Habitat J quilt

At the June meeting of the East Bay Modern Quilt guild we received fabric for a new quilt challenge. Free Spirit generously gave us each several fat quarters from the Earth colorway of Jay McCarroll's Habitat fabric line. The only rule was that we could add our own solid fabrics, but non-Habitat prints were verboten.

On his blog the other day Jay encouraged craven flattery (not his term), so I took that and ran with it. The result is my J quilt.

I was struck by two things in the fabric line. First, there is a crazy mix of colors. I latched onto the contrast between the pastels and more saturated colors, evident especially in the floral dot. Secondly I was surprised by how the most angular print in the collection seemed the most organic, reminding me most vividly of living plants, palm fronds and leaf veins. 

I chose my solid colors from the floral dot print. The pastel background colors became the stripes of the J. I cut solids matching the saturated dots into fractured blocks with the Habitat prints.

The quilt is pieced in three sections: the two improvised block sections and the precise stripes. Measuring, cutting and pinning those curves was nerve wracking, but it all came out right.

I quilted with a few straight lines in royal and white on the J, then a loopy triangle meander for the rest of the quilt. I like the loopy triangles with the fractured patchwork, and especially that angular print.

I pieced the back from various solid scraps, and the tiny bit of extra fractured patchwork from the top. If you squint you can see another J. The binding is more scrappy solids. The quilt is 60" x 74" unwashed.

Update:
The Habitat J quilt was featured on Modern Day Quilts. Thanks Heather!

Update 2: This baby finally got a name: "In One Way"

Two little quilts

I finished two little quilts this week. They are simple geometric designs.

The first has two yellow patchwork circles, sashed in bright blue on an improvised patchwork background of green prints and solids.

I quilted with diagonal lines that follow the on-point grid of the yellow circles.

I love how the chevron pattern shines on the white back. The quilt is bound in the same bright blue and measures 41"x44".

I used the rest of my green patchwork and blue sashing for a second modern geometric baby quilt. The quilting is white and follows the grid established by the sashing.

I have to say working with all this kona white was a little bit intimidating. I don't know if it's actually less forgiving than an off-white or print, but the it sure felt that way. Maybe I'll get used to it if I keep at it. The good news for me is that my next project has lots of white, too!

Another bright geometric back and blue binding finish the blanket.
Both blankets are now available in my shop.





Update: The Mod Wheels baby quilt was featured on Modern Day Quilts

Hero's nemesis; or, the orange lizard

If a had to choose a favorite among my three stencil quilts, it would be this one. I love everything about it, starting with orange and blue (the colors of the California poppies and blue lupine blooming all over the hills right now.) The background is a disappearing nine-patch of royal blue and deep turquoise prints and solids. The stencil is a grid of half-square triangles in orange shot cotton and prints.

I'm also pleased  with the sense of menace and movement created by the dinosaur entering the frame from the side.

The back is also pieced in orange and blue collected from trimmings and extras from the front. Once again, The quilting along the stencil outlines has a surprising impact on the back.
The stencil design was inspired by a piece of clip art I saw on SLOG (the blog of Seattle's Stranger newsweekly). My favorite things on SLOG are the Savage Love letter of the day and Mary Traverse's regular Dinosaur News updates, in addition to lots of other delightful nuggets. Mary was kind enough to send me the full image of the articulated skeleton. Thanks Mary! And thank goodness the Stranger has its priorities straight and put her on the dinosaur beat.
I quilted the blanket with concentric zig-zags emanating from the T. rex's gaping maw. It was as close as I could get to a menacing roar without spelling it out.

My nine-year-old wants a dinosaur quilt, but he insists on a red one. So the orange lizard is now available on Etsy.

Milestones

It's turning out to be a big week. Two big things have happened: I've finished three new quilts, and I've decided to set up shop on Etsy. More on Etsy later, but first I want to show my first stencil quilt.

I'm calling it the green stag quilt.

The quilt features a green deer reverse appliqué on an undulating neutral background. It's one in a series of “stencil quilts” that I have designed and created (I'll have pics of Hero and his nemesis soon!). I posted about my technique recently. It involves creating two patchwork quilt tops, sewing the layers together along the lines of a stencil, then cutting out the top layer to reveal the stencil beneath. The raw edge of the appliqué frays, softening the edge of the image and creating a weathered effect.

I was inspired by an antique quilt whose well worn top began to disintegrate, revealing and even older and more worn quilt inside that had been used as batting.

The green stag is a patchwork of squares and rectangles in the disappearing nine-patch pattern, while the background is a series of improvisationally pieced curves intended to create a sense of rolling landscape.

The reverse of this quilt is made with a soft chambray fabric with a meticulously pieced green circle and ivory sashing. You may recognize the green circle from the missing patch in Sharon & Bill's baby quilt.

The quilting highlights the shape of the appliqué and echoes the undulating curves of the background patchwork. On the solid quilt back, the subtle shape of the deer makes a surprising counterpoint to the bold green circle. 

I've listed the Green Stag quilt for sale on Etsy, along with my Seeing Water quilt. I'll be listing two additional stencil quilts later this week.
I'm planning on sprucing up my storefront soon, but I'm at something of a loss. What do your favorite Etsy stores look like? What makes them your favorite?

A baby quilt

I had decided that I didn't have time to make a baby quilt in time for Bill & Sharon's baby shower. I already had a large stack of works-in-progress, and the thought of starting something new was a bit overwhelming.

But then I needed a green patchwork circle for another quilt back. My plan was to sew strips together, slice the new piece, rearrange, sew & repeat to get the desired block effect, then trim into a circle. And it occurred to me that if I was going to make a 15" block and discard the trimmings after cutting the circle, I might as well make a four-foot rectangle and use the extra for the baby quilt. Easy, right?
Well, I guess it did end up taking some extra time, but it definitely made it easier to fit in my brain. And the blanket turned out great. I especially love how the quilting arcs meet in the pieced orange and blue window.

I finished the binding with the machine, and it went much more smoothly than my last try. I managed to attach the label at the very last minute, just in time for the shower. The party was lovely, the expectant parents delightful, and we can't wait to meet the new baby.

Another ring

I finished the third ring of the wood-block starburst quilt yesterday after dropping Hamish at the airport. It was good to have something to focus on.

The circle now measures 78" in diameter. I'm working on another ring now, then I'll fill in some corners before cropping to 92" square. I had been thinking that the rings would be centered but now I'm leaning toward setting them off center a little bit. This is partly because I think it will give the piece a greater sense of movement, but largely because it will be difficult to line up the circles on the front and back (still not sure which is which) when I go to quilt it. The other side, you may remember, has a central 36" log cabin medallion.

Thanks to everyone who weighed in on my batting for warmth question. It seems that there is a lot of enthusiasm for wool, with some outlying recommendations for silk and yak. I look forward to trying silk on a project that doesn't require ease of laundering. For example, Hobbs recommends that their Tuscany Silk batting be hand washed in tepid water then laid flat to dry, and even then will likely shrink 5%. I have not found a wool/silk blend. As for yak hair, please feel free to send me some and I'll give it a try!

Almost warm enough

Well, the bad news is that Hamish's job is taking him to New York for six months. The good news is he'll have a new apartment to fill up with quilts. I'm using some block-printed cottons he brought back from India last year, as well as a couple solids. The two sides of the quilt are currently fighting for dominance. One side will have a sort of improvised starburst pattern, with concentric rings of curving rays.

The central pinwheel is 18" across and the surrounding circles will be 15" wide. Each succeeding ring will have more of the off-white solid (kona snow), until the edges are almost all white. The light was terrible today but I wanted to get some photos up while I was still in the middle of it.

The other side is already complete, with a central 36" log cabin medallion (the strips are 4 1/2" wide), tan sashing and  a gray-blue background. The two sides are very different in style and technique, though both feature pieced circles. I  agree with Hamish that the quilting will be very important to creating interest on the more traditional side.

Hamish has requested a super warm quilt ("so warm that you'll think it's too hot"), so I've been trying to come up with my batting strategy. I've found positive testimonials about a two-layer batting using Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly blend and Quilters Dream Wool battings. But even that may not be enough and I'm considering using a layer of Hobbs Thermore batting along with one or both of the others.

I've had surprisingly bad advice on the topic of warmth from several local shops, with one person assuring me that cotton is the warmest batting, and another insisting that close quilting is the key to warmth (for the record, I don't subscribe to either opinion). But mostly I feel like the question isn't interesting to most quilters. Please let me know if you've had any luck quilting a warmer blanket.