Category: Quilting and Sewing

Light.

I shared here that it’s my word of the year for 2017.

Another thing I’m doing in 2017 is a traveling quilt project.  Or two.  The first has started it’s journey and I’m excited to see how it looks as others add their interpretation to it.  For this one, my theme is light.


I began with the Facing East block from Carolyn Friedlander’s book, Savor Each Stitch.  At first I planned to make four blocks, but they were larger than I pictured them in my head and it turned out that two were sufficient.


I chose this block because it communicates light to me.  I love the way the white lines radiate from the center.  I hope that using lots of colors in this block will help contributors feel like they can do the same.  I want it to be a happy quilt.


I pestered my sisters with texts seeking their input as I auditioned border choices, and we all agreed that this was best.  It’s a happy Jennifer Paganelli print that I’ve loved sewing with in a few projects.  I also enjoyed trying out that black text print in one of the blocks.  The “once upon a time” seemed appropriate for the story I hope the quilt tells when it’s completed its journey.


I’m really excited to see where this goes, and now I’m scheming an entire Facing East quilt as well.  These blocks were both easier and more fun than I anticipated them being.

Of course, sending my starter block out also means that there’s a bag in my sewing room that I got from a friend to add to.  I’m excited and nervous to start.  It will be an awesome experience in creativity.

Last year at UCMQG I participated in a 1/4 log cabin swap with other members.  We made log cabin blocks that were cut into fourths and then swapped around.  I finally sewed mine together into a quilt top, but not before I cut them again.


I took each log cabin corner and cut it on the diagonal so I could mix up the colors and lines a little more.  In some cases I lost the cool corners that come with log cabins but for some reason I really wanted the increased variety and change in lines.

I mixed them up and sewed eight triangles together to make a log cabin block of sorts (some might say it looks more like a string block, and that’s ok) I struggled a little with the layout and settled on this.  It’s fun to have all these pieces that were sewn by women I respect and enjoy.  Being a part of UCMQG has been a blessing and has changed my life for the better in many ways.  I’m so glad I’ll have a quilt that reminds me of my friends.


I really need to get this one quilted and finished before Broadbent’s closes.  I’d like to photograph it in front of the store as another way to remember the last 4 1/2 years!

I mentioned my Prairie Sweets applique project when I shared my Aerial Grove quilt top recently.  Here it is, a completed quilt top!  This was a project that I prepped and then carried around to soccer games, practices, and tournaments as well as carpool lines.


It took a while to hand stitch all those rings around the pinwheels, but it was fun to do.  Seeing them together in a finished top brings a smile to my face and reminds me how much you can get done with just a few minutes here and there over time.


Plus, sewing with Anna Maria Horner’s gorgeous Pretty Potent collection was pretty awesome.  Once I finished the blocks I had a bunch of circles left over from the centers of the rings so I decided they needed to be part of the quilt back and that launched me into another applique project.


Here is the quilt back, and I love it!  I didn’t have enough swiss dots to use for each square so I added a bunch of low volume prints to the mix.  Once again, these blocks traveled with me as I stitched the circles to the background.  With the rings I glue basted.  With these circles I tried needle turn applique and loved it!


I had saved yardage of the Pretty Potent banner print for the backing but I had to get a little creative when I realized I had less than I thought.  I added a strip of this awesome Amy Butler print (from her Hapi collection) that I’ve been saving and couldn’t be happier with the results!


The measurements of the circle blocks perfectly matched the scale and design of the fabric and it all came together beautifully.  I feel like this could be a two-sided quilt, and I’m not sure which side would be my favorite!  Now I need to decide how to quilt it so that both sides can look good.


I’ve decided I’m going to try to get all my unfinished projects sewn into quilt tops this year, and prepare a backing for each as well.  It feels good to have one done!