Tuesday, August 22, 2017

pink gray and white stripe quilt

quick projects are always great for my brain, especially after a whole lot of black and gold for this year's music quilt projects.  and this little hot pink quilt was quite the shake up!
another one requested by my aunt, with no specific theme in mind except for the colors pink and gray.  after a bit of thinking, i thought a strip quilt similar to the a's baseball quilt i made for a friend last year would be perfect!
i headed off to joann fabrics one afternoon and wandered to see what fabrics jumped out at me in varying shades of pink and gray prints.  i kept pink as the focus with a few hints of gray as well as a few white prints to balance things out.  i ended up only using one of the white fabrics, as i felt it tied in quite well to the backing fabric.
i used a pink polka dot for the binding which helped blend the front in to the back.
originally, i found a fabric that was much more pink all over and very flowery for the backing fabric.  when i turned the corner around another aisle and saw this fabric i knew it was perfect.  little hints of gray and pink all over... love it!
i did a simple quilting, 4 inches apart on the diagonal to create the diamond cross hatch.  i had thought about stitching in the ditch, but in the end decided that this one needed a little extra quilting to go with the straight lines of the fabric.
one quick little project all done and off to it's new owners.
i feel like now that this pink quilt is done, i'm ready and able to embrace the super bright colors again.  which is being welcomed with open arms!

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

blue and gray baby elephant quilt

this little quilt came as a request from my aunt for a baby shower with the theme being blue, gray & elephants.  i looked through the patterns i inherited from my grandma, and this stuck out as a quick little one that would fit just what i was looking for.  the morning, noon, and night quilt by atkinson designs has a scrappy layout to it that was just perfect for mixing the colors around.
this quilt was on the bigger end for a baby quilt, but the simple blocks in the layout showcase the colors and prints on the blocks.  initially, i had planned for the elephants to just be on the back, but when some of my fat quarters ran small, i decided to add them in to the front of the quilt as well.
the binding i chose was this fun little plus fabric with varying shades of blue to match with the different fabrics on the front.
the back of the quilt had to have some alterations made to it - in hindsite, i imagine the pattern called for the seaming of the two pieces sewn together for the backing to create a horizontal seam across the back.  since my elephants were a vertical print, i had to add some from the backing and luckily i had some yardage from previous projects that tied in to this just perfectly.  one of them even being a gray version of the blue used for the binding!
if i was to do this quilt again, i think i would have been a bit more daring with the quilting.  i absolutely played it safe doing straight lines, but i would maybe try some of the free motion quilting i learned in some of my classes.
overall, a pretty cute little quilt that i feel fit the request perfectly!

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

musical themed himalayan pink quilt

i bought this pattern back in october when i showed up in colorado to hang out with lisa for a few days and was anxiously awaiting the time to use it.  when i saw what my collection of music fabric was looking like, i decided that i needed to clear out everything i currently had so that i could start fresh for what will come next year.  i sorted things through in to various piles and then came up with this!
unlike previous triangle quilts i have done, this one was a lot more scrappy and that worked perfect for the fabric supply that i had on hand.  also, instead of the triangles pointing upwards, these ones lay sideways which added another fun element to the quilt.
more black, white, gold and cream fabrics as usual, but it was nice to see the supply of these fabrics reaching an end!  some of these have been hanging around since the very start of the music themed quilts for the raffle.  now that they are dwindling down, it was fun to put them together in a sort of collage quilt.
the backing and binding were a leaf print that i found, which seemed very appropriate for a music camp out in the woods.  i kept the quilting simple, following the lines of the triangles to put a frame on the "blocks" in a sense.
time for a photobombing cat break!
as usual, there are those treble clefs! it should just be an i-spy game for them to appear at this point.
i think my favorite ones are the super scrappy triangles like these in this bottom corner.
it was so much fun to see this music fabric "sampler" come together and be complete for this year's music camps.  since this was a first time quilt, that means it will very likely get repeated for next year, and i've already started shopping for fabric in a completely different color scheme!

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

musical charm (and 10!) squares quilt - version 2.0

it's that time of year again!
i was actually pretty ahead of the game this year making these quilts.  blogging everything seemed to end up a different story... like, i have 4 quilts photographed to blog, 2 more to follow after that.  oops!
anyways, another year with donner mine music camp means another year of music quilts!  since they flipped the weeks this year, high school week happened first so this pattern was the repeat from last year week one.
i love the opportunity to repeat patterns on occasion, because it allows me to recreate them in a completely different way.  this quilt was originally done in all black and white prints.  not a single shade in between.  this year, it was done with some of my left over prints that were in the more ivory, gold and black range.  same pattern, same music theme, different result!
not only did i use different fabrics, but i also was able to quilt it using the long arm at meissner.  i quilted this one and another one in the same day and originally had a different plan for it.  when the woman working in the long arm center that day suggested this pantograph that looked like treble clefs, i knew i had to give it a go.  and you know what?  the curves were not as scary as i had expected!
the binding was a solid black, same as the majority of the backing fabric. i didn't calculate correctly for the extra 8" for longarming and had to piece a chunk in to the backing to make it wide enough. it sure helped get rid of some of my left over pieces!
now that this quilt has been done twice, it is now "retired" from being used for donation quilts. well, at least until i run out of ideas i'm sure!
one thing that is clear is that black on black treble clef print is a LIFESAVER. if joann fabrics ever stops carrying it, i don't know what i'll do!  okay, i'll probably survive... but this has just been so perfect to tie in to the music quilts.
i just gotta end this post with one more up close of that swirly quilting.
love it!