Ok, first, I have a confession to make. Back in the old days, everyone at my house knew that the “S-word” meant solids. I was, frankly, not a fan of solids (for about my first 27 years of quilting.) Then, I began seeing all these lovely modern quilts and some “s-word” whites and reds crept into my piecing. Black solids weren’t far behind but they were still rare in my work. So, why did a formerly solids-disliking quilter sign up for an all-Kona blog hop? Well, to challenge myself, of course! During the course of planning (and re-planning, and re-planning again), I hit a few bumps in my personal road so, I finally decided on this for my Kona piece…
a piece of advice I needed to give myself and I very much needed to follow!
I improved the letters a la WordPlay and then played with the geese and stars until I liked how they looked. The striped star centers are made from my leftover bits of the letters sewn together and then cut into squares on the bias (and then oh-so-carefully pieced so as not to stretch them.)
I have to say a huge thanks to Madam Samm and Carol from Just Let Me Quilt for all their hard work in putting all this together. And, of course, the wonderful sponsors…Amanda Murphy, Robert Kaufman, and Aurifil who helped make all this possible.
Now, as I mentioned, I have not one but two giveaways. First, just leave a comment on this post (perhaps with a good piece of advice you’ve given or received over the years) and you’ll be entered to win these four Kona fat quarters…
I’ll have Mr. Random draw after the 22nd of January and, yes, I’ll ship internationally. Also, I’ve been given a Craftsy class to give away and you can find out how to enter here.
Thanks for hopping by to see me and please be sure to visit all the talented quilters showing today. Even if you used to be “anti-solid”, you’ll find yourself being inspired and awed by all the wonderful color you can achieve with these rich, vibrant solids. I have to admit, I’m pretty well converted now and I imagine you’ll be seeing more solids in my future work! Here’s a list of the rest of today’s bloggers.
Words & Stitches 
I felt the same about solids until I got a few FQs in Kona solids and was amazed with the colour richness and fabric quality! There are so many things to learn about quilting but the one thing that I really must pay attention to is measurements when cutting fabric! It really burns me when I make a silly error and waste fabric 😦
By doing what we don’t like or doesn’t appeal to us or scares us with quilting we stretch our boundaries and achieve great things! I am making a low volume quilt when I am more comfortable with hot brights paired with black – but the low volume is looking awesome! I am terrified of paper piecing so I signed up for a class that starts on Tuesday! Yep, still scared, but gonna do it 🙂
I wasn’t much of a solid fan, either, but I’m now totally in love with the Kona solids. Your quilt is a beautiful creation using those solids and I love that little saying on it! Thanks for hopping with us!
Don’t over think it is the best advice I have gotten, once it’s all together it will all come together so far that’s been the best advice I’ve got!
It is a lovely solid quilt and congrats on your first finish for the year! I received lots of advice from my gr,gran (not always in an understandable way) , but basically it came down to ‘just breath’ and I tell that to a lot of quilters.
Lovely quilt! I particularly like the scrappy centers in the stars. I have always liked working with solids. When it comes to fabric, I call it all good. I have a habit it of saying “… just keep sewing…” at the end of many of my blog post, emails and such … and … “have a happy quilty day!” … 🙂 Pat
Beth … your quilt is beautiful! I like the slogan and may have to make such a one for my own sewing room as I too need the reminder 🙂 I finished the binding on my project for this hop late last night, so I could go to work this morning and be able to take pictures of it before posting this evening 🙂 🙂 I am so glad to share the day with you and thank you for your comment on my post … by the way, I was not able to respond as you came through as a no-reply blogger … did you know that? Have a super day and I am now a following of your beautiful blog!
What a really cheerful sewing room reminder! I think one of the best piece of advice that I got was not to look back after I’ve made a decision if I’m sure that I’m not violating my standards. So helpful since I tend to agonize over things even after they’ve been decided.
Sure hope you’re feeling better today Beth! I just heard a great piece of advice today on Pat Sloan’s radio show: only allow yourself to sew/quilt/be crafty for an hour a day, that way you’re forced to focus more clearly on the project at hand. Thank you for sharing your quilt, it’s very pretty, I like the stripe-y stars!
~Brandy
Beautiful quilt…love the words on the quilt too. Thanks for sharing.
Your quilt is wonderful. Love it! Keep quilting on!
I love your quilt! I have always liked tone on tone and solids fabric as I am a fanatic paper piecer. Prints are another story, but I will give them a try this year. Thank you for sharing.
What a great quilt! Love the use of so many different colors. Best two pieces of advise I ever received are; If it’s not going to be important a year from now don’t stress over it. AND The past is the past, learn from it and then let everything but the good memories go. You’ll be much happier by doing so.
Oh Beth… You did an excellent job! Love the modern feel of this quilt. Great use of colour and original design! Sorry to hear the road has been bumpy, but I totally agree… Keep calm and quilt on! Love the quilting and the binding just frames this piece sew well! You out did yourself on this one!
I need to follow that saying. Great job!!
The advice I was given that has saved me from problems is to always
pre-wash your fabric.
What a beautiful quilt!!! A good piece of advice: Life is short…so enjoy every moment you are given!!!
Lovely! Good job challenging yourself!
Das ist mal was ausgefallenes. Sehr schön.
Gruß Sylvia
Lovely job. I think I was the same about solids for a long time too. Once you get over that, you can create anything.
Love your solid quilt! The quilt is so cheerful and pretty.
The best advise I can remember receiving is Measure twice cut once! Works every time as long as I follow the instructions. lol
Congratulations Beth! You are actually following your own advice! Great job. I like your flying geese and striped stars the best. Your quilting is awesome!
Beautiful quilt! It’s very bright and fun! The best advice I’ve received and now repeat to my daughter is “Always ‘press’ your seams- it looks better after the iron hits it and by pressing you don’t stretch the fabric!”
A beautiful quilt!
I have used way to little solids in the past, but I will start working on it now.
Love the use of solids – something I still have a fear of using ! But might be now tempted after this blog hop
Hi Beth it is lovely. I too had a problem with solids, I just felt like there was no texture in whatever I was doing with fabric. Then I spoke with a lady who told me she too had a similar problem and the way she got around it was to tell herself she was remaking the solid and giving it texture when she quilted it. She said it gave her the opportunity to quilt differently in any of the blocks and made it easier for her to use solids. Since then I have used that mindset and it has worked for me so maybe it will help you to continue to use solids….Have a wonderful day.
Beth. That is a fabulous quilt, absolutely beautiful with those colors. I like drenched color with strong contrast and that’s why I am partial to yours! Thanks for sharing today. I really thought I wasn’t a solid girl until I looked back on my 2 decades of published photos and saw more than a dozen. Shocked me. I love all these solid projects we’ve seen in this hop!
I love your quilt. It is so bright and cheery. Thanks for sharing your awesome quilt. It is such a fun blog hop working with all the wonderful colors in Kona Cotton.
HI Beth…you do make me smile…I was with you too…I thought why would anyone want solids when there are so many prints out there that take your breath away….I have changed by mind now….YOUR delightful quilt is tantalizing to the senses…no really it is…and I too am now a KONA solid enthusiast! lol
I adore this quilt! Thank you for being in the hop!
Fun! Love the quilting!
Lovely quilt. It has taken me awhile to warm up to solids also. Thanks for the giveaway.
Oh, wow, I love it. The colors, the quilting, the words. I would hang this up and look at it every day. Beautiful work.
Love your quilt! It would be a great piece to hang in the sewing room!
Beautiful.I love about it.Great job!!
The best advice I ever received concerning sewing came from my grandmother, “always press your seams”. She would always tell me that you could tell the quality of a piece by inspecting the seams, if they were not pressed…it showed. Pressed seams to her defined the difference between ‘handmade’ and ‘homemade’…but that is a completely different story. She was right you know…seams do look better pressed! 🙂
I think my advice came from a Louisa May Alcott book when I was very young. If not her, then someone from her time period: Busy Hands, Happy Heart. I think it is good advice for living, but works for quilting, too. Thank you for sharing your project. I know just what you mean about challenging yourself to try the solids. I challenged myself to try free motion and joined one of those year-long challenges. Mine NEVER won any prizes, but I learned so much. I might even use it on a full-sized quilt one day.
Lovely quilt! You did a good job challenging yourself.
I just love your quilt – it is fun and bright and cheerful! The best piece of advice – keep looking forward and don’t dwell on the past 🙂
Great quilt, I would have it hung n my wall. I don’t have ant wonderful advice but my word for the year is RELAX. I am trying to relax about my less than perfect sewing, among others, like my teenagers! Thanks for a lovely giveaway too.
Wonderful quilt!!! A tip from me would be measure twice….cut once.
Nice quilt. I like solids, especially shot cottons. Best piece of advice– keep a seam ripper handy but don’t expect perfection.
What a wonderful quilt to hang in a sewing room! Advice: Learn from your mistakes and move on. I hate to hear quilters beat themselves up about a mistake (or two) in their quilts. Recently, one blogger stated she wanted to redo her first quilt!!! Redo it??? Cherish it. There isn’t a perfect quilt on the planet. I like to look back on some of my old quilts and think, “Wow! I’ve come a long way since I made that quilt.” Quilting for me is about the journey…taking risks to learn something new, looking back and saying,”I did my best at that time.” svonfumetti at yahoo dot com
My first quilt was the farmer’s wife sampler. The best advice I got was how to sew a quarter inch seam.
I’ve never done anything with just solids but this Hop is making me a convert and I can’t want to try something. Love your quilt! 🙂
Love your quilt! So pretty. I found this saying this past week, “Age is the number of years life has enjoyed you.” Thanks for the giveaway. vickise at gmail dot com
What a beautiful quilt. My best advice is one my Dad would call to us as we left for school, “Have a great day! Better yet, Make one!”
My DH tells me “Smile and make believe you know what you are doing. Next thing you know it is true!”
Beautifully done, Beth! I love the happy colours you chose, the pieced stars and oh, that background fabric. Just gorgeous!
I love that you challenged yourself and now how this wonderful quilt to remind you of what can be accomplished by “stepping out”.
A little saying I like, “Perfect is the opposite of being done.” Makes me smile and reminds me to not be overly critical of what I’m making.
Thanks for your lovely giveaway!
Your quilt is absolutely beautiful! The best advice I was given is “Don’t sweat the small stuff” I try to live by this.
Beautiful quilt. I love working with solids.
I am fairly new to sewing and the one bit of info I remember getting was change your needle often, like for every project and keep your machine cleaned and oiled.
Your quilt is beautiful! What a great use of solids!
I never used solids much either, but sure am liking all the wonderful colors out there and now use some here and there! Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and don’t look at the big picture-just the small steps one at a time.
I always thought solids were rather boring before this blog hop. Now I am amazed at all the beautiful creations with solids. Who would have thought? Thank you all for sharing.
Lovely little quilt with great advise. The blue background is wonderful. I also like the quilting used for it. I think the best piece of advice I’ve received is to make sure your quarter inch seams are really quarter inch. That and “Trust me, I’m the Doctor.” Allons-y!
I love your use of solids, very cheery.
I haven’t made an all solid quilt yet. This hop has given me a lot of inspiration to make one, hopefully this year.
this is wonderful, I so love the saying. There are times. LOL Thank you for sharing and for inspiring and for the give a way. I am new to quilting, but the one thing my mom kept telling me when I first started was to put some music on while doing everything and let the Lord guide my steps. It really helps to put things into perspective.
I haven’t done a quilt in solids yet.. After seeing this blog hop, I can see how pretty they are. Love your colors.
My fine art tutor at college gave some great advice: Don’t let fear of making a mistake hold you back, most of the time you just go with the mistake or if not it can be worked over or even chopped and patched back up. He only let us use erasers as a drawing tool not to remove mistakes!
My favorite advice:
If you can’t see the mistake on a galloping horse you are ok:) haha!!! Takes the stress off:)
Fabulous quilt…so bright and cheery! Best advise I ever got was about the 3 foot rule. If you can’t see a mistake from 3 feet away, it isn’t there! Puts a lot into prespective now doesn’t it! 🙂
Loving those Kona Solids. Your quilt was so bright and cheery,and so was your message! I love it.
Your quilt turned out great! I love using solids – it helps the design to shine without being overpowered by the prints. My advice? PRESS PRESS PRESS. That’s all.
Beth, your quilt turned out great! The Kona solids are beautiful as well as the swirly quilting. Some good advice I’ve received is to always read a pattern through once before cutting anything!
Wow! Just delightful. My advice? Be deliberate – take your time!
Beautiful quilt and a great job using solids!
pretty quilt.
Beautiful quilt – so happy. I’ve learned that squaring up my blocks may take extra time, but it’s worth it when I’m sewing them together. Thanks.
I’ve learned to measure twice, cut once.
I love your quilt Beth – I don’t have any advice but do you have any for me regarding your fabulous improv letters????
Love Love this quilt. I need it to hang in my sewing room. Thanks for sharing. Advice; dont be afraid to try new things.
I felt the same at first. I always used some kind of print never all solids. But I learned a long time ago “don’t think thing to death”. I had a bad habit of doing that. You did a great job on your quilt. I like how you made your own design. I like it lotsss!!!!!
OMG- this is fabulous!!!!
Beautiful quilt. the pattern and colors are just wonderful. one of my sewing advices is to iron or press often. i would think that would be important for those konas too.
I guess the best advice I ever got was something I read while I was planning our wedding. It was stressing me out because it was a 2nd wedding and I had never had a ‘real’ wedding before and wanted that. I mostly wanted that for my Father who, at the time was dying of cancer, In my other marriages he never got to walk me, his only daughter, down the aisle. Instead, he performed them as he was a judge. He absolutely loved my 3rd choice and I wanted him to have that finally. Anyway, yea stressing a lot wanting things to be perfect but not having the money to have an endless money account either. Things I always wanted to have in my wedding were expensive so I was looking at where I could cut this or that and still have what I wanted.
Then I read a very simple sentence and it changed my entire outlook on the planning and it is still something I tell myself to the day.
That sentence/advice was this – “Will this really matter in 5 years from now?” Every single thing after that, I asked myself that very same question. If I could not honestly answer yes, then it was removed from the budget planning. I think a lot of decisions on many things in our lives could be looked at in this same way. It was great advice then and still is to this day when I am trying to make a big decision about anything.
Beth,
Love it! I love how you “made” the center fabric for the stars!
Happy Quilting!…….Kathy
I am not a quilter but even I can appreciate your beautiful quilt and the message it gives. Sewing is actually quite relaxing I find. Thank you sew much for hopping…
Sage advise. Love the quilt and the great job on the stars.
HAPPY BRIGHT FABRICS>SO PRETTY!
THANKS FOR SHARING!
Love the quilt. The colors are so bright and happy. I try to stretch outside of my comfort zone, occasionally.
Beautiful quilting, and yes measure everything twice
Fabulous projects and I love that you pushed yourself out of your comfort zone! Great job!
This made me giggle! I love it!
Cute quilt, perfect for a sewing room. Piece of advise… be honest with yourself and everyone else.
That looks like a fun quilt. Piece of advise I was given and often given is develop and keep a sense of humor about things and life.
beautiful
Spectcular! Love all the fun colors and the string centered stars!
Check out youtube for videos on how to do anything with quilting or anything else.
What a fun quilt! I love the beautiful, saturated colors of those solids!
Love, love your quilt! Very creative. I’m impressed that you challenged yourself and came up with such an awesome quilt!
I love solids, so I applaud you for working outside your comfort zone. It’s a great quilt! 🙂
I just love how you photographed your quilt at sunset! Great idea! The only advice I can give is to enjoy what you’re doing because life is too short. If you’re able to have a job that you really enjoy, you’re one of the luckiest people! : )
Dawn
array-dawn at cox dot net
Love your use of the bright, happy colors (my favorite). Beautiful quilt!
Your project is so fun and the quilting looks great!
This is perfect. I, too, have shied away from solid quilts, so I didn’t joint this hop. After seeing all the great quilts–yours, included—I’m ready to give solid color quilts a try. Beautiful job! A piece of advice from a quilter friend–it doesn’t have to be perfect. No one will notice the little imperfections, unless you are placing it in a show, of course.
How to press all seams first, then press them open correctly by a blog post. Happy New Year from Oklahoma, USA. crystalbluern at onlineok dot com
You did those solids up well. Great pattern and color. Love that saying from WWII that’s reappeared.
My favorite “advice”was in the form of a comment from my son. “keep up with the times,or get left behind” So I,like you have started to use solids in my projects,and am pleased with the results so far!
Great Quilt – I love the stripes in the stars!
glue those seams is my new rule since I read about it and gave it a try. it sure makes sewing a quarter-incher easier. love your flying geese border. p.s. love your pieced hedgehog! can’t wait for it to be published!
New to quilting and looking for all the advise I can get.
Your words are wise. The wise quilting words I was given early on in my quilting journey was that it was the journey that counts not the destination. This advice has allowed me to ease up on the perfectionism and enjoy myself. It is amusing how solids sneak into our quilts and then take over. Thanks for sharing.
Love the bright, clear colors in your beautiful quilt. I like the saying ” Just take one day at a time. Don’t borrow trouble”
“Your never too old to learn something new.” I think your use of the Kona solids is a fine example of that. Love that you made it into a motivational quilt for yourself. Love the aqua background.
Wow! Look at you! That is just too cute!
I was told to enjoy the process and to do my best. Your quilt is lovely and inspires me to work more with solids. Thanks for the chance to win.
Love your quilt it is also wonderful advice that you put on it. I was not a lover of solids before hop but all of you wonderfully creative ladies changed my mind. Thanyou
This hop has really made me change my ideas on the use of solids….best advice measure twice cut once
I rarely use solids either but find myself sneaking them in more often now too. I love the words. There are so many “keep calm” signs today and why shouldn’t there be one for quilting….. made into a quilt! Very nice
I never used solids much until I started working for a Modern Quilting fabric store 3 years ago. I was exposed to so many gorgeous quilts done in solids, as well as quilts that were a combo of solids and prints. When done right they look amazing. And your quilt was done right – it looks amazing! Love text on quilts.
I love solids! and I really like the whimsical quilt 🙂
textilerecycler (at) yahoo (dot) com
The best advice given to me was to wash my fabric first so that if a piece of fabric is going to bleed, distort, or anything else stupid, it happens before I’ve put any time and effort into it. That advice has certainly saved me a lot of grief through the years.
Beth I love your quilt and the swirly quilting looks great. xo jan
My best advice….Just do it! I had to just try and be willing to make mistakes:)
stand back at least 10 feet from your quilt before deciding you have to rip something out lol
Best advice I have been given…tho I’m pretty new to quilting lol…is to MEASURE MEASURE MEASURE! & another one is Don’t Overthink!
I love your Quilt!! Did beautiful job!! Is sooo fun & cheery….
The most important thing is to enjoy what you are doing. Don’t over stress a project.
LOVE it!! I want that quilt hanging in my sewing room! Advise – enjoy and keep your seam ripper handy!
I’ve had no experience in working with solids and quite nervous so this would be a great way to ease my fears!
My best piece of advice is: when getting frustrated, take a break. This works because when you are getting frustrated you are also tired or have been working on the same project for a long time. You can see all the imperfections, they annoy you and you aren’t having fun at this point. I have to remember to do this myself.
Oh, Beth!!!! This is simply stunning! I love words in quilts and this is perfect! Great job!
I love your quilt, the colors are great. Also the quilting is terrific.
Your quilt is great and I love your saying on it ! The best piece of advice I’ve gotten is “there are no mistakes, only design opportunities !
I love your quilt and colours you’ve chosen. Great advice as well.
Beth – you are loaded in for the GYB party:)
Vicki
Beautiful quilt. Colours are wonderful.
I always remind myself to breathe. Calmly.
Lovely!
I have a confession – I, too, did not like solids. As a matter of fact, as I was putting my project together, I kept thinking – this is sooo plain and ugly. Then, I looked at the other posts and realized when using solids, it is the quilting that brings it to life. I love your quilt, how you used the colors, and most of all, the quilting that brings it all together. Wonderful!
I love solids. All the possibilities!
jachelno(at)gmail(dot)com
I just LOVE your little quilt! Thanks for the chance to win your giveaway!
That is an awesome quilt! Thanks for the chance!
Beautiful quilt! I don’t have any advice, as I’m a newbie…except maybe read other quilters’ tips. :o)
I don’t give quilting advice, I’m too new at it. But I TAKE lots of advice which is why I read all these lovely blogs!
HI, Beautiful fabrics!
Thanks for sharing!
I think the best advice I’ve received is – some quilts were meant not to be finished. Sometimes it’s best to know when to throw in the towel and not finish the quilt. I always thought I had to finish the quilt no matter how painful the process was.
Best piece of advice, “believe in yourself”. I really like your quilt and IT’S a great piece of advice 😉
I love your quilt! So cute! My best advice is to change your rotary blades more often! It saves so much time and aggravation if you have a nice sharp blade!
I can’t give advise on sewing because I am currently at 38 learning to sew, but I can say don’t let fear keep you from trying things. If I had followed this earlier in life I would already know how to sew.
it’s lovely! well done for stepping out of your comfort zone. I think the best advice I’ve been given is that if you don’t love it, chuck it.
Very pretty! A good quilt for solids. My favorite one of these sayings is “Keep calm and get the seam ripper” It’s a phrase with a lot of practical application in my life. 🙂 Excellent work!
What a fun quilt! The best advice I’ve received so far is to just “relax and have fun”.
Advice to myself maybe …. if I am having a day or evening that just isn’t working out I need to put down my project and take it back up later. seems to me when things start going bad they only get worse the harder I try and the more stressed I get.
Woe, what an awesome quilt!! This is my favorite so far. It’s just so bright and fun!
Very pretty quilt! But as for advice…hmmm. Always clean your machine after each project. 🙂 Has worked for me!
Fantastic sentiment – love the quilt!
Beautiful quilt….I just love the Kona solids…great giveaway…..
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Richard and Tanya Healey
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Beth, I received the four Fat4’s and boy are they lovely! They are so bright and fun. Thank you so much!!