At last...

...both "sister quilts" are finally finished!

I made these two tops last Fall from a Modern Workshop layer cake and a few Kona solids. I'd been obsessing over triangles (still am, come to think of it), so made the first one, then made the second simple block one with the leftovers just to get them out of my kitchen.  It took quite a while to get back to them and finish them off, but they're done, and off my to-do list.

I love how you can get two totally different personalities from the same fabrics.

Though I'm not a big fan of poly batting, I have to admit that the medium loft does make the quilts extra-cuddly, especially with my wavy, random lines.

I used the same medium-loft batting and quilted zig-zags down each row of triangles instead of diagonally down the quilt. It created a really neat argyle effect on the front and a great texture on the back.

I'm not sure which one I like better, though I'm kind of partial to the airiness of "Isoceles." But there's something about the boldness and concentration of color in "Leftovers" that makes me happy.

It's a toss-up!

Questionable Values...

I did manage to finish another one up amid my bouncing from project to project. I'm still on the fence with this one.

"Questionable Values" in Kona Robin's Egg, Tarragon, Ash. Bound in Coal.

I had high hopes for this quilt. I sketched. I worked up a pattern. I even hand-painted some of the squares when I ran out of coordinating fabric. But when it all came together, I wasn't thrilled.

Don't get me wrong, I love the design, it's just that the colors, which looked so marvelous stacked on my cutting table, don't do it justice. The Tarragon and Ash are just too close in value (hence the name) so they get mushed together, making the blue pop more than I intended. Kona Ash has a tendency to suck the life out of its neighbors if they're not strong enough, and I think that's what happened here. If I make it again, I'll go for higher contrast.

So on one hand I'm happy that it's done and I can add another quilt to my pathetically short list of finishes for this year. On the other, I wish I had a little more love for it, but they don't all look as great in real life as they do in our heads, do they?

Maybe it'll grow on me.

Self-discipline was never my strong suit...

I know I said I had to finish a couple other things before I dove into my Jane Sassaman fabric, but it was just sitting there, begging to be chopped up. Taunting me, even.

These blocks (and the possibilities that this fussy-cut fabric presents) are really cool, though there isn't enough contrast for that top center one to work. That one will have to wait for another project. I'm purposely not doing the kaleidoscope effect on the black blocks because the repeat was smaller, and I think it lets the flower blocks pop a little more. Given I'm just playing at this point, that's all subject to change.

I need to do a few more of these to a) get it out of my system or b) make a complete quilt. Then I'll go back to my to-do list!

Dear Jane...

I have read your book and become inspired.

It's about time I broke into my stash of your fabrics -- I've been hoarding saving them, as Foghorn Leghorn says, "for just such an emergency," and now the wheels are turning.

I just have to finish a couple other things first.

Next up...

After I did a little 'nother-quilt-done jig and had a glass of wine to celebrate my clean workspace this weekend, I dug into my WIP/UFO corner and came up with this, which has kicked around my condo since I made it almost a year ago. I was all psyched about it when I started, then my friends started having little boy babies and all my girly quilts got put on hold.

Made from a Moda layer cake (Modern Workshop, Oliver + S) and a few Kona solids, these triangles are about three-quarters of an inch shy of equilateral (don't ask how I got to those dimensions, I couldn't tell you), so I'm calling it "Isoceles." Definitely a lesson in working with bias edges and trying to get long wonky rows of triangles straight again.

There were enough leftovers from the layer cake to make another top, which you may or may not remember. That one actually got quilted, though I think I was waiting until both of them were done to take a picture. It's been so long, I can't remember.

It's been wonderful working in the cooler Fall temps, but it also means someone is back to napping in the middle of my projects. Quilting may take longer than I thought.

Picnic time, part two...

I'm sure y'all are tired of seeing this quilt. But given I spent most of the weekend cleaning up my workspace and sorting through all my half-assedfinished projects, I don't have anything else to show you. So here are some of the detail shots I took before I entrusted my masterpiece to UPS.

I know I've said that half-inch quilting was well worth the effort, but when the quilt was washed? Oh. My.

The only word I can think of to describe the texture is "luscious." Not a word normally reserved for fabric, I know, but the crinkles and the softness...it's absolutely sublime. There -- I've thought of two words! I'm definitely going to be doing this on another project soon -- one that's going to stay in my house!

I'm pretty proud of the "rock pocket" execution here, too. I made some cute little napkins to tuck in one of the Velcroed corners. The appetizer-sized silverware fits in another. All the corners are piped with the binding fabric and lined with the backing fabric. 

I didn't quite trust my hand sewing to keep the binding on through as many washings as this might get, so I attached it to the back and flipped it around to the front to stitch down by machine. More security, and I don't think the quilt suffers any for it.  :)

I think I'll have to realign the buttons on this one, but I thought it was pretty ingenious -- using the entire corner makes the pocket big enough for a pair 6" plastic plates. I thought about trying to make a pocket for glasses too, but it would have been too lumpy. This way, it will at least be relatively flat when it's folded up. And they can put the glasses in the carrying bag.

Plates? Check. Napkins? Check. Silverware? Check. Seems the only thing this quilt is missing is the food!

Like sands through the hourglass...

A dear friend of my mother's was addicted to "Days of Our Lives." I spent a week at her condo in Florida one spring break while I was in junior high, and we ate lunch with the Horton's and Brady's every day, rushing up from the beach just in time to make sandwiches and settle down in front of the television. That opening line was forever imprinted in my memory that week, and even though Mrs. P's been gone for many years, she was on my mind throughout the creation of this little hourglass quilt.

This was supposed to be finished in May before the birth of my friend's baby. I'm not entirely sure what happened but here it's September, the child is almost four months old, and I'm just finishing it up. Summer was one big unproductive blur, and I have the tan to show for it.

Anyway, I love this! I started out with part of a Kona pastel charm pack, but it just wasn't bright enough. And at some point before it was fully pieced the little guy was born, so out came the pinks (I was positive he was going to be a she!) and in went more saturated prints, solids and pops of orange. The result was this sweet little thing that matches perfectly with the bright yellows of his nursery. I took it to the beach last weekend to finish the binding and bury all those pesky threads. The concession stand served as a great backdrop for the final photo.

Slowly but surely I'm getting back in to the groove. Maybe this will be the Season of Finishes? I can hope!