Quilt Kisses

Yesterday I mentioned all the secret sewing that has been going on over here, and today I can show you one of the projects because it arrived at its new owner's house!  It is one of two DrEAMi! projects that took my focus away from what I should have been doing this month.

This is Quilt Kisses.  You might think, hey, wait a minute, isn't there a blog in QBL by that name?  Yup.  And that is exactly where this mug rug went, to Jasmine, of Quilt Kisses.

Last May I was part of Lara's, Buzzin' Bumble, new book blog hop, Crafted Appliqué. I had a couple of giveaways on my post, along with a copy of Lara's book. One was the pattern for the dogs and cats little cushion I'd made for the hop. Jasmine won.  However, she couldn't see herself making that because she's just not really an animal person, so she said draw again.  I still wanted to give her something...I knew she was about to, or had just moved into, her beautiful new house, and a bit later I had the idea to make her a little something for her new sewing room, as in a mini, or a mug rug.  Ahem! It's been a while in the making!

You may recall this house block I sent to the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild for their Quilts for Québec drive.  Right when I started cutting the 1.5" squares for the heart, I knew I would make two, and one would go to Jasmine.  I had known right from the get-go that I would do an X on her mini for 'kisses', and kisses means love, right?  Suddenly, I just HAD to get this long-overdue mini together!

Once I was quilting it, the quilt named itself, because the heart is a mini quilt, ergo, Quilt Kisses.  Here you can see the size of the pebbles.  I love pebbling; even though it is time-consuming, it gives wonderful texture.  I added a few random double pebbles over the surface.  For the heart I did two designs, straight line echoes which, to me, gives a plaid effect, and then my favourite, feathers. Jasmine and I bonded over feathers when, a couple of years ago, she did an online course on various feather techniques, and created this quilt. (Okay, sidenote, I did not look up that quilt before making this one, but I made this mug rug/mini almost on the exact same day she posted that quilt, plus 2 years!)  Making the Honey Pot Bee Star Kisses block in solids earlier this month, and seeing Fiona's all solids rendition made me see how I could do an X block.  I quilted criss-crossing straight lines to emphasize the X.

I used these Sulky threads for the quilting; the Holoshimmer Sliver Metallic was used to stitch down the binding, which I applied to the back and machine-stitched down to the front.

Here is the back, purple of course, because that is Jasmine's favourite colour, a maple leaf print by Paintbrush Studio Fabrics, left over from my Windfall quilt.  A maple leaf, get it?

That lush hot pink binding is a piece of one of the secret sewing projects I keep alluding to. It was perfect as binding! There is not one repeat of fabric in this mug rug by the way, except for a couple of the white/off-white pieces, but all are scraps.

Something Jean of All Points of the Compass wrote on her blog the other day is so fitting here:

"Electronic communication across oceans and countries gives us all that sense that we are still so close to each other."

When I started this blog, I never had an inkling of where it would take me, as a quilter, as a writer, as a part of a wonderful online community, and as an opportunity for many new friendships.  It has definitely brought this beautiful blue/green planet to a more cozy, accessible, real-people-place where we are all connected, something I have always strongly felt, but am seeing, tangibly now.  It is like travelling without leaving your home, really, truly.  I speak from experience: my travels, though not that many, have made those similar 'small world' connections with people, many with whom I am still in touch.

Sidenote! It's not too late to sign up for the New Bloggers 2017 hosted by:
Yvonne at Quilting Jet Girl   (did you see her Tuesday Tips and Tutorials post? She featured 'moi'! My Sunday Stretch posts😊)
Beth at Cooking Up Quilts  (I've met her in person! First got to know her through her being an alumni of the New Bloggers)
Leanne at She Can Quilt  (Although I haven't met Leanne, she hails from my hometown of Edmonton, Alberta!)
It is one of the very best things I have ever done with my blog. I met so many other bloggers, several of whom I now consider my close friends, and some of those friends I have met in person, I learned a great deal about blogging and about the quilting world, and I made this blog better as a result.  If your blog is less than 3 years old, I highly recommend this. 

Jasmine and I live a couple thousand miles apart but I know when (yep, when) we do meet, there won't be a nanosecond of awkward thanks to electronic communication.  We differ in a few ways: she is American, I am Canadian; she is not a animal person, I for sure am; she is Mormon, I am spiritual.  Religion can be a huge stumbling block to happy relationships.  Jasmine and I have had some conversations about religion, and I just love that we acknowledge and respect each other's beliefs, but don't let them get in the way of our common ground.  And there is a LOT of common ground: a love of quilting, obviously, of teaching, of feathers, of organization (but she is way better than I am), and so on.

One last photo, this one taken in early morning light. You actually get a glimpse of the sparkle of the Holoshimmer thread on the binding.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern:  original design
Size:  approximately 12 X 6" (forgot to measure it!)
Fabric: scraps
Batting: Pellon Nature's Touch 100% cotton scrap
Quilted: on my Bernina
Threads:  pieced with Gütermann; quilted with Sulky rayons and Holoshimmer Metallic for binding

The second DrEAMi! linky will be tomorrow!  What has diverted your attention this past month?  Has that elusive squirrel been captured?  This sweet, squirrel-fixated pibble, Brandy, spent a lovely day at our house this past week with her human, John.  Another gem of a day to treasure.  Hope you'll pop by tomorrow and link up if you've had a 'Drop Everything And Make It' shiny bauble grab you, or see what's grabbed others' attention of late!  Fair warning: that could lead to a DrEAMi! of your own.

Yikes! Nearly forgot!  One more 'Fair Warning': I may be enabling, but Craftsy is having yet another end of the month supplies and kits sale.  I can't wait to show you a couple of my scores on the last sale, well, one was the Suburbia quilt kit which is no longer there...but this one is, and it's under $40CA!  It's called Hometown Bird of Paradise, and it is stunning, ha, much like MacGyver's real Bird of Paradise currently in bloom in our front yard. (Pic of that in last post.)

I've got my eye on another:

That ombré! This is Colorblock.  I've used ombrés a few times, so I am anxious to try out Craftsy's own.  There are 6 and 1/8 yards here for $72CA, and remember you do not always have to use them for this quilt, right?! 

Have you seen the new Boundless So Sweet line?

So pretty and Spring-like! I have my eye on these sweet prints too...so many temptations, right?

I've picked up some Boundless Batiks to try, and I'll let you know what they are like...

These are affiliate links, and please know that I sincerely appreciate any purchases made by you through my links. 😀


Linking up:
Crazy Mom Quilts
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
TGIFF at Anja Quilts (another good friend I met through the New Bloggers💕
Busy Hands Quilts