Fabric Friday Week 17: February 24

 This week, I tried to make use of orange. Orange is a tricky one for me, and I don't think this week's bundle really worked, but sometimes, that's what happens. It's very bright and happy, even if it doesn't work, so I can hardly be mad, right? It does sure brighten up this February, which has been very cold. At least our skies have been bright and clear, even if it did come at the cost of very high and frigid winds which cleared out any pollution. 

I wonder if I just added a bit of gray, now that I'm looking at it on my computer...maybe that would round it out. It's almost cloying the way it is, isn't it? Ah well, c'est la vie. Maybe next time! :-)

Economic Women

Last September, I went to the Garden of Quilts at Thanksgiving Point with a friend. It was so great. I loved seeing so many quilts, and doing just a bit of shopping. I was a bit surprised and disappointed there weren't more vendors, but it's probably for the best. I spent enough as it was! One thing I bought was really out of character for me: a kit. I don't typically buy or make kits because I have an extensive stash and because I like to put together my own fabric bundles. This one was for a baby quilt, I believe, or possibly a large wall hanging? Pretty sure it was a baby quilt. It was a simple quilt, using economy blocks, and it featured Jill Howarth's Little Women fabric. 

Now, I'm not a huge Little Women fan. But, I do have four daughters, and my husband, surprisingly, really likes the movies. The fabric was just so cute, too, even though, again, it's not really my style. I just couldn't say no, and so an impulse purchase was made and I came home with a kit. 

I determined very early on that I would make it larger. So, I bought some additional yardage of the focal prints so I could make more squares, and I pulled coordinating fabric from my stash. I settled on making slightly larger blocks, using a tutorial by Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter for 8" finished blocks, and determined to make it a nice lap size at 64x80 using 80 blocks. But, it had to wait...Halloween, Christmas, birthday gift...so many projects with deadlines ahead of it. 

However, after I finished binding the Swoon quilt, I decided to make it my next quilt. To be honest, I dreaded the cutting and the trimming, but it really wasn't as bad as I expected. And the blocks themselves went together fairly quickly. I finished up the top just a few days ago and it's awaiting the trip to the quilter's. 

Fabric Friday Week 16: February 17

It might be late, but it's still Friday, so it's not TOO late, right? I missed last week amidst a few kids with pink eye, one of which needed antibiotics, so it's been just loads of fun around here. Of course, it only took a day or two for them to kick in and she's much better now, but it did rather throw off my week and weekend. *shrug*

Tonight's bundle was inspired by a newsletter Kate Spain sent out recently, with a color scheme and the inspiring photo. Mine looks dramatically different; well, different, at least. But I really liked the use of teal as a garden inspired color and ran with it. I think her scheme moved more toward red than magenta if I'm remembering correctly, but I liked the pinker hues for this.

Happy weekend!

Swooning Again

In November, I picked up a couple of quilts from my quilter on my way to my mom's house. I was excited to see how the Palais Royale quilt specifically turned out, so I took them inside and opened it up. My mom walked past and saw how large it was and said that if I ever had time to make a large quilt for her she sure wouldn't mind. 

I reminded her that I had taught her to quilt and she was more than capable of making a bed quilt for herself, but she scoffed and said she didn't like making large quilts. I laughed, but squirreled it away because her birthday is in February and figured I could whip something up. She is widowed and sleeps on a double bed now, so it's not like it needed to be king sized, anyway. 

I brainstormed quick-ish quilts and settled on a Swoon, a beautiful classic standby. But it's just a hair shy of being large enough for a double quilt at 80", and considered adding an additional row or a border. I settled on a border because adding another row of 24" blocks would have made it too long. I used mostly fabric from my stash, and picked up just a couple of fat quarters to supplement, and went with blue since it's her favorite color, and then added in some green and turquoise. I went out on a limb with those, but I really thought it would work out. For the border, I took one of the prints I had used and figured out how many strips I'd need and then divided the fabric by that number. It's only 2-1/4" wide, but that adds nearly 5" which helps a lot. 

I hustled and got the quilt wrapped up after my Christmas sewing, and dropped it off to my quilter in early January. Luckily, she was able to finish it just in time. I picked it up on a Thursday, bound it on Friday, and gifted it to her on Saturday when we celebrated her birthday. I bound it with another print I had used in the quilt, which helped tie it all together. I usually bind with solids, but I didn't have enough of any that matched well enough, and I was glad to not have to buy some.

She didn't seem as surprised as I expected, but I think she really loved it. And it fits her bed perfectly. I think it was the perfect birthday gift. 

Fabric Friday Week 15: February 3

I can't believe it's February already! January flew by, even though it's such a long, cold month. Here we are in February. 

I put together a simple color palette today, using a soft blue that I just adore and yellow. I've really loved yellow over the past few years and I'm glad I could pair it today. I threw in a great orange for a pop and I really like it. This palette feels calm and clean to me. I think the yellow and orange brighten it just enough to make in an optimistic calm. I love that colors can convey feelings, don't you? 

Happy Friday!