Winter Frost - Scrappy Improv Quilting

Welcome to my stop on the Scrappy Improv Quilting blog hop! Scrappy Improv Quilting is by Kelly Young of My Quilt Infatuation and it's her second book using her method of creating improv panels and then cutting them up to create quilt blocks. It's such a fun process and I love getting to use my scraps, so you know I wanted to be part of the party to share the book 😊

The projects in the book are all mini quilts, which is great if you're new to playing with improv piecing, but also for anyone looking for a fun, scrappy project. Kelly also includes instructions for making a pillow or a larger quilt, if mini quilts aren't your thing.

I chose to make Winter Frost, which seemed appropriate considering how much I enjoy snow (not that I'm anxious to see any just yet. It's too early in the year, even for me!). Kelly's version of the quilt in the book has an aqua background, so I thing to go very different with this red. I did consider using a green background and using pinks and purples for the improv sections since the layout of the quilt also kind of reminds me of the layout of a formal garden, but making myself a new Christmas quilt won out.

Only when I was editing the pictures for this post did I realize that I used a pinky-red background for my quilt from Kelly's first book, too! Not only that, but I'm pretty sure they're the only quilts I've ever made with red backgrounds. You can see my Murrina quilt here .

I found this red incredibly hard to photograph as it always seemed to look either too dark or too light. The contrast between the red and the white probably didn't help, either. 

I used my white and cream scraps to piece the improv panels and I had fun using even tiny little pieces. I discovered in the process that, while I have a shoebox full of white and cream scraps, there's not a lot of variety in there. Because these fabrics often get used for backgrounds, I have a lot of pieces of the same fabrics in all different shapes and sizes.

Some of the scraps in the box were white or cream with touches of other colors and I mostly didn't use those. One, a white with blue swirly vines, I used with the wrong side up. That muted the blue nicely and let it fit in with the other scraps. Note this is probably the only time I will ever purposely try to tone down a blue!

Another fabric I meant to use with the wrong side up, but habit got the better of me and I stitched it right sides together. I decided to keep using it right side up, as the blue and gray swirls weren't so dark they were overwhelming. I then made sure to use several pieces of it throughout the quilt, so it doesn't stand out as an odd piece.

I chose this particular red from my stash because the print kind of reminds me of the patterns frost makes on windows. Because of the quilting, the print is easiest to see now on this corner hanging square on the back of the quilt. The fabric is a basic from Northcott, called Essence, and it comes in lots of beautiful colors.

This quilt had me stumped for a while on the quilting. The improv sections are lots of different shapes, but they're all part of one thing - a snowflake - so I wanted to keep from using too many different motifs in the quilting. In the end, I chose wishbones and simple lines. 

Some of the lines have curved ends, some lines are angled, some go right to the edges of the shapes they fill, and they're different distances apart, but they're all basically just lines. The wishbones are in the central octagon and the diamonds in the middle of each side.

All of the quilting in the improv sections is done with Aurifil 50 wt white thread (2024), which shows up very nicely on the back, where I used the same red Essence as the background.

The background sections had me stumped because there are a lot of shapes there, too, and they're mostly irregular shapes. I decided to echo around the improv sections twice, then fill the spaces between the echoing lines with stippling, all using Aurifil 2270.

This shot of the quilt, taken early Monday morning when the light was coming in from the side, shows the beautiful texture all that quilting created. Yes, it does feel as wonderful as it looks!

I'm looking forward to hanging my Winter Frost mini when it's time to decorate for Christmas! Because it's red and white, I probably won't be able to get away with keeping it up all winter, but it will be great as a Christmas quilt.

There are 22 fun quilts in Scrappy Improv Quilting and there's a quilter making and sharing each one during the blog hop/book party, so be sure to check them all out 😊 

Scrappy Improv Quilting  Blog Tour Schedule -

8/31-  Intro, Single Block Beauties, and Simple Shapes  -  My Quilt Infatuation

9/7-  Seasonal Sensations, Standards With a Twist  - My Quilt Infatuation

9/13-  Summer Blossom -  Lori @ Crossquilt

           Up, Up, and Away -  Sandra @ mmm...quilts!

9/15-  Flutter -  Rose @ Something Rosemade

           Botanics -  Diann @ Little Penguin Quilts

9/20-  Face the Sun -  Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts

           Full Spectrum -  Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal

9/22-  Prismatic -  Anja @ Anja Quilts

           Downpour -  Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting

9/27-  Funkytown -  Vasudha @ Storied Quilts

           Cherub Wings -  Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty

9/29-  Chapel Window -  Kris @ Sew Sunshine

           Winter Frost -  Leanne @ Devoted Quilter  - you are here!

10/4-  Heartstruck -  Rebecca Grace @ Rebecca Grace Quilting

           Star Spangled -  Christine @ Triangles & Squares

10/6-  Birds of a Feather -  Preeti @ Sew Preeti Quilts

           Fall Foliage -  Susan @ Quilt Fabrication

10/11-  Ornamental -  Gail @ Quilting Gail

            Churn, Churn, Churn -  Cynthia @ Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

10/13-  Sunset Crossing -  Kate @ Katie Mae Quilts

             Positivity - Sarah @  Sarah Goer Quilts

10/18-  All Dressed Up -  Linda @ Flourishing Palms

             Shockwave -  Anne-Marie @ Stories From the Sewing Room

10/20-  Sweet Bee (a bonus thank-you pattern), Finishing, and Wrap-Up - My Quilt Infatuation

Having Fun with Peacock Plumes

Hello and welcome to my stop on the Peacock Plumes virtual blog hop, celebrating Tammy Silvers' new signature line with Island Batik. Peackock Plumes is full of rich colours and beautiful prints. For this blog hop, rather than having us make one project each, Tammy asked us to mock up some of our favourite patterns using Peacock Plumes, which was so much fun! Let's start with a peek at the whole fabric line. Aren't those colours fabulous?

These patterns (and more!) are available from my Etsy shop, in both PDF and printed versions. I offer free shipping on the printed patterns. Click on the shop link or on the individual pattern names to go pattern shopping 😊

The first pattern I mocked up in Peacock Plumes was Night Sky. I love the fall vibes of this version! 

For a different seasonal look, I used the Peacock Plumes fabrics and added a white solid for the background in my Divided pattern to create a mod Christmas kind of feel.

I used white again for the background of Level Up. I love those two-tone starbursts and the gold glowing centers of the pluses.

Mix It Up is all about exploring mixing colours with fabric, so it was fun to try it out with the green and gold fabrics, mixing together in the green/gold fabric. These fabrics work so well for it! And those plum orange peels make the perfect frame.

Next up is Flower Path. I love how this looks with the pink and gold orange peels! Have you noticed I have a thing for applique orange peels??

Last, but certainly not least, I mocked up my You're a Star pattern, using a grey solid background and the pink and plum fabrics. Wouldn't that make a great gift for a pink-loving girl? You're a Star is a free pattern, which you can get here.

Which Peacock Plumes mockup is your favourite? I think Mix It Up is my favourite, though Divided comes pretty close. 

If any of the patterns caught your eye, be sure to visit my Etsy shop to pick up a copy!

Visit these other designers for lots more Peacock Plumes inspiration:

Sept 27:        Tammy Silvers - Tamarinis

                      Jen Frost - Faith and Fabric

                      Geeky Bobbin  

Sept 28:         Leanne Parsons - Devoted Quilter (you are here!)

                      Laura Strickland - Orange Blossom Quilt Design

                      Sara Flynn - Offbeat Quilts

                      Pamela Boatright - Pamela Quilts

Sept 29:         Swan Sheridan - Swan Amity Studios

                      Lisa Ruble - Love to Color My World

                      Claudia Porter - Create with Claudia

Sept 30:        Laura Piland - Slice of Pi Quilts

                      Raija Salomaa - Quilter's Treasure Chest

                      Kathryn LeBlanc - Dragonfly's Quilting Design Studio

Oct 1:            Kate Colleran - Kate Colleran Designs

                     Sherry Shish - Powered By Quilting

                     Becca Fenstermaker - Pretty Piney Quilts

Only a Second

 Devotion for the Week...

Paul is a Blue Jays fan, which means I spend a fair amount of time sitting and watching baseball games with him. Usually, when a batter is walked, they put their bat on the ground, then take off their batting gloves and shin guard and put them with the bat, before going to first base. Normally, they leave the bat, etc. there on the ground for the bat boy or bat girl to pick up, but occasionally the bat person reaches them before they're finished removing the gear, so they hand everything over to them. The other night, though, a player on the Minnesota Twins team caught my eye. He finished taking off his gear, gathered everything together and then waited a second for the bat person to reach him before handing everything to them. It was only a second, but the fact that he stood there waiting to pass his gear, rather than leaving it on the ground to be picked up, struck me as a kind gesture. To be clear, the players leaving their gear behind on the ground aren't being inconsiderate; that's actually what they're expected to do so the game keeps moving quickly. This one player's actions just felt extra considerate to me.

It's possible that moment only struck me because earlier in the week I had read Philippians 4:5, which says, "Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon." When I read the verse last week, the words considerate and all really hit home for me. 

Considerate means, "careful not to cause inconvenience or hurt to others" and for me it calls to mind the idea of thinking about the feelings and needs of other people before we speak or act. It also makes me think of small actions, like waiting a second to hand our gear to someone rather than leaving it for them to pick up off the ground. It's little things people might not consciously notice, but that leave an impression of kindness.

Being considerate also makes me think of the idea of living in community, in the sense of trying to make life better for everyone rather than just better for ourselves. It's the opposite of buying six packs of toilet paper to hoard for ourselves when there's fear of a shortage. 

As for the all in the verse...can I just say there's not a lot of wiggle room when we're told to be considerate in all we do? 'Be considerate whenever you're in a good mood' would be a lot easier to live up to. Or maybe 'be considerate when you've had enough sleep' or maybe the most important one 'be considerate when the other person isn't being rude.' But no, we're told to be considerate in all you do. 

Essentially, though, all that really means is that we are to make thinking of others a habit. Will there be times when being considerate is hard? Absolutely! But just a few verses after telling the Philippians to be considerate in all they did, he also wrote, "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength" (Philipians 4:13). We don't have to do it all in our own strength! The Holy Spirit will help us, if we will listen and follow His little nudges and suggestions.

"Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do." What a revolution that could create in our society!