Dreamcatcher {a finished quilt}

This quilt was made with Kate Spain’s new Daydreams line from The Intrepid Thread.  The colors are deep purple and pinkish corals with a hint of orange thrown in for good measure.

I modified the Criss-Crossed Quilt from February to make this quilt appear to have wonky 4-patch blocks, like this:

Or wonky crosses like this:

I don’t know which one my eye sees better when I look at the quilt.  But either way I like it!

What do you think of the texture of the quilting?  This double loop pattern came straight out of Angela Walters’s first free motion quilting book.  I never was able to do loops on my domestic machine, but I practiced on a drawing pad and then drew a diagram on an index card which I taped right on the front of my longarm machine.  After a few minutes I was able to take the index card off.  My brain knew what it was doing (for the most part).  Of course my quilting is nowhere near as good as Angela’s, but not too shabby for a first try!

The back is pieced with leftover gray fabric and pink striped fabric long forgotten but re-discovered to finally fulfill its destiny as the back of a quilt, along with a big section of Arcadia in Scarlet.

Arcadia features hummingbirds, rabbits, butterflies, and roosters and has such a fanciful feeling.  One thing is for sure, pieced backs always take longer.  I put this one together with four girls running amuck through the house this past Saturday and, for the hour or two it took, questioned my sanity several times, but the effect is worth the effort in the end…right?

I framed the cloth label in leftover purple and coral.  This quilt is for Veronica so I will write her name on there with an indelible fabric marker and date it.

She loves the quilt and even volunteered for a photo using it.

It finishes at 70” square.  The binding is Kona Punch.  The lattice is Kona Silver and the background is mostly Kona Shadow, but I ran out and had to improvise with some other grays from my stash.  I owe one to Bea for coming up with the idea of ombre.  How did she even know that word???!!!  I tried to cluster the darks in the bottom corner and have the color attenuate into light gray.

What do you think?  Would you classify this as a modern quilt?  Wonky with an edge?  I loved every part of making this quilt and hope it shows.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Fort Worth Fabric Studio on Friday. 

Letting the Light In

The new light in my sewing room was installed last week.  I just love, love, love it!!!!  Have you seen the show American Pickers?  Sometimes Mike, Frank, and Danielle find industrial fixtures on their adventures in old abandoned buildings.  Since I don’ t have $500 to spend on a rescued light from their shop, I found a pretty decent substitute at Lowes.  It’s industrial and modern looking and was just the right price!

It also helped that a reviewer said “you can perform open heart surgery under this light.”  That sounds about right for a sewing room!

The only drawback is the Edison bulbs emit a yellowish instead of white light.  It’s a small price to pay though and a drawback I’m totally willing to live with.  I took this photo of the light illuminated at light so you can see the yellow glow.

Speaking of light, my friend Sara sent this heart wall hanging to me recently which brought a lot of much-needed light into my life.  I’ve been having a bad couple of months on a personal level, so this was just the ticket to brighten my spirits.  You hear it so many times, but it’s true, the people in the quilting community are so generous and warm-spirited.

I love the fabrics she chose for the squares and polka dot binding since purple is my favorite color ever!  And the handstitching around makes it even more special.  I don’t know how she found time to make this heart plus all the other beautiful quilts and stitched projects she shares on her blog Growing Stitches.  Did I mention she’s also 39 weeks pregnant!!!???  She’s one busy mama!  Thank you, Sara, it looks fantastic hanging in my sewing room!

She was worried the coral color looked a little orange, but I think it’s the perfect compliment to the purple, so much that I used these colors for the inspiration for my next quilt.  The fabrics are all from The Intrepid Thread.

Have a super Wednesday and hope everyone is staying warm!