Quilting

I had no plans to make Christmas quilts for our sons in 2016 as I’d made them quilts for Christmas 2015. They both visited in September and independently requested a quilt for Christmas. That put a bit of a panic in my holiday planning, for sure. But I got busy and started work. And now I’m finally getting around to sharing them.

The first is called “Star Wars: Past & Present”. New lines of fabric had been released for the “The Force Awakens” and was readily available but Mark grew up with the original trilogy and is a fan of all the films. (Hence the request for a Star Wars quilt). So I scoured the interwebs for classic fabric pieces and found them in a variety of Etsy shops. The pattern is called “Groovy” from Quilt Etc. in Sandy, Utah that I was given during a shop hop. The fabrics used are a charcoal Peppered Cotton, and Thicket Dashes from Gingiber for the log cabin sides. The sashing & large backing pieces and the binding are Starlet Black Star and Red Star respectively, from Blank Quilting. The border is “The Force Awakens” from Camelot Fabrics, along with the large squares from their various Star Wars collections. I fussy cut all the large squares to show the pattern to best effect and in the case of the badges, to show different characters as much as possible. Also the classic word squares are slightly offset to show different names at the top and bottom. I also fussy cut the cornerstones to show off a character or symbol. I really love how that little extra effort turned out. Those cornerstones really pop!

I like pieced backs and also wanted to use up the licensed fabric because I didn’t think I would really use it another quilt. So the back is very heavily pieced and I totally improv pieced based on the remnants I had left. The fussy cutting on the different fabrics left me with lots of odd sized pieces, but I managed to make it work. It was machine quilted at Thimbles & Threads in Draper with gray thread in a digital box style with curved corners that softened all the squares but stayed in the theme.

Turns out Mark hadn’t really expected me to actually make it between September and Christmas, so he was really surprised to open the box. But he LOVED it!!

 

 

In November and December of 2016, and January of 2017, we did the three blocks that are 3″ square and serve as fillers among the larger blocks. We made six of #34 Triangles,  eleven of #35 Pinwheels, and nine of #36 Bowtie. That finishes up all the pieced blocks for the quilt and all we have left are various applique blocks. These small blocks go all over the quilt so we decided not to be constrained by color in the surrounding blocks but just use some of our fabrics we haven’t used elsewhere, or that we just really like. So they are a potpourri of 1930’s fabric in our collective stashes for this quilt. [Read more…] about Ode to the 1930’s Blocks 34, 35, & 36

In the middle of December 2016, we took a break from 3″ squares and did another applique square. This one is Block #39 called English Flower Pot and is 12″x12″. It was fairly straightforward and we used the same color scheme used in the pattern and the same fabrics, although one of us flipped the top leaves and side flowers to the opposite sides on accident. Oops! But who will know in the finished quilt, right? [Read more…] about Ode to the 1930’s Block #39

By mid-October we had left the 6 applique blocks that didn’t include any piecing and the 3 (3″) blocks that each include multiples of the same pattern. We decided to intersperse the applique and pieced blocks so that we didn’t go crazy with all the machine applique. We did #37 Mexican Rose and began by choosing fabrics, tracing, and cutting one week along with choosing and cutting fabrics for the 3″ triangles. [Read more…] about Ode to the 1930’s Blocks #37-38

Here they are-the last of the 6″ blocks! We got these done in the middle of October and were glad to have hit that milestone. There are 14 of the 6″ blocks in this quilt. We have found that with the fabric all cut, we can sew two in a session, otherwise we choose, cut and sew one in an afternoon. #32 is called Aunt Dinah and the pattern calls for yellow, black, red, and green, with the star being in black. We did not like that color combo at all and decided we wanted the star points to be the focal point, so they are the solid yellow. Then we chose the flowered center because we like it and haven’t used it, then added the sunflower fabric in the corners for the same reason. The orange cornerstones came from the touch of orange in the center, and it became a nicely balanced block. [Read more…] about Ode to the 1930’s Blocks #32-33