Welcome to my day of the Kate Spain blog hop hosted by the lovely Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts.  If you are new to Pretty Bobbins, please check out my Photo Gallery where you can see most of my finishes.  I’m a bit of an Instagram fiend, so feel free to follow me over there too for lots of in-progress pics  You’ll find all of my social media links just to your right —>

I’m not sure when I first happened upon Kate Spain’s gorgeous prints, but I do know what drew me to them.  I love the colours that she uses, the prints themselves are beautiful and the palette is always stunning.  When Alyce contacted me about the hop I had one lonely wonky star on my design wall and a hankering to create a beautiful quilt using some of my favourite prints.  Perfect timing really

I see every quilt as an opportunity to get my FMQ on and have some fun.  I originally started quilting Starry Skies with a pale pink in a swirl design but it wasn’t quite right so I ripped it out and came up with a design inspired by the final fight scene in Mulan where the baddy zooms off on a firecracker and the screen is enveloped in swirly clouds and zooming streaks of rockets (Mulan is a favourite movie around here at the moment).

I really had a lot of fun pairing my favourite Kate Spain prints with some stash favourites.  Looking at this quilt makes me happy, it’s a good thing to capture so many favourite prints in one quilt to keep forever and the Bella Steel really makes them pop.

I used a lovely soft grey Robert Kaufman flannel on the back which was a dream to quilt.  I find that flannel moves around on the machine so much better when FMQing but clings to the wadding; win-win!

I machine quilted Starry Skies with Aurifil 2605 in 50wt and hand quilted around the stars in some of Aurifil’s gorgeous verigated threads in 12wt (3770, 4662, 3840, 4660).  I much prefer Aurifil’s 12 wt to Perlé 8 which is what I previously used for hand quilting.  Has anyone tried the new Aurifil floss?  I’d love to hear your thoughts

I love these Good Fortune Dragon Flies!

Putting this quilt together I really was impressed with how well Kate’s different lines go together.

Here you can see prints from Terrain, Good Fortune and Cuzco.

Are you sick of the photos yet?  I really do love this quilt  The pattern will be available in my craftsy store soon.

My nearly 3 year old daughter claimed this quilt as hers and happily slept under it for the first time last night.  I had planned to either sell it or use it as a lap quilt, but at 41″ x 58″ it fits her toddler bed nicely.  Can you believe it lost 2″ width and 4″ length after washing and drying, even after pre-washing and drying the flannel?!

We had a stunning sky yesterday when photographing the quilt and tried our best to capture it.

I think these clouds might just inspire some more FMQ!

This quilt was pieced and quilted by me on my Bernina 440QE.
Size: 41″ x 58″
Materials: Prints from Terrain, Cuzco and Good Fortune as well as some stash favourites, Moda Bella Steel and Berrylicious (binding).
Thread: Aurifil 50wt 2605 and 3770, 4662, 3840, 4660 in 12wt.

So if you’ll excuse me I’m just going to go enjoy this little scene again, nothing like Mummy made quilts  :)

L-R: Rainbow I Spy quilt, Starry Skies quilt, Kitchen Windows

We’re nearly at the end of the Kate Spain blog hop, but there is still lots of fun to be had.  You can link up any Kate Spain projects you have made prior to the hop here (there are some great prizes on offer!).  Or, if you’ve been inspired by the fantastic hoppers, you can link up any Kate Spain project made during the hop on June 28 at Blossom Heart Quilts (the linky will be open for a week).  And all those questions you’ve been dying to ask Kate, please add them to the comments of this post so that Alyce can get some answers for you

Thanks so much Alyce for organising such a gorgeous blog hop and a huge thank you to the generous sponsors who have donated some great prizes!  Scroll down for links and dates of all the hoppers!

$25 gift voucher

Fandango 12 pce fat quarter bundle thanks to Red Coconut

Monday June 3rd - Interview with Kate Spain
Tuesday June 4th - Interview Part 2 and Jane at QuiltJane
Wednesday June 5th – Christa at Christa Quilts
Thursday June 6th – Kimberly at Fat Quarter Shop
Friday June 7th – Laura at Quokka Quilts

Monday June 10th – Chrissy at Sew Lux
Wednesday June 12th – Julie at The Intrepid Thread
Thursday June 13th – Kristy at Quiet Play
Friday June 14th - Link up your favourite Kate Spain project! and Lynne at Lily’s Quilts

Monday June 17th – Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts
Tuesday June 18th – Heidi at Fabric Mutt
Wednesday June 19th – Melissa at Ms Midge
Thursday June 20th – Jess at The Elven Garden
Friday June 21st – Janice at Better Off Thread

Monday June 24th – Diane at From Blank Pages…
Tuesday June 25th – Me! Pretty Bobbins
Wednesday June 26th – Kara at Me And Elna
Thursday June 27th – Readers’ Q&A with Kate Spain at Blossom Heart Quilts
Friday June 28th - Link up your blog hop projects!