Project Improv Quilt

Man, this was a beast to finish!  I was stuck for a while and didn't want to touch this.  My brain couldn't figure out how to do those white triangles on the edges and how to get the top together without inset seams.  Finally, after quite a few naps I got the damn thing done.  And there are still inset seams.

This is my Project Improv quilt.  I wanted to try something new.  Honestly, this isn't that new. The blocks were made exactly as you would a wonky log cabin, only with three sides.  I used a template to trim each block to size. The layout is no different than a very traditional quilt called Thousand Pyramids.  Sometimes you don't need to throw out the old when you want something new.  

AmandaJean inspired this multi-coloured look with her Snippets quilt. The entire top was made from scraps/stash.  That being said, I realized that I have no white batting so I still need to go shopping!

Thirty and Three

Those new babies sure mess with your schedule.  I had every intention of posting this quilt in time for Amy's Quilt Festival, but I missed the deadline while busy cuddling my new nephew. So I'm out of the prize running, but still happy to share this quilt.

I actually finished this quilt a few months ago.  And I started it almost 4 years ago.  The second I finished the binding it was cuddled under.  In fact, I think Hubby is under it nearly every night after I head to bed.  And my mother-in-law spent a rough couple of nights on the couch and snuggled under over Easter weekend, but she would kill me if I shared that photo.

The design for this quilt came to me like many of my designs - when I'm bored at work.  My notebook for work is filled with doodles and sketches of quilt ideas.  I sat on this design, however, until I had a machine that could do the circles with machine applique.  Hubby bought that machine for me for my 30th birthday.  This was the first quilt I started with that machine (but not the first one finished)!  The colours were chosen to match our living room, which is orange and cerulean blue.

The quilt was professional quilted because a) it is king-sized and b) I really wanted circles and my skills are not good enough for that.  She did an amazing job on it with circles and concentric circles sprinkled across the quilt. 

On the back I added a few more circles, including the label.  The square in square fabric is Robert Kauffman.  I pieced the back because, well, I like a pieced back.  Rather than mimic the front I did some large square in square blocks.

Oh, and I should explain the name, Thirty and Three.  Thirty because that's what birthday it was when Hubby gave me the machine that allowed the quilt.  Three because it took a little more than three years to finish it.

Key Limes

The latest addition to our family arrived on Wednesday.  My sister had her first baby, a chubby little boy named Cain.  I am so behind on the quilt!  This is the start of it.  The browns and yellows on the left are the start of the triangle blocks that will be the background.  I started off thinking I would make a whole bunch of half-square triangles, but it didn't seem right.  When your quilt is inspired by key lime pie the half-square triangles seemed odd.  So I cut them into rectangles to make narrow, right-angle triangles.  And the greens will become... wait for it... appliqued circles.  Hey, it's for the key limes!

Yup, quilts inspired by food.  It was only a matter of time.

In truth, it is also a reminder of a time as a family in Mexico at Christmas.  My sister and I rekindled our relationship there and I thought this quilt would serve as a sweet reminder of us putting the past behind us and focusing on the future.  Oh, and the baby's room is yellow.  

Improv Sampler - Completed Top

So, would you hire me to teach you improvisational quilting?

My improv sampler is done - apologies for the crappy photo, Hubby was an unwilling partner as we photographed quilts yesterday.  And the quilt ended up much larger than my brain was thinking it was going to be.  Right now it is 76 inches square.  I think I should quilt it before I start pitching, what do you think?

This was the first time I used a solid white for the sashing.   I'm not sure why I resisted solids.  I do like the texture you get from a nice white-on-white, but the solid makes the blocks pop that much more.  Even better is that it is cheaper!

The colour scheme for this quilt came from one fabric alone.  It is a sweet print with birds and trees on it.  It actually was a scrap from a crib sheet that my mother-in-law made for my nephew, born almost two months ago.  I pulled the rest of the fabrics, other than the white, from my stash.  Each block contains that bird fabric as a way to tie it all together.  

Now, if only we could pin down a nanny and I could get out to stores and start pitching.  In the meantime, I'm plugging away on a baby quilt for the latest addition to the family, my nephew that was born today.  More on that this weekend.