So this is a a project completely motivated by the fabrics…
I found an amazing hand-dyer of fabrics online, that sells grab bags of scraps (2 yards total of bits of many many colors in each bag). They have an amazing spectrum of colors on offer that seems to change yearly. Someday I’ll invest in more. [French Country really makes me weep a little with joy.]
I love scrappy work anyway and they seem to give big enough chunks of each piece so that I could really try out the fabrics before investing in yardage. Beware that they are pieces with some dye splatters and fabric weaving flaws. But you can work around them. I just cut around the weaving issues and accepted the dye “errors” as design elements.
I began an improv piece late one night last week and then that changed quite a bit over time into this final design.
The real triumph of this project is that I finally overcame my fear of machine quilting and just gave it a try! I just did some straight lines paralleling the main seams, doubling them in one direction.
My only challenge was small tucks every so often when approaching a line of quilting already there. It seems like more basting pins will improve on that problem. Next weekend I plan on trying some free motion quilting!
Here’s the wide angle view of the final quilt.
The details:
Pattern: just some improv patchworking similar to this tutorial
Materials: 1 grab bag of scraps plus a little more brown; backing is a sheet found on sale at Target
Techniques: machine pieced, machine quilted, hand bound
Patchwork size: 66″ square
Finished size: 63″ square
Started: October 8, 2010
Finished: October 17, 2010
That is just beautiful.
That is beautiful!
That is absolutely gorgeous! Not sure I would have had the patience for all those little bitty pieces. :)
It turned out great! I love the color/ scrappiness arrangement you did. Congrats on overcoming your machine quilting fear! If you are not already using a walking foot, that will helps lots with the little tucks too.
C, this is so stunning. The fact that you can create a piece like this in so short a time with all of your other commitments astounds me. You should be famous. Seriously. You are such an inspiration.
You’ve got to be the fastest quilter ever. And this is beautiful!
I really love this one! Now winter can come!
This is completely awesome. I was wondering while checking out your WIP photos how big your solid stash must be to have so many colors! those hand-dyed scrap bags were such an cool find.
I was having issues with straight line quilting also on my Dream On quilt, and someone gave me advice to loosen up my presser foot pressure, and that alleviated most of the problem of tucks on intersecting lines.
Love Cherrywood! I have a fat quarter pack that I so far have just been admiring. Maybe I will be inspired by you and actually cut into it next time I see it when I look in my stash.
It really looks great on the table too! Very sophisticated.
You make me want to start looking through my scraps – right here when it’s almost midnight and I need to go to sleep… But I can dream of scraps. Thanks for sharing – this quilt is amazing.
Such a gorgeous quilt. It’s got this fantastic pixelated/cubist thing going for it.
Love it!! Can’t wait to see your free motion action. :)
OK, this is truly beautiful and now I can see how you morphe dthe piecing you were unhappy with into this. Thanks for sharing your process, it is so amazing to have a window into your creativity.
Wow! This is so gorgeous! All those colors are so eye catching!
The quilt is beautiful!
I just recently checked out Diane Gaudynski’s book from the library.
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Machine-Quilting-Diane-Gaudynski/dp/1574327968
She offers some tips on avoiding those little tucks. I will be using her approach and steps on my next quilt and see if I have improved results with my quilting.
Oh, the Cherrywood is fabulous. I wondered if that was what the fabric was. I have been a fan for years but never actually owned any.
I already told you this on Flickr, but this quilt is seriously beautiful. I love it and the window into your process making it.