FITF: Film in the Fridge | modern quilts, clothing, fabric, and photos

faux roman stripes

Posted on October 18, 2012

Thank you for all your nice comments on my pink and gray improv quilt! I had a lot of fun putting that one together, even though it took a lot more time (and a lot of extra measuring!). I made use of both my design wall and design floor as I laid out and rearranged (and then rearranged some more!) various sections.

And after completing that quilt top, I felt the need for something quick, and this was just the ticket. This combined my interest in playing with stripes – more specifically using striped fabric in place of piecing stripes – and my interest in making a quilt out of white and one color. This design is meant to look like a roman stripe design — I’ve seen many examples in the older quilt books I have, and this one in particular (that link doesn’t provide any info on this quilt, but does provide an image of a lovely antique blue and white roman stripe quilt) made up of just blue and white is beautiful.

(this is what most of my quilt photos look like these days! this little helper can’t resist a quilt!)

I decided to once again make use of that great gray and white stripe from Lotta Jansdotter’s Bella line. I used squares of the stripe (cut on the bias) and made up half square triangle blocks, pairing each stripe block with a white. A little trimming and bam! nice quick quilt!

Posted in Posts about Quilts | Tagged handmade, lotta jansdotter, quilt top, roman stripe, stripes | 10 Comments

pink and gray improv quilt top

Posted on October 15, 2012

It wouldn’t be Fall in Vermont without a little apple picking! We headed out to one of my favorite orchards for some apples, cider donuts, pumpkins, and to let Max admire the tractors (one of his favorite activities these days). Of course I brought a quilt top along for a few photos – the orchard seemed as good a place as any for a quick little photo shoot.

While Max was busy selecting all the best drops, I got Morgan to do what he does best –

This quilt started out as the stack shown here. I love the combo of the dark gray, pink, plum, and lemon, but when I started sewing them into a herringbone type block design, I wasn’t loving how dark it was and I felt the yellow was kind of taking over.

I ended up adding several additional solids, including some extra light pink and some grays and off whites, and really limiting my use of the yellow. And I decided to forgo the herringbone for some improv-pieced strip sections.

I usually have some idea of how I want a quilt to look, but here I had absolutely no idea. Other than the fact that I wanted to sew strips together, I was kind of clueless, and in fact this stuck around on the design wall for quite some time. I decided to just stick with the strips, pieced in variously sized sections, and see where it went.

I’m really happy with how it turned out, and I guess it serves as a reminder to myself that it’s not always necessary to have a specific plan in place!

Posted in Fabric, Posts about Quilts | Tagged improv quilt, pink and gray, quilt, quilt top, strip sections, strips | 24 Comments

warm hearts mini quilts

Posted on October 8, 2012

After seeing Rita’s beautiful Headliner Text quilt, which uses some of the new Umbrella Prints fabrics for the center of each block, I was reminded that I had purchased a trimmings pack from Umbrella Prints. I won’t say how long ago that was, but let’s just say that I was really thrilled that I was able to even find it after all this time!

I love the hearts as the center of the block, and since I found two pieces of the heart print in my scrap package, I decided to make up two mini quilts based around that heart print. I pulled some warmer solids to go with these tan hearts and went with an off-centered square in square design. There were a few other little trimmings in similar colors, so they got added in here and there. I particularly love that little text print in the white section – each time I glance at it it reminds me of a signature on a piece of art.

And then I made up this second one, in mostly cooler solids. I wish I had had a bigger piece of the red hearts, but at the same time it was fun to be limited by the pieces I had. And of course it’s always fun to be able to use, and even base a quilt around, little scraps.

I think I may try some circular quilting on these, since I love the look and haven’t yet tried it, and then I think these two minis shall find a nice home on our walls!