New Quilt x2

I did it, I finished a quilt!  I haven't finished a throw size quilt since December and since I forgot to do a blog post about that quilt I have two quilts to share today.  My most recent finish is my Mishmash quilt.

Mishmash Quilt by Heather Black - Quiltachusetts

This quilt is a combination of several different techniques, designs and quilting, a mishmash.  When I shared this quilt with a friend of mine she said that it looked like 3 different quilts all together and I couldn't agree more.  I wanted the design to look like three designs layered on top of each other.

Mishmash Quilt - quilting

Believe it or not what took me the longest on this quilt was the quilting.  I started this quilt back in January and finished the top fairly quickly but was stumped when it came to how to quilt this one.  This think what hung me up was the idea of mixing different styles and looks together.  When teaching about design I like to talk about picking a design theme to help when making design decisions the problem with this quilt was the theme of mixing styles didn't help me when it came time to start quilting.  Obviously, I got through the quilting process but it was more of a struggle than I used to.

Mishmash Quilt by Heather Black - Quiltachusetts

By far my favorite thread for piecing and quilting is Aurifil.  I know I've mentioned this before but my longarm just loves Aurifil forty3.  It's a 3 ply 40 weight thread.  The 3 ply is just what I need to quilt long straight lines in any direction and the weight of the stitches looks amazing.   Whenever possible I use Aurifil forty3 to quilt on my longarm and when the color I need isn't available or if I only need a little bit of it I use Aurifil 28 wt.  The thicker weight matches the Forty3 perfectly and it still works in my longarm.  Both of these quilts I quilted with Aurifil forty3.

Aurifil Forty3 Thread

Next up, my Lumens quilt.  I was really surprised when I went to make this blog post to find I hadn't posted about my Lumens quilt.  I finished this quilt right before Christmas and since then I've been caught up in computer work.  I was wrapping up my second book, due out the first part of 2021, fine tuning my presentations for QuiltCon, designing quilts, writing new patterns for my shop and finalizing a super secret project.  I'd planned out a blog post in my head and with all the other things going on I assumed I had made the post, but evidently not.  So here is my Lumens quilt.

Lumens Quilt by Heather Black - Quiltachusetts

This quilt was inspired by LED lights and how they are clustered together to make them appear to be a larger light source than they really are.  It's not a glamorous inspiration but the structure of the clusters made an impression on me.

Lumens Quilt - detail

The entire Lumens quit is pieced and I rather enjoyed myself problem solving how to make the black circle cluster together to make one larger circle.  It ended up being really easy and I hope to incorporate the technique in future designs and unlike my Mishmash quilt, I knew right away how I wanted to quilt this design.  Unfortunately, my vision didn't translate as well as I expected.

Lumens Quilt - digital quilting

Using my Gammill longarm I quilted straight lines and where they crosed over the center larger circle I arched them to make a bubble effect, I even used 5 different thread colors to create an ombré effect.  It looked great on the computer screen, it looked good as I quilted it and then I finished.  I took my quilt off the longarm, carried it to an open area and laid it out on the floor only too see, nothing!  No ombré, no color changes, NO 3D SPHERE!  I was shocked and then I chuckled.  I had used Robert Kaufman Essex Linens for this quilt and the woven texture had camouflaged all my design choices.  It was a good lesson to learn and may be useful in the future.

Aurifil Forty3

So there they are two finished quilts in 4 months.  Not typical for me but I'm hoping with some deadline projects ahead of me I'll be able to make more quilts.

"But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." 1 Corinthians 15: 20-22