Tag Archives: faced binding

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I have finished and submitted to my first SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) exhibition. The Northern California/Northern Nevada region issued a call last summer for a juried regional exhibition entitled Prism Play. From the start I loved the vision for this exhibition. The quilts are all required to be 15" wide by 45" long and monochromatic, following one of the color cards from Joen Wolfrom's Ultimate 3-in-1 Color Tool. The selected quilts will hang in multiple full color spectrum groupings during the exhibition.

In phase one we each signed up for a color (or colors) and were assigned one or more colors with the related cards of the color tool shipped to us. I learned really quickly that even though the majority of my fabrics are blenders and read as a single color, most of them have a little bit of white in the print. Black and white are not allowed since they fall outside of the monochromatic spectrum of the color card. I pivoted to using solids, and found that I had a reasonable variety of purple solids in my stash that matched the color card, including a variety of values. I later supplemented with a small fabric order.

Inspired by the recent bee "block" I made for Elizabeth, I decided to work in sash strips for the overall composition of my Prism Play quilt and set to work creating numerous two-fabric blocks exploring a variety of planned improv piecing and value contrast. I settled on a gradient placement of the block for the overall composition and enjoyed finding ways for neighboring blocks to interact or connect with one another.

I finished my quilt with irregular matchstick quilting, starting with walking foot quilting with even spacing and then adding irregular spacing with my lines on the second pass. The quilt was finished with a faced binding.

Submissions were due last week and we'll hear next month which quilts have been juried into the exhibition. Having seen some of the other work that was created for this call, I am looking forward to seeing this amazing exhibition hanging in a gallery! Congratulations to everyone who participated in creating a piece to submit.

Artist Statement

I enjoyed the parameters of working within a strictly defined monochromatic palette. This means everything is about the value, so I played with higher and lower value contrast in the components of my piece. Working in the time of a global pandemic, it is hard not to think about connections… how connecting to individuals has ebbed and flowed, and how those connections that are happening look different at this time. As I constructed the overall composition of the piece, I looked for ways to make connections between each section. The columns illustrate how a community is dependent upon each other, each member contributing the building blocks of the whole.

 

Edited to add: Read about the Prism Play catalog that I created.

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I've been teaching All About Angles workshops since 2019. This project is actually the first quilt top that I pieced for myself in this style, way back before that time. I had selected the color palette, because these sunset colors called out to me and the pile of fabric hung out together on my shelf for quite some time before I cut into it to create this small quilt top.

Like many quilters, I've been wanting to finish up some of my WIPs. I participated in a 100 Day Project January 30 - May 10, free motion quilting for at least fifteen minutes a day. I prioritized finishing up quilt tops, including this one. I spent 33 days quilting this 24" x 19" quilt, meaning I spent well over 8 hours quilting it. I really enjoyed the process since I worked a bit at a time and wasn't hurrying to meet a deadline. This is important for me, because I am generally a procrastinator who is super motivated by a deadline, which can really limit the possibilities for the late stages of making a quilt. Can anyone relate?

I started by extending the diagonal lines from the piecing as well as reflecting them, continuing until I had divided the quilt into many areas of a variety of sizes. This step could have been done with a walking foot though I chose to free motion these lines. I marked my lines with a chalk pencil or disappearing marker.

Then I really had fun, choosing a different motif for each section, I started by echo quilting within the section before filling it in with the chosen motif. These motifs came from my usual FMQ toolbox as well as inspiration from Step-by-Step Texture Quilting by Christina Cameli (my newest quilt book) and The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting by Angela Walters and Christina Watson (affiliate links). Everything is quilted in 50wt Aurifil: Magenta (#2535), Red Orange (#2245), Bright Orange (#1133), and Medium Purple (#2545).

Pin for reference. Some of my motifs were very small patterns.

Sunset All About Angles was finished with a faced binding, which was a choice to further emphasize the quilting as the star.

My All About Angles class is available to guilds on Zoom. I teach a set of rules to create improv units that use the same angle, with no math or special tools. There are so many ways to utilize these units in a final composition. Please send your guild program chair to my teaching page for all the info. Thanks!

 

I've linked up to May's Favorite Finish linkup with Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs.

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

This month we were asked to use a vintage quilt block as inspiration for our Island Batik Ambassador projects. I considered this challenge an opportunity to use Modern Traditionalism in my design, using a traditional block with some twist to modernize the look of it.

I chose the Antique Tile quilt block to work from. I shared my design process in a previous post, but these digital images show the block I started with and the mockup for the quilt that I made.

 

My fabrics are all Island Batik Foundations: Bermuda Cherio, Turquoise Small Pointed Floral, Lemon Round Petal Floral, and Cherry Bubbles.

It's nice when my thread collection contains just the right colors for a project. The project was pieced with Aurifil 50wt White (#2024) and quilted with Aurifil 50wt Jade (#4093), Light Lemon (#2110), and Red (#2250). (Ironically, I used Light Lemon to quilt my Modern Traditional Island Batik quilt last year.)

I used a walking foot for the teal lines of quilting and used free motion quilting for my flowers and jagged stipple.

The 36" x 36" quilt was finished with a faced binding. I chose this option so that the lines from my design would extend all the way to the edge.

I used the remnants of my four fabrics to make a color block backing for the quilt.

 

Please visit the other Island Batik Ambassadors to see their Vintage Reimagined projects from this month.

I'm linking up to Cheryl's first Favorite Finish Monthly Linkup for March. This is my favorite March Finish because I love the colors, the design, and the quilting. I'm also linking up to Brag About Your Beauties and Needle and Thread Thursday. :-)