Waiting For the Right Fabrics and NTT

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday, friends!  I have a brand new quilt top to share with you today, and I am so very excited about it.  I designed this pattern over two years ago and at the time, I had a very specific feel in mind for this quilt.  I really wanted the fabrics to have a certain vibe, and I couldn't immediately find a collection that felt right.  So, the pattern stayed in my design folder where I kind of forgot about it for awhile.

When I saw the 365 Fifth Avenue collection by Bari J, I started thinking about a quilt pattern for them, and when I stumbled across this one in my design folder, I knew right away it would be a perfect marriage of fabric and pattern.  Now that the quilt top is all put together, it's clear that it was totally worth the two year wait.

This is move-in week for my father-in-law, so helping him get all settled will be my priority for the next week, but I'm going to get this quilt finished as soon as I can.  After two years, what's another week, right?

Before we party, check out the highlights from last week.  This quilt by Nancy at Grace and Peace Quilting is so lovely.  I can't resist a quilt photographed in a beautiful setting.

This rainbow beauty is by Julie's Quilts and Costumes-

Sandra at mmm! Quilts showed off this fun quilt-

And Nettie Sews and Lucky Quilts linked up this sweet baby quilt-

Okay, y'all!  I can't wait to see what you're working on this week.  It's time to party!

1. You 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!  :)

Folk Dance Encore and NTT

Welcome to Needle and Thread Thursday, y'all!  With my roses in full bloom, it's my very favorite time of year to take quilt pictures, so I hope you'll indulge this slightly picture-heavy post.

As I mentioned in my last post, this quilt is a remake of my original Folk Dance quilt, and I'm keeping this one as a class sample, as well as for trunk shows (pattern available HERE and HERE).

I thought a dense, allover flower quilting motif would compliment the Anna Maria Horner fabrics nicely, and I have to say- I am as proud of this quilting as any I've ever done.  I even had a quilty friend ask if I had bought a longarm machine.  Nope- all quilted on my domestic BERNINA, but I take that as a huge compliment!

Even though I used 25 different prints in this quilt, I am saving the remainder of these fat quarters for a king size quilt for my bed.  I did use the smallest leftover pieces on the backing though, and it adds just a little bit of flair.

This quilt has a full rainbow of color, so I could have chosen almost any color binding.  This Kona Oasis was already in my stash, and I love how it frames the twirling skirt blocks, so it was a no-brainer.

Okie dokie, friends!  I owe you some winners from last week's April sponsor post!  First up, the two winners of the adorable Hello Spring embroidery from Fort Worth Fabric Studio are comments 20 (Lee), and 16 (Mary).

 

Next, the winner of the $25 gift card to LouLou's Fabric Shop is comment number 52 (Angela Bowling).

And last, but certainly not least, the winner of the $25 gift certificate to Lady Belle Fabrics is comment number 34 (Susan L.).  Congratulations to all four of you, and happy stitching and shopping!

Time to check out the eye-candy from last week's party!  This stunner is by Cyndi at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework-

Katie Mae Quilts shared this lovely quilt.  Definitely check out the post for some close ups of the quilt, but I couldn't resist including this gorgeous rainbow shot here.

Speaking of beautiful photos, check out this quilt from Elm Street Quilts.  A gorgeous quilt, and I love the beautiful setting!

The talent showcased at NTT week after week is simply amazing.  Without further ado, let's party!

1. You 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.  

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!  :)

Stems and Stones

This is one of those fabric and pattern combinations that I love so much that I have been working nonstop, absolutely obsessed with finishing it.  I had been thinking that I needed to find a new quilt photo setting, and yesterday after church, as I passed our little prayer garden, I realized that it would be perfect!   I love, love, LOVE this quilt.  The vivid colors in the fabrics against the crisp Kona white make me so happy.  Let me go ahead and apologize for the picture heavy post.  I just couldn't stop photographing it!

In my last post, I mentioned my personal weakness for Amy Butler fabrics, and recalled the 40-yard(!!) Amy Butler stash that I powered through almost two years ago.  I don't know that there will ever be a time when I'm not mesmerized by her fabrics, but I have learned to not let them accumulate so much before using them up.

Not every print in this quilt is AB, but many of the others are fabrics that I have purchased and just couldn't fit them into another quilt.  I was happy to find a home for them in this one.  Sometimes, bold colors and prints only work well with other bold colors and prints.

I used all of my extra fabric on the backing, and I decided to improv piece it to keep the leftovers intact as much as possible.  I didn't want to waste any fabric at all trying to cut them to a uniform size.  Although I always use up my scraps on the backing, I haven't done an improv pieced backing in awhile.  I really love the way this one turned out.

I stippled this (of course-it's my favorite) with the tightest quilting I have ever done.  I'm not a lover of super-dense quilting, so you'll probably never see matchstick quilting or micro-stippling on my quilts.  The spaces between my quilting lines on this one are 1/2 to 3/4 inch apart, and as much as I like the result, it's probably the smallest I'll ever go for a couple of reasons.

First and foremost, I like the drape of quilts that have quilting that is a little bit wider.  For minis and wall hangings, or quilts for display only, stiffer quilting is really stunning (and I can totally appreciate the artistry and skill involved in creating such intricate motifs), but for sheer snuggle-factor, I like the softness that wider quilting gives.  My second reason is purely selfish.  When I get into the rhythm of stippling smooth curves, it is a very relaxing process (unless I'm quilting a huge quilt).  The tighter quilting definitely required movement that was much less natural for me, so quilting this one was not very relaxing.  As a result, even though I'm still really pleased with it, I don't think my curves are quite as fluid as usual.

I chose an orchid fabric for the binding that was actually intended for my Interference quilt, but it turned out to be too purple.  I think it creates a perfect frame for this one though!

Formal gardens are simply gorgeous, with their lovely pathways of stones and tiles meandering through perfectly shaped flower beds and topiaries.  The tile shape in this pattern, paired with the flowers created in the negative space, immediately made me think of a walk through a beautifully manicured formal garden; so I'm calling this one Stems and Stones.

  The pattern is already in the works, and it's easier than you might think!

Posy Pattern!

Hooray!  My latest pattern, Posy, is finished and now in my Craftsy and Etsy shops!  I love how this pattern looks like a bunch of delicate flowers.

The Clementine fabrics that I used for the quilts are soft, and although I love them in person, the photos didn't show off the negative space in the quilt as well as I'd hoped.  So, I included a more vibrant electronic rendering on the cover as well.  You can really see the way the ordered placement of light and dark fabrics changes the look of the quilt versus a scrappier layout.

This was a fun quilt to make, and includes all traditional piecing (no curves!).  I hope you'll check it out in my shop!

Posy and a Label Winner!

I finished up my latest quilt last night, and I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  I've named this one Posy, since the pattern is reminiscent of a bunch of flowers with wide open petals, and I can't wait to get the pattern finished.

Despite my very best efforts, I could not seem to get the soft pink in this quilt to photograph accurately.  It looks a little bit washed out, but in person, the color is soft, but definitely doesn't blend into the background.

I used 25 out of the total 28 prints on the front (more than necessary, but that's just how I roll), so that left a good chunk out of each fat quarter left over.  Even with a scrappy binding, I had plenty for a pieced backing, and I even got to work in the other three prints on the back.  I love that the giant bricks on the back really show off these gorgeous fabrics.

Another thing that didn't really photograph well, though in person it shows up nicely, is the pretty cross/crown shape created by the negative space.  I always love to design patterns that have more than one interesting shape.

The only stumbling block I ran across was with the binding.  I chose to take advantage of the abundant fabric and create a scrappy binding, and since the background of the quilt is white, scrappy works.  Well, I must have had some bad binding karma, because I had a joining seam in every. single. corner.  grrr... I have no idea how that happened!  I never measure out my binding beforehand to make sure that doesn't happen, but it was such a pain to get nice crisp corners, from now on, I just might!

We are heading out of town to visit family soon, and you can be sure I'm taking my computer along so that I can work on this pattern if we have any downtime.  Be on the lookout for it!

Okay, so I promise that I'm not going to show you a photo of my quilt labels on every single post from now on, but they're still so new and exciting, I couldn't resist one more quick glimpse.  Plus, it's time to announce the winner of the label giveaway from FinerRibbon, so I thought it was fitting!

There were 187 entries in the giveaway.  Wow!  The winner is lucky comment number 114, Deb Franklin.  Congratulations, Deb!  If you didn't win, I hope you will still check out FinerRibbon for gorgeous, custom labels and excellent customer service!

Deb (Neddo) FranklinJuly 8, 2015 at 6:41 AM

I love these labels! I have some from another company that I am almost out of, but not thrilled with them because of their rough edge. Would love to order from this supplier! 

ReplyDelete

By the way, NTT is still on this week, even though we will be traveling, so I'll see you then!

Oh My Darlin'

...Clementine!  I love the Clementine fabric collection by Heather Bailey.  The colors are soft and pretty, but the orange and ginger colors thrown in keeps the whole look from being overly precious.  I'm so glad I finally got around to making this quilt.  I came up with the design (I'm calling it Posy) way back in November, but it just sat in my sketch book, waiting for fabric inspiration to strike.

My machine is due for servicing, and I'm working to finish this one last quilt before taking it in.  I've put the service off for a few weeks, waiting to take it in when we are traveling so I won't miss it too much.

If all goes to plan, I can finish this quilt then take it in, and by the time we get home, she'll be all ready to go.  I do have a lovely backup machine that I use for piecing (an Elna Quilter's Dream), inherited from my great aunt, but since free motion quilting depends so much on the "feel" of the machine, I save my quilting for my Bernina.

Now that the top is done, I can't wait to finish the quilt and release the pattern!  You can bet I'll be working on it while we're away.