Trellis

Continuing my trend last year of quilting the "pedestal" quilt tops, the ones I really love and want to finish, I decided to start the year with Trellis. Trellis was one of two quilt tops that came out of my #100Days100Blocks2018 challenge ... and wow, I just realized that means it's more than 6 years old. Sometimes I can't really feel time passing, until I suddenly realize children I haven't seen for awhile are all grown up, or a quilt top I felt like I only worked on not that long ago is actually 6 years old.

But never mind the nostalgia train. I was very happy when I pulled out Trellis out of the pile and realized it looked as beautiful as I remembered. (Sometimes a quilt top is a lot less pretty than I remembered!) The pattern is by Tula Pink, and the fabric by Elizabeth Hartman. Since it is a sampler block quilt, the only parts tying it together is the frames, so I quilted those all the same: with simple lines.

The background calls for some dense swirls so that they recede into the space. The focal point of this quilt is after all the lovely and different quilt blocks.

The fun part of this quilt is really figuring out what to quilt for each block. I didn't do much advanced planning, and just quilted it with whatever I felt like at the time. I picked a few basic staples that always look good on busier fabric, and they are geometric designs, straight lines, feathers, continuous curves, and a few linear designs that look good on longer strips.

I usually plan every detail of the quilting out before I start, so doing this sort of spontaneously is a nice change. Even though each block is different, using just a few consistent designs and using the same design on the frames ties things together nicely.

I'm so glad I started the year off with such a rainbow beauty! I have a lot of plans for 2025 (not quilting related) so I don't think I can finish as many this year, but we'll see how many I manage.

Atmosphere Quilt Along

I really wasn't looking for a new quilt along. I already had several block-of-the-months to keep me busy, not to mention a slew of other projects I had queued up. But when the Atmosphere quilt along was announced, well, how could I resist?

I really wasn't looking to buy a kit. I had bins full of scraps, and shelves full of fat quarters. But when the lovely bundle of 34 Kona fabrics came wafting under my nose, well, how could I resist?

So I fell headlong into the Atmosphere quilt along. Cutting and organizing the fabric was arguably the toughest part!

The blocks are simple and straightforward, just some flying geese and half-square triangles combined with squares and rectangles. But the beautiful array of colors made it so exciting to work with.

This quilt was a joy to put together. All that rainbow goodness was making me super happy. I guess color really acts as a pick-me-up.

I haven't done a rainbow quilt top for quite awhile, and I love this! The quilt pattern also comes with a minimalistic version that I might have to do sometime as well.

Block Chain Quilt Along

When the Block Chain quilt along was announced by Christa Watson, I was hesitant about joining. I had just gotten home from QuiltCon and I had so many projects I wanted to work on, not to mention the mountain of quilt tops that need to be quilted. Do I really want to add another one to the list?

As it turns out, the answer is yes. A month ago I would never have imagined that we're in the situation we're in today. Schools are closed, events are cancelled, and life is uncertain from one day to the next. If sewing and quilting keeps us sane, then I'm so grateful for it.

The fabric I chose is a charm pack from Ruby Star Society, Crescent by Sarah Watts. It's a lovely line that contains unicorns and critters, but doesn't feel juvenile at all. Although the quilt along only started this week, I already plunged ahead working on mine. The piecing is very easy, and Christa's instructions as always are crystal clear.

The way this quilt is constructed is wonderful because I don't end up having any borders or sashings to add. (I hate those.) I'm in love with the way this top came out!

As usual with quilt tops I really, really love, I can't quilt on it quite yet. It needs to marinate for awhile so that I become less attached!

Camden Road Quilt Along

I love quilt-alongs and it's very exciting to decide to join one, so I was delighted to know that the Camden Road quilt-along has started!

Camden Road is a pattern designed by Cheryl Brickey, and I love that it's fat-quarter friendly. I have way too many bundles, and I know I should stop buying bundles without a plan, but I just can't stop! But I'm always happy to find a fat-quarter friendly quilt that allows me to use up a bundle I've been hoarding.

After a long audition process that involved at least 8 different candidates, 3 last-minute mind changes, a lot of guilt, and more time than I want to admit to spending, I finally decided to use up one of my most precious bundles, which is Hand Maker by Natalie Barnes.

Even though this pattern calls for 4-at-a-time flying geese, I prefer the traditional way of making geese, as I tend to get much better results. Usually I end up with a lot of half-square triangles that I feel guilty about throwing away, but these are small enough that I don't feel that guilt.

I know, I didn't wait for the quilt-along to finish! I usually don't, as once I'm excited about a project, well, I don't want to stop! I really love this quilt top, and certainly this is a better place for the fabrics than languishing, all wrapped up, on a shelf. (If only I can convince myself to cut up precious bundles more frequently ...)

Black (and White) Beauty

I absolutely love black and white, and I've been looking to make a black and white quilt for a long time. The only problem is that black and white, while great to look at, feels a little boring for me to work with. I would miss the prints, the fun colors ... or so I thought until I set my eyes on Sedona.

Sedona is a pattern from the geniuses at Sew Kind of Wonderful, and it's a row-by-row pattern in black and white featuring 11 different blocks, about half of which involve curved piecing. I love the look of curved piecing, but I'm really awful at them. Luckily, this pattern allows for a ton of trim-down, so even I can end up with curves that look decently good.

I started Sedona as part of a sew-along, but very quickly I realized that I don't have the patience to follow along in a sew-along. Once I really get into the project, that's all I really want to work on. Watching the rows come out one by one on the design wall is also really encouraging, because the look of this quilt is just so graphic.

After a few weeks of working on little else, I finally finished piecing Sedona. I kept it hanging on my design wall for a few days even after I finished it, because every time I see it, the impact of it strikes me. I just love it!

Mod Mountains Sew-Along

At the beginning of this year I joined 2 sew-alongs. But I didn't blog about them because I had a feeling that I'd fall behind. And fall behind I did. I haven't even started one of them, and the second one ... I'm several months behind too.

So the last thing I need is yet another sew-along, right? Well, when Suzy Quilts started her Mod Mountains Sew-Along, I felt the urge to join in. Suzy has this magic of making everything look shiny, exciting, and fun, and I felt myself being pulled in. I tried to resist it, but the clincher? It's a scrappy quilt.

My scraps are seriously getting out of hand, and Mod Mountains is just perfect for me to dig into my scrap bins. I decided on a palette of hot pinks, purples, and yellows.

Mod Mountains is what I call structured improv, because while there's a bit of improv in the mountains themselves which is what makes them so adorable and quirky, the final blocks are all triangles of the same size, satisfying my need for structure.

Laying them out on the design wall is so fun. I love how Suzy's pattern provides guidance for the color layout, to ensure that even though it's scrappy, it's still balanced. For color-challenged people like me, this is super helpful. When I use my own palette instead of a kit, I'm always nervous if it will work, but I think this does! At least, I love it.

This is my first quilt with triangles and I was a little worried it would be hard to put together. But there aren't any matching points in this quilt, which really helps. I think it turned out really well by my standards. Every time I look at this quilt top, it really makes me smile, because I love the scrappy prints so much!

#100Days100Blocks2018: Cityscape

Cityscape is the 2nd of my #100Days100Blocks2018 quilt tops, using the Skyline layout. I've always had a thing for skylines, so naturally I was very attracted to this layout.

While I love black and white and gray and would have no problem making a quilt with just those colors, I absolutely love the pops of neon in this quilt. I had just enough for one "colored" floor for each building, so I placed it in the floor below the penthouse unit for each building.

I ended up using all but 2 of the blocks I sewed for this top. I had to grit my teeth a bit through the assembly process because it really wasn't very fun. But ... assembly rarely is!

I now have two beautiful tops from the #100Days100Blocks2018 challenge. I'm not sure which one I love more, Trellis, or this one!

#100Days100Blocks2018: Trellis

The first quilt top I got from the #100Days100Blocks2018 challenge is complete. Trellis is the layout I used for this one because I love the graphic, high-contrast look of the frames with the colorful blocks.

This quilt required some advanced planning, as I knew I wanted a rainbow effect that washes diagonally, and the colorways in Pacific allowed me to do that. I drew a color chart in advance so I knew how many of each type to make. Once I finally finished the blocks, I laid them out on the design wall.

Once the layout was complete, it was time to make the sashing strips and to assemble everything. While I liked the rainbow look by itself, once the graphic sashing frames came on, it became so much more beautiful.

It took me a few days to assemble this, and once it was finished, I was so incredibly happy with how it looks!

I'm not sure when I'll get to quilting this, but just finishing this top is good enough for me, for now!

#100Days100Blocks2018 Blocks 64 - 70

Finally, finally we're at this point. This is my last week of #100Days100Blocks2018, and it's been a long journey. I always knew I was going to make it here barring unforeseen circumstances, but I didn't realize it'd be so much dragging my feet. I blame myself really, I got the idea to do 2 quilts, doing 1 would have been less mentally exhausting. But now that I'm done with the blocks ... I look forward to assembling them!

#64:

After block #64, the rest of the blocks will only be completed with the black/white colorway. That's because the quilt layout I'm planning for the Pacific colorway is Trellis which only has 64 blocks.

#65 + #66:

#67 + #68:

#69 + #70:

At this point, I'm so excited to put these quilt tops together!

#100Days100Blocks2018 Blocks 57 - 63

It's week 9 of #100Days100Blocks2018, and I'm so close to the finish line that I can taste it. This is my last full week making blocks using the Pacific colorway, as I'm only making 64 blocks total for that quilt.

#57:

#58:

#59:

#60:

#61:

#62:

#63:

#100Days100Blocks2018 Blocks 50 - 56

It's week 8 of #100Days100Blocks2018, and even though I'm feeling a bit burnt out by this point, now is not the time to quit! This week features more triangles.

#50:

#51:

#52:

#53:

#54:

#55:

#56: