Charm Dash Blog Hop - Today is My Day

Hello and welcome to my stop on the Charm Dash Blog Hop happening on Ms. Midge's blog! I am so happy to be able to show you my quilts today that I made with Ms. Midge's pattern called "Charm Dash". This pattern is easy to follow and quick to sew up. I love that I can get a whole collection into a throw quilt without spending a lot of money. A throw size uses one charm pack plus six more charm squares. And then yardage for the background. Solids are less expensive than prints so this is an affordable quilt to make.

Without further ado here is my Charm Dash throw quilt.

Charm Dash quilt. Designed by Ms. Midge pieced and quilted by Anita LaHay of Daydreams of Quilts.
 I used a charm pack of "Ruby" by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. For my six extra squares I used "April Showers" by the same designers. For my borders, binding and backing I ordered "Miss Kate" fabrics by Bonnie & Camille from Country Clothesline here in Canada.

Charm Dash quilt using all Bonnie & Camille fabrics.

Here is the back. This colour of blue is my absolute favourite colour!
 Okay, so here's some tips for you on this pattern. The instructions tell you how to construct the block. Instead of making one block at a time I chain pieced everything I possibly could to make this project quicker. Believe me, I need projects to be quick these days with three kiddos. For example I made all half square triangles (HSTs), trimmed all HSTs and pressed all HSTs. Then I chain pieced all the five inch patterned and white pieces and so on. (Chain piecing is where you just keep sewing your pieces one after another without cutting your threads and then cut them all apart at the end of that step. This saves time and thread.) So basically I completed each step of the block for all 12 block at once. Also, I tried the wrap around border but I didn't really like that so in future I would just sew my borders onto the top and bottom and then onto the sides. That is just my personal preference though.

I am still learning different free motion quilting techniques. This quilt has a lot of nice white space to quilt in. I filled my quilt top with quilting and got lots of great practice!

I have discovered that I like quilting feathers and I am getting pretty good at it so I did feathers in the solid border. You can see that I was pretty much over it with the quilting by the time I got to the red border. I probably shouldn't have done it all in one sitting. There's another tip... break up the quilting into smaller blocks of time instead of trying to quilt the whole quilt at one sitting.

I even went around the corners with my feathers. I was pretty proud of that. :)

This is my favourite block in the whole quilt. I love these fabrics so much!
 The Charm Dash pattern gives you options for different sizes and one of those options is a crib quilt. Here is my Charm Dash crib quilt. I made it with baby boys in mind but I suppose girls can like bugs too. (Not this girl... but you know... maybe some girls like bugs.)

Charm Dash crib quilt pieced and quilted by Anita LaHay of Daydreams of Quilts.
 This quilt is available for sale here in my Etsy shop. That's another thing I love about this pattern... Ms. Midge allows you to sell your quilts that you sew with your pattern. You need to credit her as the designer in your listing. How great is that!? When I start publishing my patterns I will be doing the same. (I won't get up on my soap box about how I think all patterns should be like this.)

I quilted the bug quilt with green heart shaped leaves for the bugs to munch on.

Here are the borders and a closer look at the cute little bugs. (Probably the only bugs I find cute.)

Here is the whole cloth backing and you can get a better idea of my quilting in this shot.

I hope you enjoyed my quilts today. I highly recommend this pattern and I plan to make more quilts with this pattern. If you would like to buy "Charm Dash" is it available on Etsy and Craftsy and is discounted for the duration of the blog hop and Quilt Along. Speaking of the quilt along, you want to check that out if you haven't already because there are fabulous prizes up for grabs! Here is the link again: Charm Along and Blog Hop.
Here are all the other stops on the Blog Hop:
Friday 13th March – Sarah Goer –  Things I Make
Monday 16th March – Linden Vine –  Vinelines Quilting
Wednesday 18th March – Crystal McGann – Raspberry Spool
Friday 20th March – Anita LaHay – Day Dreams Of Quilts
Monday 23rd March – Progress Report – Ms Midge
  Wednesday 25th March – Tsoniki Crazy Bull –  Me Being Crafty
Friday 27th March – Tisha Nagel  –  Quilty Therapy
Monday 30th March – Progress Report – Ms Midge  
Wednesday 1st April – Kathy Gordon –  Kwilty Pleasures
Friday 3rd April – Angie Wilson –  Gnome Angel
Monday 6th April –  Roslyn Russell – Sew Delicious
Wednesday 8th April – Abby Rudakov – Things For Boys
Thursday 9th April – Final Post and Linky open  – msmidge.com.au
Thank you for vising my blog today! I hope you make a Charm Dash quilt too! :)