My favorite thread weight: The Value of Coral

Posted on April 27, 2020 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Aurifil, Finished Quilts, Quilting / Leave a comment

What is your favorite thread weight? When I was asked this question recently, my first thought was 12wt Aurifil because it is my favorite when I want the thread to take center stage. However, it only took a moment to realize that my favorite thread weight is the one I go to most consistently and incorporate into virtually every project. This go-to thread is 50 wt Aurifil, and I have two drawers dedicated to storing it in my studio space.

I recently quilted The Value of Coral using five colors of thread, and the weight of the thread creates depth, texture and interest without overshadowing the optical illusion created in the piecing of this design. Matching thread color to fabric was very important to maintain consistency in the design, and Aurifil has a huge number of colors to choose from for this very purpose. Fortunately, I already had what I needed in one of those drawers. For this project, I used:

Red (2250)
Salmon (2225)
Bright Pink (2425)
Light Beige (2310)
Eggplant (4225)

This design came about as a way to showcase the 2019 Pantone Color of the Year, Living Coral. The four main colors are value gradients based around the coral. The darkest color is a deep violet that recedes into the background. I like to incorporate these rich violets into designs that need a shadow. In real life, shadows often have a violet cast to them, so it works well as a shadow in quilt design as well.

If you are interested in reading more about the design of this quilt, check out this post!

Quilt Stats

Title: The Value of Coral

Size: 56″x 70″

Techniques: Traditional Piecing

Quilting: Ruler work quilting on an A-1 longarm

Fabric: Five solids from assorted manufacturers

Batting: Double batted with Hobbs Tuscany Wool and Hobbs 80/20 Cotton/Poly blend

Thread: Quilted with 50wt Aurifil in five colors

Binding: Tula Pink stripes cut on the bias, machine stitched to the front, hand finished on the back

Festive Baubles

Posted on December 27, 2019 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Aurifil, Finished Quilts, Quilting / Leave a comment

I made a Christmas quilt this year, and I only missed finishing it for Christmas by two days! Maybe I’ll just consider it 364 days early for next year! Festive Baubles is a reinterpretation of the Baubles quilt I made a few years ago. A lot of people really loved this quilt, and wanted a pattern for it. The initial version had areas of the construction that were too challenging for the result, so I set out to create a design that has a similar aesthetic with a more user friendly construction. The pattern isn’t complete yet, but I’m hoping to do a Christmas in July sew along in 2020!

There are six different foundation paper pieced blocks in the design. Three of these designs have two color versions in the finished quilt, which gives us nine blocks total.

Block one has two color versions with a classic “round” shape and a center design of squares. Foundation paper piecing is a great way to create the illusion of curves while only stitching straight lines!

Block two also has two color versions, and the central design is created with triangles.

Block three moves away from the round shape to create an elongated ornament.

Block four is the final block with two color versions.

Block five is the last elongated block design.

The final block also has the most detail with a star formed in the center of the bauble.

For the quilting, I decided to use organic feather motifs. I like the juxtaposition of bright, shiny ornaments against the natural shape of a tree, and I thought that organic quilting would set off these baubles nicely. The background fabric is a Ruby Star print that is mostly green with turquoise starbursts. For the background quilting I selected 50wt Aurifil 2810 (Turquoise) to coordinate with the turquoise part of the print.

The ornaments are quilted with 50wt Aurifil 2225 (Salmon), and the “strings” the ornaments appear to hang from are quilted lines of Aurifil 2600 (Dove) with 12wt on the top and 50wt in the bobbin. This line of quilting was the last thing added to the quilt prior to trimming and binding the edges.

Quilt Stats

Title: Festive Baubles

Size: 53″x 62.5″

Techniques: Foundation Paper Piecing, traditional piecing

Quilting: Free Motion quilting on an A-1 longarm

Fabric: Background print is Ruby Star Society, other assorted prints from my fabric stash

Batting: Hobbs Tuscany Wool and Hobbs 80/20 Cotton/Poly blend

Thread: Quilted with 50wt Aurifil in three colors, and 12 wt Aurifil in Dove

Binding: Bias binding made with Tula Pink stripe, machine stitched to the front, hand finished on the back

I am excited to be participating in this year’s 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge hosted by Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com, and I hope you will have the chance to check out some of the other awesome blogs that are participating this month.

Least Favorite Color and How I Use It

Posted on December 13, 2019December 13, 2019 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Color, Fabric, Finished Quilts, Quilting / Leave a comment

Yesterday for the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge we talked about our favorite color, so today we are discussing our least favorite color. I think all colors have their place in design, but in the world of fabric, brown is hands down my least favorite color. It only has a minor representation in my fabric stash, but I do use it from time to time.

No color is truly ugly if it is used in conjunction with appropriate colors and in the right proportions. The first way I incorporate my least favorite color is to use it in very small amounts to provide a moment of contrast to the overall design. In Synthesized Slivers there are quite a few pieces of brown, but they are only exposed in 1/8″ wide strips.

Brown also played the role as a minor accent color in this Marsala Mini Quilt. In this instance, the print on the tan fabric helped to tie it into the overall design.

Marsala Mini Quilt

On very rare occasions, a project needs to use brown to tell the story of an image. This was the case in my π, pi, PIE! mini Quilt. (I do think that, in most instances, you can use colors other than brown to depict things such as tree trunks. But I like to do some out of the box color schemes!)

π, pi, PIE!

Sometimes you just have to jump in and embrace the color you don’t care for. Upward Perspective was created for a Curated Quilts mini quilt challenge, and the color palette was part of the challenge. In this instance, I just went with it. This isn’t a go-to color scheme for me, but the colors balanced well enough to make a successful quilt.

I just realized I only use brown fabric in mini quilts! Maybe I’ll have to try incorporating it into a larger scale project. What is your least favorite fabric color? Have you ever made yourself give it a try?

Spoonflower Panels

Posted on December 9, 2019 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Aurifil, Fabric, Quilting / Leave a comment

For a couple years I had received requests to teach my plaid matchstick technique, but I was hesitant because I was afraid the class would end up being more about piecing the quilt top than the quilting technique. Earlier this year it occurred to me that there was an easy solution to this issue- Spoonflower. Spoonflower is a company that prints fabric, among other items, on demand. I designed a mini quilt panel that fits on a fat quarter of fabric, and printed it in two different color ways for my classes.

The blue and green panel is intended to be quilted with Aurifil 2525 (Dusty Blue Violet), Aurifil 6737 (Shamrock Green), and white. I recommend using either 12wt or 28wt on top and 50wt in the same color in the bobbin. The blue and green matchstick panel can be purchased here.

The pink and orange panel in intended to be quilted with Aurifil 2530 (Blossom Pink), Aurifil 2145 (Yellow Orange), and white. I recommend using either 12wt or 28wt on top and 50wt in the same color in the bobbin. The pink and orange matchstick panel can be purchased here.

I also developed a panel to use for the intermediate free motion quilting class I occasionally teach at one of my local quilt shops.

I recommend quilting this panel with 50wt Aurifil 2810 (Turquoise). Any of these panels are great for mini quilts, table toppers, or pillows. You can purchase the free motion panel here.

These panels worked out so well, I just had to try a repeating design. Here is my first printed repeat design:

There are endless possibilities with this type of printing, and I can’t wait to explore them more in the coming year!

Show Jury Results for AQS Daytona Beach and Road to California

Posted on December 7, 2019December 7, 2019 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Finished Quilts, Quilt Shows, Quilting / Leave a comment

Most major quilt shows require you to enter your quilts online well ahead of the actual show. During this online entry, you upload two photos of your quilt, one full shot and one detail photo. Using these photos, and sometimes the written description you provide, a group of jurors select the quilts that will be on display at the show. Once the selected quilts are shipped to the shows, judges assess the quilts and choose the winners. But a judge never sees the quilts that don’t get juried in, so this is a critical step in the life of a show quilt!

I always like it when show acceptances come in around the time I’m entering more shows. Its encouraging to have something accepted when you’re putting yourself out there. This year both Road to California and AQS: Daytona Beach had jury results come in around late November, which is right before QuiltCon and AQS: Paducah entries are due.

This was my first time entering Road to California. In 2020, I am hoping to add a couple new shows into the mix, and this is one of them. I entered two quilts for my first attempt, and both were accepted! Complementary Convergence was will be in the Other Large Quilts category.

Lateral Ascension was accepted into the Abstract category.

AQS Daytona Beach had an entry deadline in October, and the notifications came in before Thanksgiving. I entered two quilts, and they were both accepted!

This will be the first contest for Zoo Family Portrait!

Ice Cream on the Beach will also be making it’s first contest appearance!

Entering new contests and quilts is always exciting. It will be fun to read the judges comments for a new show, and see how my new quilts do at a show I have entered before.