Quilt-achusetts

I took a break from my Michael Miller fabric challenge quilt quilting to work on a charity quilt.  I'm doing a Jacob's ladder design using cotton/linen blend.  Here's the layout.  I like to use Photoshop for quilt design and layout. I'm in love with these fabrics, Robert Kaufman's Essex collection.  They are so great to work with.  I began making four patches, which there are a ton of, by cutting strips sewing them together than sub cutting the strips and sewing the cut strips together, very common method.  As I was doing the final press on my blocks I noticed that 99% of the seams lined up perfectly.  The cotton/linen blend is just amazing.  It was a great ego boost to work with these fabrics. It was a fun break from the wrestling match, also known as quilting on a domestic machine, I was working on.  

I finished up moving links this weekend, a week or so past when I thought I would.  My inspiration was a throw pillow with a nod to mid-century modern design, which I love. You may be wondering why this post is titled 'quilt fail.'   I dont think this quilt is ugly nor poorly constructed but it just didn't live up to the finished picture in my mind.  This use to  happen all the time when I was oil painting but not as often quilting.   I do like the quilt and plan to put it in my study/guest room.  I also love the back (see earlier post).   Oh well I have plenty of projects to move onto, including the Michael Miller fabric challenge for Quiltcon 2016.

I received the long awaited Alison Glass Handcrafted 2 from Pink Door Fabrics a few days ago and was completely inspired by the fabric. I put some thought into what I'd like to create and purchased a text fabric bundle plus three more text prints not in the bundle from Pink Castle Fabric. Then I began cutting and cutting and cutting some more.  I knew right away what I wanted to make and I hope I can pull it off.  I finally finished cutting and this is what I had. Yep I've decided to make a double wedding ring quilt.  I added a few solids from my stash for the corner stones and went with a solid arc instead of pieced because I wanted Handcrafted 2 to be the star of the quilt.  I think I might be crazy.   After cutting I got to finally pack away all my cutting supplies and reclaim my kitchen island.  I think I've had a cutting board setup on it for 4 months.  I currently have 3 quilts cut and ready to go two of which have due date...

Moving Links I'm embarrassed to say I've been working on this quilt for a couple months.  The block and layout are simple but I just haven't found the time to sandwich the quilt just like I haven't found time to do laundry.  You can see the block construction below: Moving Links Block See straight forward construction,right?  The block is 6" x 14" finished and I have sewn three WOF strips together then cut to size to make the end units on each 'link.'  The inspiration for this quilt came from a throw pillow: MID CENTURY CREWEL BRACKET GEO PILLOW WEST ELM  In this case my quilt is a fairly literal interpretation of the textile used for this pillow.  Throw pillows are my go to when I want to design a quick quilt top.  The inspiration can be literal, like above or sometimes just a color pallet.  I picked yellow as an accent color because I've always loved grey and yellow together.  I remember having a Monopoly spin off...

  This is my most recently finished quilt, I think I currently have 4-5 quilts in progress, but yes I got this finished.  I have to admit that quilting is my least favorite part of making a quilt, ironic I know, and consequently I'm not very good at it or I should say I value efficiency over technique. I had two goals this year, one was to do a quilt with the blocks on point (I did that using a pattern and carried my new technique over to the center medallion here) and two, to do a quilt using curve piecing, also accomplished.  I have one quilt in progress and a finished quilt for the MQG Riley Blake challenge.  I'm thinking my next goal should be to work on and enjoy quilting my quilts. Back to the quilt, I love all the medallion quilts being posted recently and here's my version.  I had Tula Pinks Parisville cameo fabric in my stash and have really treasured it.  I think this was a good use of the fabric without using it all up. ...

Canoe paddles is my favorite quilt, right now.  It was inspired by painted canoe paddles featured in a catalog at Christmas 2014 (http://norquayco.com/collections/artisan-canoe-paddles).  I designed the quilt right then and there but it was some months before I began working on it.  Handcrafted by Alison Glass had come out and I fell in love but even then it took me a while before I merged the two.   I'm very happy with the finished product.  This quilt is 76" x 82".