A finished top

It started with a larger piece of this.  You can see a bigger piece at the Rebels blog.  I cut it into smaller pieces and surrounded them with red and gold Kona solids. 

There were three birds in my piece of fabric, and I wanted to make sure they stood out.

Then, I found some Kashmir at Jinny Beyer Studio that I thought would be perfect.  I love the colors and design in this fabric.  I fancy cut the four corner posts in the outside border so they would all match, just for fun.

Then I put it all together, added a couple of borders, and I have a finished quilt top I really like.  One more top to add to the quilting rack.  I really need to stop building tops, and start quilting the ones I have. Hmmmm.

For the next two days, I will be with my sister in Bremerton.  I probably won't be posting unless I happen to go to a quilt shop or two.  One never knows.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Making progress

Today, I played around with the units I had pieced for this quilt, added where I needed to, and got it all put together.  I know this would have been more efficient if I had done it all on graph paper first, but I wanted to enjoy the process of putting it all together on the design wall.  I like that it is not all square within a square and that there are surprises here and there.  I also really like the ways the colors are playing nicely and bringing out the design in the focus "ugly" fabric.  I decided, however, that it needed some more purple.  I can almost hear the rapid intakes of breath, "Purple with red?"  It will work.

Once I got the purple up, I spotted a wonderful piece of fabric in a stack for another future project, and pulled it to audition for an outer border.  I think it is just the right thing to pull it all together.  The red and gold really do match those I have already used, but it is hard to see in the photo.  Presently, the center is 38" x 40".  I would like it to be a little bigger, so I will add the 1" purple, and 4" of the plaid.  I hope to get this one put together and off the wall tomorrow.  I stopped work on it today to start another challenge project.

For the April challenge on Modern 8 Create, we were supposed to take a photograph of something around the house, and crop it to an interesting place.  I took this while I was at Willa's and have been making small sketches for a small quilt ever sense.  I didn't want the quilt to be quite so symmetrical, or brown, so . . . . .

I took my small piece of Kaffe Fasset Targets, figured out how to cut the yellow, and machine appliqued it all together.  I was going to try and piece it, but these curves were a bit more of a challenge than I was looking for.  I like the way you get to peek through the "fence" to see something fun and exciting in the distance.  I want to keep that feeling going as I add a bit more color to this piece.  It is going to sit on the wall for a little while longer until I can figure out the next step.

The sun is shining here in the Pacific Northwest.  The peas are very happy.  The strawberries have flowers, as well as the blueberries.  The lettuce is finally growing a little.  Our robin is making hay while the sun shines.  It is a beautiful day to be living here.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Working on a new challenge

The first thing I did today was to finish my part on this round of the Improvirobin.  I really wanted to bring back more of the orange and dark blue, so I found this wonderful border fabric in Willa's scrap stash and created a piece of blue coral to applique on top.  This will go on to Willa for the last round before it gets returned to the original designer.  If you want to see the progress of all five of the pieces in this robin, go to our flickr page.

In March, we were given another piece of "ugly" fabric at Rebels for another challenge.  Of course, I thought the fabric was quite wonderful.  I thought I posted a photo of it in the blog, but I can't find it, and of course I have cut it up now.  In the photo, it is the fabric with the gray background and the colorful flowers and birds.

When I was in Virginia, I took it with me to quilt shops to see what I could find to go with it.  I knew I wanted to cut it into blocks showing off the different motifs.  At the Jinny Beyer Studio, I found the wonderful red paisley-like fabric that I thought was perfect with it.  In the Old Country Store, I found three colors of Kona solids that I knew I wanted to use.  I decided not to use any purple solid because I thought there was enough in the print.  This is what I have so far.  The long gold and red pieces are just there for audition sake.  I wanted to make sure the colors worked as well as I thought they would.  I still have some layout decisions to make, but I think this is the general direction I am headed with this piece.  Each of the blocks will be bordered with the gold, the red, or the green.  I haven't done a quilt like this before, so I am enjoying the challenge.  Maybe I will even get this one finished by the last week in May when the challenge is due.  That would sure surprise everyone, including me.

Did I tell you all that Tom has decided we are going to go into raising chickens so we can have fresh eggs?  We have purchased four Americana (?) chicks that are being raised by someone who knows how to take care of teeny tiny chicks and today we are going to meet them.  I will try and post photos tomorrow.

Until then, joyful quilting everyone.