Quilt 67: Mystic Purple Garden - DONE!

I discovered "Fabric.com" last year and have ordered quite a bit of fabric from them.  It's a teeny bit risky to order quilt fabric online, but as I'm starting to recognize certain manufacturers and "name brands", it's a little easier.  The panel below is from "Timeless Treasures" - and the photo, well it just doesn't do it justice:

 
The rich blue, purple, green jewel tones are jaw-dropping - and the accents in metallic gold really make it pop.

The problem with this, though, is the border running above and below the main panel.  It's, well, just awkward.  And the large expanse of metallic gold looks like trouble waiting to happen.  I test washed it in cold water and it came out fine, But I have to think that over time (and multiple washings), it's going to flake off.  The tiny bits of filigree inside the design won't look bad if the gold does fade out, but these big spaces.. hm...

And then there's just the problem of how to handle a border which appears only at the top and bottom, not on the sides.

 So I chopped it off.  In the photo below you can see that I've left just under 1/4" of it on the panel.  Using 1/4" seams, the gold won't show on the front, and I won't have to worry about stitching over the flowers and leaves around the edges of the panel.

Now to think about what kind of design to employ.  I bought a coordinating print to go with the panel.  Although I don't want to slap on a series of plain borders, I feel there shouldn't be too much "pattern" in the top, as the fabrics themselves deserve the limelight.

So, using my quilt software, here's what I came up with:

And here's the top completed and ready to "sandwich" and quilt!

On the longarm...

Auditioning the thread.  I opted to use a variegated thread on this one.  The thread shows up well against the solids, but fades into the background on the print - just what I'm wanting!

And here it is - off the longam and edges trimmed up, ready for the binding:

Here's the backing - you can see the variegated thread on this side, and the colours switching back and forth make an interesting pattern.

And here's the finished quilt!   51" x 62" -

51" x 62" - quilted on the longarm ("Blustery Breeze" groovy board) - 100% cotton batting

This one goes to my old gradeschool pal Julie-Anne in America. 

Quilt 66: Squares of Sharon - Lavender and Herbs - DONE!

I made a trip to my favorite quilting shop earlier this month with my friend Carol.  I was looking for backing fabric and while there, found this jelly roll:

Gorgeous, isn't it?!?!  I decided to do another "Squares of Sharon" quilt and use this jelly roll.  The manufacturer had set up the roll with all the light fabrics together and all the dark together, so I pulled it apart and re-grouped the strips:

 And here we go - my regrouped strips.

And, of course, Squares of Sharon quilts go together in FLASH - and here's the finished quilt (the quilting is done in simple loop-d-loops on the longarm):

58" X 70" - 100% cotton batting - quilted on the longarm

Now, I learned something on this one.  The quilt is actually too "busy", visually, because I used the prints in the borders.  I should have done as I did on that first one, and have the inner and outer borders done in a solid, not a print - or even have all 3 borders be solids.

The other thing I'm observing is that, although, again, this is pretty, I prefer this style of quilt to have fewer colours in it (the first one I did was just blue and white).

Even so - it's very pretty and I'm quite pleased!

There's always one more...

...dangling thread!

It makes me crazy.

I'm continually on the lookout as I work on a quilt for dangling threads - and I pull or snip them out as I go.  Then, when the quilt is finished, I lay it out on my bed and again go over it, hunting carefully, wanting to get those little snips cleaned up.

But there's always one more.  WHY IS THAT?

My friend Jen lives in the same area where Nancy Gheno (of Inspirational Quilts) is.  Jen and I get together every so often at Maling Road or Doncaster Shopping mall for a bit of shopping and a "catch up".  She's helped me out a couple of times by taking quilts up to Nancy for me.  I had lunch with her today and handed over 5 more quilts.

Jen hadn't seen the quilts yet, so we stood in the car park and opened up each one so she could have a look.  And yes... there in the bright sunshine I saw....

...dangling threads!

Every last one of those quilts had at least one.

Aaaarrrrrrrgggggghhh!!!!!!!

Quilt 65: Jelly Roll Race - Bali Sunset - DONE!

Another Jelly Roll Race quilt!

I've had this Jelly Roll for a while - just love the bright, cheery oranges and reds - but couldn't think of what to make with it.  So why not a "Race" quilt?

Just like that first "Jelly Roll Race" quilt I made, this one went together in no time.  This one is a little less "structured" in appearance, but that's OK - I still like it!

Finished size: 46" x 61" - 100% cotton batting, quilted on the longarm

And here's a glimpse of the back, showing the stitching in bright buttery yellow (which was done with my "Blustery Breeze" groovy boards):

The first "Race" quilt I did had a more varied palette, in terms of colours - and I think it turned out a bit nicer.  This is nice, don't get me wrong, but I like this kind of quilt with a greater mix of colours.

What photos don't tell you is how this one feels.  The "bali pop" fabric is 100% cotton - but very fine and incredibly soft.  You run your hand over the fabric and just go "oooooooOOOOoooo".  Lovely.

Quilt 60: Double Square Star - DONE!

I got a bit distracted after starting quilt 61 - and ran ahead to do quilts 62 and 63 - but yes, I've come back to 61 and it's finished now.

The design for this quilt came from a Missouri Quilt Company video starring the fabulous "Jenny".  If you haven't seen the video, click here and have some fun - Jenny's worth watching!

Here are a few snaps of my version of the project:

First, the charm square (red) and the strips/squares to be joined on the side -

And here you can see where it's going:

I made 80 of the blocks like - and then paired them up as shown below - now you can see the "star" forming:

Too easy!

Jenny did hers by mixing up the different fabrics.  I opted to do mine a little differently.  I used 2 fabrics for each "star block" (as below).  The random prints looks good, too, but on this first project I just wanted to see how it would turn out doing it "my way".

Off and running now - here it is on the longarm:

I opted to do free-motion loop-d-loops on this one in white thread - I'm very pleased with the result.  Below is a closeup of the stitching on the front, and shows the solid blue backing.  When I got ready to finish the binding, I realized I didn't have pale blue thread.  I opted to use a dove grey to hand-stitch the binding down, and that worked fine.  The grey blends and fades into the soft blue and doesn't show up at all.

Finished!

54" x 66" - 100% cotton batting

This was a really fun project to do.  I'll have to look through my stash of charm squares and see what else might work with this design.