{umbrella prints}

i'm pretty excited about this quilt. i've had a package of umbrella trimmings for two years with the intention of making a quilt to enter into the contest. this year i pushed myself to complete it.

lately, i've found myself quilting based off of a lot of patterns, and while i have enjoyed what i'm making, i've felt rather bound. the arrival of daintytime's book into my library and the endless inspiration and creative options in it pushed me to pick up the trimmings pack and set to work. this quilt was inspired by this textile and without a ruler. how freeing to just cut fabric and sew!

i started with a basic block of the triangles, with that as my only 'parameter'. seeing a pile of traingle-ish scraps, i decided the next 'parameter' would be to use all of the umbrella prints scraps, down to teeny tiny bits. the quilt was intentionally left not square.

this quilt was a great intro into the options this book inspires. i'm excited to work on the next project!

quilt stats

size: 55"x45"

fabrics: solids and umbrella trimming package

pieced and quilted by me

{H.P.}

another sweet baby to be celebrated, whose parents are HUGE harry potter fans. they made the decisions for this quilt easy.

it started with a few screen printed blocks from amanda at the craft junky. she was delightful to work with.

searching online for free paper pieced harry potter blocks led me to this site, rounding me out with the crest, wands, and the deathly hallows symbol.

improv-ing {yes, a word} my way along, with some solid advice from friends, i added some color with the low volume background. this quilt, then, is my first official dive into the 'low volume' aesthetic. it's also my first REAL attempt at free motion quilting, and while it's not perfect by any means, i feel confident about gifting it away to this special babe.

{you can see his mom's post about it here}

quilt stats

size: 43"x43"

pieced & quilted by me

{challenge} quilt

i really should know better than to rely on my memory to keep an accurate account of {well, anything, really} how inspiration moves. i know it started by looking at the spindl-y fabric, to circles-radius'-stars, to dissecting above items, to this randomly finished project.

the thing i love about this project is that i really had no idea where i was going with it. it morphed at each stage. it's not my favorite quilt at all, but i am glad to have finished it and to have tried something new and pretty outside my normal asthetic. the curves are free-handedly cut and sewn back together. 

i wanted to play with the negative space, but didn't feel like curvy-line-quilting would have done it justice. i went with 1/4" straight line quilting instead. i like it, but feel like maybe a different kind of quilting could have stepped it up a notch. not to mention learning that unless it's a small quilt, there may never be 1/4" quilting in my future again {takes for.e.ver.}.

i'm glad to be joining my fellow guild members in the michael miller fabric challenge open wide to the modern quilting guild.

quilt stats

size: 40"x42"

fabrics: michael miller fabric from STLMQG, solids

pieced & quilted by me

{+} love

 i love this quilt. wonky cross blocks are a great intro into {improv} piecing. i loosely followed this tutorial for these liberated blocks. this quilt is one of my first mixing and matching fabric lines, organizing around a color palette. i adore the blue/gray color scheme.

 my sis-in-law is the lucky receiver of this quilt. i thought she would love the full panel on back as much as i do. it was hard to send it off.

 the straight line quilting varies from 1.5"-3". i still love me some straight line quilting.

quilt details:

size: 63"x63", 10.5" finished block

pattern: liberated cross block

fabric: amh loulouthi, michael miller metro living, kona coal, ash, med gray, turquoise, ice