Shades of Green - part 2-

It's been a while and it certainly isn't Spring any more but my inspiration is certainly at the moment in that season. This weekend I finished the quilt top I started back in June.




And the colours make me smile and inject a dose of much needed happiness (so did by the way "Fantastic Beast and where to find them" that I watched Friday night !). There are so many Spring and a few deeper Summer greens in this quilt, all of which not so much take me back but forward to the next Spring.



And true to Spring there is the odd bit of bright pink, yellow and some pale blues and whites coming through.



I love working on a quilt like this. It is simple from a cutting point of view, just squares, but you need to think about the arrangement of the patterns and colours and you need to lay out the entire quilt before it can be assembled as the piecing is done on the diagonal rather than row by row. This by the way, in case any of my students are reading this post, is a very good skill builder quilt still using the humble square but with a more advanced piecing techniques and with a bigger design challenge.



I might baste this beauty today but quilting will have to wait a while as I have a very busy week coming up.

Happy crafting everybody !

Meet Botanica

...or formerly known as Greek Cross. I decided to rename the quilt to 'Botanica' after a comment from my fellow Brit Bee and name companion Judith who said said that it was a 'fabulous botanic quilt top'. I thought this was such a good description and promptly decided to adopt the name as it is a much better name for the quilt. Thank you Jude.

So I guess you can gather that the quilt is done. It took me a little longer because I could not help myself and stitch up 'Lucky Summer' in between but it was worth it. This quilt includes a lot of fabric that are rather precious to me and I finally really love it after some initial hick ups.

So here it is in all its glory.

For about two years now I had in my stash this wonderful bright Philip Jacobs print 'Geranium' in duck egg which I saved for something special. I always wanted to use it as a quilt back on a quilt that would feature mostly green floral prints but when I was working on the top of 'Botanica' it became quickly clear that 'Geranium' was made for this so I decided to cut into it.

For this quilt I made big strides into two of my most favourite floral prints and whilst I was agonising over it while I was cutting, I am now really glad that I did it and the fabric looks so much better in use rather than sitting on the shelf and gathering dust.
 

I quilted in a petal pattern/orange peel pattern because I wanted to emphasis the floral feel of it. This I did with my walking  foot and not free motion and it really was very easy to do.

 

I used two different variegated Gueterman Sulky thread, the greenish one (no 4125) for the back and the greyish (no 4028) for the front.

I wanted something really bright and cheerful for the binding that complements both the front and the back and found this Kaffe Fasset Fuchsia Dot in my stash and luckily my local quilt shop Tikki had still some in stock as I would not have had enough otherwise.

The quilt measures 60 by 72 inches (1.52 x 1.82 m) and the perfect sofa size. Well, I better get on that sofa with it then.....

Greek Cross progress

Now that the weather is all wintery again (big sad smile) the sewing machine called and I got to work on my version of the Greek Cross quilt.

These blocks are so quickly assembled and are really fun to make as they have a bit of everything, a bit of HST, a few rectangles and a square.

I had the top finished quickly and my original plan was to pretty much make it like Faith did but when the top was done I was not happy, no not at all. It looked dull, absolutely dull. So I decided a border would be the solution and started auditioning various fabrics I had in my stash for a few days until I settled on a combination of two border fabric; a narrow one of purple and white dots (Kaffe Fasset dots) to brighten everything up and then a wide one of Lilac Rose.  It took all my courage to cut further into Lilac Rose but I found an online shop that still stocked a few yards of it and I quickly bought them all (big sigh...... )

Once the border(s) were attached the quilt became a whole new quilt with a totally different rather cheerful mood which is what I was after in the first place. What do you think ?

The backing fabric will be another print that I cherish and have had in my stash for a while. I bought it at Tikki Ltd almost two years ago and decided that now was the time to use it. But that I will reveal only when the quilt is done. But you are welcome to guess; it is another Kaffe Fassett print and the base colour is duck egg.

Speak to you soon !

Greek Cross

Before I jump onto sharing the first steps of my new quilt project with you, a bit of admin.

First and foremost I'd like to say a huge thank you for all your encouraging comments here and on Flickr following the finishing of 'Tuscan Hills'. It really made my day and made me feel all fuzzy around my heard. I have many more plans for quilts with a more minimalist theme but will dive first head on into some print and colour again. 

Secondly a few notes regarding comments. Although I not always re-comment on comments you leave me here on my blog I read and value each and every one of them. I will however always answer questions you may have. I tend to answer them via e-mail and now in addition also have started to reply on the blog since blogger has the nested comment functionality and because the answers usually benefit everybody.

This week somebody left me a question on my Christmas quilt regarding fabric measurements but the comment was 'no-reply-blogger'. I left the answer on the post itself but please please folks check your blogger settings as I can't get in touch with you if you have this setting selected in blogger. To change it go on the dashboard, into edit profile and tick show my e-mail address.

 

And now to the new quilt project:

Last summer the 'Summer Sampler Series' was all the rage and in fact I started to work on several blocks but haven't gotten very far yet.... I think this is now officially a UFO but it is the only one I have (phew....). Anyway one of the blocks from the series I really liked was the 'Greek Cross' and when Faith from Fresh Lemon Quilts made a quilt from just that block I really was thrown by it and immediately resolved to do just the same.


I have been hording a sizable stash of Kaffe Fassett and Philip Jacobs fabrics for quite a while and decided to use these for my version of the Greek Cross.

 
    I added some 'Innocent Crush' and Joe Dewberry to the mix and voilà, what do you think of the mix ?

I just couldn't resist to share a close up of one of my favorite Philip Jacobs print of all times; lilac rose. Isn't it lush !

Blogger's quilt festival - Very Berry -

Last year I thought all the while the great blogger's quilt festival was going on at Amy's Creative Side that I should write an entry but I missed the deadline and decided I would make more of an effort this year. Well, the deadline is looming and before it passes me by yet again I'll quickly add my entry to the wonderful quilts that have already been entered.

Looking back over the year I am surprised how many quilt I have finished and debated a while which one to pick and in the end picked the one that I consider my biggest achievement this year.

The quilt I am referring to is the 'Verry Berry' commission that I got from my friends Mica and Claire. They put faith in me to make them a monster sized quilt that must serve the dual purpose of covering up a very ugly sofa and be big enough to cuddle up under.

They wanted me to make the a quilt the size of  125 x 99 inches (or 3.2 x 2.5 m). At first I hesitated but then thought why not; it will be a challenge. And a challenge it was ! The design was achieved in collaboration with Claire. They wanted a minimalist design with large parts of solid reds and some pattern. This quilt uses a lot of Kaffe Fassett, Philip Jacobs, colourshots from Fasset and Oakshotts and other prints from my stash. The red solids are all Kona and the grey from the back is Kona Coal.

I live in a small Cottage in the UK and the biggest challenge wasn't the sewing of the curves or the piecing (although that got increasingly difficult the more fabric was added), no it was the basting as I had nowhere in the house where I could lay it out flat in its entirety. So I basted it in three stages rolling up the parts that didn't fit on my floor and taping it very tightly to the floor. Surprisingly this worked and I had no problems later when quilting. The quilting is kept fairly simple to keep with the minimalist desig and that I could still do it on my Janome Horizon.

Throughout the process I re-christening it affectionately "The Beast" ...............for good reason.

'Very Berry' aka the Beast in finished

Well here it is at last ! It's been a journey, not an epic one but a long one nonetheless. Starting with a quickly drawn design during dinner with friends to the finished and now photographed piece.

Thank you to everybody who commented on the last progress report; all the comments really helped as I was struggling at bit at the point. I love Archie the wonder dog's comment about the 'Beauty and the Beast'. I really should have named it this rather than 'Very Berry'. Well, since this comment the quilt is called lovingly 'The Beast' amongst my friends and colleagues.


I am not going to repeat the whole story (you can read it here, here and here)  but just want summaries that my friends Claire and Mica commissioned me to make an oversized quilt for them it's dual purpose being to cover up an ugly sofa and cover both of them ! Well at 3.2 x 2.5 m (98 x 126 inches)  this thing will certainly do both.

I quilted with Gueterman Sulky in no 1045 which is a wonderfully variegated  thread in purple and green. I wanted to offset the quilting a little bit from the base colour on the front of the quilt but also didn't want to large a contrast on the back which is largely done in Kona coal and Kaffee Fasset prints.

The quilting is done in wonky/straight double lines following the lines of the patterned areas. I added a couple of double lines on the vertical to create large rectangles. Of course one could have quilted a lot denser or even involved a longarmer but the agreement for the commission was that I quilt it on my Janome Horizon 7700. I wanted to keep the quilting within the realms of the overall pattern which I hope I have achieved. My machine coped wonderfully with the quilt thanks to its longer arm.

I photographed 'The Beast' around the corner where I work as the space is much larger there than around my little cottages. I laid it out on this bench which is outside a huge office building in city and people kept coming and going and one woman actually stopped and commented that she loved it which really gave me a huge lift.

 

I used Quilter's Dream batting but in this case I used a thinner than normal batting as I thought it important to reduce weight wherever I can. I think it makes a large difference to the quilt as it is not as bulky as it could have been if I used my usual Hobbs Heirloom or Quilter Dream Select Weight.

These two images here are the best I can give you in terms of showing the size. My colleges were kind enough to dangle it down this wall but it really is to large to photograph properly without using a wide angle lens at which point one loses to much detail.

The binding is done with the wonderful Kona Pepper which is almost black but not quite with a few bits of red leftovers thrown in between. I really love this effect.

And here all folded up and ready to be handed over to its new owners !!!

Very Berry - part 3

Last weekend was a bank holiday weekend here in the UK - the only holiday we have between the bank holiday Monday at the end of May and Christmas. Most people go away but I like to stay put and use the precious extra day either for lying in the sun in my garden (no chance of that this weekend, more like lying in the rain) or sewing. So given that the weather was disappointing (I really would like to use another word here !) I spend it sewing. The 'Very Berry' quilt commission I started here several weeks ago for my friends Mica and Claire had to move forward.

You may remember that it is a super sized quilt at 2.5 x 3.2 m that is 98 x 126 inches and so far I had only finished the first third of the top.
My goal was to get the whole thing basted.

I apologize upfront for the poor quality photos but I could not find a wall high enough to hang the pieces nor a wall high enough to stand on to properly photography the quilt from atop. In addition the sun kept peeking out of the clouds when I least wanted it.

On Saturday I finished the top

On Sunday I pieced the back with some lovely Kaffe Fassett prints and lots and lots of Kona coal. I wanted to keep the back in a more neutral colour but with just a bit of red. Piecing it made me feel like being in  'Gulliver Travels'. If you look at the back you see that it really is just rectangles with some sashing in Kona coal but we are talking series measurements here. The rectangles are each 36 x 20 inches and the sashing in proportion around it.

 And on Monday I basted the beast...................
(sadly no picture) 
I wrestled with it for hours in my small living room basting it in 3 stages. That actually worked surprisingly well although I could only unroll 2 meters at a time.



 Next is the quilting and hopefully (fingers and toes crossed) it will be done in 10 days time......

Very Berry - part 2-

Well before I get stuck into this post properly I have to announce that I have reached .and missed my 100th post...... because it was last Sunday! I know traditionally this calls for a give-away and it will come but you guys have to hang in there until the end of the month...but I promise will be worth it.

You may remember a post some weeks ago (here)  where I spoke about a new commission I was given by friends of mine, Claire and Mica. Their brief was to make them a quilt that is large enough to snuggle up under AND to cover up their ugly sofa. The sofa is unfortunatley of the VERY large size hence the quilt is going to be 2.5 x 3.2 m that is 98 x 126 inches. In other words a monster size quilt.

I collaborated on the design with Claire and we came up with a minialist design that has large areas of solids and some areas that burst with colour and pattern. Claire wants this quilt to be dominated by a variety of reds. We picked the colours using my Kona colour card and because the reds remind me of berries, I named the quilt "Very Berry". And now that fabric and name are chosen there really is no time to waste anymore.

Over the coming weeks I am going to report regularly on the progress  to show you how this venture goes (or not !!) as this is the largest quilt I have ever attempted. And upfront I have got to apologize for the somewhat bad quality of the photos. Red as is almost as difficult to photograph as white which is why the same red will appear different in as many pictures.

 Last week I started to pull out patterned fabrics to start the left corner area. I am keeping the design of the corners simple as I am concious of the amount of colour in this quilt. I think an elaborate quilt pattern would overburden the quilt. I also included some fabric with lighter areas to balance against the large amount of dark reds. I added texture by using some K.F shot cottons and some trusted Oakshott.
 



I cut out 5 1/2 inch squares and lay them out on the floor of my studio but quickly realised that I should be doing this on top of a template because of the curve I am cutting along the right edge.

 So I took an old newspaper, taped together a rectangle of 40 x 50 inches and cut out the curve I wanted for this shape; this left me with two templates (basically the positive and negative part of the curve).

I then proceeded to lay out the squares again on top of the template (and the bed as one doesn't have to bend down quite as low.....) until  I had a layout with which I was happy.

 I sewed all squares together (to what is essentially the size of a baby quilt) and cut the curve along the newspaper template.

Now we are back on the floor as I had to start to assemble the large blocks of solids. I moved them around and around a bit more until I was pleased with the arrangement once again.

After I sewed the large pieces together I  moved on to cut the negative part of the curve. Notice that my newspaper template features Snoop Dog....I reckon he won't be to happy about featuring in a template used for a quilt.......

 And here is the finished part of that weekends work - 1/3 of the quilt is done. To complete the picture you have to imagine another middle part of solids with a small pieced patterned part and  basically another part like this but turned around (with a patterned right corner).

I was really apprehensive about sewing and cutting such a large curve but I must say it was a breeze and the seams are flat as a pancake but I think that is entirely down to using a paper template and Snoop Dog obviously.

Close-up of the vibrant corner part.