Saturday, July 20, 2013

Ticker Tape Quilt

After seeing this quilt technique in Sunday Morning Quilts and Amy Gibson’s blog I knew I had to make one.
full ticker tape
The quilt measures 18”x 40”. Ticker tape fabrics are from Moda’s A Stitch in Color and Simple Marks Summer lines. Both are from the talented designer Malka Dubrowsky. The background fabric is Dictionary Pages from the Mama Said Sew line. I used cotton batting. I first tried using my walking foot, but changed to my free motion foot for better visibility and less turning. The pieces are small, and I can do better stitching, but this was really the look I was after. I also left the selvage edges on a few pieces. It is a thready quilt, it will fray even more, but it’s a wall hanging and won’t get the wear a lap quilt would.
close up ticker tape2
My inspiration was a quilt from Sunday Morning Quilts and this quilt from Amy Gibson’s blog.
Ticker Tape 01
I had fun making this even if I did sew through my fingernail twice and experienced having the needle graze my finger another time. Living dangerously…

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

A peek at Barcelona, the new fabric line from Zen Chic

About a month ago, I won this fabric, Barcelona, Zen Chic’s new line from Moda. It won’t be in stores for another few weeks, but I was lucky enough to have my name drawn in her give-a-way.
barcelona
It was probably about the equivalent of a jelly roll. I wanted to make a throw sized quilt, so I added some fabrics from my stash and a few solids. Additional fabrics are from the Zen Chic Comma line, Pearl Bracelets from Andover and the Architextures line from Robert Kaufman. The sashing and border are Kona Ash.
barcelona quilt2
I just had a taste of this fabulous fabric line, and I love it.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Journey of 2,352 squares completed

It’s done, the piecing,  the quilting, the binding. I started this quilt in March, and last week I stitched the binding. I chose the swirling waters motif for the quilting. It’s my new favorite all over quilting design.
finished Japanese quilt
quilting on Japanese fabric quilt
I used wool batting and Superior Magnifico Poly thread.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Finished Sampler Quilt

Ta Da! I have finished the Craftsy 2012 Block of the Month Sampler. The top was finished a month ago, and I enrolled in Leah Day’s Free Motion Quilting a sampler class and did the free motion quilting for it.  I used fabrics from Malka Dubrawsky’s Stitch in Color and Simple Marks lines, and chose the steel grey from those lines for the background fabric.
bom sampler quilt
My favorite blocks? Unexpectedly the Dresden Plate block in the bottom right corner and the Dresden Wheel block on the fourth row. I had eschewed learning to make those blocks because I perceived them as too traditional, but the instructor Amy Gibson put a modern spin on the blocks. I also unexpectedly enjoyed the English paper pieced hexagons for the same reason. They are so much more than Grandmother’s Flower Garden.

My least favorite? The paper pieced blocks, second row, second block and third row first block. It’s not that I dislike the finished product, but the process is frustrating for me. My brain just doesn't get paper piecing.

here’s the back and some close up shots of the quilting
 back of bom sampler
close up quilting

I still have a lot of Malka’s fabric left, so I decided to make another quilt using off-white as the background color. Here’s the start. For this quilt I’m just choosing the blocks I like…no paper piecing.

other color of bom