Monday, March 27, 2017

Royal - A Cake Mix Quilt and Bake Off!!!

So a little while ago I was asked by my very good friends at the Fat Quarter Shop if I wanted to participate in a "Bake Off" (see more at the end of the post) using Moda's new Cake Mix's.  How fun did that sound!!!  So of course,  I jumped right in ;)  And now today, I get to share with you my finished Cake, I mean Quilt!!!  I call it Royal and I so love it!!!


Have you heard about the new Moda Cake Mix pads??  I hadn't until this, but I am so glad I got to play with them.  They were so, so, much fun!!!  So what are they??  They are a pad containing 45 sheets of triangle papers that are sized 10"x 10" so that you can use them for layer cakes!!!   So perfect since I assume, like me, we all have some stashed layer cakes!!!  


You can see lots more details about Cake Mix's over at Moda's Blog here, and you can check out the fun video Kimberly and Carrie made showing you some great tidbits on how best to use your Cake Mix.  And there are 4 "Recipes" to choose from so the options are endless of what you can create!!


I was using Cake Mix Recipe 1 for Royal.  Each recipe comes with basic block layouts that can help create ideas for your quilt.  I decided to use two of those basic blocks, so half of my papers I pieced into Block 1 and the other half into Block 4 and then it was just sewing them up in this fun layout to create my Royal design.  I love how it created a giant "Star" in the center and then diamond borders coming out from there in layers.   So fun!!!



EDIT - I have been asked if I can share the layout of the quilt broken down and I sure can :)  So here it is.   You will need Cake Mix Recipe #1 and you will be sewing up 32 sets of light and dark layer cake squares.  This will give you 32 Large HST's and  128 small HST's.  On the front of the Cake Mix Recipe #1 you will find 5 Block Layouts.  For Royal, you will need to use your HST's to make 8 of Block layout #1 and 8 of Block layout #4, but notice that the pinwheels in Block 4 are done in the opposite color placement (otherwise you don't get the large star in the center ;)   

  

Now just place your 16 blocks in the 4 x 4 layout as shown below paying close attention to the direction of the blocks and color placement.  Now simply sew your blocks into rows and then your rows into your quilt top ;)     Hope that helps for anyone that wants to make Royal, and if you do, I would love to see a picture!!!


And now, back to Royal ;)  I used Moda Bella Solid Purple  (Hence the Royal name :) and the low volume prints from Basic Grey's Little Black Dress 2 and Maven.  I have been so wanting to make a quilt with a nice deep purple as the "background" and I just love how it sets all of the fun low volume prints to just dance across the quilt.  You know, I love me some purple!!! 


When it came time to quilt it I had to keep it pretty simple.  This is the first quilt I have done on the long arm since my carpal tunnel surgery and I found quickly that it is still a little difficult to grip the handles tightly for long period's of time.  So my left hand was doing most of the driving.  So the ruler was out and instead I went for fun organic back and forth wavy lines and some echoed arches.   I quilted in the direction that helps to play up the star and then diamond borders and am really happy with how it did just that.  But I have to say, it was pretty funny to watch because I had to keep my sketch of the quilt right beside me the whole time and lost track of where I was in the quilt and which way I needed to be quilting a ton of times :)    But so worth it in the end!!!


And that is my Royal Quilt!!!   And I mentioned in the beginning about a Bake Off ;)   Well, the gals at Fat Quarter Shop are always up for a bit of friendly competition.   So each week for the next 4 weeks they will be sharing 4 quilts using a new Cake Mix.    And of course, you get the chance to vote on your favorite!!!  So pop on over to the Jolly Jabber to see, Royal, as well as Kimberly's, Sarah's, and Deborah's gorgeous Cake Mix Quilts!!!  Then vote for your favorite  of this weeks Cake Mix 1 Bake Off!!     This is going to be so fun :)


Thanks for popping in today!!  I hope you have a very Happy Quilting Day!!!
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23 comments:

  1. The purple caught me, Melissa! I hadn't heard of Moda's Cake Mixes at FQS, but will now check them out. Lucky you for being in the competition and having so much fun with it! You have my vote!

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  2. Love it Melissa! My favourite colour!

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  3. I'm delighted to see another one of these made up (OK, two since you used two different sets). I liked the idea when I saw it, but wondered how it might really turn out. Lovely is the answer if yours is any indication.

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  4. WOW! This is gorgeous. I love your design and your choice of fabrics. And purple isn't a color I'd normally choose---but now. . . ;)

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  5. How serendipitous is this, I was just looking for a two color quilt pattern. I have two new fabrics that would be spectacular in this design. Thank you for your blogs and sharing-and inspriing!

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  6. Love the color and design of this quilt!! I voted for you.

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  7. Wow Melissa, you either have a lot of friends, your blog is a great selling feature, or your quilt is just the most spectacular-you are WAY ahead right now. Of course I suspect it is all three but will go with your quilt being the most eye catching(and my quilt of choice) 8-)

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  8. Very beautiful quilt! Very nice!

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  9. Hello Melissa! What a spectacular quilt using two colors and two blocks! It is truly Royal, especially since purple is my favorite color also! I did see one of these Cake Mix Quilts made on Missouri Star Quilt Company by Jenny and as you and she have pointed out there are so many ways to lay out the blocks and just have a grand time choosing the layout you decide upon! Thank you for sharing, I will go and vote...have a great day!

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  10. Melissa, I just love your quilt. It's such an awesome looking quilt. Of course, I love purple as much as you, so that pulled me in right away also.

    I was at the FQS earlier today and saw the others and voted. Have you SEEN the results so far? WOW!

    I had seen the Cake Mix info awhile back when they first started being talked about, but I haven't bought any. I wasn't sure exactly what it was, or what made it different than the other papers you can buy elsewhere. Thank you for the great description of exactly what they are and what you can do with them.

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  11. Voted for yours it was my favorite and purple is my color.

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  12. Love it and voted for it! I'm taking a class with Carrie Nelson in two weeks using the Cake Mixes. Of course I wanted a textured background, so now I have to cut 42 10" squares out of yardage...

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  13. Such a gorgeous quilt!!! Purple is my favorite color and the way you have used it is incredible!!! Great job!!!!!

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  14. I love this quilt - every single thing about it is wonderful! And thank you for the great description of what the Cake Mixes are - sometimes that's hard to explain.

    I look forward to seeing you at Market!

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  15. This is just beautiful. I will have to check out the Cake Mixes - I have a few 10" packs laying around waiting for me to do something with them!

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  16. Your Royal rec'd my vote! and am planning to use the cake mixes to enlarge it for one of our graduation quilts. Thank you!

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  17. You have got to be kidding me. Why is that everything you make is fabulous?! I would love to see how you see the world.

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  18. It's beautiful Melissa! I heard of the cake mix's since I get the Moda blog posts, and had to get them right away: but haven't had time to play with them yet! But I have been getting some layer cakes so I can dive in as soon as I'm free. :-) Thanks for the inspiration!! Hugs, H

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  19. You quilt is really lovely. What size does recipe number one turn out to be? I was wanting to use this star pattern for a quilt of valor. Thank you. Great job!

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    1. HI Annette,
      Each block finishes at 16" x 16" so this quilt measures 64"x 64". Hope that helps, and this would be so fun done up as a quilts of valor!!!

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  20. I was inspired and intrigued with your pattern and instructions. I jumped in and gave it a try and ended up with a simply stunning quilt. Thank you for your inspiration....

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Thank you so much for your sweet comments. I just love hearing from you!!
Have a Happy Quilting Day :)

Melissa