Oh, Fransson!

Another Class

 
Another session of the Charm Squares Baby Quilt class, starting May 8, is now available at Modern Domestic.  Read more about it here.

Scrappy Paintbox Quilt Finished!

Want to make a quilt like this?  Join the Paintbox Quilt-Along!  See other people's Paintbox Quilts here.

 
I'm a woman on a mission this week.  Last week, one of my students asked me how many quilts I have going at any given time and I was embarrassed to admit that I'd lost count of my WIP quilts.  So, this week I'm trying to get as many as possible completed!

This quilt is approximately 62" x 72".  I should have known this since, you know, I wrote the pattern, but I was still surprised by how big this finished quilt seemed!

 
The finished quilt includes 40 different Kona solids and 200 different prints.  The sashing is Essex cotton/linen (White and, on the back, Putty). 

When I was dividing up the fabrics for the blocks, I accidentally used one of the prints in two different sets of blocks, meaning the total number of prints before binding was actually 199.  I added an extra print to the binding though, bringing the total to an even 200.

 
I made my scrappy binding from 28 different prints, each cut to 2.5" x 10.5".  I sewed them end-to-end and made double-fold binding.

If you want to make binding for your Paintbox Quilt from a single fabric, you'll need 1/2 yard fabric (at least 42" wide), cut into 7 strips 2.5" x WOF.

I love the back of this quilt!  I had debated putting words on it (like the original one) but I'm glad I didn't.  I love all the negative space.

 
And, of course, you can't go wrong with a swatch block like this!

As a reminder, all of the print fabrics that I used in this quilt are tagged on my Flickr Photos.

The 40 solids I used were: Black, Coal, Ash, Brown, Bright Pink, Berry, Copen, Mulberry, Jade Green, Caribbean, Lagoon, Pacific, Azure, Peacock, Pistachio, Candy Green, Lime, Grass Green, Clover, Kiwi, Chartreuse, Peridot, Olive, Cactus, Canary, Buttercup, Corn Yellow, Ochre, Tangerine, Orange, School Bus, Mango, Red, Rich Red, Coral, Tomato, Pomegranate, Candy Pink, Cerise, and Melon.

 
George-Michael has already adopted this quilt.  I'm not sure I'm ever going to get to use it!

Project Improv Quilt: Bound and Washed

Before I talk about this quilt, I want to thanks you for all the Potholder and Birch Quilt love!  I should be able to do a tutorial for the potholders within the next week or so. 

At long last!  The binding is finished and the quilt is washed and packed in a box.  This is the quilt that I made for Jacquie's Project Improv.

 

All of the Red! Red! Red! in the above photo is making the sashing look a little pink.  However, I didn't experience any bleeding in the wash, despite the fact that I didn't prewash any of the red solids.  (I did use a color catcher, which came out a little bit pink.)  Yay! 

Note: I used cold water/gentle cycle in my HE front-loading washer.  Many things can cause variance in the way your fabric behaves in the wash, including the chemical content of your local water, the age and type of your washing machine, your detergent, and the temperature of the water you use. 

When in doubt, it's always safest to test your fabrics first.  Here is a fantastic swatch test that Melanie did for the fabrics she's using in her Paintbox Quilt.   

I used a teal shot cotton (not sure of exact color name) for the binding.  The sashing is Kona Snow.  The red solids came from the "Hot Stuff" Kona fat quarter bundle.  Blue prints were from my stash.

Here's a shot of the newly-crinkly back.  I LOVE the back of this quilt, though I still cringe a bit at the combination of the ultramarine blue in the KJR print with the seafoam green in the Japanese strawberry print.  It looks okay from far away like this, but it's really not a wonderful color combo up close!

 
Here's a detail shot of the crinkly back and the binding.

 
Jacquie, my mail carrier is picking this up today, so it will be on its way to you shortly

Birch Quilt

I wanted to share some photos of a commissioned quilt that I made using Monaluna's new Circa 50 collection from Birch Fabrics.  (While formatting these links, I saw Circa 60 for the first time.  Awesome!)

The idea was to make a quilt with trees and birds, similar to the ones on the Birch site.  I used a variation of my Map of the States technique to make giant color-coded, pieced tree templates out of freezer paper.  The finished quilt is about 48" x 60".

 

The quilt includes three bird appliques that I drew to (hopefully!) resemble the ones in the Circa 50 fabric.  Besides Circa 50, I used Kona solids in charcoal (birds), ash (background), coal (binding), and zucchini, coral and jade green in the trees.

 
I wish I had been able to get better photos!  This little photo shoot is motivating me to take a class to learn how to use my fancy camera ASAP.  The actual quilting is nowhere near as messy as it appears in these photos!

 

Hanging the quilt in the window helped, but the back shows through a bit.

 
Here's a shot of just the back.  I have a few more photos up on Flickr. 

Overall, I'm happy with the way it turned out. 

Wonky Cross Block-Along

Today is the fourth and final installment of my block-along series for Sew, Mama, Sew's Quilting Month II.

 
Today I'm making a very basic, wonky cross block. 

And here's a shot of all four of them together!  To recap, here are links to all four tutorials:

Half-Square Triangle Blocks

Foundation-Pieced Spiderweb Blocks

Dresden Plate Block

Wonky Cross Blocks

Thank you to everyone who quilted along with me! 

Potholders!

I made these potholders for the swap we're having at the Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting tonight.

Here's an orange, chocolate and gray one.  I'm not a fan of feel of the insulated batting.  Instead I used two layers of cotton batting and layer of cotton canvas interlining.  The canvas helps to keep heat from your hand, but also makes the potholder really sturdy.

In retrospect, this is kind of 70's-tastic.  Hopefully someone doesn't mind orange in their kitchen!

I also made a preppy kelly and blue one.

This one seems a little more Spring-appropriate to me.

The backs have pockets for your hand.  The pockets are made like the front, but with a single layer of batting. 

Dresden Plate Block-Along

 

Check out Sew, Mama, Sew today for the third week of the Quilting Month II Block-Along.

 
This week we're making a Dresden Plate block.  It may look complex, but each step is actually very achievable!

Picture Day Winners and Pattern Sale

 
Thank you all for your kind words about the new pattern!  It's now available in my shop.  (I'm offering a special sale price of $6.00 through Sunday, April 18.)

The winner of the Marine Fat Quarter Bundle and a copy of the pattern is Joanna.

The winner of the Citrus Fat Quarter Bundle and a copy of the pattern is Cindy.

Congratulations for the winners!  As always, thank you for playing and for giving the new pattern such a warm welcome.  And, or course, thank you to Fabricworm for another fabulous giveaway. 

Wonky Picture Day: Citrus

Here's a wonky version of the Picture Day quilt, featuring this lovely fat quarter bundle in Spring-y citrus colors. 

 
I also used Kona solids Snow, Sweet Pea, Zucchini and Peridot.

 

For a chance to win a copy of the pattern and one of the fat quarter bundles, courtesy of Fabricworm, please leave a comment on this post.  (Comments will be open until Thursday morning.)

 
I love these colors together!

Picture Day Quilt: Marine

 It's time for a new April pattern!  This one is called Picture Day.

The pattern for this 52" x 52" small lap quilt will go on sale Thursday.  Here's a full shot of the front . . .

. . . and here's a full shot of the back.

All of the print fabrics in this quilt (including the pieced binding) come from this fabulous fat quarter bundle.  I also used Kona solids in Snow, Pepper, O.D. Green, Caribbean, Azure and Emerald.

 

For a chance to win a copy of the pattern and one of the fat quarter bundles, courtesy of Fabricworm, please leave a comment on this post.  (Comments will be open until early Thursday morning.)

Tune in tomorrow for another version of this quilt, another fabulous fat quarter bundle, and another chance to win.