Ode to Fall

Today we interrupt the usual quilty good programming to pay homage to a beautiful weekend here in Northeast Indiana....

I know I promised I would post about my SewSewModern 3 swap and improve piecing and I will, I promise - the post has already been drafted!

But it has been a gorgeous weekend here. DS #1 has been here and we have been working on cleaning up the yard, lake toys, and getting ready for winter in general, which we know is coming. But in between cleaning up we have had time for grilling out and one last boat ride. Here are some scenes from our day. It is days like these that leave me in awe and give me a deep sense of contentment. Days where I count my blessings for a great family and the beauty in this world. Enjoy!

                            A Great Blue Herron looking for a fresh fish lunch in the shallows.

                  

                                                          My dear faithful friend, Tucker.

And what am I doing with all this inspiration?

Welcome to my soon-to-be Modern Maples quilt! I was struck by the changing autumn colors last week as I drove back and forth to work. I had seen these gorgeous quilts on InstaGram and around the web and knew I just had to join in! Debbie from A Quilters Table has fun Flickr group Falling for Modern Maples here! There is still plenty of time to get in on the fun. There is no time limit, join and quilt as you can. Yes, this weekend just confirmed it.....Modern Maples here I come!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Happy Stitching!
Ginny

A Little Paper Piecing you say? SewSewModern3

Do you like to paper piece?  Some call it foundation piecing. I do. I pieced a pineaple mini quilt, back in the day and remember how sharp it made the corners. In the past year I have been sharpening my skills again. In the past month I have been working on a project for my Sew Sew Modern 3 swap partner.....

Yep, it's just a bit of paper piecing. It is my large item for my SewSewModern3 swap partner. It is now finished and on it's way to my partner. I hope she likes it -- really I hope she Loves it!! I do. I used a variety of fabrics trying to bring prominence to the swirl of the star by alternating light and dark in the same color family. I used a variety of low volume fabrics for the background, and that great Ledger print from Carolyn Freidlander's Architextures for the binding.

This is called the Good Luck Star and is by Banner Creek Designs. It is available for purchase on Craftsy. Here is how it all came together:

 I thought the paper piecing would be the most time consuming, but I had more trouble picking out the borders. I actually had 3 different sets of borders on this beauty before I was happy with them. It took a whole Sunday! Who would have thought...

The problem was I wanted the focus to remain on the deeper, saturated colors of the star. To let the swirl and movement stand out. I had envisioned using HST's made up of the fabrics used in the star and a low volume counterpart. I even made all these 2 in HST's. But alas I pieced one border piece and knew it was not going to work. It competed with the design too much, too much going on.

 

So then on to plan B. I envisioned using the coral pearl bracelets as a simple 1inch border all the way around. Nope, didn't work, too dark and really grabbed your attention amidst the quiet low volume fabrics.

 Next I thought about using the teal as the 1 in border....darker... quieter,  just a bit.  No that wasn't going to make it either.

So finally I pulled all the lighter colored fabrics from the star and made a simple pieced 2 in border....and finally the borders "felt right."  Whew! Who thought borders would be the challenge on this project??

 

 

 I used a great Cloud Nine organic cotton print (available at my local JoAnn's) for the back. I loved the color but I wanted to make sure the back was busy enough that it helped hide any flaws in my quilting. And it did. Actually it almost hid the quilting too much. I used a soft pearl grey 50 wt Aurifil cotton thread for both the piecing and quilting, my favorite color and weight for this.

And I went with stitching in the ditch vs. FMQ on this piece. I wanted to outline each and every piece of this geometric wonder. It is not perfect, I did not have a master quilting plan but just went at it and actually worked from the larger outside diamonds in towards the smaller center of the star.I spray basted this with 505, which is a great product! I have never had problems when using 505 (as I have with other basting sprays). On the first border I did simple straight lines and on the second border I stenciled a chain pattern and quilted it. My curves on one side of the chains are much smoother, flowing than the other side, but again it is a learning process.

So there you have it. I must say this project pushed me in my design and  technique, and best of all it turned out just as I had envisioned. I have learned you can't make a quilt or project into something it is not. It always evolves. Sometimes you have to stand back and listen. It will tell you who it is, and  who it isn't...

Stats: 19 in x 19in
Pattern: Good Luck Star by Banner Creek Designs
Technique: Paper Piecing
Quilting: in the ditch
Thread: Aurifil 50wt cotton in soft pearl grey

Thanks for stopping by. Next time I will show you the cute journal cover that was the small item that went along with this for the swap.  UPDATE: I see my partner posted that she had received a package from me -- eek! So excited!

Happy Stitching!
Ginny

PS. Did I mention my secret swap partner was the talented and lovely Elizabeth Dackson from "Don't Call Me Betsy" ?

Edited to remove some duplicate text at the bottom of post.