two finished tops

The first top was finished by simply adding some white on the top and bottom, balancing it a bit more....

The second top was de-sashed and put together in a new layout:

Inspired by modernjax, the clever hostess of the Scrappy Christmas Swap. It's a lot cleaner look. The strippy border was craving a bit to much visual attention. Hopefully I will have this quilted by Christmas....

Sometimes I need a bit of time between finishing a quilt-top and quilting it, to make sure I am happy with how it turned out. And if I am not completely happy with it, I always struggle to decide wether I should change it or not. In this case, change was good. Do you ever redo a layout?

improv top

The improv top is coming together. I am thinking about calling it "There's always two sides..." Just because...

It was intended as a lap quilt, a gift for somebody who will be 40 next year. So there is 40 strips or candles lined up. Then I decided to add the solid squares. And at some point I figured out it was the new wall quilt for the dining room I had been wanting for a long time. All that pretty aqua and a bit of sunny yellow:

I am going to add some white both to the top and bottom to complete the design and make it a good length for the wall. The finished size will be 60" * 85". All the white will look nice quilted with straight lines, something like this.

There is still enough time to make the gift. I have a finished quilt top that might work. Or I could go back to one of the two patterns that was a mixed inspiration for this improv top. I like them both...

wip's and a new start

I am making progress on my Kaffe Fassett Diagonal Madness Quilt. The center is sewn together and the 9 patches are ready to be sewed into borders:

The Heather Ross hexagons are progressing steadily:

And over the weekend I have had a chance to play with a new quilt top:

These have been "maturing" in my stash for some time, now: a bit of Amy Butler, Ana Maria Horner and Heather Bailey. I have been looking for a pattern to showcase them, and considering at least three different options (two of them are patterns I have purcased).

Back and forth and all over again.

Do you sometimes think that your fabric is so pretty and precious that you hesitate cutting into it? I was feeling a bit paralyzed about these fabrics, and it was starting to annoy me a bit. Quilting is supposed to be fun, isn't it? I wanted to make something, and I decided to just do it. Design as you go.

I made a sketch of a design and choose fabrics ranging from dark to light within my palette. First I cut 6" strips across the with of fabric. Then I divided the fabrics in two groups. The big patterned was subcut into 4.5" + 1.5". The other fabrics were cut into 2.5" + 2.5" + 1.0".

I put the batting up on my wall and started playing.

Next step i "randomly" cut the bold pattern strings into shorter pieces, then organized the strips into 4 groups on the batting. Playing with design and contrast. Playing with asymmetry. It was fun and liberating.

After a bit of playing, I was happy with the layout. And had a lot of 2.5" strips left over... Well, thats a home made jelly roll to be used for my next design, right?

Next day I started sewing the strips. Going with my first layout. Making a few adjustments. It felt good to go with my instincts....

Here is a little peek:

Love the colors! Thinking about the next step of the design...

Have a good week, and dream some quilty dreams, too!

more hex love

Making some more of the 1" Heather Ross hexagons. Enjoying and playing with the fun prints.

Not sure how this will end up, yet...

And then some bigger hexagons: 2" this time. I used my charm pack of "1974" by Urban Chicks, and added some more from "Hello Betty" by Cloe's Closet. The 5" charms go well with these 2" paper foundations. Happy to find a good use for some of my charm packs!

Right now I am hand-quilting, using the narrow tape as guidelines for the stitches. This will be a small table-topper.

They are a bit addictive, these hexagons. I found a very good post with lots of resources an tips on how to do hexagons at The Sometimes Crafter's blog. It is well wort a visit!

Have fun sewing...