Waiting on the mail for more navy fabric.
Preferably in the near future.
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Strip sets ready to go. Nine patch pieces ready to assemble. Finished nine patches; but not enough.
Waiting on the mail for more navy fabric. Preferably in the near future.
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After a twelve-week and 2,532-piece marathon, I have a finished sampler quilt top. My goal was to make a sampler quilt that I like. I also hoped the quilt would radiate a summer vibe. Done and done. Each of the 100 blocks finished at six inches square. Only one block is repeated. I actually made more than 150 blocks and chose the 100 that I liked best. All contain a different number of pieces, some smaller than 1/2 inch square. The block with the fewest pieces has eight. The block with the most has a whopping 61. Here it is. I took indoor pictures and outdoor pictures...not an easy feat considering I wanted to show all of the different blocks. Summer Sampler
84" x 84" I've never been a fan of sampler quilts. All those different blocks put together with sashing? No appeal to me. Then I noticed a book with an accompanying quilt along on Instagram. Hmm. Was it possible for me to make a sampler quilt that I could actually like? I enjoy experimenting with fabric colors and combinations, and with a sashing variation perhaps it can be achieved. First came some blue blocks... Then yellow... Of course some aqua... Red... Green... And I love navy... So I will continue sewing blocks.
What's in my head is slowly materializing. Well, with changes along the way. This is after all an experiment. Fingers crossed. Let me introduce you to Kyoto Steps. Kyoto Steps is an Asian-inspired quilt that focuses on larger rectangles in the central area and smaller rectangles that step out to the top and bottom in rhythmic sequence. The large floral print with a visiting bee is my favorite. I pieced this quilt during the lockdown in 2020, a time when sewing became even more important for my morale. In spite of being quite enamored with it, I am donating this quilt to the 2021 Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale held this coming September. Hopefully you will be able to view Kyoto Steps at the Elkhart County Fairground prior to the sale. I think it likely that you will love it as much as I do. Kyoto Steps
92" x 98" Machine Quilted by Three Sisters Fabric Pattern and Fabric Design by Robin Pickens Inspired by the stockinette stitch, the most basic stitch in knitting that forms little V's on the front of the work, Justine Wilson of Great Heron Thread Company designed Stockinette. The pattern is made entirely of flying geese, a very ordinary block. Yet working with color temperature and color value in alternating rows culminates in a not-so-ordinary modern quilt. I chose Dear Isla fabric by Cotton and Steel. Maybe a wall hanging? No, mine will likely be a baby quilt gift. Stockinette
35" x 40" 336 pieces Today this gorgeous new pattern Travaya was released by designer Katrina Roccella. The name denotes traveling and exploring new places. It reminds me of a labyrinth. I was happy to be one of her pattern testers, and I thoroughly enjoyed piecing this top. I think it looks more difficult than it actually was...just simple nine patch blocks. For my fabric I chose Flower Society by Art Gallery Fabrics. Go to #travayaquilt on Instagram to check out all the other beautiful versions made by her testers. The pattern is available on Katarina's Etsy site. Travaya
63" x 78" Do you know what the most popular color in the world is? I googled it. Yep, as I guessed, it's blue. Blue is conservative and traditional, peaceful and orderly. It does not hold the feelings of energy that warm colors have. Unless you are my husband as he viewed the growing collection of my small nine patch blocks and observed, "That quilt gives me vertigo." Consequently my goal became to replace his vertigo with some serenity. I think I have accomplished that goal. Delft Blue
66" x 86" 1,989 pieces Horizontally stitched lines and an orange binding add to the fun of my Chevron quilt which is now finished and ready for an upcoming baby. Chevrons
41" x 52" 126 pieces While waiting for some backing fabric to finish my last two blue quilt tops, I foraged in my remaining fabric supply for my next quilt possibility. Not surprisingly, very few blue scraps remained, but I did discover lots of greens and quite a few reds. Then two peppermint quilts I spotted on Instagram were all the inspiration I needed for starting my next venture. I started cutting 3 1/2 inch squares. After drawing diagonal lines on the backs of the light squares, I stitched on each side of the line, cut the square in half diagonally and pressed. I squared each up to three inches and sewed four matching units together to make a pinwheel. I pressed the back and spun the center of the block so that the block lies flat even with all eight seams meeting in the middle. I love the mini pinwheel it makes in the middle. I attached corner squares by sewing them on diagonally, trimmed the seam, and pressed them out. Two hundred and twenty peppermints will take until next Christmas!
I'll work at them between machine quilting my previously finished blue quilt tops. Take a peek at my peppermint progression. I added another blue one. My inspiration came from Susan Ache as published in the book I Love NIne Patches. These nine patch blocks began as strip sets and finished as variation nine patch blocks. Delft Blue
66" x 86" 1,989 pieces Using the block pattern from Pow Wow, a pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew, I pieced together a simple baby quilt. Chevrons
41" x 52" 126 pieces I finished! This quilt top took every crumb of concentration and focus to complete. You would think that with all this extra time at home my sewing production would increase. Nope. It's been the opposite. Yet it's done, and I love it. The pattern is Prestige by Charisma Horton. I was drawn to this design because the traditional Ohio Star block was used so successfully to make a contemporary quilt. Ohio Star becomes new with the use of solids for focus blocks and low volume prints for mirrored background blocks. I combined pieces of my own fabric with fabric by Victoria Findlay Wolfe. Prestige
96" x 108" 1086 pieces Garden Rows 66" x 66" 1,371 pieces Perhaps when you look at Garden Rows, a quilt design by Gerri Robinson, you think that the setting of the blocks is on point. I admit I was deceived. Garden Rows by Gerri Robinson looks like the blocks are set on point; they definitely are not. The units are sewn together in vertical rows. This method certainly saves on having to deal (in my case struggle) with bias fabric edges. The neutral colors, like a black and white photo, were an intentional choice. I love the contrast shown here in a leafy green setting. Directly from a black, white, and gray color palette, I went to color. Lots of color. Surrounded is my fourth quilt made from Oh, Scrap! by Lissa Alexander. Again, do not be deceived. Even though scrap quilts look willy nilly, there is a great deal of intention. It matters what scraps are chosen, and which pieces go where. Color, value, and print need to be considered. Piecing this was never boring. All along the way I was inspired by looking at and rearranging colors and prints differently. I love it. Surrounded
76" x 94" 2,259 pieces Gusto sails! I'm feeling high-spirited because this month I finished five quilts. Here they are: Mother's Quilt 46" x 60" Nineteen years ago one of my sisters inherited embroidery blocks that came from our mother's collection. She recently completed the stitching in pink and navy, and gave the blocks to me for the finishing. I returned the finished quilt to her. We are both thrilled with it. We have no doubt that Mother would love it as well. Twilight Forest 46" x 56" This Christmas throw has been donated to the Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale Online Quilt Auction. Now that this quilt is finished, it is a little bit hard to give up because I love it so much. Hopefully there is someone bidding and purchasing that will love it too. Liberty Round and Round 98" x 98" Here's the third finish that I love. This one I will keep and use on my bed. Gusto 48" x 48" Another one that I love I am donating. Inspired by by daughter's west coast sailboat, this wonderful baby sized quilt goes to Wrap Them In Love. Some adorable baby will look even cuter wrapped in this. Fruit Preserves
41" x 41" Using scraps from my Fruit Juice quilt I designed and quilted this wall hanging. This one brightens my sewing room. Early in May as I thought about what to do for my first summer quilt project, I determined that it would need to meet two criteria. First, the fabric needed to be over-the-top cheerful, and second, the design needed to be a new piecing challenge. Fruit Juice by Violet Craft fit both with the added benefit of one more. 1. Cheerful and bright fabric requirement. Check. 2. A new challenge of setting in circles. Check. Bonus: Every block was different; not one step of the way was boring. I enjoyed coordinating fabric for each fruit slice and its background and couldn't wait to see how the finished combination would look. As I sewed the blocks, I revised the original pattern by eliminating three of the darkest fabrics and by adding more half slices. This made it cheerier as well as making it possible for me to play with more fabric combinations. Here is the juicy result. Fruit Juice 82" x 82" 408 pieces Looking at my pile of scraps after finishing the quilt, I tried to imagine what would happen if I cut that entire pile into two inch squares. Then, how could they be arranged for a small complementary quilt? Here is the result. Fruit Preserves
45" x 45" 873 pieces |
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April 2024
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