Bloggers Quilt Festival: Phased Circles

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Late last year, I finished what is now my favorite quilt I have made so far. It was one of my first original designs, which started as a doodle on a piece of paper. After several design decisions, this is what I came up with for a finish. I think I might of cried for joy when I finished this….especially after an epic 80 hour quilting session (over a week).

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This quilt has bought me so much joy and sense of accomplishment. I even got to see it hanging at QuiltCon, and had the most amazing time talking with folks about the design. It was so funny when people know you through something you have made vs. more your name first.
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Details:
Name: Phased Circles
Dimensions: ~ 56″ x 60″
Design: Michelle Wilkie (inspired by a doodle)
Quilted: Walking foot

Blocks: Matchstick quilting (vertical and horizontal), Crosshatch quilting
Border: 1″ Straight Line quilting
Thread – Aurifil: A fantastic range of cottons that allowed me to match my fabrics perfectly, and made such a difference in textures. Blue block: 6738, 2725; Orange Block: 1133; Green Block: 2835, 5015; Pink Block: 1100, 2600; Jade: 2810, 5007; Gold: 5022, 2110 (not all colors shown in the picture below).

Fabric for Front: Carolyn Friedlander Architextures & Botanics, Kona Curry, Valentine, Breakers, Torch, Wasabi, Prussian, White
Backing: Black, White and Grey Carolyn Friedlander Architextures & Botanics, Kona White and Black
Binding: Matching Binding technique (matching prints/solids)

Here is a mosaic that shows some of the detail of the quilting and the back which is a strong contrast to the bright colors of the front….its all black, white and grey.

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I have decided to share this in the Blogger’s Quilt Festival Original Design Category. I hope you all go over and either participate, look around and vote!! Have fun, be inspired.

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WiP Wednesday (actually on a Wednesday)

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I can not tell you how many times I have forgotten to post my WiP list on a Wednesday lately!!

For this installment, I have narrowed down my list to just to the projects I am focusing on for this month.  One step at a time…. I just need to finish a couple of things.

Project Dates Current Status
 Sisterhood Quilt  18th May (ship) BLOCKS/ROW (UNDERWAY)
 It takes a Village  18th May TOP, BACK, BASTE, QUILT (UNDERWAY), BIND
  Idea, Design, Create  18th May
(ship for quilting)		 TOP, BACK, BIND
 Pushme, Pullme  18th May
(ship for quilting)		 TOP (last-minute changes – adding a strip to top),
BACK, BIND
 Yoshiko Jinzenji Quilt Sampler  End of May TOP (UNDERWAY), BACK, BASTE, QUILT, BIND

The fabric finally arrived for me allowing me to finish the border of the sisterhood quilt.

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One of the new projects that I am working on this month, is this Yoshiko Jinzenji Modern Quilt Sampler, for World Book Media. It is going to be a great low volume quilt using her fabrics. This is one of the blocks. I am super excited about this project.

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So there you have it, a big sewing weekend planned!! Linking up with Lee over at Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday (see button on the right).

Mothers Day Sewing

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I hope you all had a great Mothers Day. My day started of wonderfully at a local french patisserie.
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I indulged in coffee and sugar!!IMG_4168

The rest of the day, I decided that I would play with an idea that has been in my head for a while. I put away my projects that have deadlines etc….just a day of play. It was fantastic!!

I recently bought the book “Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts below the Radar”. I have bookmarked several pages.
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One of my favorites is this Cross quilt (pg. 179 c. 1940-1970), which is behind inspiring my play today.
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I wanted to make my blocks in black and white print fabrics, with a splash of color striped fabric.  I am using strips of black and white cut at 1.5″, 2″ and 2.5″. I then put them in a bag and pull them out randomly (brown bag method), and sew them together, trim them down to 12.5″ squares.

At first, I thought I could use these squares and cut the block across the diagonals. That actually gave me the cross blocks, but also gave me these square blocks as well. I am not sure about the combination yet (??)

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For now to save on fabric, I am sewing strips vertically together, using the improv. brown bag method, until it was 6.5″ x 31.5″. I then cut the triangles along the 45 degree angle.
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This is how my cross blocks look so far. I really like where they are going. I plan to build them out a bit more and see how they go.

Cross_Blocks

Oh! Apparently, I have a lot of black and white fabrics which means no need to buy fabrics….I can sew from my stash. I am hoping to give an update on these again soon (once I get my projects deadlines complete).