sweet sultans {for my hun}

Last week, these lovely warm fabrics popped up in my (still) snow-covered mailbox courtesy of Bonnie Christine for Art Gallery Fabrics.  Having had some time to think through my concept for her upcoming blog tour, I quickly set to work pulling coordinating oakshotts to complement the fiery tones in the prints.

Originally I was deciding between two ideas:  one inspired by free people's Valentine's feather arrow, and a second that incorporated this traditional block (Sweet Sultan, BB #800.8; coming soon to the INDEX).

Initially I opted for the arrows, but after getting the idea to fussy-cut the bees from one of Bonnie's prints for the center piece of each sweet sultan flower,

I'm happy to report I came up with a design that incorporates both.

The next few days will be full of feathers (of the paper-pieced variety), and once I've completed the top I hope to try my hand at hand quilting before my stop on the tour next week.

With the help of my color consultant, of course, who wisely added the lavender hues back into the mix after I had (foolishly) considered omitting them ;o)

What do you think?  Did we make the right call?

linking up with Lee

BQF: wish upon a shooting star {baby}

My second entry into Amy's Fall 2013 BQF happens to be the (only) other quilt I've finished since the summertime:  daydreams + 'shott{ing} stars {baby quilt category}:

For anyone who missed it, 'shott here stands for oakshott.  As in, many thanks again to Michael Oakshott and Lynne of Lily's Quilts for sending what I now know to be called the Lakes fat eighth pack my way back in September as part of their monthly Made With Oakshott challenge.

The Lakes shot cottons all share a blue warp, but it was really interesting to see how differently all twelve shades interacted depending on the lighting and angle of the fabric.

After handling them a bit, I found something of a divide in the pack.  One group gives off a warmer, purply vibe...

Doesn't the trickery come to life in this shot?  Wait, is that a hint of blue?  Red? Pink?!  Yes, yes, and yes, friend!

...While the second, cooler set comes across a little more crisp:

Side bar:  There are only four different oakshotts in this block.  Can you tell which two aren't repeated? #neveradullangle

How fortunate that these were destined for a day-and-night themed quilt before arriving on my doorstep :)

Because two sides...

Means twice the fun ;)

Be sure to swing by the festival (if you haven't already) for lots and lots of inspiring designs!

{baby} throw scrappy group/bee two color roygbiv appliqué hand quilted home machine quilted professionally quilted photographer art doll/mini wall hanging bed

daydreams and 'shott{ing} stars

For anyone feeling a twinge of déjà vu, it's probably because you've already seen the other half of this quilt...

Or maybe it's because I staged a similarly-sashed quilt on the same split-rail fence.  ...Either way, it might be familiar :) 

This double-sided design is based on a traditional quilt block (BB #3713) named for the fourth brightest star in the sky:  Arcturus.  When I first saw the thumbnail in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia, it was love at first sight.  So I tabbed the page and added it to my ever-increasing wishlist of all things quilty.  (And let's not forget the INDEX list!)

(...No joke about the tabs.  I mean c'mon, how else would I remember all of this INDEX-worthy material?)

Somewhere between then and now, I became fixated on this idea of a day+night design honoring this magical block.  So naturally when I saw that Lynne of Lily's Quilts was calling for proposals for the "midnight" or "dusk" oakshott packs as part of her monthly Made With Oakshott feature, I knew just what to pitch.  Of course at the time I assumed I'd use the 'shott cottons as either the "day" or "night" sky, depending upon which one showed up on my doorstep.  But once I had them in hand, I knew they were destined for more than just the background.

Rather fortuitously, I managed to get my hands of some elusive "twinkle twinkle" while the special delivery—courtesy of Michael Oakshott himself—was en route.  Imagine my delight when the oakshott bundle {shot with blues} turned out to be a near-perfect match to the starry hues in the Constellations print...

Shall we say the stars aligned?  I think so ;)  So I turned to my newly acquired copy of EQ7 and started drawing twinkling midnight skies (no doubt inspired by this lovely spread). 

When the time came to pick fabrics for the daytime sky, I kept going back to this lofty idea of daydreaming, which—to me—involves lots of sketching and thinking and writing and traveling (...and tea).  So text-y, map-y, teatime fabrics it would be!

As for quilting, I opted for closely-spaced diagonal lines that shoot across the stars.  (Because I tilted the blocks on the "nighttime" side, I knew the quilting pattern would match up no matter which side I quilted).

P.S.  A big shout out to everyone who chimed in on the thread color for the nighttime top (let's just say when pretty much all your quilty friends tell you to use grey thread, use grey thread!  Done and done.)

Interesting enough, I just stumbled upon Alison Glass's new "Color Plus" pattern, which incorporates similar skinny sashing with bursts of graded color. The bigger coincidence? Both designs hit the interwebs the same day. I'd say something about great minds..., but I'm not sure I can compare to the creative genius behind the sun print phenomenon :)

And that's that :)  Oh, and I wrote my (drum roll please!) first ever tutorial, which Lynne has kindly posted for everyone to see.  (And judge.  But hey, who's worrying about that? {me!})

Now if you haven't already, head on over to Lynne's for everything you need to know (and more!) about how to sew your own Arcturus-filled firmament :)

...Couldn't help myself ;)  Besides, ever since my order of Lizzy House's twinkle twinkle came in the other month, I've been saving these matching pants for this very occasion.  Because who wouldn't?  :D

Thanks for stopping by!  If you too love traditional designs, be sure to visit the INDEX tab and keep your eyes peeled for lots {and lots!} of "new" (read:  very old) pattern (re)releases over the coming months :)  (And always feel free to drop me a line with potential INDEX candidates if you know of a block that doesn't already have an online pattern;  I'll be more than happy to look into it and see what we can come up with!)

star light, star bright, which thread to use tonight?

Okay, so by "a few more days" clearly I meant one night :)  Which is fitting considering what I've been working on...

What can I say, the garbage cans really bring out the blues, no? ;)

Enter another Encyclopedia find ;)  If anyone's interested in the block pattern, I'll be updating the INDEX with it (and a few other items) as soon as I've finished (1) fancying it up and (2) writing tutorial instructions for Lynne of Lily's Quilts.

But in the meantime, my dearest thread aficionado-consultants... the quilting question remains:  match twinkle twinkle with "iron grey" Gutermann, or stick with an off-white Aurifil?

I suppose now's as good a time as any to mention I'm thinking parallel straight lines on a diagonal (you know, in a tasteful sort of way).  So once again, any and all thoughts are welcome (and much appreciated!)

Linking up with Lee of Freshly Pieced.  For real this time. :)

twinkle twinkle, little star

First off, thank you so much to everyone for your beautiful words about project 1x1.  I'm pretty excited about that one.

...This one too. ;)  In fact, this {mystery} block has been on my wishlist for ages.  So far it has not disappointed.  Of course you'll have to take my word on that, as I want to hold off on showing the block design until the top is fully assembled.  Not because I'm sworn to secrecy {I think we all know I'm not that cool} but because I've been tweaking little details here and there and and figure y'know, what's a few more days?

So in the meantime, here are some sneaks of earlier stages...

Hint:  The stars in the top row are leftovers... bonus!

Now for the big question... quilt with black thread* or an off-white?(!)

*Up until recently I've been sewing exclusively with Aurifil, but I never thought to order any grays/blacks (truth be told, this is my first time using such dark fabric as a background).  So let's just say I had to dust off my good ol' Gutermann stash for this one.  Of course if you all think lighter thread is the way to go, I have a lifetime supply plenty of Aurifil to turn to ;)

Thoughts?

Edited to clarify:  Linking up {this post over here} with Lee of freshly pieced.

uncle sam + introducing the {sneaky} block INDEX

Happy Fourth, friends!

I’m sure we’ve all visited this mecca of quilts blocks at least once.  In fact, as soon as I spot something I like in my trusty encyclopedia, quilter’s cache is the first place I go for block assembly ideas.  Ordinarily, with much success.  But the last few times, I’ve had no such luck (Sam’s Quilt, Century of Progress {Star of Arcturus}, and Boston Pavement, to name a few).

Now, full disclaimer:  maybe it’s just me?  As in, it’s entirely conceivable that I am mis-navigating the site.  For those of you who aren't familiar, the patterns are sorted alphabetically by title on a few separate pages; since you have to click through to see the thumbnail, I suppose the ones I’m after might be listed under a different name and I’ve just missed 'em.  Or maybe they really aren’t there.  Either way, from now on, they’re going to be here.  ;)

You see, that’s where the INDEX comes in:  traditional blocks that have somehow {sneakily} escaped the quiltosphere.  Till now.  Let’s just call it my feeble attempt to fill in the incredibly-sparse-but-still-existent gaps out there.  Here’s how it’ll work… Anytime I come across a block in the book for which I can find no free online instruction (public domain, people!), I’ll draw up and upload the pattern to craftsy, after which I'll post a link to the INDEX tab.  And if you happen to stumble upon one of these elusive blocks before I do, just give me a heads up and I’ll add it to a running list of patterns to deconstruct on paper and reassemble in fabric ;)  

Sound good?  Good.  Now go help yourself to BB #3725.