Give and Take

Posted on June 15, 2018 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilting / 1 Comment

Curated Quilts magazine issues a mini quilt challenge for each issue, and I love to see all of the amazing submissions. Until now I have never contributed an entry, but I enjoyed making Synthesized Slivers so much, I was eager to participate in another challenge.

Curated quilts provided a theme of Connections/Improv and a color palette which included cream, yellow, mustard yellow, navy, moss green, and grey. We could use as many or as few of these colors as we liked, and I ended up using all of the colors except for cream. Navy, grey, and mustard yellow are represented in the fabrics, and the quilting done in navy, grey, moss green, and yellow.

With the theme of connections in mind, I wanted to use roughly equal amounts of grey and navy fabrics with gear-like wedges intersecting where they meet. When cogs come together, they set off a series of reactions that is greater than either component on its own.

The quilting is dense matchstick stitching that both echos the pieced designs and integrates additional curves. The majority of the navy and grey sections are quilted in coordinating 50wt thread. For areas that needed extra emphasis I used 12wt green and 40wt yellow thread.

Quilt Stats

Title: Give and Take

Size: 12″ x 12″

Techniques: Machine Piecing, Improvisational Piecing

Quilting: Matchstick echo quilting using a walking foot on a Bernina 1008 domestic

Fabric: Assorted solids and one print by Carolyn Friedlander

Batting: Hobbs Tuscany Wool

Thread: Quilted with 50wt, 40wt, and 12wt cotton Aurifil in four colors

Binding: Faced with navy solid matching the quilt backing

Synthesized Slivers

Posted on May 26, 2018 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Fabric, Finished Quilts, Quilt Shows, Quilting, Quilting Community / 5 Comments

A few weeks ago, I came across a call for entries for the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge hosted by Quilt Expo. It has been awhile since I have done a mini quilt, and I was feeling the need for a relatively quick finish, so I jumped in. One of my friends has been giving me a hard time about my extreme dislike of brown fabric, so I decided this would be a good challenge to incorporate my least favorite color.

My initial fabric pull centered around a stack of quilter’s denim made by Art Gallery Fabrics. I had received the fat quarter bundle during QuiltCon 2017, and I had been waiting for the perfect project to come up. I love the utilitarian texture the fabric has and the value shifts between fabrics were seamless. I did add a few other fabrics in to serve as accent pieces. These included a bright green solid, metallic linen, and a silk/cotton blend.

I started the quilt by constructing small blocks in a variety of sizes using background fabrics in a range of colors and values. The slivers of accent fabrics finish at 1/8″ wide. I used a ruler to cut the slits in straight lines, but only actually measured to square up each block after the slivers were added.

At this point, my friend saw the progress and informed me that tan is most definitely NOT Brown, even though I still insist that it is ;). In keeping with the challenge, I went out and purchased a small cut of chocolate brown Kona. There wasn’t a speck of true brown in any of my stash!

After constructing a few more blocks, I started putting everything together. I think this is the most challenging part of the process, but this top came together, and only required a couple partial seams.

Monty is my cat that ~~demands~~ likes to be held constantly. I was taking photos right after he had woken up from his first afternoon nap, and he really wanted my attention! If you manage to look past the cat, you can see the back of the quilt top. I made sure to press all of the sliver seam allowances toward the background to make the slivers recede a bit.

This is a small quilt so I quickly pin basted it and selected six colors of Aurifil to match the background fabrics.

I wanted to accentuate the angles that are incorporated into the design, so I used echo quilting to highlight the design of each block.

The back is the same bright green accent color used on the front of the quilt. I like how the different thread colors add value shifts to the back of the quilt. I didn’t want to frame the quilt in with a binding, so the edges are finished with facings to match the backing fabric.

I am so glad that I made this quilt, and even I think the brown actually works in it!

Quilt Stats

Title: Synthesized Slivers

Size: 22″ x 19″

Techniques: Machine Piecing, Improvisational Piecing

Quilting: Echo quilting using a walking foot on a Bernina 1008 domestic

Fabric: Art Gallery Quilter’s Denim, Kona Cotton, Metallic Blend, Silk/Cotton Blend

Batting: Hobbs Tuscany Wool

Thread: Quilted with 50wt cotton Aurifil in six colors

Binding: Faced with Kona Cotton matching the quilt backing

Zenith

Posted on May 11, 2018May 11, 2018 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Art, Finished Quilts, Quilting / 10 Comments

Each year the Central Ohio Modern Quilt Guild issues a color challenge. For the past two years the challenge has been the same: Combine the Pantone and Kona colors of the year into a single sewn object. My project for last year’s challenge was an improv quilt inspired by the Franklin Park Conservatory. The quilt I made for this year’s color challenge is also improv, but it is more structured this time around.

In 2018 the Pantone color of the year is Ultraviolet and the Kona color is Tiger Lily. Among our group this combination had both lovers and haters.

I could definitely see the potential, and wanted to embrace the violets while pushing the piece toward warmer tones. The beginning of my fabric pull looked like this.

Around the time this challenge was issued, the Columbus Museum of Art was hosting a special exhibit which included this oil painting, The Bay of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, by Georges Lacombe which was painted around 1902-1904. The color range in this painting was exactly what I had imagined when I saw the challenge colors.

The quilt top was constructed using structured improv- I measured and used rulers, but the placement of each piece of fabric was determined on the fly. About 2/3 of the quilt went together quickly, but the lower left corner was problematic.

After over a month of struggling with it, I finally came to terms with the fact that I just didn’t have the right pink fabrics to complete the top. (How could I possibly be lacking pink of all colors!) Once I added more pink solids to the palette, the top was easy to finish.

Since the quilting is done on a 120 degree angle, and the piece isn’t particularly large, I decided it would be easier to do the quilting with a walking foot on my domestic machine. It is almost matchstick quilted. The machine stitching is randomly spaced from 1/8″ to 1/2.” Once the machine quilting was finished, I added large stitch hand quilting in the larger gaps between the machine stitching. It was important to me that the quilting stitches add personality to the quilt, so I used a range of thread colors and weights. By the time the quilting was finished I had incorporated 50wt, 40wt, 28wt, and 12wt thread into the quilt.

The majority of the fabrics used in the quilt are solids, but there are a few prints worked into the design. One of those prints, a Tula Pink stripe, was perfect for a bias binding. I combined this print with some yellow solids to finish off the quilt.

Quilt Stats

Title: Zenith

Size: 53″ x 69″

Techniques: Machine Piecing, Structured Improvisational Piecing

Quilting: Almost-Matchstick machine quilting on a Bernina 1008 domestic, large stitch hand quilting

Fabric: Assorted quilt shop quality, 100% cotton solid and print fabrics, and backing of wide-back Tula Pink Print

Batting: Hobbs Tuscany Wool

Thread: Quilted with 50wt, 40wt, 28wt, and 12wt cotton Aurifil

Binding: Tula Pink stripes and yellow solids, cut on the bias at 2″ wide, machine stitched to the front, hand finished

This quilt is entered in the Pantone Color of the Year Challenge at Bryan House Quilts and No Hats in the House. Click the links to check out all of the fabulous entries! My country of residence in the United States.

Central Ohio Modern Quilt Guild Charity Quilt

Posted on January 29, 2018 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilting, Quilting Community / 1 Comment

Every year the Modern Quilt Guild issues a Charity Quilt Challenge and the results are displayed in the hallways of QuiltCon. The MQG gives a theme and color palette, and any guild or small group of members is invited to participate. This is the second year the Central Ohio MQG has participated in this challenge.

This year the theme was Modern Traditionalism and this is the palette.

When our guild does a group quilt, we gather design submissions and vote to determine which one we will make. The design for this quilt was a collaboration between Lissa of Lovingly Lissa and me. This project is a potholder style quilt, which was a popular method for charity quilts made in New England during the Civil War era. Each contributor would piece, quilt and bind a block. When the volunteers would gather, all they would have to do to finish the quilt is whip stitch the blocks together. (If you would like to see some other potholder quilts, check out these posts: Modern Log Cabin, Petals in the Wind, and In the Garden.)

For our updated version of a potholder quilt, we used Ohio Star blocks. This is the block that I contributed to the quilt.

Each block is constructed so that the pieced block is visible on either the front or the back of the quilt. This also creates a fully reversible quilt. The blocks are joined with a triple zigzag stitch done on my mechanical sewing machine.

The first side of the quilt incorporates the entire color palette and has more of a “daytime” feel.

The reverse side of the quilt is intended to appear more like the nighttime sky.

My favorite part of this quilt is that we have so many different people contributing their personal quilting style to the project. It has a mix of straight line and free motion quilting, several thread colors and weights, and various quilting densities. It really became a beautiful representation of our guild.

The quilt gets shipped off to QuiltCon this week! We are all very excited to have it displayed with all of the challenge quilts from around the world. We don’t have any members who are able to attend this year, so we are hoping to have some photos come our way!

Quilt Stats:

Title: Two Sides of the Same Star

Size: 71″ x 89″

Techniques: Potholder style, machine pieced, block machine zigzagged together

Quilting: Free motion and walking foot quilted

Fabric: Kona Cottons

Batting: Warm and White

Thread: Pieced and quilted with a variety of thread brands, colors, and weights

Binding: Blocks were individually bound with Kona cotton bias binding, cut 2″ wide, machine stitched to the front of each block, and hand stitched to the back.

Complementary Composition: A Michael Miller Challenge Quilt

Posted on December 25, 2017December 25, 2017 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Fabric, Finished Quilts, Quilt Shows, Quilting / 3 Comments

Complementary Composition grew out of the 2017 Michael Miller/Modern Quilt Guild Challenge. This is the third year I have participated in the challenge, and this is the first time that my challenge quilt has been selected for participation at QuiltCon.

The fabric for the challenge is Our Yard, and it is super cute! This actually proved to be a greater challenge to me, because I rarely make quilts that I can describe as cute or even pretty. I love looking at quilts that are cute, pretty, darling, charming, etc., but I don’t tend to create work that I would use these terms to describe. Now the question became- How do I incorporate these charming prints into my personal aesthetic?

When I am uncertain how to proceed with a design, I tend to turn to the elements and principles of design. While the elements and principles of design never exist purely on their own, I find that sometimes narrowing my focus in the initial stages of a design helps to refine my overall vision for the project. In this case, I initially focused on the element of color and the principle of scale.

There are so many bright colors in the challenge prints that it allows for interpretation in selecting a dominant color palette. Blue and Orange has always been my favorite complementary color scheme (two colors opposite each other on the color wheel), and I thought that the vibrant combination would honor the energy evoked in the fabric prints. To add visual dimension, I selected a lighter and darker version of solid color. I was fortunate enough to make my initial fabric purchase for the quilt while in Paducah, KY at Hancock’s of Paducah. They carry most of the Michael Miller solids, so I was able to make my color choices with the fabrics right in front of me. When purchasing solids for a project, I try to photograph the ends of the bolts just in case I need to order more, which did happen during this project.

The official challenge only required that two of the prints in the line be incorporated into the finished quilt, but as a personal challenge, I wanted to use each one included in the bundle that was sent out. In order to make this work with my aesthetic and the color scheme of the quilt, scale was going to be an extremely important aspect of the design. The most graphic print in the bundle is the black, grey, and white print which is the most closely aligned to my aesthetic. This would be the dominant print. The black and white leaf print on the mustard and aqua backgrounds is closely associated with the striped print, and I liked that the spacing of the print give the eye a place to rest in the background and allows it to work with the solid fabrics surrounding it. I knew that this print was a prime candidate for fussy cutting to highlight the leaf image.

The busiest prints were going to be the most challenging to work in, so they were going to be used in the smallest pieces. The 1/8″ slivers of these fabrics create energetic lines and break up large expanses of the solid fabrics.

This quilt is constructed using a structured improv technique. The pieces are measured and trimmed as they are sewn, but there is no predetermined design for the piece. I started the process by constructing blocks loosely based on Log Cabin/Courthouse Steps style blocks. Many of the blocks are built around a fussy cut square or a simply pieced block. As the blocks were completed, I added them to the design wall.

Once I decided the blocks were balancing within the design, I filled in the open areas with strips of fabric.

For the quilting of the piece, I wanted to emphasize the linear qualities of the piecing by using a mix of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal straight line quilting as well as echo quilting. The echo quilting highlights a visually contained shape while the vertical lines give a sense of strength that is balanced by the calming force of the horizontal lines. Mixing in strong diagonal lines gives a greater energy and a sense of the unexpected to the overall design.

The binding is a mix of solids with just a small section of striped fabric to draw the eye back toward the center of the quilt.

Quilt Stats:

Title: Complementary Composition

Size: 63″ x 69″

Techniques: Machine Piecing, Structured Improvisational Piecing, Fussy Cutting

Quilting: Linear Quilting using an A-1 Longarm equipped with digital channel locks that can be set to any angle

Fabric: Michael Miller Our Yard Prints and Cotton Couture Solids

Batting: Hobbs 80/20

Thread: Pieced using Gutermann Mara 100, Quilted with 50wt Aurifil

Binding: Bias binding in a mix of solids and striped print cut at 2″ wide, machine stitched to the front, hand finished on the back