Hey there, friends! This is the last week of the Scrappy Improv Quilting blog tour- can you believe it? And we're going out with a bang! The last two quilts included in the book are a couple of my favorites. First up today is All Dressed Up, and this is a fresh take on a traditional bowtie block.
All Dressed Up is all about the blues! This quilt uses color gradient and the arrangement of the light, medium, and dark blues give the blocks some real pizzazz; but the addition of the negative space really makes it unique.
The blocks look like they're spinning out from the center, and I wanted to choose a quilting motif that would accentuate that. A giant spiral that creates a vortex in the center does the job well, and I opted for a light blue thread that gives just a little contrast to the Kona Silver background.
This geometric floral print had been sitting in my stash for awhile, and I widened it out with a piece of Kona Royal Blue. I love how it shows the tight spiral so well on the back of this quilt. The binding is a perfect shade of light blue- Kona Stratosphere.
Linda at Flourishing Palms made the All Dressed Up quilt for the blog hop, so head over there and take a look at her gorgeous version of the pattern!
The final mini quilt in the book is Shockwave, and I love this one so much. It was actually a contender for the cover! This quilt is kind of a mix between two traditional blocks- the pineapple block and flying geese.
The Shockwave quilt uses the warm, fiery side of the color wheel, and sets all of that scrappy improv goodness against a Kona Nightfall background. I have thought about making a cool color version several times, and I know it would look just as amazing.
The quilting on this one is all linear with coordinating thread, following the shape of each section of the quilt. There is so much fantastic texture!
Remember my Gossip Queen quilt? Well, I had a chunk of this orchid fabric leftover from that backing, and because the colors are similar in this mini quilt, I knew it would be perfect. And this yellow diagonal stripe binding continues the color movement right to the edge of the quilt.
Anne-Marie at Stories From the Sewing Room made the Shockwave quilt for the blog tour, and you definitely need to check it out!
And shop owners, you can get it from any of the major distributors- Checker, Brewer, United Notions, and EE Schenck. I hope you'll consider adding it to your library or carrying it in your shop! :)
Star Spangled- Christine @ Triangles & Squares
Churn, Churn, Churn- Cynthia @ Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework
Shockwave- Anne-Marie @ Stories From the Sewing Room
Congratulations once more on publishing this great book, Kelly! I've enjoyed the blog hop immensely, including my own part in it. I'm looking forward to making another quilt from the book someday soon!
ReplyDeleteLove the colors and the quilting on those!
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