Nova

When I was planning my quilting lineup this year, I know I wanted to include at least one ultra-special quilt in this lineup. By ultra-special, I mean quilts that have been elevated to pedestal status in my queue, to the point that I'm afraid to finish it. Usually it means quilts that have special fabrics, or took forever to make, or had a great deal of handwork.

Nova, designed by Tula Pink, is all of the above. It is an English paper-piecing pattern using Alison Glass fabrics that I fussy cut, and it took me about forever to make. I actually wrote 2 posts about the making-of, here and here.

How in the world do I go about quilting a quilt like this? Well, as it turns out, this quilt is already so beautiful on its own due to the fabrics and the pattern that there's not much I have to do. I just have to enhance it a little bit, and that I can do.

I quilted the background with some big swirls, leaves, and pebbles.

I kept the quilting in the star pretty simple, with just some geometric dot-to-dot designs to enhance the piecing. The hardest part about this quilt is actually keeping all the quilting facing the correct direction, so that whether they're pointing inward or outward, they're all pointing in the exact right direction. I kept a design diagram with me at all times to refer to, as otherwise I'd get easily confused when my face is a few inches from the quilting.

Nova is so special so it also deserves a special backing, so I used some of my out of print Tula Pink Freefall backing. It hurt a little to use it, but I'm also glad it has found a worthy quilt top to pair itself with.

I'm so glad I finally finished Nova! It is such a gorgeous quilt and I know I'll keep it forever.

Day Trip Cell Phone Wallet & Partridge Bag

I think I just found the perfect wallet and the perfect airplane mini-bag. But let me start from the beginning ...

I actually made the Day Trip Cell Phone Wallet once before, years ago, and I thought it was an absolutely terrifying experience. It was possibly the hardest thing I've ever made. I was nearly in tears by the end, and just hanging on for dear life.

But since it's been years, and I had forgotten the pain, I decided to try it again, this time with one of my favorite fabric prints in the last few years, from Zen Chic. Well ... it's pretty easy, I thought to myself. No problem. I thought to myself. I kept sewing and sewing, and I was wondering what the fuss was all about. That is, until I reached the final part, and then I remembered. It was still harrowing, it was still painful, and I think I'll need quite awhile before I forget the pain again. But when I saw how beautiful it came out, it was very much worth it!

One of my favorite things about this bag, besides the fabric, is actually the zipper. This is a leftover rainbow zipper tape and pull I had from the Superbloom bag I made earlier this year, and it honestly looks like the colors were made to go with this fabric! It was pure coincidence, but it went together perfectly.

I'm so happy with it, but there's no denying that it was very difficult, and unlike most of the projects that I found difficult, I don't know what I could do to make it better next time. But Will I make it again? Maybe in another few years. I hope my workmanship can last that long!

***

The second bag I made was initially just a project to make, but not to use. I really wanted to make it, because it was cute, but I thought I'd have no use for it. It was skinny and just didn't hold that much, I thought.

All that changed the day before I was to go on an airplane, and I suddenly realized this little bag is just perfect for plane rides. I can wear it on my shoulder, separately from a bigger plane bag, and it fits my phone / Kindle / ID / cash, so I won't have to rummage in my bigger travel bags for that stuff. Yet, because it has such a thin profile, if a flight attendant complained that I was carrying two personal items, I can always stuff it in a larger travel bag.

So that's what I did, and it worked perfectly! I was shocked how much usage I got out of this bag not just during the plane ride, but the actual trip as well. As soon as I brought it home, I hung it in my travel section of my closet, where it will patiently await my next trip.

Metal Skulls

I've been working on the schedule of finishing one quilt on the longarm a month, and fingers-crossed, I think I might make it this year! Since it's October, I figured it's time to bring out and finish my Metal Skulls quilt.

The pattern I used is Sugar Skulls by Tula Pink, and I actually first made this quilt top with Tula's purple fabrics similar to the pattern quilt, but I loved the piecing so much that I decided to make it again, so this metallic version, using Luster by Zen Chic, is actually my second quilt top with this pattern.

I filled the background with dense swirls, with an outer layer of irregularly shaped geometric echoes.

For the skull blocks, I did some very basic quilting that just echoes the shape a bit on the inside, but I wanted to add some details to the skulls to give them personalities.

Just like the first skull quilt I made, Bone & Chain , I had their eyes roaming all over the place, with a few that are actually dead ... and one that's just pretending to be dead. I also quilted their noses a little different each time for some added fun factor.

I enjoyed making this little quilt so much! It was so fun both to piece and to quilt ... but the piecing was definitely the best part, and I don't say that very often.

Springtime Reflections

It's September and I still haven't made a single quilt top this year (I've been focusing on bags, bags, and more bags in my sewing room), but on the bright side, I've been able to whittle down the massive pile of quilt tops I have in my quilting room by actually finishing them!

The pattern I used is Mountain Reflections by Sweet Jane's Quilting & Design, but I named my quilt Springtime Reflections because the fabrics, Flow by Zen Chic, just look so spring to me.

For the quilting I was going for something that would be simple but still striking, and so I chose to juxtapose the use of white space with dense lines. I tried that for a quilt called City Tiles awhile ago, and really loved the effect, so I wanted to try it again.

I chose a very simple geometric design for the colored fabrics, just something simple and easy to execute.

Although there's a border on the original quilt design, I opted to leave it out.

I'm really happy with how this quilt turned out, as the background has a very mesmerizing look. And since next month is October, I'm definitely planning to quilt a Halloween quilt next.

Sky Harbor Tote & Mustang Purse Organizers

Last year when I went to visit Missouri Quilt Star Company (on a quilting pilgrimage), I saw this gorgeous dark blue fabric with a gold design on it, and I just knew it was going to be something special. However, I was unsure what pattern to use. And then, one day while looking for a new bag pattern on Sew Sweetness, I saw Sky Harbor Tote, and just instantly I knew, I was going to make it with this special fabric.

Sky Harbor Tote's main feature is the decorative zippers on the side, so I was very happy to find zipper tape and zipper pulls that complemented it so well! Along with that, the bag has hidden straps, slip and zipper pockets, and a recessed top zipper. It is very full-featured.

Since I have made several tote bags now, I figured I also need a purse organizer so I can swap bags more easily. And of course Sara has a pattern for that too: the Mustang Purse Organizer. I enjoyed making the first one so much that I decided I need another, so I ended up making one in each size.

The Mustang Purse Organizer comes chock full of different styles of pockets, and it is just so handy! I'm also totally enamored with the fabric I chose. These all come from my yardage stash and I'm so glad they finally have a home.

I used to make bags only because I wanted the finished product, but I didn't enjoy the process. I can say now ... I'm enjoying the process!

Flower Bouquets

Flower Bouquets is a complete delight from beginning to end. It was easy to piece, beautiful to look at, and the quilting process was so much fun. It was such a joy to execute this quilt! Both the pattern and the fabric is by Vanessa Christenson of V and Co.

I adore Vanessa's ombre collections and previously, I've made Glass Candies which was a metallic ombre collection. This time the fabric has a bonatical design, making it perfect for the pattern. Working with her ombre fabrics is always enjoyable because the colors are so lovely and they glow. There are rainbows I like and rainbows I don't, but Vanessa's palettes definitely fall into the former.

When faced with so much background fabric, my favorite thing to do is to mark out different areas and put different designs in them. I especially like to juxtapose straight line designs with swirls, as the contrast makes each stand out more.

As always I kept the design fairly simple in the colored fabrics, but quilted very densely around it. The only tricky part was getting into the nooks and crannies, but swirls are flexible enough that it can be done.

This was such an enjoyable and relaxing quilt to longarm that I was almost sad to take it off the frame! Almost.

Shimmer On

I'm a total sucker for metallic fabrics, so that explains why I'm so excited about this quilt. Shimmer is a collection designed by Jennifer Sampou, and I just love the gorgeous sheens in this fabric collection in nature-inspired colors.

The pattern I used is Nellie by Gudrun Erla, and it's one of those intricate-looking but super-easy disappearing quilt block patterns. I've often talked about how much I love Gudrun's Stripology ruler, and this pattern was designed to be used with Stripology to make it super simple.

I kept the quilting of this quilt very simple in the foreground, with just a simple geometric design to hold the quilt down. I absolutely do not want to quilt heavy over metallics, as I have more issues with my thread shredding over such fabrics, and of course, I don't like to obscure the gorgeous fabric with quilting.

I couldn't resist quilting the background more heavily of course, and there's no way I would not quilt some dense swirls on a background like that. But I didn't want the whole background to be just swirls, so I also alternated in a geometric design.

This entire quilt was fun and easy to make, and I had such a good time playing with the stunning fabrics. Sadly it is very much out of print, so I can only hope Jennifer will design more collections like this in the future.