Pistols at Dawn Quilt Top

It's been on my to-do list for a while, and this weekend I finally knuckled down and finished up the top to my Pistols at Dawn quilt.

 

Most of the blocks for this quilt were made for me by the lovely ladies of the Fallow Group of the Simply Solids Bee.  When I was choosing the colours for this quilt, I was very inspired by a photograph of a sunset, and used the Palette Builder at Play Crafts to create a bundle of seven solids.  If you are interested, you can read a little bit more about my creative process here.  Of course, it's completely inspired by other modern half-square triangle quilts like HST Love and Pantone Pop by Sew Katie Did.

 

In some ways, this quilt top is a success, in that it was an experiment and a challenge to myself to step away from my usual preference for light, bright, clear toned fabrics.  Even though this quilt is extremely abstract, it still has a sunset vibe to me, and it's interesting and visually impactful.  I'm just not sure that I actually like it - it's still quite some distance outside my comfort zone.

This quilt is now basted and I'll likely quilt it in the next couple of weeks.  Even though I'm totally sold on it at this stage, I can't wait to quilt it, because I'm impatient to see how it transforms with quilting.  That uncertainty about how a quilt will actually look once it's finished is what keeps me coming back!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy with how this quilt has turned out so far since it it was always intended to be a challenge.  But I'm interested to know, do you ever have mixed feelings about your quilts?

Linking up with:

    

Bloggers' Quilt Festival - Emeralds and Ice Quilt

This is my entry for the two colour quilts category in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival running for the next couple of weeks.  Thanks for visiting!

I made this quilt as a wedding gift for my friend and workmate, and it was a joy to take this conceptual sketch...

...and these cut up squares of fabric...

to a finished quilt (maybe trimming all the half square triangles wasn't such a joy....)!

I was really thrilled with how the quilt turned out, and my friend seemed to like it too.  With wedding quilts, I like to try and steer away from super girly fabrics, because I want to make something the groom will like too.  The front of the quilt works for this, but I just couldn't resist this floral voile for the back.

I included little pops of print to break up the solids a little bit, and I think it adds a nice bit of interest while still leaving the quilt very crisp and simple.

The sun was going down as I took these photos, so the quilt looks darker here than it is in real life.

Quilting with voile was a little bit trickier than backing the quilt with regular quilting cotton, but not much.  I did end up with a very crinkly quilt after it was washed and dried!  I have to say, I was a bit worried when making this quilt, because I hadn't asked my friend about it (I wanted it to be a surprise), and it's a bit nerve wracking making a quilt when you're not sure the recipient will like it.  It was definitely worthwhile though - I really like giving my quilts away to friends and family.

Ivy says green is a very flattering colour for her...  Hopefully my friend's cat is getting some quilt snuggle time too!

I couldn't resist sharing these out-takes from the photo session.  I often get members of my family to help me with quilt photos.  They are very good about it, and I really appreciate the help they give me.  Sometimes, though, the quilt photography assistants have a mind of their own, which makes for some funny photos to look back on!

Yes, my sister is the mostly likely to dance with a quilt!

Quilt Stats

Pattern:  My own, inspired by this quilt from Red Pepper Quilts.

Finished Size:  Approximately 62 inches square.

Fabric: Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Ice Frappe and Clover, tiny pops of Philip Jacobs Rambling Rose in Green for Westminster Fibres.

Backing: Flora and Fauna voile from Spotlight.

Binding: Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Clover.

Pieced and quilted by: me, on my domestic sewing machine.

Splashy Stars Quilt

On Sunday morning, I got up bright and early.  Under the cover of clouds threatening the first rain we've had in weeks, I set off on a secret mission.  You see, I have been admiring this wall for a while, and thinking that it is the perfect place to photograph a quilt.  But, it's right next to my local supermarket.  The embarrassment factor is high.  However, this quilt, this wall - it was too good to pass up.  (And yes, people did look at me very strangely, but I didn't see anyone I know - win!)

So, as you've probably worked out, I finished my wonky stars quilt (you can see my initial plan for this quilt here and the quilt top before quilting here).

I free motion quilted pebbles and swirls in the blue and green background, so I am calling it Splashy Stars.  Just a little bit of straight line quilting in the white wonky stars helps define them and keep the quilt slightly flatter.

Seriously, isn't this wall great?  It's the side of a cafe, and I have to say, I think the wave and swirling sea is a vast improvement over concrete blocks.

So, this quilt is finished.  I originally made it for my sister's friend's baby boy, who was born (a week or so earlier than expected) last Wednesday.  I'm just not sure what to do with it now though - the FMQ looks good on the front, but the back is a hot mess.  I used a cotton poplin print with the perfect colours (you can catch a glimpse in the second photo above), but it did not agree with free motion quilting.  I'm going to think on how to deal with this issue for a little while - any suggestions (other than ripping out the quilting!) are welcome.

So, I have to know, where is the most embarrassing or strangest place you have taken quilt photos?!

Quilt Stats

Finished Size:  Approximately 40 inches by 49 inches.

Fabric: Assorted blue and green Kona Cottons from Robert Kaufman, FreeSpirit Designer Solid in Arctic White.

Backing: Prints Charming cotton poplin from Spotlight.

Binding: Kaffe Fasset dot.

Pieced and quilted by: me, on my domestic sewing machine.

This quilt is the fourth of my first quarter goals for the 2013 Finish-A-Long - four down, five to go!

Linking up with:

and, of course, Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

WIP Wednesday

Over the weekend, I made progress on my wonky stars quilt top from last week's WIP Wednesday.

I also made a really excellent and high quality design wall, by taping a couple of spare strips of batting to the wall with painter's tape.  It did the job though, and I finished the quilt top - it has ended up at about 40" wide and 49" high.

I am really really happy with this quilt so far, and I have the backing and binding fabrics chosen already. My plan for this week is to baste this quilt, so I can at least get started with the quilting on the weekend.  Wish me luck, because I have work functions on both Thursday and Friday nights!

What are you working on this week?

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced:

WIP Wednesday

I have been playing around with these 5" squares - I am using them to make two baby quilts.  I was planning to make two half square triangle quilts, which would have been very similar but unique at the same time.  However, I just can't face trimming the number of half square triangles I would need to make two quilts, so I decided to change things up a little.

One quilt will be half square triangles, and one quilt will be...wait for it... wonky stars.  Can you believe I have never made a star block before?  Crazy!  I must remedy this immediately.

I've also been plotting my item for the Modernista Homemade swap.  I posted this picture of my potential fabric selection to see whether my partner would like it, but she hasn't commented.  I was aiming for a spread of colour values from light to dark, but given the lack of feedback and my partner's stated preferences, I think I will stick with the brighter fabrics.

What are you working on this week?

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced:

Emeralds and Ice Quilt - finished!

I finished stitching down the binding on my Emeralds and Ice quilt late last week - yay!  A change of backdrop - I thought this quilt might look good in this cool green corner of my parents' garden.

Finally, I managed to get a picture of the back of the quilt.  I used a lovely soft voile from Spotlight that had a fun modern floral design in just the right shade of green.

I am very happy I decided to include the little pops of print.

The sun was going down as I took these photos, so the quilt looks darker here than it is in real life.

The first photos were taken before I washed and dried this quilt.  Because I starch the quilt top and back before basting, I like to pre-wash quilts before gifting them.  I used a couple of colour catchers with this one to soak up any colour bleed from the dark green fabric, and was glad to see I didn't have any issues.  I did, however, get a lot of crinkle.  I will give this quilt a light press before I send it off to my friend, but I don't mind the crinkle.

Ivy really loves this voile.  I only put the quilt down for a second and she was on it instantly.  I wouldn't normally let my cats sit on a quilt that I am gifting after it has been washed, but I know my friend will let her cat on this quilt, so I wasn't too worried this time.

Quilt Stats

Pattern:  My own, inspired by this quilt from Red Pepper Quilts.

Finished Size:  Approximately 62 inches square.

Fabric: Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Ice Frappe and Clover, Philip Jacobs Rambling Rose in Green for Westminster Fibres.

Backing: Flora and Fauna voile from Spotlight.

Binding: Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Clover.

Pieced and quilted by: me, on my domestic sewing machine.

This quilt is the second of my first quarter goals for the 2013 Finish-A-Long - two down, seven to go!  I might just get there!  If only I could stop starting new things...

Linking up with Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, and TGIFF, this week hosted by the talented Nat at Made in Home (seriously, this lady has a new born baby and she is still producing cute handmade items with startling regularity).

Pistols at dawn

No, don't worry, I haven't been duelling lately.  We'll get to the reason for the name of this blog post eventually.

At the end of last year, I signed up to the Simply Solids bee, run by Erin from Sew at Home Mummy, and organised in geographical groups.  Happily, enough people from the Australasia region signed up and we have a full contingent of 12 - two Kiwis, two ladies in Singapore, and the rest are Aussies.

I decided to go first and set the block for February.  One of the rules of the bee is that you either send fabric to the group members, or you can ask them to use fabric from their stash, but if you do that, you cannot say what colours they should use, only how many colours they should use.  I kind of like the idea of a completely crazy out of control multi coloured quilt, but I can't quite let go that much.  So I've sent out fabric, and am delighted to hear that it has started arriving.

I wanted to use purple, and step a little bit away from my usual palette of light bright fabrics.  This is the colour palette I generated using the palette builder at Play Crafts (a great tool, by the way), using a photo of a sunset with lovely rich colours (original photo here).

Working from this palette, I chose my fabrics at a local quilt shop, Thimbles and Threads.  They carry a massive range of the Kona solids, and I find it much easier to pick solid fabrics in person rather than online (plus I didn't really have time to wait for fabrics to arrive from overseas).  The colours I chose ended up being a bit different from the original palette, based on the fabrics I thought looked good together at the time.

All the fabrics I picked are Kona cottons, and the colours, from top to bottom, are Hibiscus, Amber, Indigo, Lilac, Ice Peach, School Bus and Chinese Red.  To demonstrate why I picked these in person rather than online, I made a mosaic of the colour swatches for these fabrics from the Robert Kaufman website (left to right, in the same order as the pile above).  So different!  No complaints about the website by the way, it is just super hard to make accurate online colour swatches for solid fabrics.

So, what block have I set for the lovely ladies in the Australasia group?  A four by four random half square triangle, like this sample block I made up:

The idea is that once I put all the blocks together, I will have a random half square triangle quilt in the style of HST Love and Pantone Pop by Sew Katie Did.  Cutting the fabrics to send out to the bee members, I was really questioning my colour choices - this is far outside my comfort zone!  However, I like them a little better having made the first block.  Hopefully everything will somehow magically come together when all the blocks are done.  Fingers crossed!

Oh yeah, and the name of the quilt will be Pistols at Dawn.  I know it's based on a sunset, not a sunrise, but the name just popped into my head when I was looking at the fabrics and it was so melodramatic I just had to go with it.

Have you stepped out of your comfort zone with fabric choices lately?

WIP Wednesday

I have had a few weeks break from WIP Wednesday, but am keen to get back in the swing of things.

This week, I am really focussed on finishing a new quilt for my friend's wedding present.  My design is inspired by this quilt top made by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts.  

When I make a quilt for a wedding present, I like to try and make something that will appeal to both the bride and the groom (i.e., not super girly).  For this couple, I wanted to incorporate one of their wedding colours (green), work with traditional piecing, and end up with something that sits comfortably in a modern context. 

I ended up going with almost all solids, with a very small amount of a green floral Philips Jacob print that picks up both the green and aqua which make up the principal colours of this quilt.  The solids are both Kona cottons from Robert Kaufman - the green is Clover and the aqua is Ice Frappe.

And here are the first four blocks.

I am hoping to finish the remaining eight large blocks and assemble the quilt top by the end of today.  The large half square triangle block seems to be a variation on Birds in the Air, but with more small triangles than usual.  Does anyone know if it has a proper name?

Also, look at Ralph sharing his chair so nicely.  I think other quilting cat owners will understand...

Wish me luck finishing up this Emeralds and Ice quilt!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced: