Happy New Year 2015! Mini Quilt #1

January 4, 2015

I am excited to kick off Mini Quilt Mania with finish #1!  For this quilt I wanted to use the New Year as an inspiration.  For a lot of people, New Year’s is a time for big parties and fireworks.  For me, the New Year is celebrated by watching the Times Square Ball Drop on television.  So I decided I would focus on that iconic piece of lighted metal and glass for my inspiration for this quilt.

Happy New Year! Front


While I usually like to observe my objects of inspiration in person, I am in the midwest, and the Times Square Ball is not.  Turning to the internet, I looked at several sources including the fact sheet found on the Times Square Alliance page about the New Year’s Eve Ball.  Not really a true sphere, the ball is made up of triangles within triangles.  These triangles are lit using LEDs (really exciting to the theatre designer part of me!) which allows for almost endless color combinations and patterns.  I started out by creating a line drawing of triangles within triangles.  Then I added borders around each main triangle to represent the metal structure of the ball.

/Users/cassandra_ireland/Desktop/Quilt/Quilt Designs.dwg

 

I knew that I wanted to use medium to dark greys in the borders of the triangles to give the design a slightly industrial feel.  (I like to juxtapose “utilitarian” with “pretty!”)  Then I started to experiment with color.  At first I was thinking along the lines of emphasizing the hexagons formed in the design, but I soon moved onto star configurations.  The gallery below is a small sample of the designs I considered.

I am pretty sure the most challenging part of this process was decided which color scheme to go with!  Ultimately, I ended up choosing the Red, Orange, and Violet Stars.

 

Red, Orange, and Violet Stars

Red, Orange, and Violet Stars

I pulled from stash fabrics for this project, and decided to select one dark and one light material of each of the three star colors.  I also pulled three different grey fabrics for the triangle borders.  The top is constructed using paper foundation piecing techniques.

Happy New Year! Detail

For the quilting design, I wanted to emphasize the straight lines found in the quilt top, and I ended up choosing to outline and enhance each element of the design using a coordinating thread.  Since I was quilting in several colors, I used a white backing fabric to really show off the colors of the threads.

Happy New Year! Back

Overall, I am really happy with this quilt, and I may consider creating a larger scale quilt using this block design.

Quilt Stats

Title: Happy New Year 2015!

Size: 12.5″ x 14.25″

Techniques:  Paper Foundation Piecing

Quilting:  Outline stitching with additional interior lines using a walking foot on a Bernina 1008

Fabrics:  White Kona Cotton, 100% cotton prints and batiks

Batting:  Warm and White Cotton Batting

Thread: Pieced using Gutermann Mara 100 in white, Quilted using cotton machine quilting thread in dark grey, Mettler cotton quilting threads in Red, Magenta, and Orange

Binding:  Grey bias- cut in 2″ strips, machine stitched to the front of the quilt, and hand stitched to the back.

Quilt 1 / 50

Quilt 1 / 50

I am linking this post up with Show Off Saturday at Sew Can She, Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Paper Piecing Party at Quilt Art Designs, Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, and Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts.  Please take a moment to stop in and see all of the wonderful projects being created!

21 Comments

  • Reply
    Claire
    January 4, 2015 at 5:31 pm

    White backing was a great decision (for people whose back quilting looks good, as mine doesn’t yet). I enjoyed following your design decisions, especially the inspiration data and photos.

  • Reply
    Nesta
    January 4, 2015 at 6:02 pm

    I am reall impressed. A brilliant idea, great designing and the result is perfect!

  • Reply
    Connie Campbell
    January 4, 2015 at 6:50 pm

    What a neat design and love all the different colors it could be! Thanks for sharing!

  • Reply
    Cynthia Brunz
    January 5, 2015 at 11:31 am

    wow! What a way to start out your series. This little mini is beautiful!

  • Reply
    Amanda
    January 6, 2015 at 10:01 am

    What a lovely quilt and fun inspiration. I especially enjoy the diamonds in the quilting.

  • Reply
    kris
    January 7, 2015 at 1:09 pm

    Wow that is just so lovely!

  • Reply
    Vicki in MN
    January 7, 2015 at 1:50 pm

    OMG I love that and could so see it as a bigger quilt too!

  • Reply
    Lorna McMahon
    January 7, 2015 at 1:54 pm

    What a great post! I really enjoyed reading about your inspiration for this gorgeous little mini. And seeing your process as your idea developed. Love the grey sashing between the triangles. And your colour choices are perfect! Lovely quilting, too!

  • Reply
    Jenn @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge
    January 7, 2015 at 2:29 pm

    Wow! Your piecing is so precise! Love it!

  • Reply
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  • Reply
    Hollie @ Just a Mom who sews
    January 7, 2015 at 8:26 pm

    What a pretty quilt! Both front and back. It really does remind me of the Times Square ball. Hopping over from NTT.

  • Reply
    Greta
    January 8, 2015 at 11:18 am

    Love the design. I have an equilateral triangle template and have been pondering how to use it. I love the effect of the bars of gray.

  • Reply
    Southern Gal
    January 8, 2015 at 9:19 pm

    You did a fabulous job!

  • Reply
    Marla
    January 9, 2015 at 2:02 pm

    This is a beautiful design. Thanks for posting your process.

  • Reply
    wish2stitch
    January 9, 2015 at 4:40 pm

    So creative. Your thought processes have certainly captured the New Year celebration. I’m from Australia and have only seen the the Times Square ball perhaps once on TV. Your quilt also reminded me of fireworks exploding, with the grey as the night sky.Love the quilting.

  • Reply
    Michelle
    January 9, 2015 at 6:24 pm

    This is a wonderful little quilt! I can’t believe how small it is! I loved how you explained it all and showed the quilting on the back! It will make an awesome and unique large quilt. I’m here from Whoop Whoop Fridays.

  • Reply
    Anne
    January 9, 2015 at 7:56 pm

    I really like this design and was quite surprised as I read to the bottom to see it was only 12″ Amazing what can happen in a small space.

  • Reply
    JanineMarie
    January 9, 2015 at 11:01 pm

    This quilt is so cool! (And your new graphic is looking good, too).

  • Reply
    LeeAnna Paylor
    January 10, 2015 at 12:13 am

    what a cool quilt. I likeee.
    LeeAnna at not afraid of color

  • Reply
    Aileen
    January 18, 2015 at 5:14 pm

    Truly awesome.

  • Reply
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