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.

April One Monthly Goal

Posted on April 6, 2016 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Quilting, Quilting Community, Works In Progress (WIP) / 3 Comments

This month, I am so excited to be going to Paducah for the American Quilter’s Society Quilt Week. My Mom and I have gone at least six times before, but this is the first time that we both have quilts exhibited, and it will be my first time attending the awards ceremony and preview night. Since this is coming up in less than two weeks (how did that happen?), I am selecting a project I have to have finished prior to leaving!

The Central Ohio Modern Quilt Guild has our presentation of our color challenge quilts this month. Each person drew two crayons from a bag and we had to make a quilted item using just those colors, tones/shades of that color, and one neutral. I drew Carnation Pink and Cornflower Blue.

So far I have Drafted the pattern in AutoCad, dyed the fabrics in a gradient, and done the English Paper Piecing. In the next week I will need to add the borders then quilt and bind it. Its a good thing its small!

Marsala Mini: Mini Quilt #13

Posted on March 30, 2015April 16, 2015 by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Art, Fabric, Finished Quilts, Mini Quilt Mania 2015, Quilting / 23 Comments

Pantone’s color of the year for 2015 is Marsala, a warm red with brown undertones. Every year, I look forward to finding out the color of the year, and I knew that this year I would explore the color in the form of a quilt. I was even more excited when I heard about the Pantone Quilt Challenge at On the Windy Side and Play Crafts.

The Pantone website features a quote by their executive director, Leatrice Eiseman, describing marsala as a color which “enriches our mind, body and soul, exuding confidence and stability. Marsala is a subtly seductive shade, one that draws us into its embracing warmth.” The challenge for me was that marsala isn’t a color that I’m particularly drawn to. However, I learned long ago that there is no “ugly” color- it is all in how you use it. I certainly wouldn’t label marsala with the U-word, but it is skating a bit to close too brown for my taste, and so many red-brown fabrics can look depressing or even dead. Fortunately, last fall I picked up several fat quarters of marsala-like fabrics from a clearance bin. Maybe my subconscious is better at picking up color trends than the rest of my brain, but I was sure glad that I had these when the color of the year was announced! I mixed those with a few other marsala-y reds to come up with my basic palette.

When I am not immediately inspired, I will often do some sort of free writing or word association with the topic or theme. For me marsala is associated with things like wine, curry, tomato sauce, roses, lipstick- sensuality, volume, and curves come to mind. The more I thought about this color, the more I thought that marsala calls out to be used in an Art Nouveau inspired design.

In looking at some Art Nouveau research, I landed on this tile design. For me, the curves of this design seemed to be the perfect match for marsala.

I popped the image into the computer to create three graphics that would help in the creation of this quilt. The first was a line drawing for the main pieces of fabric. I printed this image on freezer paper so I could cut apart the image, iron the pieces to fabric and press the seam allowances around the paper. This allowed me to assemble the quilt top using English Paper Piecing style techniques.

Over the line drawing I added a layer showing the smaller pieces of fabric that I would later add using wonder under. I also printed this off on freezer paper to make it easier to cut these shapes. (Hint: Freezer paper won’t stick well to the paper backing of wonder under. I ironed the wonder under to the back of the fabric and the freezer paper to the front. It was really easy to cut these fairly small shapes, and you could even leave the freezer paper in place to add stability to the fabric after the paper wonder under backing is removed. Once the fabric is ironed in place you can peel back the freezer paper.)

The final graphic I created was a color image which I used to help determine general fabric placement. After quite a bit of experimentation, I decided that marsala paired beautifully with oranges and deep, muted violets, blues, and greys.

The main construction of the top was done entirely by hand.

Main Marsala top construction with tan appliqués in place

With the main construction complete, I adhered the smaller pieces to the quilt using Wonder Under before using a machine blanket stitch to sew around the edges of the appliqués.

Here is the back view of the quilt top- I just love seeing “behind the scenes” on this sort of construction!

The quilt back is improvisationally pieced using marsala colored fabrics.

Marsala Mini back view

For the quilting I decided to do fairly heavy quilting echoing each shape in the design.

Marsala Mini front detail

Marsala Mini back detail

I am pretty sure that this is my favorite mini I have done in this series, so I am really glad that I went out of my comfort zone to embrace marsala! What do you think of marsala? Are you making a project using marsala this year?

Quilt Stats

Title: Marsala Mini

Size: 13″x17″

Techniques: English paper piecing, machine appliqué, improvisational piecing

Quilting: Echo stitching done using a walking foot on a Bernina 1008

Fabrics: Kona in wine and charcoal; Alison Glass prints; Basketweave, Whisper, and a couple other prints from Riverwoods Collection by the Troy Corporation; Carolyn Friedlander Botanics print; several prints and batiks from unidentified fat quarters.

Batting: Warm and White Cotton Batting

Thread: Pieced with Gutermann Mara 100 color 245 (a warm clay/taupe color), Machine appliquéd with Gutermann Mara 100 in color 257 (a dark plum sort of color), Quilted with Connecting Threads Essential cotton thread in Red

Binding: Strips cut on the bias in 2″ widths, machine sewn to the front, hand sewn to the back

What was new:

Using English paper piecing techniques on irregularly curved shapes

Quilt 13 / 50

Goal #12 is Finished!

I’m linking this post up with Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story, Pet Project at Pink Doxies, Show Off Saturday at Sew Can She, and Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts. Please stop by to see all of the lovely work being created!