Brights on Whites

I picked up two clearanced kits from Connecting Threads a few years ago and combined them to make this queen sized quilt.

The colors were just so cheerful!  The blocks and sashing were unusual and I found the whole thing enchanting.  I left off any outer border and simply extended the sashing stones around the edge for a non-standard binding.

There was so much fabric left over (one of the benefits of buying kits from Connecting Threads) that I could piece a back from it all.  Sadly, I didn't center it as well as I'd hoped, but it's still pretty cute.

Magnifico white thread throughout for the quilting.  Mostly swirls, with the occasional flower to break it up.  No sashing strips were quilted, giving a grid effect more visible on the back than the front.

Binding on the straightaways wasn't too bad, but ugh! all those points!  Well worth it in the long run, but so tedious at the time.

Chilly Quilted Penguin

Chilly Quilted Penguin would be an excellent name for a rock band or eclectic coffee shop.

A friend told me the nursery was going to be done in penguins, which I just adore, so I had to make a penguin quilt for her baby.

I scanned the net for patterns and ideas, and from THIS quilt (Diana McClun and Laura Nownes) sketched up a pattern in EQ8.  My penguins don't look that much like their penguins, but their quilt is where my inspiration came from.

I made the beaks and feet from prairie points and left them floppy so there would be something to tug on.  The feet got some extra stitching to denote toes.

Quilting the quilt was fun and quick.  Asian wind/water for the sky, a large triangle meander for the ice, swirls for the belly feathers, and a heart for joy.

Magnifico thread in white for the shiny snowy appeal.

And to wrap it all up, a cute penguin print from about a decade ago.

Solids and Cabbage

It's not a healthy living hack of my blogger account, I promise.  There simply wasn't anything else to call this quilt!  Any suggestions for names will be taken seriously from my faithful readers.

I purchased two jelly rolls on clearance at a very nice little shop in Gainesville last year while on a quilting retreat.  Made some very quick strip blocks from them and zapped them together into a top.  I had to look around for a while, but I was CERTAIN there was a Kaffe Fassett fabric that would be perfect for the border.  :D found it.

Boy did I ever have fun doing a little bit of every kind of fill work I've ever seen, tried, heard of or thought up.  It's a little zany to look at the front, but it grows on ya'.

The back (I encourage you to click through for the enlargements) restores a little method to the madness.

Butterflies are amazingly strong and sturdy for as delicate as they appear, and I had hoped to capture some of that strength along with the delicacy in this representation.  It feels both over- and under-worked to me however.  I suspect this is due in large part to my lack of artistic ability - that is, my lack of ability to draw.  I'll probably try this again after i've had time to think about how better to approach it.

Whimsy.  I love getting to do whatever the heck I want on my own quilts.  That's a cameo of a butterfly above. 

Can't have butterflies without flowers of course!

This is a closeup of one of the butterfly wings' eyespots.  You should have seen me fiddling with my circles to get them lined up right.  Had my tongue sticking out the entire time.

Got my "Better Homes and Gardens" shot taken (always the last one I take of a quilt) about ten seconds after the rain started this afternoon.  Fortunately it was a very slow start and was just sprinkling.

First time I tried the flange binding.  I think it worked wonders on this quilt and I'll try it again sometime as it was pretty easy.  This one is too thick for my tastes though and it will get cut slimmer (the binding part) for the next run.

Jacobean Moderne Simple

Very easy square in square blocks combined with even easier squares of focus fabric practically turned themselves into a quilt top.  All the scribbles went into a piano key border.  

The thing I love about quilting jacobean flowers is that anything goes.  Anything.  If it doesn't look right, add more decorative swirls.

Leaving the background alone (which was my first choice) was wrong, wrong, wrong.  It looked puffy.  Like a quilt from the 1970's.  Channel lock to the rescue!  Horiontal lines worked great.

Not much quilting on the focus fabric because it wouldn't have been especially visible.

The quilt police might come chase me down for using a paisley back on a jacobean front, but until they do I'll just enjoy the effect.

Purple Carpenter's Star

A very dear friend and good customer did her very first paper pieced block for the center of this quilt.  She made it for her grown daughter who loves purple.  I put the binding on, but she's going to fold it over and sew it down.

Quilting such large open spaces is always a blast.  This time I tried to keep the theme floral, feathery, and a little formal.  My customer was a little disappointed with how white the top turned out, so I liberally employed purple thread.

Since the center block is a miniature of the larger quilt, I went with feathers in the outer border for it too.  Kept it white though.  Here I really wanted the contrast to show off her paper piecing.

Big chunk of solid purple for the back shows off the quilting really well.

Best part?  Done in time for Miss D. to get the binding sewn down and put it under the tree!

Two-Thirds Rail Fence

I found an inexpensive jelly roll at a variety store  last November.  The colors were interesting but I wasn't in the mood for fancy piecing.  A friend pointed out this pattern to me and it seemed appropriate for these fabrics.

WHOOSH!  the top went together in no time.

I have a pretty extensive stash that goes fairly far back in time, but even still i was surprised when i found this perfect border fabric right there in the stash.  A tiny bit of planning made the repeats come out very nicely.

A sunburst design with variegated polyester thread made short work of the quilting, which can be seen well from either side of the quilt.

Yellow and orange striped binding also came from the stash and was OFG's idea.

Spring time quilting at it's most fun.  Thanks for stopping by!

Hunter's Star Finished

Originally inspired by this picture, this hunter's star quilt took about a year to make. The pieces were cut last winter and the top finished in the summer. Quilting didn't get moving until around Christmas 2015 and the binding was finished only a week or so ago.

I tried to make the frost shimmer with Magnifico (a Superior threads shiny polyester thread).  Up close it works great.  I still can't photograph stuff like that well.  I love love love the way that thread handles.  You take one look at the shininess and start sweating, thinking it's going to break every seven stitches, but I had no trouble at all with it.  Marvelous stuff.

Small pieces cut on the bias made these blocks challenging to work with, but a little starch and a little patience paid off.

Don't ask me why the dark star.

This quilt was sold before it was finished and will be winging it's way to the Windy City next week.  Sometimes it's hard to let them go.

Go Ahead and Quilt!

Go ahead and quilt, mama. We don't mind.

It's For Fun

...so I can scribble quilt it if I wanna.  A good photo of this top is in this post from a few months back.

Maybe the stitching will show up more on the plain muslin back.  I love having lots of different textures in a quilt, and the open area of the ring below right next to the garden row quiting inside it makes a lovely feel when you run your fingers over it.

Heh.  Teething rings.  No, I am not expecting.  Absolutely not.  But my dogs do have chew toys that remind me of baby teethers of old.

The only problem with this much detail in a quilt is that it takes some while to finish.  Between this and my hunter's star piecing, I feel stalled.  The upcoming winter weather will probably give me plenty of opportunity to get at least one of these projects wrapped up.  I hope.

Here, Fishy Fishy!

Heh.  Bling!

Bloggers Quilt Festival (Autumn 2014)

Welcome to my stop on the autumn 2014 Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Almost two years in the making for this quilt and I wasn't sure it would be finished in time for this festival either!  Modern Autumn started with a picture of a fabric collection on the Keepsake Quilting website two autumns passed.

The colors were so enchanting I pulled the closest things I could find in my own stash and started thinking about leaves changing colors.  Not long after the block pattern came to my attention on another website.

After the body of the quilt top was assembled it hung forlorn and abandoned in the studio for a year while I slooooooowly got the 336  1-1/2" HSTs squared up for the border.

The wind and leaves were super fun to quilt, but now I wish I'd used a little copper thread on the leaves.  Just a few days on Terpsichore, a bit of hand sewing for the binding, and voila!  

Super cozy and ready for use on a cool autumn morning with a cup of coffee and a good book.

Technical specs:  90" x 90" all cotton fabrics, warm and natural batting, A&E threads.

Thanks for stopping by, I read and respond to every comment.  Enjoy the rest of the Festival!