Greenery: Finished Quilt • 10 Comments

sarah • November 27, 2018

My Greenery project was born out of the Pantone Quilt Challenge in 2017 coupled with the Bay Area Modern scrap challenge to utilize squares and rectangles. I finished the quilt top in May 2017, in time to submit to the Just the Top category of the 2017 Pantone Quilt Challenge. I’m so excited to have finally finished this quilt, the original inspiration for Planned Improv: Scrappy Squares which I started teaching in 2017.

This project started with a thumbnail sketch and a pile of scraps. I began by cutting all my Greenery scraps into squares. Purple was added by the advice of my friend, Mel. I worked improvisationally on the design wall with my squares and then "made it work" to piece and fill in with background fabrics (also from the scrap bin) to make my first unit. Then I repeated my process to make related units. I initially thought I would make nine, but felt "done" after 7, which resulted in the chosen layout.

I quilted this one on the longarm at Always Quilting. I started with some echo quilting around my scrappy squares. Then I filled in the background with organic, wavy lines. Lastly, I filled each scrappy square section with a boxy meander. I chose three thread colors, a pale green for the background, darker green for the squares, and purple for the center section. There were many stops and starts between switching colors and needing to advance the quilt on the frame. I'm quite pleased with the result, but it was a bit of "beat the clock" at the end of the afternoon to finish up before the shop closed. I underestimated how much time would be spent changing colors.

I made a scrappy binding and piecing the back with any stash fabric close to the color palette. Overall, it's a very scrappy quilt. It finished at approximately 61" x 66".

Thanks for visiting!

I've linked up to the Q4 FAL Finishes Linkup.

Quilt Retreat Finishes • 14 Comments

sarah • November 13, 2018

One of my favorite parts of being in a quilt guild (or two!) is attending quilt retreats. The first weekend in November I spend the weekend in the Marin Headlands with SCVQA. It has a spacious sewing space, the food is delicious, and the views are amazing!

The majority of projects that I brought for the weekend were pieces that I wanted to finish in time to share at my Nov. 10 lecture at Amador Valley Quilters. Two of these were finished at the retreat. (The other two I made great progress on and will be sharing them on the blog soon!) I shared my Wonder Full quilt tops back in June. They use my Planned Improv: All About Angles technique in a more regular unit construction. I really like how I took two piles of identically constructed units and made two quilts with such different overall compositions.

These two were the first and third quilts I longarm quilted myself. I've been renting time at Always Quilting in San Mateo for free hand longarm quilting. The pink quilt was my very first one. I opted for a floral and leaf design with large scale motifs and lots of space.

On my second trip to the longarm I quilted the navy quilt. I opted for three different motifs and alternated the designs in each diagonal strip. This led to a challenge as I couldn't complete a strip without advancing the quilt on the frame which resulted in numerous starts and stops. That said, I'm thrilled with the overall look of the quilting. Check out that texture on the back! Between this one and Fandangle Scrappy Squares I am now hooked on the longarm.

All About Angles is my latest Planned Improv workshop. I'm currently working on a mostly blue version with Cherrywood fabrics, using smaller units. And you may have seen my Pantone Ultra Violet version which I finished this summer.

The second night of our retreat I took advantage of the opportunity to go on a short hike with a few other quilters to watch the sunset. The weather was perfect.

Thanks for visiting! Happy quilting!

I've linked up to the Q4 FAL Finishes Linkup.

Butterfly Mug Rugs • 16 Comments

sarah • October 31, 2018

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik and Aurifil.

It's been a busy month of sewing... but not so much in the writing department. I have lots that I need to get onto the blog to share with you. Today I'm sharing the three mug rugs I finished this morning. As I finished up the binding before school it struck me that it would make more sense to be putting the finishing touches on costumes, but those were already all in order. Happy Halloween to all who are celebrating.

Our Island Batik theme this month was paper piecing. I opted for three little mug rugs featuring Cricket, Gidget, and Pepper, the Butterfly Charm Blocks by Lillyella.

I opted to use my Paisley Dot Brights 10" squares from my July box for the butterflies. Choosing the color combinations was the hardest part. So many to choose from! I ended up choosing another Island Batik print as inspiration for the palette on each mug rug. I used it for the backing/binding as well as the rectangle to the left of each butterfly block.

This first mug rug features Cricket. This beautiful red print was leftover from my Valentine's Day mug rugs. I couldn't help thinking of the Red Hat Ladies as I worked on this one because of the purple and red paisley dot print.

The orange mug rug features Gidget, and used a sunflower print leftover from my Bold and Brave All About Angles quilt. I had the most fun quilting this one, following the petal on the sunflower print.

The third butterfly is Pepper. She's my favorite. This feature print was also from Morning Sunshine (same as the sunflowers).

On each mug rug I started the quilting by stitching in the ditch around the edge of the butterfly using Aurifil 50wt #2600 Dove, then I quilted the background (solid of the butterfly in the same color. For the printed section to the left of each butterfly I picked a thread color that blended. From the top, I used Aurifil 50wt #2588 Light Magenta, #3920 Golden Glow (variegated), and #2510 Light Lilac. This same thread was used for the binding on each. For the first time I bound by wrapping the backing fabric around to the front. Here's a close up of what that looked like from the front.

I look forward to using these in the kitchen. I like using mug rugs for people to be able to keep track of which glass it theirs.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoy seeing my mug rugs. These little butterfly blocks go together really quickly. I used them long ago on a mini quilt. I love seeing the variety of ways people have used them.