Thursday 31 May 2012

Colour My World Cyan

Wow, it's the end of May and the end of the fifth colour for this Colour My World Challenge. And I'm still having as much fun with this challenge now as I was in January. I hope you are as well!

I ended up trying to duplicate Dan from Piece and Press's reverse appliqué technique using two patchwork tops. Of course, I wish I had looked closer at his giraffe quilt so see that his two tops were pieced differently and more improvisationally than my checkerboards. I think that's what gave his piece so much fabulous drama. I'll have to try that next time. As I'm just experimenting here, I chose the simple and graphic window design that I saw on someone's door for the cutout. He he! There's a lot of 50s and 60s inspiration in my neighbourhood. :)

I did choose the lighter top to go on top because I was less comfortable with it and I am trying to break out of my colour comfort zone.

I got a reminder of why walking foots are fabulous. I had the embroidery foot on for the first corner and thought I might get away with it...until I switched to the walking foot and saw what a huge difference there was:
Which one of these corners is not like the others?
 So I unpicked it and stitched it down using the walking foot. Much better, eh?
All better!
Detail of the quilting
For the quilting, I decided to echo the circle shape alternating between straight stitches and decorative stitches. Using the decorative stitches was fun and I love the sheen the denser stitches give the piece. If I were to do this again though, I'd probably mark out the circles so that they gradually expand from the centre of the cross all the way to the edge of the piece rather than just to the edge of the circle.

Detail of the quilting
Now that I'm seeing the photos, I'm thinking of adding some accent circles in a straight stitch in a slighter darker aqua to see what it would do. Hmmm.

In the dark teal area, I did little curlicues and pebbles. I had a lot of trouble with the free motion quilting again - skipped stitches all over the place. I'm wondering if it's the spray basting glue because I seem to have this problem anytime I use it. Anyone else have this problem? 

Like my other challenges, this is 14.5" square with a zigzag stitch finish for the time being. So this is my Cyan:

Next month is brown. Oh boy, talk about a challenge! I'll do a post next week with some tidbits about brown.


I'm a little early (about the only thing this week!), but this is also my TGIFF! Laura @ Quokka Quilts is our wonderful hostess for this week. We are starting to book August hosting dates, so if you'd like to host, head on over to the TGIFF! site and sign up! 




Wednesday 30 May 2012

Works in Progress Wednesday - May 30, 2012

Whoa Wednesday, where did you come from? It's been such an exciting week! I took my eldest son camping with our Beaver Colony on the weekend -- we had fantastic weather, a great hike and fun crafts. So much fun! Then getting nominated for a Bloggers Quilt Festival category blew my mind (BTW, voting ends tomorrow night if you haven't had a chance to vote yet). Even though things are a wee bit nuts around here, it didn't stop me from starting a couple of new projects...

New Projects: 
Twelve Trees Quilt - Ever since I saw this quilt on Lily's Quilts, I knew I had to try it. I made my first online purchase (woo hoo by me, oh no by the hubster!) of the Twelve Trees pattern by Helen Howes and a fat eighth bundle of Westminster shot cottons from Pam @ Mad About Patchwork. Awesome service by the way. I've made the first block. Love!


Hudson's Bay Point Blanket Quilt - Finished the top and shared the measurements here. Unfortunately, I didn't buy enough of the off-white fabric for the party in the back so I'll need to wait until Fabricland has a sale again. Bummer.


Current Projects:
Colour My World Cyan - Working madly on this to finish for tomorrow...aack! The linky party for May's challenge will go up tomorrow for those participating. I can't wait to see what others have done with this funky colour. 

Modern Block Monday Sampler - This week was Night and Day by Kimberly Walus. Happy!


Completed Projects: Nada

Spiral/Spring seta colour
Wedding quilt
Nine patch colourwash

WIP Wednesday Recap:
New projects: 2
Completed projects: 0
Current projects: 1
On Hold/UFO: 15


I'm linking in to WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network and to W.i.P. Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Thanks, wonderful women, for hosting such great parties!

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
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Have a great Wednesday, everyone!
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