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Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Whispers of Spring and NTT

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday, friends!  I am so ready to be done with the doldrums of winter.  I'm ready to plant things in my yard, go outside without bundling up, and watch the plants and trees come back to life.  We've been getting little glimpses of spring weather every now and then, and that just makes me all the more ready for it to get here for good.  But, as I sit here with a wind chill of 33 degrees outside, I'm just going to say it, Punxsatawney Phil, with his early spring predictions, is a big fat liar.


My latest quilt is all finished, and I took some inspiration from the sprouting daffodils popping up everywhere around here.  These little green pops of color are so much fun, and add the perfect amount of interest to this otherwise neutral quilt.  Since those green strings look like sprouting bulbs against the whisper-soft low volume prints, I've named this one Whispers of Spring.

Since some of you asked after my last post, these string blocks finish at six inches, making this entire quilt 36" x 48".  Each string was cut at 1.5" wide, so they finish at just one inch.  I did not use foundation fabric or paper for these blocks.  Instead, I sewed them using my six inch square ruler as a guide, with THIS method.


Even though this quilt has a scrappy look, I didn't really use scraps for it.  Instead, I cut strips off of yardage and fat quarters in my stash.  Yes, this means that some of my cuts are no longer "whole" for future use, but I'm okay with that.  This quilt is worth it.  For the binding and backing, I just utilized more of my stash, and I love how the scrappy binding just disappears into the quilt.  I cut my binding strips at two inches, rather than my usual 2 1/4" or 2 1/2".  I definitely didn't want the binding to draw attention, and I think that was successful.


By far though, the (free-motion) quilting texture is my favorite part of this quilt.  It just takes center stage against the neutrals and I am in love with the way it turned out.  You can really see it best against the backing photo (though in person it shows up really well on the front too).


I confess that I don't usually block my quilts, but since this one is going up on the wall in my living room, I used a steamer to perfectly flatten the edges to make sure it hangs properly.  It wasn't super wavy, so I didn't need to get the quilt totally soaked.  The steamer was a lot easier, and it did the trick nicely.  Now that the photos are taken, this quilt is all ready to be hung!

Before we get to last week's highlights, let me fill you in on a project by LouLou's Fabric Shop that is near and dear to my heart.  LouLou's owner has recently welcomed twin preemies into her family, and is organizing a preemie quilt drive called Little Lou Quilts. LouLou's will be offering discount codes for fabric purchased for preemie quilts, kits for purchase at a great price, and a giveaway for those who send in quilts.  LouLou's is trying to collect 100 quilts in the first 30 days to be donated to the NICU where her nephews are, and then other NICU's after that.  Since my wild thing was born over 2 months early, this is an important cause to me, and I definitely wanted to spread the word.  You can find all of the details HERE!

Last week's party was smaller than usual (I think everyone except me was at QuiltCon, ha!), but no less amazing.  Julie at Pink Doxies showed off her progress on this lovely quilt-


This striking beauty is by Myra at Busy Hands Quilts-


I love this quilt by Alison at Little Bunny Quilts-


Rebecca at Cheeky Cognoscenti linked up this scrappy goodness-


And I love these cheerful rainbows from Anne-Marie at Stories From the Sewing Room-


Okay, y'all.  I know you all got tons of inspiration from QuiltCon last week, whether you were there in person or like me, just drooled over all of the photos floating around on the web. And now that it's over, I'm sure you're all just itching to create extra amazingness in your studios.  So, it's time to show off your stuff!  Let's party, friends!

1You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!
2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.
3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link within your 
    post.  
4. Spread the comment love far and wide!
5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

*If you're new to the party, here's a helpful tip for linking up- select "Auto Crop"  when selecting your thumbnail photo.  For some reason, trying to crop your own image results in the dreaded "white question mark box," and we definitely want to see your awesome work!  :)






12 comments:

  1. Love your 'whispers of spring ' quilt, and the quilting texture is wonderful! I too, enjoyed Julie's progress pics of her 'spindrift' quilt, very cool!

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  2. love your quilt and all the others you show

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  3. You weren't the only one not at QuiltCon! Maybe we'll both be in Atlanta next year?! I just love this quilt. It truly is Whispers of Spring, something I'm aching for right about now. Love the quilting you did as well. It's good to see you back in the saddle after your move!

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  4. Love your neutral quilt! I'm sure it will grace your home beautifully. Thanks for hosting the link-up each week.

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  5. I already loved your neutral quilt but the texture of the quilting adds so much more. Beautiful.

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  6. Oh, you made me laugh... P Phil is a “big fat liar.” You’ve made me really glad I live in Florida. Your neutral strings quilt is fabulous! I love a quilt like that with just little pops of color. My own “Motto” quilt has a similar background with spots of green. And yep, I was one of those people at QuiltCon. It was amazing - the best quilt show that just keeps getting better and better. I’ll be blogging more about it.

    On another note... I have removed my blog from Bloglovin' and closed my account. After sending numerous requests to Bloglovin' (and being ignored) asking them to block sex sites from following me, I had enough. I am sure I have lost hundreds of legitimate blog-followers, but I couldn't, in good conscience, allow that to continue.

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  7. Those pops of green are just perfect with all those creamy neutrals! I love the quilting texture, too :) As for spring, well, we still have several feet of snow on the lawn and a winter storm warning for tomorrow, so... :D

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  8. I love your quilt--I can totally see the vision of daffodil leaves popping up in all the brown winter grass.
    Nice quilting too.

    Thanks for featuring my Sunshowers top!

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  9. Love the quilting on your quilt! thanks for featuring Winter Solstice. :)

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  10. Can you share your spring-like weather!!! Still winter here.

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