April Showers for Quilt Block Mania

Remember that poem - the April showers, they bring May flowers? Well, that's exactly what my rain themed April Showers block is bringing to Quilt Block Mania this month!

For April, our theme is Rain - just look at all the rain themed blocks the Quilt Block Mania group has designed!

And here's the links to all those rain themed blocks.

Rainbow of raindrops by Carolina Moore
Raindrops by Perkins Dry Goods
Rainy Day Walk Home by The Quilted Diary
Raindrop by Blockofthemodotcom
I Love Rainy Days by Heidi Pridemore
Petrichor by Althea Gyde
Gray Skies are Gonna Clear Up by Blue Bear Quilts
Rain from Heaven by Faith and Fabric
Umbrella and Gumboots by Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
April Showers by QuiltFabrication
Pouring Rain by Patti's Patchwork
Spring Crocus by PhoebeMoon Designs
Playing in the Rain by Puppy Girl Designs
Rainy Day by Studio R Quilts
Rain Showers by Slice of Pi Quilts
Rain by Oh Kaye Quilting
Doves in the rain by Sara Flynn
April Showers by Inquiring Quilter
Rain Will Make the Flowers Grow by Devoted Quilter
I've Got Sunshine on a Rainy Day
Let it Rain
Splish-Splash by Pretty Piney Quilts
April Showers by Cotton Street Commons
Rain on the Window

Notice the very green-themed color palette from Design Seeds this month,

which certainly doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room, does it? But for some reason, I was very inspired, possibly because of the flower picture and not so much the palette. To make that flower and the few raindrops pop, I stuck with the darker green as my background.

Enamored with my design, I just had to make the block. With a bit of paper piecing for the raindrops, the rest came together with easy piecing. Isn't it perfect for the theme?

The April Showers block features easy paper piecing plus the stitch and flip method to finish the block. For one block, fat quarters and scraps are all that's needed, but if pairing it with the blocks from the Quilt Block Mania group, it's best to go with yardage. That way, the whole quilt will look cohesive with the same fabrics and colors.

My April Showers block finishes at 12" x 12", and is no longer available - sorry.

Feel free to tell others about QuiltFabrication and become a follower yourself through any or all of the following: direct delivery of posts to your inbox, or by following on Bloglovin, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.

Happy Quilting!

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Outstanding Blogger Award

The last week was full of surprises and this week is starting that way too! I'm thrilled to say I have been nominated for the Outstanding Blogger Award by my fellow quilter, Melva, of Melva Loves Scraps!

This Outstanding Blogger Award is a fun honor, given from one quilter to another. It's a lovely way to support each other and acknowledge their contributions to the quilting world. Each nominee then shares a bit about themselves, answering the questions posed by the current champion, in my case, Melva. I encourage you to read the answers Melva provided in the acceptance of her award from Roseanne of Home Sewn by Us and Kathy of Living in Rapid City.

For my acceptance, I'll answer Melva's five questions, then nominate five more quilters for the Outstanding Blogger Award.

How did you get started with quilting?

I wish I could say I come from a long line of quilters, but no, that was not part of the sewing tradition that I learned. Mom stuck to making clothes and things for the house, and I followed in those footsteps until I saw 'Simply Quilts' in the early 2000's. 

That program blew my mind! The way that quilters manipulated fabric and shapes to make such stunning quilts - wow! Because the internet was still in it's infancy, I headed to the library to grab all the books available about quilting, teaching myself the basics and more.

What is your favorite block?

I'll admit, I don't have a favorite block, one that I make a lot of. For me, it's more of a style. Over the years, I've learned what shapes I like to cut and sew, preferring blocks with squares or strips, with an occasional HST thrown in. 

What I'm not fond of is odd shapes - diamonds, hexies, or shapes that make weird scraps. Though I'll occasionally try one of those shapes, I tend to stick to blocks that are easy to sew.

Do you participate in a quilt club or guild?

I am a member of our local guild, though participating via Zoom is not for me. I miss the extra activities of in-person meetings, such as fabric sales, block party, basket drawings, class sign-ups, and the mini quilt show. I look forward to the day in-person meetings return.

Have you ever entered a quilt in a competition?

Yes - several times! My most memorable was having Mediterranean Rose shown at the 2019 Houston Quilt Festival. Though the quilt wasn't in a judged category, it was still an honor to have a quilt in the show.

Otherwise, I prefer to stay local, hand delivering quilts to either our local fair or PIQF.

What is something you enjoy doing outside the quilting world?

Though I deem my hubby the gardener, I do spend time watering and trimming our landscape and potted plants. But my biggest 'gardening' joy is tending to all of my orchids, all 62 of them! They're my little children, and within the next few weeks, close to half of them will be blooming - yay!

Enough about me! Now it's time to nominate another group for the Outstanding Blogger Award and I hope they feel just as honored as I am! My nominees are:

Carol from Just Let Me Quilt

Joan of Moosestash Quilting

Carla of Creatin' In the Sticks

Emily of The Darling Dogwood

Anorina of Samelia's Mum

Questions for the nominees to answer include:

• What was your first quilt and do you still have it?
• What's the biggest quilt you ever made?
• Describe your dream sewing space.
• What's your favorite color to work with and why?
• When your not quilting, what occupies your time?

I, and other quilt bloggers look forward to getting to know a bit more about you!

Happy Quilting!

My Favorite Patterns

Crafters Edge Design Team

Woohoo! Exciting news to share - I, along with nine other fabulous quilters, are now members of the Crafters Edge Design Team!

 

What is Crafters Edge? It's a relatively new company that evolved from Dies Direct, and now makes the Crossover II fabric and paper die cutting machine, to go along with their innovative dies. I'm impressed with how thin, lightweight, and strong the dies are, along with no sharp edges - awesome! Head over to the Crafters Edge Getting Started page to see the machine and read more about how it works.

As a member of the Design Team for the next year, Crafters Edge graciously sent me the Crossover II machine, along with a few dies to get me up and running. Being a total newbie with this type of die cutting machine (I previously owned a Silhouette Cameo), I had to do some playing before I'll even consider cutting into project fabric. 

After just a few cuts, I can tell this is going to be a fun machine to play with! I love that the Crossover II has adjustable roller pressure, which means I can create the proper pressure no matter if I'm cutting paper, fabric, craft foam, cardboard, or anything else that can be cut.

I also like that the dies are open in the center and there's a clear top plate to see the exact die placement on the fabric, making fussy cutting easy. Plus, I found the circle dies have notches in the edge for lining up with seams for a perfect cut!

In the user manual, it says the Crossover II machine is compatible with Accuquilt GO! and Sizzix Bigz dies, so if there's a die from one of those companies that we just have to have, rest assured it will go through the Crafters Edge Crossover II machine.

If you're interested in a getting a die cutting machine, or maybe you're a newbie to die cutting like me, I made a video to document the package opening and my first cutting attempts. It's funny hearing me exclaim over a simple cut - I do tend to get excited over the little things in life!

Can you tell I'm super excited about being on the Design Team? I've already got several projects in mind, so expect more die cut quilts coming in the next few months. And be sure to follow the rest of the Design Team - I can't wait to see what they dream up!

Sandie at Crazy 'Bout Quilts

Anorina at Samelia's Mum

Brenda at Songbird Designs

Daryl at Patchouli Moon Studio

Daisi at daisitoegel

Julia at Inflorescence

Carol at Just Let Me Quilt

Joan at MooseStash Quilting

Carol at Just Sew Quilter

Now I'm off to plan a project using the triangle dies - can't wait to get cutting!

Happy Quilting!

My Favorite Patterns