intersection

Posted on November 17, 2014

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How’s about this for a bright and colorful quilt? I feel a bit like a walking ad for Cotton + Steel, but honestly, I’ve just had such fun sewing with their fabrics lately that I can’t help but exclaim about it (and trust me, they have no idea that I’m so obsessed!).

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They say that their collections are meant to be mixed and matched, so I thought I should put that to the test. Before I left for Quilt Market, I had pulled out a number of prints and paired them in groups of threes, but held off on cutting anything, hoping I’d be able to get my hands on a bit of the new collections.

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The design is one I’ve been wanting to try out for a while (you know I love me a plus quilt!) – I’d been thinking about it since I made this quilt (and accompanying tutorial) way back in 2009! — thinking it would be fun to cut the blocks apart and rotate them rather than mixing them up. Then I recently saw, and became obsessed with, this cross quilt in Roderick Kiracofe’s book, Unconventional & Unexpected (a hugely inspiring book, by the way!).

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I must be craving color during these gray Vermont days, because I’m in love with how bright and vibrant this one is! I usually am one to need a solid or two (or nine!) to give the eyes a place to rest, but I’m kind of loving how this one is just a whole bunch of prints all sewn together into one fun, and hopefully grown up!, version of an eye spy quilt! Max and Hazel have already been having quite fun pointing out all the various horses, butterflies, kitties and bunnies (so maybe not so grown up?) Ah, doesn’t matter….I love it!

Want to make one? I have a tutorial ready to share in the next day or two. It’s a simple one to replicate for sure, but thought some of you might appreciate a photo tutorial and a few measurements!

 

(book link is an Amazon affiliate link, fyi)

 

Posted in Fabric, Posts about Quilts | Tagged , , , , | 21 Comments

thistle

Posted on November 12, 2014

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If this quilt looks familiar, it may be because it’s a variation of the Cotton + Steel quilt I showed last week. While trying to come up with a design idea for Sarah Watts’ upcoming Tokyo Trainride line, I kept wanting to see the blocks set on point.

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It didn’t end up working out for that particular design, but I couldn’t get it out of my head, so once those quilts were done, I took the opportunity to make a variation on point with the leftover fabrics.

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I used a large square of each of Sarah’s prints for the center, and surrounded each with coordinating Cotton + Steel basics.

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I made a crazy pieced backing with the leftover pieces

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along with a bit of the selvage, which I think is fun to include when I’ve made a quilt out of one line.

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I quilted it with largish loops – it’s a quilting design I’ve always liked the looks of but had never tried. Turns out it’s a fun one! I marked horizontal lines to keep the loop height about even.

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I think I may have to make this one again featuring another fun fabric line!

 

Posted in Fabric, Finished Quilts, Posts about Quilts, Quilts | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

tracking

Posted on November 6, 2014

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I must have triangles on my mind! I have a pattern I’m supposed to be writing, so of course I’ve been doing everything else instead (pattern writing is certainly not my forte!). I got tired of making leggings for Hazel, so I reached for a bit of fun new fabric – the lovely Doe, which is an upcoming line by Carolyn Friedlander for Robert Kaufman.

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While at Quilt Market, I received a mini charm pack of this new line from Carolyn (I did also manage to snag a fat quarter bundle at Sample Spree, but somehow it’s so much easier to cut into these tiny squares!). Once again I thought it would be a fun challenge to see what I could make with these little 2 1/2″ squares.

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I didn’t have anything in mind to start, so as usual, I started by grabbing a handful of solids I felt went well . I’m so intrigued by the colors in this line – they’re not necessarily ones I’d select, but I really love what each one adds to the collection.  I’m absolutely in love with the addition of that one brighter orange print.

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I thought it would be fun to play around with some more improv triangles (similar to these that I made here). I used the solid colors as the backgrounds for the triangles. After they were trimmed to 2 1/2″ x 3″, I put them up on the design wall and found myself arranging them by background color. Since I didn’t have any real design idea in mind, I decided to run with this, and arranged the triangles in strips sorted by background color.

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The yarn dyed black was one I pulled along with the solids, but didn’t use as the background for the printed triangles. I’m glad, as I love it as the background fabric to bring this quilt up to a decent wall hanging/baby quilt size!

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I’m really happy with the how this one turned out. I think I’m often surprised by how much I end up loving these little projects that originally were meant to just distract.

Posted in Fabric, Posts about Quilts | Tagged , , , , , | 18 Comments