Triangles

It took a scary day, medically speaking, to push me to finish The Evil Genius' quilt. It sat on my design wall for well over a month. Frankly, it is so pretty I was content to look at all the triangles and not sew them together. But then my girl needed a pick me up so I finished the top. 

Like her first quilt she picked all the fabrics and layout for this quilt. I will admit to spending a few days strongly suggesting that using red on those edge triangles would not make the quilt look better. I finally had to cut a few options and have her compare. This is the fabric she chose for the backing and I think it works well here (My preference was for a pale grey or white.) She definitely has a future as a quilter.

It finishes out at a twin. Because she wanted a quilt big enough for when she gets her own bed. (My girls share a bed.) With no plans to actually buy new beds that means I have tonnes of time to get it done, right?

Vanity Fair from Dear Stella

One of the perks of my job is people sending me fabric to play with. It all seems well and good and lovely (and it is) but if I don't play with it in a timely manner I feel guilty and awful. The whole point to sending the fabric is to promote it. And, I must confess, there are times that the fabric sits in my stash, untouched, for a very long time. I never even photograph it. And that means I've wasted the designer's time and money to send me the fabric. This makes me a tool.

As a result, I've become very honest and selective when contacted about fabric. I know how I like to quilt and create. Single line quilts just aren't my thing generally. And being able to stop everything I'm doing and play with a specific fabric is a near impossibility. So, yes, I will happily take any fabric you want to send my way, but if you expect me to create with it right away it might be best to find another designer or blogger.

Sometimes they are still willing to send you the fabric. And when you get it the bundle is so lovely and inspiring that you do start creating right away. Well, within a month of receiving the fabric at least. For me, that is right away.

The bundle up there arrived on my doorstep from Dear Stella just before Quilt Market. They contacted me and asked if I would like to play with one of their upcoming lines. You know me, I had to pick the one that whispered. (This, despite the fact they made two awesome quilts from Sunday Morning Quilts with Mini Confetti Dots and Zig Zags.) Very soft, very pretty, this Vanity Fair line.

In all honesty, the bundle was set to linger on the shelf, then likely broken apart as inspiration hit. Then I remembered a magazine contribution coming up, rescued an orphan block of something I was testing for my Craftsy class, and found the Vanity Fair some friends in my stash. Commence play.

Just Playing

Sometimes you just need to play. Start with something, anything, and see what happens.

In this case. I started with a jelly roll and some charms, serious temptation from two lovely designers.  When I was head down on that king sized quilt and buried under slabs I caved at some point in August to play. I sliced the charms in half and cut pieces of the jelly roll down to match. Then it was a matter of sewing pairs together. A lot of chain piecing and pressing. Then rows, then chunks like this. There are more chunks to go as there is more fabric to be used, but I am liking this so far. I have yardage of a subtle text print that will serve as background. You can just see bits of it used on the edges of this chunk.

No, if only I could find more time to play again.

One Day - A Quilt

One Day

40'' x 50''

Made for Hubby's best friend's new baby boy. As soon as they announced they were expecting my Hubby informed - not asked - me that I would be making a quilt. Rather than take offence I gave myself a pat on the back that he appreciates this gift as much as a recipient. And this little quilt is now in the baby boy's hands.

The whole quilt came together quite fortuitously. I used the map fabric I had left from this quilt. The couple who are parents of this baby boy are world travellers. In my imagination I live vicariously through the adventures they've had. Hubby actually picked that fabric when I decided I would use this block as the basis of the quilt. In addition to the map fabric I used a variety of low volume prints in blue, green, yellow, gray, and orange. Some of the prints were even from the couple's wedding quilt!

The map fabric is a little odd as it isn't exactly geographically correct. This is not what Canada and the US look like! But the outside borders are there. If I cared to research things in the history books I'm sure I could find a year to associate with this geography. For now, we all get the idea.

The quilting is done with Aurifil 50W in white, as was the piecing. It is a combination of grid work and dot to dot curves around the map sections of each block. Together, it creates a wonderful texture.

This is Hubby's other contribution to the quilt. He insisted that one block with Australia be placed upside down. Sure, whatever.

Finally, when it came to selecting backing fabric Hubby stepped in. He and his best friend have always bonded over cars. And indeed, this guy works at a car dealership now. So the car print was the only choice! I guess it really is a travel themed kind of quilt.

One day the world will be his to explore.