IGMiniSwap Progress

I blinked, and it’s November. Pretty soon the holidays will be in full swing, and I’ll have to ship out my Instagram Mini-Swap piece that I’ve created.  A few weeks ago I visited my local quilt shop, Quilter’s Square, hoping to find some fabric inspiration. I knew I needed to incorporate pink and green into the color scheme, as those were the ones picked by my partner. I initially picked a great small print geometric pink and white fabric as the base. And then I laid eyes on this beautiful green, pink, purple and black geometric, and I knew I had found my palette.

At the advice of the ladies in Quilters Square, we added in some new Art Gallery by Frances Newcombe and a Joel Dewberry just to round everything out. We loved the package of fabrics so much that Quilters Square has turned this collection into a bundle that you can buy on their website. You can choose from either the fat quarter or half yard bundle.

For my block pattern, I needed to make something that was at least 20 to 24 inches square. I finally settled on the Star Cluster mini-quilt pattern from Threadbare Creations. Because the block finishes at 16 inches square, I added a 2 inch border to hit the 20 inch minimum. The center square pieces are pretty darn small, but I just love the look and balance with the fabric choices.

It’s amazing how quickly this mini-quilt came together. I’m impressed with how well the directions were written. It really helps, though to make sure you have everything cut out in advance so that you can streamline the sewing. This is the finished block (below) without the border. I still have to quilt and bind the block, and then I’ll post more pictures.

May Signature Blocks

I finished May in June, and with that, for a short period of time, I am caught up with the No Girls Allowed Quilt Bee swap. Of course it’s now the first week in July, and I’ll need to get started on those blocks soon. (June ended up being my month, so I have some leeway on getting the blocks done for me.)

May belongs to Mr. Paul Hallinger. His request seemed simple, create four blocks that represent your signature block, and have them feature either black or white as the primary background color. My problem? I haven’t had enough experience with quilt blocks to really say that I have a “signature” block. In pouring over different blocks, I ran across the Broken Herringbone block by Play-Crafts. I had seen this block once before, by the glitterific Molli Sparkles, and fell head-over-heels in love. It like a french braid quilt, but with it’s own style.

Inspired by Kona’s solid, Cypress, I set off to make this block, with one minor change. Instead of being a double herringbone design, I’d tackle it as a single herringbone.

I’m really happy with how this block turned out. I used the pieces and parts of the piecing to  round out the additional blocks that were required. Keeping them off-center, and different sizes and shapes I think adds to the already modern feel from this fabric pairing.

 

Paul has been quilting since 1992, and has some amazing quilts under his belt. His ability to churn out tops makes me absolutely jealous. If you’re interested in seeing some of his amazing work, you can follow him on Instagram.

April Feathers

April’s No Girls Allowed Quilt Bee blocks were terribly late, but they’re done now, and shipped off to their new home.  This month’s blocks were for John Q. Adams (yes, that John Adams). His request was to make the Anna Marie Horner Feather Bed blocks. Honestly, I think that we were all intimidated by these blocks, but as I worked my way through them, I really fell in love with the design. Some of us used the paper-piecing method, some of us used the strip piece method. I put mine together using strip-piecing. After I got used to the cuts (and the waste of fabric), it went together really easily.

These blocks, at a glance, look small, but they’re actually 18 inches tall finished. It takes about 60 feathers to make a king size quilt. I love this design so much, this has made it’s way on a short list for a future project with me. I love the look, and I love  the flexibility of the pattern through your own fabric choices.

If you’ve not been introduced to John Adams, a.k.a. QuiltDad, here’s a great introduction, in his own words:

I am a father of three, originally from Brooklyn NYC but now living in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. I live with my 9 year-old twin girls, my 8 year-old son, and a crazy German Shorthaired Pointer named Bristol. Though I often wish it could be, quilting and pattern-writing is not my full-time job; by day, I lead branding and brand marketing efforts for a global software company. I am a completely self-taught quilter (thanks, blogs and internet!) and have been sewing for about 7 years now. I earned my undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of North Carolina and, when I’m not sewing, enjoy cheering for the UNC Tar Heels.

I was originally inspired by the blossoming worlds both of craft blogging and modern fabrics back in 2004. I was living in Charlotte NC at the time and began mixing and matching fabrics and buying fat quarters in my local quilt shop even before I knew how to sew a stitch. I was really drawn to the creative process of mixing and matching colors and prints. That was when Amy Butler’s Lotus line had just come out, and the options for bright modern fabrics was growing like crazy. Before long, I decided I was going to make a quilt and read free tutorials online until I felt comfortable with the basics.

I started my blog, QuiltDad.com, in 2008 on a whim, mainly to be eligible to join a swap at the time but ultimately to share my love of patchwork with others.

Since then, I’ve remained very active in online quilting communities through swaps, virtual quilting bees, and guilds. Today, I try to apply my own quilting aesthetic to designing original quilt patterns for both fabric designers and companies and frequently contribute to creative blogs, books, and other collaborative endeavors. I’ve contributed to several collaborative quilt books, have two book titles of my own (Pretty in Patchwork: Holidays and the soon to be released Beyond Neutral: Quilts Inspired by Nature’s Elements) and was a co-founder of the popular e-magazine and book series for modern quilters, Fat Quarterly.

Having said all that, the NGAQB is one of the most unique, exciting projects I’ve been a part of and I can’t wait to see the beautiful things that emerge from it.

 

March came and went…

And I obviously blinked for two long, because two months passed without me really realizing it. Sure, there’s been a lot going on, but I really dislike being late, behind, or non-productive.

The NGAQB blocks for March are finally done, and I’m really in love with them.  Andrew Youngman, or Mr. March as he’s known to the group, gave us a photo of his favorite vacation spot with his  husband, Key West Florida, as inspiration for the color palate for the blocks. He wanted the Inverted Star pattern, available on Craftsy.com, from each of us, with the outer border in navy blue.

A View from Key West Florida, Photo Courtesy Andrew Youngman.

 

Two things caught me about this photo when I first viewed it, the amazing movement of the water, and the naval ship in the background. I wanted both of my blocks to show inspiration from this, while trying to stay close to the neutral-dark color palate in the photo.

 

These will get posted out to Mr. Youngman this weekend, hopefully he’ll enjoy them muchly. I can’t wait to see the full quilt put together from everyone’s blocks. It’s going to be beautiful, I just know it!

And now, on to April and May!