Thursday, October 19, 2017

Working and Playing

Though not blogging, I've been busy, including in the sewing room.  The baby quilt I showed last time is now a completed top.  Pattern is Signed, Sealed, Delivered from APQ mag April 2017.  I left off the two borders.

It went together nicely and I'm happy with the color placement.  Unfortunately, the fabric I had bought for the backing was not quite long or wide enough for quilt sandwich purposes, so some surgery was necessary.  Luckily I had purchased enough of the pink background fabric to extend the backing as well as for the binding. Sometimes I am smart enough to buy extra, generally MATH is a struggle!

I drew out several designs but liked this arrangement best.  The print is a Valori Wells design.  I'm pondering quilting designs but will likely go with a very simple channel quilting. 

My Dad and his fraternal twin had a big birthday and while at the party, my Uncle asked how I did with my quilts at the Fair, so I showed him photos on my phone.  I asked if he had a quilt for his bed at his senior living place, and he shook his head. I've been making 4 patches as leader-enders for Naragansett Blues by Bonnie Hunter, but having few blue fabrics in stash or scraps, hadn't decided on an alternate.  Luckily, he is fond of brown so I went home and pulled all the browns and some black prints from my fat quarter drawer, happy to have a direction and destination for this squirrel project.  I cut a bunch into bricks with my Accuquilt GO cutter, loving that I had the right size die. 
 I laid out a few of the bricks and 4 patches as a test and think this will work.  My neutrals are white to tan and don't seem to be getting lost in the browns. 
My version will be smaller than designer Bonnie Hunter's, but just as scrappy.  The quilt is constructed in vertical rows, so I'll need to count carefully to make sure I have enough of the 4 patches, bricks and squares for my plan.  

Sewtopia in NOLA is coming up quickly and I wanted a special project for my very first quilting retreat.  I have itched to make a word quilt for ages and the Simple Shapes alphabet by Laura Hartrich, found in the Winter 2017 Modern Patchwork magazine was my starting point.  Last night I drew and sketched and graphed to the wee hours and think I've got a good plan. (FYI: Link to designer is for her sampler quilt that includes the upper case letters)

I'll be using Drunkard's Path templates from Jen Carlton-Baily in the 3" finished size.  My first two sketches made a quilt that was too large and required hundreds more background squares than I was willing to sew up.  Looking through the magazine again, the designer showed a word quilt without spacing between the letters, and that was the key to my final layout. 


The words will be colored prints and solids, and of course the shamrock will be greens.  I plan to use lots of different neutrals and leftover block parts for fun in the background, and will mix plain and pieced squares.  I hope to complete the twin-size quilt top at the retreat, which will necessitate doing a lot of  auditioning,  cutting and sewing over the next 10 days.  Back to the sewing room, then!

6 comments:

Sandie @ crazy'boutquilts said...

You have been busy! Your word quilt is going to be really cute!!

Louise said...

Your uncle's quilt is going to be great! Bonnie's patterns make it easy to be scrappily successful :)

Joyful Quilter said...

Can't wait to both quilts finished. Love the pieced back.

Barb said...

You have so many fun things going on there..... I am sure your uncle will love his quilt and I love your letterings.

Janet O. said...

I love the way you saved the back of the baby quilt. Nice job!
How nice of you to make a quilt for your uncle.
I am excited for you to go to your first retreat. Looks like you have a fun project lined up.

Kate said...

Wow! You have been busy! The baby quilt turned out beautifully. Congrats on a nice save for the back. Isn't it fun how sometimes a need comes up and you've got the perfect project already started for it. The 4 patch quilt will be a great gift. I really like you idea for the word quilt. Makes me want to add one to my bucket list (but I'd need a bigger bucket!). Happy stitching this weekend.

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