Tag Archives: Project QUILTING

• 8 Comments

•

Or... Not So Mellow Yellow.

I knew this week's Project QUILTING challenge would be extra hard since I was leaving for QuiltCon on Wednesday morning. That left less than 70 hours for the challenge, including sleeping and packing. Step one, make it small. Maybe really small.

I was pleased for it to be a color challenge, as I knew I could make it work in the short period of time. The first palette I considered was this year's QuiltCon Charity palette. First, it included a bright, cheerful yellow. Second, I've loved the palette since it was first announced. And third, since I'm an Individual Member of the MQG I wasn't participating in making a charity quilt with those colors. I had already purchased the solids a while back, knowing I would someday make a quilt in this palette. My fabrics were Kona Corn Yellow, School Bus, Red, Geranium, and Bright Peri. (Why use a neutral when you can use more color instead?)

I chose a simple, single star block. "Work small," as my friend Mel reminds me for short challenges. So, I decided on an 8-inch sawtooth star block. I wanted to use all the colors, which led to the decision to piece the background sections by building a slab from the non-yellow colors. I edited out the School Bus orange in favor of the three darkest values: Red, Geranium, and Bright Peri.

 

Here's an accidental alternative setting. I dig this one too, but it wasn't what I initially had in mind and I wanted to stick with plan A.

Once the block was pieced, I intended to add a border of the scrappy background and a yellow binding, but I would have had to build a new slab and I was crunched for time. I didn't like the idea of putting a solid yellow binding on it without the borders since the star points would touch the binding. It was clear to me that the right answer was a scrappy binding that would blend with the background.

It took a little planning to be sure that my corners wouldn't have seams, and that the binding fabrics weren't matching too much with the background fabrics. Though honestly, it probably would have been faster to build more slab for borders and use a single piece of fabric for binding. That said, I'm thrilled with the results.

Not So Mellow Yellow finishes at 8.5" x 8.5". The walking foot quilting was done with 50wt Aurifil #2120 (Canary).

I'm linking up to Project QUILTING 9.4. Be sure to check out all the submissions and vote for your favorites. (Mine is #70.)

SaveSave

SaveSave

• 24 Comments

•

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

I'm a multitasker at heart. Sometimes when I am planning a project, I like to figure out how I'll incorporate multiple goals. This includes quilt challenges and personal design goals. This week's Project QUILTING challenge of Bold and Brave wasn't really calling to me, so I was dragging my feet on formulating a plan. Then I found out that my Island Batik Ambassador box was due to arrive on Wednesday. I figured that meant I was supposed to dive right in and use it for my PQ challenge. It also meant I could procrastinate for a couple more days until the box arrived. ;-)

This project ties to the Bold and Brave theme in a couple of ways. This is the first official month in my role as an Island Batik Ambassador. It was brave of me to put myself out there and apply, and I'm excited to work with their bold colors. Also, I am excited to have started my quilt teaching career. I was a middle school math teacher for eleven years and it's great to be back in a classroom setting. The design of my mini quilt comes from my second Planned Improv workshop, All About Angles, which I'll be debuting soon. The workshop is designed to feature reversible fabrics (solids, hand dyes, cross weaves, batiks) so it lent itself well to choosing from my box of Island Batik fabrics. I love all the bright colors in the Morning Sunshine collection and chose a variety from that bundle to get started. After much debate, I settled on:

  • Sunflower in Rainbow
  • Mini Dot in Sun
  • Grass in Lime
  • Dot in Turquoise
  • Grass in Purple

Back to that multitasking that I mentioned. This mini quilt is my Project QUILTING Bold and Brave challenge quilt, my Island Batik Ambassador Mini Love project, and a class sample for my Planned Improv: All About Angles workshop. A three-fer!

It finishes at 20.5" x 24", pieced and simply quilted with Aurifil white 50wt thread, and features Hobbs Thermore Ultra-Thin Polyester batting.

I chose my binding from one of my Stash Builder rolls. It was a 5" x WOF strip and I managed to make it work by piecing my binding with straight seams since I was worried I didn't have enough fabric to piece on an angle... and I was right! It was a very close call.

 

I love mini quilts. They provide a great opportunity for a fast finish, an especially nice option for gifts. They can provide a splash of color on a wall or table. And mini quilts are my favorite way to try out a new technique. Something about their small size means it isn't too big of a commitment for a first run with a new skill.

Thanks for visiting. I'm linking up to Project QUILTING 9.3. Voting opens Sunday morning, so be sure to check out the other projects and vote for your ten favorites. (Mine is #57.)

• 16 Comments

•

It's week two for Project QUILTING. Voting is now open. This week's theme of Triangulation has so many possibilities. So many that I think the options are a little overwhelming. Last challenge I made a list of about a dozen options and picked one. This week I just kept thinking about more (and bigger) possibilities. And too bad I didn't make this one this week!

I've set myself some goals for my design work, and I'm trying to keep those goals and my plan to work small for these one-week challenges in mind when choosing my project for the week. I also happen to have another deadline this week. So, I had to keep dissuading myself from ideas that would be a bit too much work. I landed on some pieced equilateral triangles and decided to use them to make a small gift for a lovely friend who I was seeing today for her birthday. My plan was set by Monday night, and I finished my project with some late night sewing Tuesday evening.

 

I decided to make the Noodlehead Open Wide Zippered Pouch. I've made it numerous times and it's a great tutorial and a fast make. For this challenge I decided I'd work in the triangles with piecing on the front of the bag. But then I got a little bit paralyzed with indecision with regards to the fabric choices. I decided this would be an excellent opportunity to make a small dent in my box of mini charm squares and chose this pack of ColorWorks microchips from Northcott, a giveaway I received at QuiltCon.

I cut the biggest equilateral triangles I could from these 2 1/2" squares using the 60 degree angle on my ruler. They were about 2 1/4" on each side. Once I decided to use the solid rainbow for my triangles, I easily decided on a couple black and white prints to pair them with.

I arranged my fifteen triangles in rainbow order and pieced them in a row, adding my black on white print to the ends of the row so the strip would reach the full width of my panel.

This is the largest size from the tutorial, and I like to line these big ones with fusible fleece, Pellon 987F (affiliate link), so they stand up nicely on their own. I chose a light print from my stash to line the bag. The finished pouch is about 8 1/2" tall and has a 14" zipper. It was pieced with 50wt Aurifil thread.

 

Voting is open. Check out what everyone made and vote for your ten favorites! Mine is #16. Made in San Jose, California.

SaveSave