Outdoor photo shoot: Aspen Glow #2

I finally captured my quilt model (DH) at sunset today and got him to stand outside with the quilt top and quilt back for the Aspen Glow Quilt, queen-size.

Even with his extra long arms, he couldn't quite hold up the whole thing all at once.  I like the transparent look on this one, because you can more clearly see the fabric pattern and color difference between the white flowers and creamy coffee background like this.

And the back, which pretty much used up every piece of the extra fabric, plus some teal-ish stuff I had sitting around:

Finished Queen-sized Aspen Glow quilt top!

I kept waiting for a non-gray, non-rainy or sleety day to take this outside and get a good picture- but when it got nice, my DH the main quilt model was out of town.
So, here are the inside pictures for now:

Putting the last seam together with ever-present cat "help."

Lying on the floor.

And draped over the furniture in the back porch/  I left all sorts of little threads and fuzzies all over this chair.  My husband was walking around with lots of threads and fuzzies all over his fleece after sitting here.

A double-gauze tank for the summer!

When the latest Cotton + Steel fabric lines came out recently, I discovered the Bespoke double gauze collection from Cotton + Steel.  I had never seen or felt this fabric before, but the video about the fabric (soft! fluffy!) convinced me to go out on a limb and get some of the  "ephemera mustard" fabric.

Other folks (Fancy Tiger Crafts and made by Rae) had created tops out of the material, and these inspired me to do the same.  I decided to make my own pattern based upon a favorite batik tank top I wore [deep inhale] more than 20 years ago in high school and as a freshman in college. Amazingly, I could still "wear" the tank before I cut it apart, but only because the upper part of the front of the tank had experienced a rip parallel to the button placket, allowing for "expansion..."  This is one of the reasons I liked the shirt so much - I never used the buttons, so a new shirt based on the old one did not need buttons or zippers.

I cut the front and back of the old tank top apart, and folded each in half so that I would have symmetrical pieces when done. I traced outlines of the front and back of the tank on a big piece of paper.  Then, I removed the tank top pieces, made some adjustments (increased the armholes; increased the length), and cut out the paper patterns.

I lined up the front and back pieces, and cut them together (except the neck) so the bottom edges and straps matched.

There was enough fabric for me to cut the front and the back so that the bands of color would match when the pieces were assembled.  There is enough fabric left over that I want to buy more double gauze to make a super-soft, fluffy quilt for the summer. (!)

As suggested in the Bespoke video mentioned above, I used very wide allowances (about 3/4" -1") to minimize issues with the double gauze unraveling and causing chaos while trying to sew.  It worked- and I didn't even need to iron anything.  I just double-folded and pinned armholes, the neckline, and the bottom seam, and then sewed them up:

I used french seams to complete the side seams and the straps. Again, no ironing needed.

It took a little finagling to get the armholes adjusted, get the side seams right, etc.

In the end, it seemed like something was missing.  The little stars in the pattern of the fabric inspired me to decorate the collar with a star-chain embroidery stitch available on my machine:

And voila!  A tank top ready to wear in the spring weather, whenever it decides to show up.

It has been incredibly warm the last few days (50-60 F) compared to our standard fare of the last couple of months (two weeks ago I distinctly remember thinking - wow, it's warm out here, it's 22 F outside!).  Still, we're not quite at the gauzy tank top stage yet.  Maybe with a cardigan.

When (work) gets in the way... E blocks for winter version of Aspen Glow

You can be most of the way through making blocks for a quilt in November, and then not get anything else done until late Feb/early March.

So, here are the "E" blocks, finally!...

...and here are ALL the blocks for this Queen-sized quilt:

I have to say, after making so many of these tiny pointy-blocks for this quilt, I will probably try to avoid doing something so monotonous and tiny ever again.

I did start to piece everything together.  One of my blocks with the white center is arranged above.  I had the idea of making the background fabric a bit darker than the original pattern, and changing some of the red centers to white, to make the quilt look more snowflaky. 

Note: I started this quilt in the early Fall, before Snowmaggeddon II this winter.  I really don't need any more snowflakes at this point!  Here's the latest batch of real snow from today: 6.5"

Quilt top done! for twin-sized spring version of Aspen Glow pattern

Despite lots of things to get done for work over the break, I managed to have a couple of evenings of quilt-sewing binge and the twin-sized Aspen Glow quilt top is done!

As you might be able to tell, it's not very spring-like here right now.  We had 6-8 inches of wet, heavy snow on Wednesday, right before Thanksgiving. 

Yay! Finished with E blocks for Spring version

Finally, the last blocks for the Spring version of the Aspen Glow quilt are done!:

I am looking forward to starting to piece the larger blocks together.  I really don't know how this quilt will look when I'm done. It is going to be scrappier than the original pattern, because I used a fat eighth bundle for this one.

I've never made flying geese before.  I like how they look when I chain piece them. I don't like the trimming involved with these blocks, but it seems necessary to keep from getting too wonky.

Finally! Blocks C and D for the Winter version of Aspen Glow

Well, it took a while longer than I expected (sort of) to complete the next round of blocks for the Aspen Glow Quilt-along, but here they are:

The C blocks took a really, really long time to get through.  Between selling a house, having two birthdays in the family, and a round of tests and subsequent grading at work, it just seemed like they were never going to end!  The D blocks (squares) were a lot easier to plow through in a spare moment.

I am going to switch back to my spring quilt to make the pointy E blocks.  That one is only twin-sized, so it is always goes much faster.

First ever entry into the Blogger's Quilt Festival: Wonky Stars from Minnesota

I am happy to submit an entry to the Fall 2014 Blogger's Quilt Festival on Amy's Creative Side.  This looks like a really great way to share ideas, by seeing others' incredible work.

I'm submitting my Wonky Star quilt.  The original blog post on making this quilt is here.  I bought the fabric in Minnesota after we drove there from Virginia on a family trip.  My husband and I left the teenagers at the Mall of America with aunts and uncles, and took off to look for some interesting rocks an hour west of town.  We promptly ran over a huge metal bracket left in the middle of the highway (ah, construction season in Minneapolis) and ripped all four tires to shreds.  After pulling off into a hotel parking lot, then an impromptu purchase and installation of all new tires, we started on our way, again.

 We did find the quarry with some of North America's oldest rocks.  On the way back, we stopped by a quilt store and I bought some charm packs of PB&J. 

There are some other fabrics in the quilt.  One of the red ones was found in my grandparents' house shortly after they died.  My grandmother always loved the color red, so it's a nice reminder of her.  I bought the backing fabric on an earlier non-vacation trip, the night before I gave a presentation to almost 300 people in Newport News, VA.  It was an incredibly important point in my career - the research ideas I was lecturing about got me tenure. So, this quilt reminds me of a lot of different things that happened in my life.

D blocks for the Spring: Aspen Glow Quilt Along

Not a lot of time this week to post!  But, here are my various D blocks for the spring version of the Aspen Glow quilt.

Block B for the winter version of Aspen Glow

And here are my completed B blocks for the larger, queen-sized version using the winter setting of the Aspen Glow pattern available from Cora's Quilts:

I'm doing this version in queen-size, and produced a giant pile of blocks during sewing!  This is one of the only times there wasn't a cat sitting on them as well.

So far I've only done mint blocks, so it will be neat to start in on the other fabrics for the next set of blocks.

Blocks C1 and C2 for the Spring version of Aspen Glow

It took all day (in between doing other things), but I finished the C blocks for the twin-sized Aspen Glow quilt I'm making using Bluebird Park:

 Lines of little chain-pieced strips for the C blocks.

The completed blocks.  I'm using the Autumn setting for this quilt, so I actually do have a C1 and C2 version of the block. All of the ones visible in this picture are C1 (green on the bottom).  The C2 blocks have yellow patterns on the bottom.

Block A for Winter and Block B for Spring: Aspen Glow pattern

After I got the flu shot and then promptly came down with a bad head cold for a week, I finally felt well enough today to get a little piecing done for the Aspen Glow quilt along.

These are blocks A for the large (queen-sized) winter version of the quilt.  I really like the background color I'm using for this one.  It's light stone gray, but to me it looks like the color of my morning coffee, which is actually half coffee and half creamer.  The mint pattern is from Winter's Lane.

I also sewed through block B for the spring version (it's actually the autumn pattern, but I'm making it with the spring-y fabrics of Bluebird Park.

I had to use the flash on this one- it is getting darker earlier and earlier every day. :( At least the weather has decided to cool down to something more appropriate for September.

Block A for Aspen Glow Quilt-Along: Bluebird Park

I managed to get all of my squares and rectangles cut for my Bluebird Park version of the Aspen Glow pattern.  There is a little bit more time here in September before things just become totally crazy with my job, so I went ahead and finished Block A for this quilt:

 Squirrel-y block.

 

I am working with fat eights of material, so it was necessary to use more than one fabric in the line for the "medium gray" squares in these blocks.

 

Aspen Glow Quilt Along

The Cora's Quilts Aspen Glow quilt along is starting on 9/1/14 and I signed up.  It's my first quilt along ever (cyber or real).

These Bluebird Park fat eighths have been sitting around in my stash for a while, so when I saw there was a quilt pattern using Kate and Birdie Paper Co fabrics, I thought, "hey I should make that and I can use these."

This picture was actually taken a week ago- I finished cutting these into pieces for a lap quilt, though I am still working on the many little pieces of white fabric.

Believe it or not, I have ambitions of completing a second Aspen Glow quilt for our queen bed.  This does not mean that the quilt will cover the entire bed, because DH is sort of like a spaghetti spoon in bed and twirls everything - sheets, quilts, sometimes cats- around him as he tosses and turns at night.  But, I can certainly use it if this winter was anything like last winter.

So, here is the general idea for the fabrics for the second quilt.  Some Winter's Lane, a plaid called Honky Tonk Chili Pepper Campfire Coffee (!) by Moda, taupe fabric from the local quilt store for the background.  I'm probably not using the gray with white flowers for this one- but it works as a stand-in until the real fabric arrives.

I wanted something similar to the color choices in the winter color-way as described in the pattern instructions.  It should match the bedroom wall color, and I just like the mint, red, and white together.  One of my favorite color combinations.

I look forward to seeing what others choose for their fabrics!

Goodnight Moon! the quilt

The wonky star quilt took nearly a year of fiddling, procrastinating, and finally quilting for me to complete.  It is beautiful and I already love cuddling with it (and usually a cat).

And then I saw this Goodnight Moon fabric on sale online, and when it got to my house I made a complete quilt out of it in three days.  Three days! If inspiration would always hit so quickly.  (Maybe not- I can't really afford to make a quilt every three days).

I love Goodnight Moon.  This was required, repeated reading in the house growing up, and since I was the oldest of four kids, I did my share of reading it to the younger kids.

There were actually these panels for sale, which are from Quilting Treasures, and also some organic fabric with Goodnight Moon patterns from Cloud 9 was on sale.

I didn't follow a pattern. I cut out the individual panels and then made borders around each one so that they came out to be all the same size.  Originally, two panels were smaller than the others.

I decided to use the rest of the fabric in what I guess you could call a three-patch pattern - one long rectangular block paired with two square blocks to create a larger square.  I included some white blocks in there to stretch the Goodnight Moon fabric farther, but also to break up the rich primary colors of the fabric, as inspired by the book.

Then, put the panels in near the top and sewed it all together.

I did meandering free-motion quilting, just like on the wonky star quilt.  It turned out ok- my Janome machine seems to get choked up on the top thread a bit, though.

I did actually remember to save a selvage to make a label this time.

And the final quilt...

Which was immediately taken over to my parents' house and loved on by my mom, my 6-year-old niece, and I'm sure the border collie as well.