Tula - Using a Single Fabric to Make a Quilt

Tula

78” x 78”

Years back I worked with Lucky Spool, the quilt book publisher, on some challenges. Called Mighty Lucky, a group of designers came together for some fun challenges for participants. This particular year my challenge was to play with a single fabric. (The year was 2016!)

I finished this quilt top in 2018 and then it sat. It sat for no great reason, just hung out in the quilt top pile until motivation hit. Motivation came in the form of wanting to complete a long overdue wedding present and this top seemed right for the couple.

In the end, I quilted it with a unique response to each round of the quilt top. Using a deep rose pink from Aurifil to match the tiny pink strip in the Tula Pink fabric. Honestly, you don’t really see the quilting much. It doesn’t add much to the overall design, but it does help define each round a little. And, of course, it makes the quilt cozy!

While making the quilt I returned to the store on 4 separate occasions to buy more fabric. I would have been better off buying a bolt! Somehow, I had the foresight to buy an extra meter for binding. Considering how long ago I made the quilt that is some serious foresight! I’d always had it in my mind to make a bias binding for this. As I was stitching it down, however, I realized that a plain stripe would have complemented the last round of the quilt a bit better. The bias doesn’t look bad, not at all, just that the plain stripe might have been a better choice. Oh well!

If I had bought the bolt I might have had enough fabric to use it on the back too. Alas, I had to make do with another Tula Pink fabric, this time in pink. It’s quite a nice contrast to the stripe, but still coordinates in colour. Geez, have I ever been this matchy matchy?

Turns out you can still access the 2016 Mighty Lucky Challenges as a PDF. Check it out!

Radha - An Exploration in Scale in Quilt Design

Radha

80” X 80”

Just 16 large blocks. They literally took me an hour to sew. And then hours contemplating their layout, but that is beside the point. When you want to play with scale, going big is the easiest way to do it!

To make this quilt I took roughly 2 meters of a black on black fabric and 2 meters of a white on white. I split it all into even squares. Depending on the width of your fabric that ends up about 21” on each side. (A meter is about 40” so I used a bit more than that to get them to be squares.) After making pairs of black and white I sliced through each pair on the curve, freehand. This improv curve technique is a comfort and a classic to me. After sewing each set back together I was left with 16 blocks.

Then they sat. And sat. I thought I was going to use them for one thing, then another. Then, this spring, I was hunting my stash for ideas. Our oldest nephew was getting married and of course I was going to make him a quilt! In conference with my mother in law and niece it was determined that black would be a favourite colour in a quilt. Not my norm, but I could do it. Then I remembered these blocks!

Once uncovered, pressed, and measured it was clear they weren’t all the same size. rather than trim everything down to a smaller size I decided to add some strips to make those few blocks bigger. And what better option than neon solids? I added them randomly based off of what I had available.

Then I spent hours over days trying to come up with a layout that worked. You can see some of the ideas here. In the end I went with something that felt more black. Perception is everything, right?

Continuing with the neon theme I quilted the whole thing with a bright peach thread. A few episodes of Revisionist History while on the long arm rental at My Sewing Room and it was finished. Then the mad scramble to get binding on before I left on our big summer trip. The wedding was the first weekend we were away.

Normally, I don’t get too fussed about finishing wedding presents on time. Maybe I should? That’s another story though. But I was feeling a bit guilty that my daughter and I were missing the wedding so I really wanted to have the gift available on time.

The backing is a combination of Tula Pink neons and that great green whose name I cannot remember. The Tula was perfect not only because the colour but both my nephew and his bride are big animal lovers. Now it has the black side and the bright side.

If you’ve been at a trunk show with me over the years you’ve heard me tell the story of how my first quilt was made after I found out my future sister in law was pregnant. It gave me permission to try quilting. My first quilt ever was made for this same nephew. Well, when I was binding the quilt I realized I still had 1 scrap from that very first quilt! It fit perfectly on the binding. I adore this full circle moment in both family and quilting.

Scandi Village Quilt Top!

This quilt is a total escape. It was in the making of it and now when I look at it. Dreams of snowy villages in Sweden, mountain forests in Norway, and fairytales of Scandinavia. One day I will plan a trip and this quilt will come with me for an extension of the magic.

Over the last year and a bit I’ve spent moments playing with these blocks. Like most of my quilts, they started with an idea and a willingness to experiment. With early successI was motivated to both keep going and offer this as a Party through the Quilters’ Playcation. Loads of other have made their own Scandi Villages, all with an individual twist. Each block is improvised - free hand cut and sewn - and unique. Because each block ends up a different size putting it together becomes a puzzle. Thankfully, it is an easy puzzle to do. Seriously, there is no math, nothing fancy, and 99% of the time nothing but straight seams.

It is surprisingly hard to get a good picture of this quilt top. The scale of the houses means there are a lot of blocks. So it is see the overall quilt top or details. The largest house is about 4” and the smallest is less than 2”. None of the trees are bigger than 3”. I LOVE working small! That being said, I have a handful of blocks blown up big that may be its own quilt or become the back of this one.

To take pictures my son came with me to my favourite spot of urban forest to throw rocks on the ice, climb trees, and snap a few pics. We try to get outside everyday, even in the winter. But when we come home, we can still have the forest with us!

These little houses are so easy and so addictive to make. Yes, I started another version. This next one will have a dark background, so it looks like a village/forest at night. When we were having the last party someone suggested we add Northern Lights and now you know I am going to be hunting down my best greens to do that!

But first! I need to figure out how I am going to quilt this one…

Randa - A Mini Quilt From My Trip Diary Scraps

Randa

28: x 26”

When you cut a bunch of random shapes to make 30 quilt blocks you are left with a lot of weird little scraps. Not surprisingly, I decided to sew them all together into a slab. No rhyme or reason to the construction, just what fit. A few concessions to design in order to manage the bossy red and dark blue fabrics, but that’s it. In the end, it pretty much used up all my scraps too.

Since my big Bernina spent the summer at the spa I decided to test out her energy and fixes by quilting this immediately. I grabbed a random variegated yellow from the stash and went for an echo wave using my walking foot. Good news, many of the fixes the old girl needed happened. (Just like me and my summer off.)

Not one to stop at just simple and because I really enjoyed the handwork over the summer I decided to add some hand quilted elements. I’d actually brought the thick thread with me on the trip, but never used it. Just a few colours to add some shapes and texture here and there. it would have been easy to go overboard, so I had to exercise some restraint. The hand quilting threads are a mix of Valdani and Wonderful Eleganza.

To finish off this piece I went with a white linen binding. Not just any linen though! I had a pair of pants that I bought for the trip and they ripped before the trip was over. That dreaded thigh rub ruined these quick. While I wouldn’t use such an obviously weak linen on something that will get used and washed, it worked perfectly here for the binding. You can see more of that process here.

Now, in our house my husband mandated a no quilts on the wall rule years ago. But here I am making not 1, but 2 wall hangings! I can probably convince him to hang up the trip diary quilt when finished, but this one might be pushing it. It’s okay, I think I might give it away. One of my daughter’s teammates travelled with us on their off week so we spent 3 weeks with him and I think I might give this to him and his family as a souvenir.

Oh, and the name? I named her after our lovely guide in Cairo. Randa was an outgoing, very knowledgeable Egyptologist. We had a great time with her and are very grateful for her kindness over the days we spent together.