Quilts

Celtic Knots Quilt

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Finished this quilt yesterday. I had a jellyroll of a set of batik strips (Moda) which I’ve had in my stash for a while – when I came across a photo of a quilt like this I thought it a good way to use up that roll. Easy to construct, essentially, the small blocks are a variant of a log cabin, the joining sashing includes blocks of the print fabric and then the outer sashing is solid (although I could have added in small blocks to join up the big squares. In any case, the real challenge was what to do about quilting this quilt because the large blocks were 14″ x 14″ and the largest design I can create in my Grand Dream Hoop is 13.5″ x 13.5″. I set up a design that consisted of 4 smaller elements (there are two difficulties using the large turnable hoop – 1. the design shouldn’t cross over the middle, it won’t likely align when the hoop is turned, and 2. because of the size and weight of the quilt there is drag on this large hoop and so the two sides are never perfectly aligned).

Celtic Knots

The left side of the design replicates the right side. I wanted the design to embroider the background center block, not leave it empty. For the sashing I created a design using one of the machine quilting stitches and fit it within the 360 x 200 hoop so that it would fill the length of the sashing pieces, and then a small single-run flower for the corners of the sashing.

Here’s the quilt back:

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A pieced strip using the small amount of leftovers from the strips plus a 2 1/2″ strip of some fabrics that I thought blended with the original fabrics.

The binding used six strips from the original roll.

 

Projects

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This is the state of my sewing room: at the top is the enlarged photo for the next art/landscape quilt of the two boys, below that is the pattern and fabric for a jeans jacket I want to make in the next couple of weeks, on the seat of the sofa are two quilts that are stitched in the ditch but need to be quilted, and fabric and ideas for one quilt from a stack of fat quarters and another from a jellyroll. Lots to do and not enough hours in the day! First to finish the two nearly done quilts, then the jacket, I think, before I tackle the two new quilts. Endless ideas for projects.

My Kaffe Fassett Quilts

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Just got the Pinterest Weekly and found a quilt I’d made (photographed on my bed) attributed to someone else! I thought I ought to set the record straight: I have done seven quilts, either using Kaffe Fassett fabrics, or based on photos of his quilts I’ve found online.

#1: At the time I didn’t have any Kaffe Fassett fabrics so I took his idea (which I’d seen online) and made it using batiks I had in my stash. The backing is a single fabric.

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#2: I had no sooner started #1 when I realized I could do something more with the way the colours were assembled and started #2 – setting it up to tell a colour story. The back of this quilt is also a single fabric.DSCF2072

 

#3: The idea of a colour story grew when I came across the Kaffe Fassett diamonds quilt – this quilt has 650+ pieces including diamonds and borders and partial diamonds on the outer edges. Back of quilt is still a single fabric.DSCF2124

 

#4: This quilt uses Kaffe Fassett fabrics but is built on a vanishing 4-patch. This was one of the first quilts where I did something interesting on the second side – I had to because the quilt was wider than WOF (width of fabric) and I needed more width than my backing fabric provided.

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#5: A Kaffe Fassett idea (from one of his books – although I worked entirely from an image on Pinterest) using batik fabric from my stash. The back of this quilt is a single run of fabric.IMG_1579

 

#6: This is the quilt I found on Pinterest attributed to someone else! It’s both Kaffe Fassett fabrics for the squares as well as based on a Kaffe Fassett quilt (again from an image of a quilt he did which I found online). This quilt has a pieced second side using left over bits of fabric from the top using a “jellyroll race” technique to make the inserted strip.
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#7: This quilt uses Kaffe Fassett fabrics for the central squares of each block – it isn’t a Kaffe Fassett design, I don’t believe. Again the inspiration came from a photo I found online. The back is also pieces using leftover blocks from the front of the quilt.DSCF2615

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So these are my Kaffe Fassett quilts to date – either made with Kaffe Fassett fabrics or from images of quilts he’s done which I’ve found online. I still have quite a bit of Kaffe Fassett fabric in my stash so there will be more quilts…

Art Quilt 3

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So, this morning I went through photos to see what I might attempt next as an art quilt… Here’s an idea ben-zach-3The image is a composite – the sidewalk beside the Public Gardens in Halifax and Ben and Zach at the Toronto Zoo. The original Zoo image background was just too dull to bother using – so I cut the boys out and added them to an enlargement of the background scene. I have to do it all again making careful adjustments to the enlargements, and the boys need to be played with quite a bit in Photoshop because I need to sharpen the detail and add a bit more sunlight/highlights so they aren’t so dark.

I have a few other ideas as well:

hfx hrbr cropped Halifax in the fog from across the harbour

photo7143Paragliding from Second Beach, Parrsboro NS

DSCF0419Sailboats in Halifax Harbour

Kaffe Fassett IV – Finished

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KFiv-frontThis is the finished quilt! Added the binding this morning.

KFiv-backOther side – I hesitate to call it “back” since what I have is a two sided quilt – either side could be “front”.

KFivClose up showing the quilting – I used a 50wt variegated thread so the stitching is subtle – the point was simply to quilt the piece – not make the stitching the focus. I used a dark variegated thread on the other side so it shows even less there.

 

 

 

Kaffe Fassett IV

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I completed the top this morning. In the end I decided to abut the blocks rather than use a black sashing – mostly because I didn’t want to add to the width of the quilt. It was a finicky task – required quite a bit of taking out and resewing to make the points and triangle bases align. Fortunately, the block edges were on the bias so I had a little play room to help me out.

Now to figure out what to do with the other side! I have one block left over from the original 36; I’ve just cut fabric to make four more, So with five blocks and wide sashing between the blocks I should have enough to make a strip the length of the quilt to insert into the backing panel. I’m hoping to have enough of the backing left over to bind the quilt.

Kaffe Fassett Quilt IV

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I’ve started a new quilt using some of the Kaffe Fassett large print fabrics in my stash. This is based on a photo I saw on Pinterest – log cabin constructed out of triangles instead of strips. It took 6 samples before I got the dimensions right so that the triangles come to a point at the corners of the square in the centre of the block. Half of the blocks are set up to rotate to the left, half to the right. Half of the blocks have the black and white triangles on the inside, half have them on the outside. This is one of those situations where you partially stitch the first triangle, apply the other three triangles, then finish off the first one so that none of the points overlap, but create the whirl. Took a few tries before I figured that out. Those are the challenges when you’re working from just a picture with no directions!

Below is a stack of cut pieces – part of the 315 elements I need for the completed top. (Not including the binding strips – I haven’t cut those out yet).
IMG_2461More to come as I create the blocks. Haven’t begun thinking what the other side of the quilt will be like – but I will have to do something because the top will be close to 50″ wide – the backing fabric is just 44″.

Fossil Fern Quilt – Done

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FossilFern-done1This is the completed Fossil Fern Quilt. Quilted in the hoop, with stars in the border (used a grand endless hoop which makes the job quite simple), and a pieced binding to bring out the colours of the piecing. The back is solid – no piecing this time, in the end, because the quilt turned out small enough that one WOF (width of fabric) was enough to cover the back – it’s the same blue fabric of the wide border.

FossilFern-done2Here is the quilting detail – the star border, the loops with stars the quilting element.

This will likely be a baby quilt for a boy – the blue back kind of determines that, although I wouldn’t be adverse to giving it to a baby girl, but it might not be seen as “appropriate” and therefore not used. So probably a baby boy it will be. For now, it’s hanging in a closet with the rest of the completed quilts waiting for new homes.

Intersections Quilt – Finished

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I finally finished the Intersections Quilt yesterday. It took two days to do the stitch-in-the-ditch, quilt the blocks and the border, add the binding and label.

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This is the finished quilt top. The design I created to quilt the blocks was done in my 14″ hoop (which requires a turn to complete both sides of the design). I was trying to get the effect of having done the quilting using a long arm quilting machine. Unless you look very closely, you can’t see the design within individual blocks – the quilting does look continuous.

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The quilting is more obvious on the back. Again, I inserted a strip of fabrics from the top of the quilt – so I could get away with just a single length of backing fabric. There weren’t quite enough scraps left of the fabrics from the front, so I added others in the green and blue tones from my scrap stash, but you can’t tell – they blend well with those from the top of the quilt. I also quilted the border: this time I didn’t do it free stitching the machine stitch (loops), I created another embroidery to use in the endless hoop – I was surprised how easy it was to align the individual embroideries so that they joined up – unless you look closely you can’t see the joins – I was very pleased with that.

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This photo shows the quilting detail and the border quilting,

I’m already thinking about the next quilt.

Intersections

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Thinking about starting a new quilt so I went through my scrapbook of quilts I might like to make and decided Intersections by Cheryl Malkowski (Hoffman Timeless Treasures – free pattern) would work well with the green scrap bag I purchased from Keepsake Quilting some time ago. Here’s the picture of her finished quilt:

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It’s constructed as an 8 x 10 block quilt – with a finished quilt size of 68″ X 85″ – too big for me to handle. I’d like a finished size of no more than 48″ x 64″. The basic block is this:

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They get assembled in groups of 4 to form a pinwheel at the center

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I have 12 fabrics to work with (9″ x 44″) – I need a quilt constructed from 6 x 8 blocks – to give me complete pinwheels – so how large does each block have to be to fit within my dimensions?

Turns out 7″ finished blocks will work – so I need to cut from each fabric:

  • 4 blocks – 4″ x 7 1/2″
  • 8 blocks – 2 1/4″ x 7 1/2″

I did a sample to see how it would work (these are scrap fabrics not fabrics from the set of greens):

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This let me know my dimensions will work – BUT – I will have to more meticulous in my piecing because the finished block should be a 14 1/2″ square – and this one isn’t quite!

The assembled blocks will be 42″ x 56″ – which will allow me to add a 2 3/4″ border around the outside to make the final dimensions: 48″ x 62″. A good lap quilt size.

I also played around with some ideas for quilting the finished quilt – I think I may go with this one for each block:

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This will give me an overall design for each of the finished 14″ x 14″ blocks which I will be able to do in my grand dream hoop. I don’t have a longarm quilter, I quilt in the hoop of my embroidery machine.

[Interested in the Mathematics of this quilt? Click here for the description embellished with the math involved!]