2Tog, k1.
Bind off the 4 stitches
Weave your end in.

Yay you have a beautiful finished dishcloth!

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These Clover knitting needles are my new favorites!!

Have fun knitting!!

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Happy Cloud Quilted Pot Holder Quilt Along

Quilted Pot Holders

This post may contain Affiliate Links. When using the link, you pay the same amount for the items, I just receive a small commission. 

If you like to sew or quilt, I know you have lots of fabric scraps! I know I sure do! So I thought it would be fun to run a Free Quilted Pot Holder Block Quilt-a-long with you all! Yay! You can download the Full length pattern here:

DOWNLOAD HERE: Happy Cloud Quilted Pot Holders Pattern

Each block is a basic design that would look great as a pot holder. If you are not interested in making pot holders, you can still join in! You can use your 8 1/2 inch unfinished blocks in a quilt. You could make a couple throw pillows. Or whatever your heart desires.

The first week you will receive the fabric requirements if you would like to complete all of your pot holders with the same fabric. Each 8 1/2 inch unfinished block requires a small amount of fabric, this would be a great way to use up some scrap. You will also receive directions how to assemble your pot holders (binding method and a non binding method). So by the end of the quilt-a-long you will have 6 pot holders (or 6 sets if you do two pot holders a week). These are a great way to freshen up your kitchen. They also make great gifts!

When picking out your fabrics and thread, make sure to only use 100% Cotton!! If you use polyester it will melt if it catches fire. If you use Cotton it will just smolder.

The Fabric requirements are for ONE of each block (6 pot holder total). If you would like to make sets (2 of each block) DOUBLE the fabric amounts.

You can also join my Happy Cloud Quilted Pot Holder Quilt-a-long Group on Facebook to share all of your fabric choices, progress and  pretty finished blocks and what you decided to make them into!

Click Here

Happy Quilting!!

Andrea

Quilt Along Schedule
Oct. 27, 2017 – Week 1 – Fabric requirements and Pot Holder construction directions
Nov 7, 2017 – Week 2 –  Block 1 – Modified Log Cabin
Nov. 14, 2017  – Week 3 – Block 2 – Flying Geese
Nov. 21, 2017 –  Week 4 – Block 3 – Sawtooth Star
Nov. 28, 2017 – Week 5 – Block 4 – Crazy Flying Geese
Dec. 5, 2017 – Week 6 – Block 5 – Diamond in Diamond
Dec. 12, 2017 – Week 7 – Block 6 – Stepping Stone